Ayo Brame: Bay Area to Brazil and Back

Ayo Brame picked up the saxophone for the first time in 2021, but in a remarkably short time he has established himself as a force in the jazz world. A student at Oakland School for the Arts, 16 year old Brame is proficient on multiple instruments and musical composition. Between his studies and gigs, he’s busy writing and recording for his upcoming debut release, Oakland in My Soul.

Brame doesn’t come from a particularly musical family. “I have one cousin who plays the sax,” he says, “but in my immediate family, I’m the only musician.” Still, a love and appreciation for music has been a central value in his upbringing. “My dad was playing John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme while I was actually being born,” he says with a smile. “I think that’s how I got into it.”

While Brame considers himself a jazz purist, as a listener his interests cover a wide spectrum. “I like hip hop, pop, and rock music for its musicality,” he says. “I listen to everything.” When it comes to jazz, he’s a serious fan of hard bop, and he enjoys Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon and other greats.

And Brame’s musical proficiency isn’t limited to tenor, soprano and alto saxophone. He also plays clarinet, bass guitar, EWI (electronic wind instrument) and drums. He believes that developing facility on multiple instruments affords advantages when playing each one. “It lets you see different perspectives,” he explains. “As a player of those different instruments, you can become better at playing in different ways to suit the needs of the other musicians.”

That expertise also gives Brame an advantage and understanding when he’s developing arrangements for his band mates to play. He explains his approach to arranging: “It’s sketched out in broad strokes,” he says. “I write out the chords and changes, and allow them to improvise.”

Like any serious jazz musician, Brame says that improvisation has an important place in his music. “In every song,” he says. “But not all the way through. I’m usually playing the head [core melodic line], then we go back and do solos, and then back to the head.” But even that structure isn’t a strict rule. “Sometimes,” Brame admits, “It’s just whatever we’re feeling at the moment; we just fill it out.”

Even at his tender age, Ayo Brame is quickly becoming a touring veteran. At age 14 he played dates across the country, including stops in Grand Rapids, Phoenix, Ohio and New York City. With a laugh, he recalls an audience member at a New York show, standing at the side of stage heckling performers. “That actually helped me,” he says. “It helped me [develop] nerves of steel. The next time I went on stage, I was ready for anything.”

That first tour opened Brame’s eyes to the reality of life on the road. “What surprised me most was the amount of time traveling and waiting,” he says. “It’s not always playing music.” One of his fondest memories from that inaugural tour was meeting another of his inspirations, fellow saxophonist Stacy Dillard. New York City based Dillard is a bandleader, recording artist and frequent sideman with over 40 recording session credits.

Brame followed up his domestic tour with a run of dates in Brazil. He had been on many family trips outside the country. “Educational trips,” he clarifies. “But never for music.” This time would be different. Before the trip, Brame recorded a promotional clip that featured him speaking Portuguese. “So people already knew who I was when we got there,” he says. A set at Associação Jazz Na Avenida in Salvador was a highlight of the trip. “There were about 400 people there,” Brame says, “but they were all super excited. It’s wild being so far away from home yet everybody still knows you.”

Brame will graduate in May 2025; he hopes to have his debut album completed and released by that time. But at present, he’s focused on his upcoming gig at the San Jose Jazz Festival. There he’ll be joined by a small ensemble – upright electric bass, drums and keyboards – that will also feature Kev Choice. “Kev’s a really good jazz musician, but he’s also a rapper,” Brame explains. “What we like to do is take standards and add a hip hop feel to them. Kev has the ability to change it up and flip it inside out.”

After graduation, Ayo Brame plans to continue his music and studies in New York City. He foresees a life in music. “In football, for example, there are always injuries and stuff; you have to retire,” he observes. “But in music, you don’t have to.”