Dazzle presents Trumpeter Rod McGaha

Rod McGaha Sunday, November 15th, 7pm :: Trumpeter Rod McGaha

“Music is life,” declares Rod McGaha matter-of-factly. “It’s about finding the common thread, the common bond that we all have. I don’t care whether you’re a classical musician or a jazz musician—let’s see what we have in common, and unite to send a message.” That’s why the critically-acclaimed trumpeter elected to mesh a hand-picked lineup of first-rate jazz musicians with an accomplished string quartet on his new album, A Gentle Man. The resulting sound is both elegant and intimate, distinguished by both technical virtuosity and emotional directness. With its emphasis on dreamy ballads and fresh interpretations of classic material, the album harks back to such string-kissed trumpet touchstones as Clifford Brown With Strings and Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain. “I wanted it to have that classic type of sound,” McGaha explains—but without the grandeur of, say, the large ensemble heard on Sketches. “There’s a certain intimacy about the string quartet,” he says. “A jazz quartet is more personal than a big band, and a string quartet is more personal than an orchestra. I wanted it to be more cozy.”

Trumpet legend Clark Terry discovered him playing at a local festival in 1989 and took McGaha under his considerable wing. “Individuality would be the main thing I learned from him,” McGaha testifies. “Be yourself, don’t be afraid to express who you are. That is what you put out there, and if people like it, they like it.” It was when he was opening shows for Grammy-winning a capella group Take 6 during the early 1990s that McGaha made the move from Chicago to Music City. “I was ready for something different musically,” he says. The new environment soon began to add new layers to his playing. “It definitely put more of a Southern influence in,” he acknowledges. “The music from the Delta, from Alabama, from Mississippi—all those things come into my playing and writing. It’s what they call the blue notes, it’s real close to the spirituals in the church. I’ve got a lot of that in my music.”

Shortly after the move, legendary drummer Max Roach invited the young trumpeter to join his band. “Clark Terry had such joy in his music, and such joviality in his playing,” McGaha says. “Max Roach was a little more radical, a little more hardcore. Max taught you how to be a man on the stand, that warrior type of thing.” Roach, when asked to
comment on Rod, called him “An important new and original voice.” Eventually, McGaha stepped forward as a bandleader and producer exploring all his jazz, pop, R&B, blues, gospel, and hip-hop influences. He stretched out as a player, composer and lyricist, in 1997’s The Servant, 1999’s Preacherman (co-produced with Delfeayo Marsalis), 2000’s Seven, and 2003’s Dove Award-nominated The Trumpet Sounds. As he carved out a career of his own, McGaha has benefited from the encouragement of his family: wife Anita, daughters Dorinda, 22, and Terece, 20, and son Michael, 18. He singles out Anita’s unwavering dedication as elemental to his survival in the sink-or-swim music business. “You know how challenging it is for a jazz musician? I mean, come on!” he says with a rueful laugh. “But she’s always been really cool about it. A lot of people have gotten divorced over much less!”

As with any true artist, McGaha’s personal growth and maturing are always reflected in his art. “As you become older and wiser, your life experiences influence your music. That’s how musicians evolve. Their understanding of life becomes deeper.”