When
my husband, Michael asked me which artists I wanted to see at the
2016 San Jose Jazz Summer Festival, I had no idea except for Bobby
Caldwell and Goapele two of the headline artist, so I searched the
line-up to see who I could fit into our busy event schedule.
Masego
The
artist that I selected was Masego (real name Micah Davis) after
listening to his song “Girls That Dance” on YouTube. As we headed
over to the Post Street Stage one of the many stages at the San Jose
Jazz Fest you could hear that thump of trap, hip hop and jazz mix of
music that made you want to dance. I loved it.
Masego
is a 22-year-old multi-instrumentalist – he plays the saxophone,
piano, drums guitar, cello and many other instruments and he’s a
singer. On stage he showed his talents by playing several instruments
much like a one man band and he showed his comedic style as well as
an impromptu rap about two cute girls in the audience. Masego has
real talent and I love his style of music which he calls
TrapHouseJazz. It merges traditional jazz sounds – saxophone,
scatting with the thump of trap music and house.
Masego
was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to an American mother and Jamaican
father. His father is a pastor in the military so they moved around a
lot when Masego was little settling in Newport News, Virginia. His
mother is also a pastor, specifically the minister of music at their
church. Church was a strong presence in Masego’s life, as was
playing in the church band; music came naturally to him. As he said
in a recent article that he listened to a lot of gospel (Jmoss,
William Murphy, Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin) since that’s all he
was allowed to play in the house. But Cab Calloway influenced his
style and his love of jazz swing and the dances that go with it. This
blend of styles is clearly evident in his music.
Masego
has talent and his energetic show at the 2016 SJ Jazz Summer Festival
was one of the highlights this year. If you want to hear this new
style of Trap House Jazz I would encourage you to check out a sample
of his music at www.masegomusic.com. You won’t be disappointed.
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