{"id":28529,"date":"2024-12-02T05:30:05","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T10:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28529"},"modified":"2024-11-13T09:05:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T14:05:17","slug":"jubu-smith-the-music-speaks-for-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/02\/jubu-smith-the-music-speaks-for-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Jubu Smith: The Music Speaks for Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Renowned guitarist releases bravura solo debut, won\u2019t talk about it<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Jubu Smith has made a career out of applying his considerable talents to the creative pursuits of other artists. The Oakland-born guitarist got his start in church, honed his craft and landed gigs working with some of music\u2019s biggest names. Starting in the early \u201890s, Smith spent most of the next several decades in a kind of balancing act: backing high-profile artists onstage and on hit recordings, yet toiling in near-anonymity. Smith is well-known and revered in the music community, but to the wider public, mention of his name often draws a blank stare.<\/p>\n

That could \u2013 possibly \u2013 change with release of an album called Jubu<\/i>. Released on the Little Village label \u2013 an arm of the nonprofit Little Village Foundation \u2013 Smith\u2019s self-titled debut album is a showcase for his astoundingly wide-ranging stylistic vision. Created in collaboration with two other esteemed musicians, Jubu<\/i> is an instrumental tour de force. But it\u2019s fair to wonder: why did Jubu Smith wait nearly three-plus decades into his recording career to make an album of his own?<\/p>\n

The answer may have something to do with Smith\u2019s apparent disdain for self-promotion. Certainly he has given interviews over the years, willingly discussing his role in the careers of Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly, Tony! Toni! Ton\u00e9!, Whitney Houston and others of note. But when it came time to promote Jubu<\/i> \u2013 released worldwide July 30 \u2013 the artist had gone to ground.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Jubu Smith has spoken on the record a few times, and close associates on his latest project \u2013 guitarist Charlie Hunter, label head Jim Pugh \u2013 were more than happy to speak about their work with the man.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s father was a guitarist; he led a gospel group called the Soulful Sons of Zion. \u201cMy dad was my hero,\u201d Smith told podcast host Josh Smith (no relation) on Live from Flat V Studios<\/i> in 2021. \u201cHad he been a boxer, that\u2019s what I would be today. Had he been a basketball player, that\u2019s what I would have been trying to be,\u201d Jubu explained. \u201cLuckily for me, he played the guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jazz training during high school opened up Jubu\u2019s musical vocabulary. His first paying gig as a guitarist was a weekly date at Yoshi\u2019s, when he was only 15. As Jubu grew toward young adulthood, he played weekend gospel gigs, all the while dreaming of making music a full-time endeavor. Often playing in groups without a keyboardist, Smith developed a style all his own that lessened or even eliminated the need for other melodic instruments.<\/p>\n

During that podcast interview, Jubu revealed that upon graduation from high school in 1988, he had been accepted at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston \u2013 with a full ride, even \u2013 but he turned it down. \u201cI don\u2019t want people to tell me how to play,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Instead, Jubu stayed busy as a working musician. Raphael Siddiq soon hired him as guitarist for his group, Tony! Toni! Ton\u00e9! Not only was Jubu playing high-profile gigs and making good money, but his phone was constantly ringing with offers to play on other artists\u2019 sessions. He pursued many of those opportunities, playing on dozens of recordings for artists in and beyond r&b and pop.<\/p>\n

When Siddiq left Tony! Toni! Ton\u00e9!, Jubu decided he was done as well. He auditioned for Whitney Houston\u2019s group, and ended up touring with the singer through 1999 and 2000. During that time, Houston also encouraged Jubu to pursue his own path. But before he had a chance to do that, Frankie Beverly called and invited Jubu to play with Maze. Along with continued session work, that gig would keep him busy for many years.<\/p>\n

The bills were getting paid, and Jubu had cultivated a sterling reputation as a first-call player. In the 21st<\/sup> century, he launched a gospel-blues group called Legally Blynd, recording and releasing a pair of albums. But there was still something missing. \u201cI tell this to myself all the time,\u201d he said in 2021. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason why I shouldn\u2019t have ten albums under my name.\u201d<\/p>\n

