Co-Owner Roderick Conwell talks to Travel Track about genre, style, location and booking in regards to his new performance venue and club: Uptown Jazz Lounge in Birmingham, Alabama.
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00:46 Because, I mean, music in general has changed so much.
00:50 Yep.
00:50 That the thing is that most people think,
00:52 well, there's no melodies left.
00:54 There's no--
00:54 Yep.
00:55 You know, I think seeing somebody improvise
00:58 is a rarity, you know?
01:00 Absolutely.
01:00 But jazz is still that grand sort of genre
01:04 that you can do that in.
01:05 Yep.
01:06 That was one reason we wanted to stick with jazz music.
01:10 Because it is the instruments.
01:12 It's the sounds.
01:13 Like, we have horns on stage.
01:15 We have, you know, pianos, keys.
01:19 We have the lead guitar, the bass guitar.
01:24 We have all of the real instruments
01:26 that put out the real sound.
01:28 Nothing against those synthesizers
01:31 or those systems that allow those sounds to be replicated
01:34 through those systems.
01:36 But it's nothing like the real thing.
01:37 Live.
01:39 All the way live.
01:39 Yeah.
01:40 Nice.
01:40 All the way live.
01:42 Which is a song from Back Aloud Fast, too.
01:44 Yeah.
01:45 [MUSIC - BACK ALOUD FAST, "ALL THAT I'VE GOT TO SAY"]
01:47 (SINGING) All that I've got to say.
01:50 What is it?
01:51 Somebody say that.
01:54 A love that time won't last.
01:56 What can I tell you?
01:58 Baby, all that I've got to say.
02:02 Tell you, baby.
02:05 Sing it!
02:06 This is no ordinary love.
02:11 No ordinary love.
02:15 This is no ordinary love.
02:21 Oh, yeah.
02:22 No ordinary love.
02:26 Hey!
02:27 [MUSIC - BACK ALOUD FAST, "ALL THAT I'VE GOT TO SAY"]
02:31 [DRUMMING]
02:34 You'll be going to heaven real quick, tell them I said it.
02:49 Hey!
02:49 What'd he say?
02:54 I can feel it coming in the air tonight.
02:59 Oh, oh, Lord.
03:03 Hey!
03:05 We've been waiting for this moment for all of our lives.
03:10 Oh, oh, Lord.
03:13 Oh, oh, Lord.
03:16 Hey!
03:19 Could you talk about making sure the space was right, too,
03:22 for you?
03:23 Yeah.
03:23 You know, because that's--
03:25 the fact that it's open and has that feeling,
03:28 but also where it is.
03:29 Could you talk about that?
03:31 That's just-- that's more of a business question.
03:33 But that's an important thing, and especially the way
03:35 this operates with the mall.
03:37 Well, you know, real estate--
03:40 there's an old saying with real estate, location, location,
03:43 location.
03:44 I found that to be really true with this.
03:47 We've been looking-- my partner and I have been looking
03:50 for a few years, actually.
03:52 But we wanted to stay in Birmingham proper.
03:54 We wanted to stay in the downtown area, if you will.
03:58 We looked at a lot of different venues.
03:59 For this reason or that reason, they weren't right for us.
04:03 We actually looked at this location previously.
04:07 And circumstances didn't allow us to come in at that time,
04:12 which is about five, six years or so ago.
04:17 We were fortunate to come back to it.
04:20 And I guess you could say full circle.
04:22 The location had changed in that six-year period
04:25 that we initially looked at it.
04:28 The vibe, the energy around this area completely changed--
04:33 changed for the better.
04:34 There was a lot going on with this area.
04:36 It was already here and established.
04:38 But it was pre-stadium.
04:40 But it was pre-stadium.
04:41 So it was established, but there was a need
04:45 to have a live entertainment venue here.
04:49 So it was, if you will, the perfect marriage.
04:52 There was a need to have live entertainment here.
