Fri 3/13 @8PM
Fri 3/20 @ 8PM
The upside to Nathan-Paul — who also plays alto sax in The Admirables — constantly writing and making music is he has a lot of material in various shapes and forms always at his fingertips.
That said, the Cleveland native and Akron-based musician decided the time was right to last month release a self-titled instrumental EP.
“I write music every day,” Nathan-Paul said. “I have hundreds of songs I’m sitting on. Not all are recorded, but I’m probably going to release three or four albums alone this year.
“I’m a walking, ticking music machine. Nothing made me do it, I’ve just been writing nonstop obsessively since I was 11 years old. This is just what I eat, breathe and sleep without any thought whatsoever.”
The three-track EP, which Nathan-Paul recorded with drummer Jonathan Fields, bassist Benjamin McDonald and guitarist Russ G, is getting two release party shows — Fri 3/13@ 8pm at Blu Jazz in Akron and Fri 3/20 @ 8pm at The Bop Stop.
The two venues are of note considering they were each respectively the location of his previous “Bootleg Music” series concert recordings.
As far as describing the new EP, or how it compares to something by The Admirables, Nathan-Paul has a hard time verbalizing or identifying the differences.
“I really don’t like to describe it,” Nathan-Paul said. “Maybe that will get people to go listen to it.”
After pressing him to elaborate, the sax player said the biggest difference from The Admirables is the vibe, personnel and repertoire. He also wouldn’t call either projects jazz.
“I’d call it like fusion, a mix — soul, funk, jazz,” Nathan-Paul said. “Like The Admirables have a new album coming out. Some of the tracks are hinging on pop music. One of the tracks sounds like Rihanna. I guess you could put it under the umbrella of jazz, soul, funk if you want.
“James Brown is funk, and so is Cameo, but they don’t sound the same. The main reason I wouldn’t call this jazz is because like the rhythm section is not coming from a jazz tradition. It’s a lot of R&B, gospel, soul, funk sort of thing.”
The one thing Nathan-Paul is sure about is his love of the Rubber City’s music scene.
“It’s good,” Nathan-Paul said. “It’s mainly the younger cats who have started their own, very strong thing. While it started for me in Cleveland, it really developed in Akron where there’s a lot of like-minded people.”
Akron, OH 44308
Cleveland, OH 44113
@theadmirables