All he needed was to be discovered. \u201c\u2019Discover\u2019 is the wrong word,\u201d says Jim Pugh. In fact he had known the guitarist and his family for decades. \u201cBack in the \u201980s I played in a gospel quartet in Oakland, the Gospel Hummingbirds,\u201d Pugh recalls. \u201cThe scene in Oakland was tight-knit. Everybody knew everybody: The Sons of Zion, Omega Aires, Spiritual Corinthians\u2026 on and on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pugh was impressed with Jubu from the start. \u201cWay back then it was his feel. A great stroke, and great chords,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd at some point I learned he was the heir to the gospel quartet guitar throne held previously by Spanky Alford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the 2020s, with Jim Pugh now in a position to help bring Jubu Smith\u2019s talent to a wider audience. \u201cI asked Charlie Hunter to ask Jubu if he wanted to do an album,\u201d Pugh explains. \u201cBecause who\u2019s going to say no to Charlie?\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie Hunter is himself a highly sought-after instrumentalist. A prolific artist, Hunter has released three dozen albums under his own name, taken part in dozens of collaborative projects and produced or co-produced more than 40 albums. His work effortlessly transcends genre; Hunter\u2019s extensive credits include work in The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Garage a Trois as well as SuperBlue with jazz singer Kurt Elling.<\/p>\n

These days Hunter lives near Greensboro, North Carolina. But back in his younger days both he and Jubu were based in the Bay Area. \u201cBoth of our careers were going crazy,\u201d he recalls. \u201cSo we never really hung out, because we were always on the road.\u201d But Hunter has long counted himself a serious fan of Jubu\u2019s artistry.<\/p>\n

Hunter is also the inventor and developer of the Hybrid Guitar. And that instrument provides the ability for a skilled player to handle lead, rhythm and bass guitar parts on a single instrument. In Hunter\u2019s hands, the Hybrid Guitar is a sort of co-star on Jubu<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s debut album is a musical travelogue, an audio document of Jubu\u2019s wide-encompassing musical worldview. While tracks like \u201cHamster Wheel\u201d sport a deep groove funk vibe, there\u2019s a soulful Wes Montgomery feel to cuts like \u201cJubu\u2019s Poem.\u201d The bouncy \u201cCarroll Drive\u201d leans toward a countrypolitan sound, and \u201cExtreme Pleasure\u201d is knotty, expressive blues. A Smith solo spotlight, \u201cAt Long Last\u201d is a sublime flight of jazz fancy.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, while there\u2019s a tightly composed feel to all of the album\u2019s ten original tracks, every single cut is the product of real-time improvisation. \u201cWe didn\u2019t come in with any material,\u201d Hunter admits. He says the explicit goal was to tell a story without words. \u201cWe just got together\u2026 and played.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter had high hopes for the sessions at Greensboro\u2019s Earthtones Studio, but even he is astounded by the results. \u201cThere\u2019s an insane lot of guitar records,\u201d he admits. \u201cBut there aren\u2019t people out there like Jubu, with that phrasing, that lineage, and that deep history of the guitar vernacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Pugh and his label are doing what they can to get the word out about Jubu<\/i>. Pugh enthuses about the \u201cone time \u2013 and one time only \u2013 organic nature of the improvisation.\u201d Charlie Hunter will rave about it to anyone who\u2019ll listen. \u201cI felt it was important to make this record,\u201d he says. But after recording and releasing the superb and wordless Jubu<\/i>, the album\u2019s namesake is ultimately leaving the music to speak for itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renowned guitarist releases bravura solo debut, won\u2019t talk about it Jubu Smith has made a career out of applying his considerable talents to the creative pursuits of other artists. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,41,49],"tags":[5480,5483],"class_list":["post-28529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-interview","category-new-release","tag-charlie-hunter","tag-jubu-smith","cat-9-id","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28531,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28529\/revisions\/28531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}