04:55 We were looking for a place that was vibrant,
04:57 that had good energy.
04:58 They were revitalizing this area, adding things to it.
05:02 So it was just-- it was a perfect marriage,
05:04 what we needed and what the area needed.
05:07 So the location, location, location was perfect
05:09 and allowed us to revamp the area from what this building was
05:14 before we came here.
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06:26 So what we try to do is, if I'm familiar with the bands that
06:48 come through, which I am, a lot of them,
06:50 because I, again, I follow music for years,
06:53 not just here within the city or within the state,
06:55 but regionally and nationally too.
06:57 So I'm familiar with a lot of the bands that perform here.
07:00 Those that I'm not familiar with, I do a little research
07:02 and do my due diligence to make sure that that vibe,
07:06 that music playlist that they're bringing to Uptown Jazz
07:09 Lounge, to make sure that it fits in with what we're
07:11 trying to do.
07:12 And what we're trying to do, again,
07:14 is blend in various forms of jazz and all of its forms,
07:18 but again, make sure that it's something
07:20 that we'll also equate to what our customer base is looking
07:23 for.
07:24 So it's a certain style, yes.
07:27 Certain vibe or--
07:31 Yeah, because, again, we want to stick with--
07:37 we want to stick with either contemporary and traditional
07:41 jazz, or we will also have R&B. But we want to also make sure
07:46 that R&B stays within the jazz element itself.
07:51 We've had our nights that have been exclusive or specific
07:54 to a particular style of music, but that's because of an event
07:58 that we're having that night or the group that we know
08:01 is coming in that night.
08:02 So we've done some straight R&B.
08:06 We've done some straight blues.
08:08 We've done a little bit of rock and roll as well.
08:11 But for the most part, we provide
08:13 the bands that's going to give us Uptown Jazz Lounge.
08:16 We didn't name it Uptown Jazz Lounge for any other reason
08:19 with the exception that we want to have a jazz feel and flavor
08:22 and all its variances here.
08:25 bass, drums, & keyboard play
08:28 Has your taste changed over here, your palate for jazz?
08:50 Hmm, over the years?
08:52 Well, even in the past 10 years.
08:55 Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.
08:58 Yeah, 'cause when I first was introduced to jazz,
09:01 I was definitely introduced to it
09:03 with more contemporary jazz fusion.
09:05 Like who?
09:06 Jeff Lorber,
09:10 you had a lot of David Sanborn,
09:13 Grover Washington, current jazz artists today,
09:17 Hughes Grew, Walter Beasley, Gerald Albright.
09:20 But--
09:22 And a lot of those performers,
09:25 they did go into fusion.
09:27 Yep, yep, yep.
09:29 Even Terrence Blanchard.
09:31 Yep, absolutely, absolutely.
09:33 They themselves saw the change and the transformation,
09:37 so they would actually, I wouldn't say crossed over,
09:41 but they blended in fusion with what they were doing as well,
09:45 the traditional jazz.
09:47 So that changed for me just the opposite.
09:49 I came into it more with those artists,
09:52 but then as I got more into it,
09:54 then I also became more accustomed
09:56 to traditional jazz artists
09:58 from yesteryear and current.
10:01 Definitely the--
10:05 I was trying to think what the brothers there in New Orleans,
10:08 the family--
10:10 Marcellus?
10:11 Yes, all of Marcellus' brothers, and their dad.
10:13 So I got more into that with Winston and Marcellus
10:17 and his dad and Brandon,
10:19 so I got more into that form of jazz,
10:21 New Orleans-style jazz,
10:22 but I also started going back.
10:24 I started going and listening to Counting Bald Adelists,
10:27 I started listening to John Coltrane
10:30 and Birdman, Charlie Parker.
10:32 So I tried to see where it all began,
10:35 since jazz began in the United States.
10:38 So I wanted to see where it began
10:40 and how it evolved and how it's still evolving.
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