In January 2020, longtime Nashville musicians and married couple Greg Bryant and Dara Tucker bid a fond farewell to Music City and departed for the New York area. In addition to other projects, Bryant revived his career as a radio broadcaster, taking a gig at revered jazz station WBGO-FM in New Jersey. He hosted Jazz After Hours, the station’s late-night program, and he teamed up with journalist and broadcaster Nate Chinen on the invaluable podcast Jazz United. The pair’s freewheeling conversations on music, culture and politics earned them the 2021 and 2022 Jazz Journalists Association award for Podcast of the Year. But following internal changes at the station, Bryant found a new broadcasting home earlier this year. The man known to listeners as “The Watchman” now hosts Real Jazz With Greg Bryant on Sirius XM’s Real Jazz Channel 67. Bryant shares a great blend of classics and contemporary tunes, and offers listeners a wide range of material in every idiomatic style under the jazz umbrella.
Bryant has also maintained his career as an electric bassist, backing Tucker on the stage and in the studio as well as playing with his own ensembles. June 3 and 4, Bryant returns to town to meet up with two of them at Rudy’s Jazz Room. Concurrence, the boundary-blurring band he’s co-led for nearly two decades with keyboardist-composer Paul Horton, will play a special reunion on Friday with drummer Marcus Finnie and multi-instrumentalist Giovanni Rodriguez on percussion. The four initially met as students at MTSU 20 years ago, but Bryant says this is only the fourth time they’ve played together in this configuration. They will be doing old favorites as well as previewing material from a forthcoming EP. Greg Bryant Expansion headlines on Saturday, featuring Finnie on the drum throne along with ace trumpeter Rod McGaha and pianist David M. Rodgers. They’ll bring out original material as well as traditional jazz selections. Bryant took a breather from his busy schedule to answer questions via email.
Does the new EP represent a new or different direction for Concurrence?
Our new EP Recollections features three all-new tracks and will be released on Juneteenth. It will soon be available for preorder on Bandcamp. The title track is co-composed by Paul and I, and features drummer Marcus Finnie propelling us to the ozone. It’s a tune that we had been playing live before the pandemic in 2019 and had never documented.
The same can be said for Paul’s tune, “The Center Cannot Hold.” This particular version, with Derrek Phillips on drums, was captured live in 2021 at Rudy’s Jazz Room, our home club. It’s sort of a cocktail piece — a medley of two ideas in the tradition of folks like Don Cherry and Greg Osby. The first half leans avant-garde, while the second half of the tune is more groove-based. The name and the designation wasn’t as important at first as cultivating those two ideas and having them work together. However, a lot of tunes’ titles certainly feel different these days after what we’ve all endured and continue to experience. You’ll hear the first part of the tune working out tension and angst, while the second half points to the beginning of something else — a new era of awareness and being awake, perhaps?
The final tune “The Sunday Cookout” is all Paul Horton. He composed, sequenced and played all of the keyboards and rhythm. He’s been busy with Brittany Howard’s band and producing for a few artists, and he released his solo debut last year, Prelude No. 1. When he let me hear this tune during the pandemic, I thought it sounded like something Concurrence would do. He agreed, and we decided not to track it as a band. It was already in its right place; his demo version is the master take that you hear on the EP.
Is it accurate to consider the Greg Bryant Expansion more of a straight jazz band while Concurrence is more a multi-idiomatic unit?
The Greg Bryant Expansion has been an umbrella term that denotes projects under my name. Its personnel has evolved and includes many players. … I think some folks will see the fact that we have a horn involved and link that concept more with the tradition of the music. That’s great. And we do play some material by many of our cherished ancestors and current heroes, like Horace Silver and Wayne Shorter. We also play some of our own compositions and improvisations as well. We’re still trying to be melodic and have a good time, but if we end up floating and exploring, that’s always great.
Will that band also be doing some recording at a future date?
I’ve actually tried to record the Expansion on two different occasions, in a previous lineup that had Jovan Quallo on sax, Paul Horton on piano and Marcus Finnie on drums. Those guys really elevated my playing, and we are still family. The first time, we had a great night and great audience, but we didn’t have the sound quality that it needed to release it professionally. I think Marcus actually recorded it on his cellphone near the drums. I still may put that out with the guys’ blessing at some point. The second time, the audio was great, but I don’t think the recording captured the spirit of what we played, so I didn’t feel great about putting that one out either. It is a goal to certainly record the Expansion in some configuration. Last year, [WBGO’s] Dorthaan Kirk passed along a quote from the late vocalist Betty Carter to me that explains it best: “It will happen when it is supposed to happen.”
Is there a principal composer in the Greg Bryant Expansion? I know Paul does a lot of the writing for Concurrence.
We’ve played tunes from all members of the band. Jovan and I handled the musical direction mostly, but since he won’t be with us on Saturday, I’ve got a game plan.
How is it working now with Sirius XM?
Being with SiriusXM is the realization of a dream. I was there first as a visiting artist in 2019 as bassist in Jojo Hermann’s Slim Wednesday Band. They interviewed us for a segment on the jam channel. I remember telling myself, “I want to work here one day. It would be great to return to radio here at Sirius.” Almost three years later, I’m on the air as their evening host on the Real Jazz channel. I’m really grateful.
What’s the biggest difference between being on satellite radio and on conventional broadcast radio?
Overall, I think satellite radio in tone and timbre is moving toward a more conversational presentation. They want the feeling of a podcast or conversation, versus the style and authority of traditional broadcast personalities. It’s certainly a more concentrated approach, but within the time allotted, you can still share knowledge and excitement about the music.
How is juggling careers, going back and forth between being an active musician and a full-time broadcaster?
I toggled between playing and broadcasting the first time, briefly, while I was still living in Nashville and hosting on WFSK and playing during the evenings and on weekends. I think people know you for one thing over the other based on how they encounter you. My goal has been simply to spread improvisational music to all who will listen. If I have a bass strapped to me, if I’m in front of a microphone, or if I’m in a virtual or physical classroom, it all points toward the same goal. A healthy scene starts with healthy interest, and hopefully, that enthusiasm will catalyze people to get involved at various levels. It was nice to win the national Jazz Journalists Association award in back-to-back years for podcast of the year with Nate Chinen, but it means just as much to get a letter or an inbox from someone who has memories associated with something you’ve played or something you’ve said. I’m grateful to be doing what I’m doing.
Any final words for the Nashville audience?
I want to thank my friends and folks here in Nashville for their support. … I’m grateful for the acknowledgement and well wishes virtually and in person. I want to make a difference where I can, and I’m learning that it takes time, but that I shouldn’t wait. That said, there will be a Concurrence full-length album for 2023, and I’ll also be producing the next Dara Tucker album. I was privileged to write the liner notes for the forthcoming JD Allen album on Highnote Records that I can’t wait for folks to hear, and there are more things in the works that I’ll keep you posted about.
You know, we saw the world shut down once, and I’m thankful to still be here. Being alive right now just reinforces that we have to move and execute safely and cautiously — but purposefully and with vigilance. Again, to me, waiting isn’t an option. We play a song in Concurrence that will be on the next album that expresses my current mantra: “Now Is Still the Time.”
