GRAMMY-winning jazz pianist and producer Kiefer Shackelford has built a career on making complex, high level musicianship feel effortless. The Los Angeles-based artist sits right at the intersection of classical jazz discipline and loose, head-nodding West Coast beatmaking. His approach is grounded, direct and free of pretense. He lets the keys speak without hiding behind slick tricks or unnecessary noise.
With Memory Bomb, his debut solo project for Blue Note Records, Kiefer takes that philosophy a step further. Built around the concept of dreamscapes, memories, nocturnal visions and daydreams, the album pairs his warm cords with heavy rhythm section groundwork with collaborators such as CARRTOONS, Shibo, Nate Smith and Walter Smith III. It’s a record that feels expansive yet intentionally intimate. He joined me on the line to break down the making of Memory Bomb, his move to Blue Note and the discipline behind keeping jazz simple, fresh and honest.
Memory Bomb explores dreamscapes, memories and daydreams, how do you translate those internal abstract states into concrete chord progressions and rhythm?
That’s a great question. You know what, I’m not really sure but we tried. I think we were going for really interesting soundscapes that were very expansive and really floral and beautiful and then going for a harmony that was very vibrant and colourful as well.
The album marks your debut solo project with Blue Note Records, a label steeped in jazz history. Did stepping into that lineage change how you approach the writing and producing this time around?
Well, I’m a Blue Note fan and somebody who has listened to Blue Note for my entire life, I would contend that’s already something that has shaped my music. To be honest with you, the record was completed before I signed with Blue Note so if being signed to Blue Note does change my sound, it had not occurred yet at the time of finishing this record. But again, Blue Note is so important to my development as an artist. So I would say in that sense, it’s already baked in.
What’s your philosophy on bringing outside musicians into such an intimate and personal project?
Anytime I work with any musician, it’s really important to me that they are at a very high level of musicianship. These are all people that play at a level that I aspire to play at, whether it’s Walter Smith or Nate Smith or Shibo or Amber Navran, there’s a lot of really special artists on this record. The other thing that I look for is, I try to find artists who have a or we have a common sonic DNA strand that we can build something off of, while also trying to put together a catalyst that’s surprising and unique. I don’t think there’s any other album out there that has ever had this type of cast on it so that was something I was trying to do.
Memory Bomb by Kiefer is available now on all streaming platforms and wherever music is sold.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.