Credits Actor Don Cheadle for Album Name ‘The Mugician’

Full Conversation Available on YouTube

NEW YORK, February 18, 2022 – Yesterday, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) hosted a fascinating Instagram Live conversation with Grammy award-winning trumpeter, film composer, songwriter, activist and producer Keyon Harrold, as part of ASCAP’s celebration of Black History Month. Moderated by TL Cross, the pair discussed Keyon’s collaborations and various music legends that have been pivotal to Black music culture. Iconic artists and musicians mentioned included Prince, Miles Davis, Michael Jackson, D’Angelo, J Dilla, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Morris Day, Robert Glasper, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Wayne Short, Maxwell, Common and more.

The conversation kicked off with Cross welcoming Keyon as “hip-hop and jazz royalty” and noted that the great Wynton Marsalis once called him “the future of the trumpet.” Diving into the discussion, they spoke about the recent Super Bowl Halftime Show, highly acclaimed for its star-studded performances featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent among others. After touching on the cultural significance of featuring hip-hop on such a grand and mainstream stage, Cross pointed out that Harrold (who is known for his impressive list of past collaborations) has worked with each artist who performed.

Quotable highlights from the conversation are below:

Keyon Harrold on how Don Cheadle played a role in the title of his recent album, The Mugician:

Harrold spoke about being inspired by Miles Davis, and his work on the Miles Ahead biographical film, which starred the great actor Don Cheadle. Harrold’s masterful work on the film included his own audio recording being played to the visual of Cheadle’s fingers moving across the instruments. Out of boundless respect for his idol Miles Davis, Harrold worked meticulously to ensure Cheadle’s fingers aligned with the correct corresponding audio notes, so the piece could be perfectly played back by a musician who mimicked Cheadle’s movements.

Keyon also shared that Don Cheadle was responsible for the name of his most recent album, The Mugician and quoted Cheadle as saying to him, “What you did for this movie was magic. Since you’re a musician and a magician, you are the mugician.”

Keyon Harrold on his song “MB Lament:”

As a fan of The Mugician album, Cross pointed out Harrold’s hometown and asked him about the song “MB Lament,” a track Harrold wrote in response to the 2014 killing of teenager Mike Brown at the hands of a police officer. Harrold said the song came from the idea of being a parent:

“Can you imagine your child was Mike Brown and treated like that? It was something I needed to write about. It could have been me or my son. We, the Black community, do not deserve that kind of treatment. There is a whole population of people that don’t have to deal with what we deal with. I have to teach my son things other people don’t even know about.”

Keyon Harrold on the continuity between Hip Hop and Jazz:

While discussing his catalogue being a blend of genres, Keyon noted the similarities between hip-hop and jazz’s roots and included a nod to a statement by the great Quincy Jones:

“The way I see it, it’s nothing but twelve notes. Beat is the only thing that separates the genre, like Quincy [Jones] said. It comes from the same pots, the same roots, the same Black music. When you have a creative voice that is yours, it works. I feel like now after working with so many people I can say what I want to say, and we’ll be able to communicate. We can vibe out.”

TL Cross on Black musicians playing across genres:

Keyon Harrold pointed to Prince as an example of a Black musician who surpassed the boundaries of genre. Harrold mentioned the legendary artist’s ability to pick up any instrument and play and how he wasn’t put into a box. TL Cross expanded on the thought:

“The Black Experience is not a monolith. It’s a gumbo.”

The full conversation can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDxDs1N_1UY.

About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 1.1 million members representing more than 20 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.

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James DeMarco | Strategic Heights Media  

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