Local Bass Phenom, Stephen Arnold, Releases New Album at the Arts Barn by Cindy Majane
D.C. jazz bassist and composer Stephen Arnold met with me recently, to talk to me about his music and new album. Until Now is thoughtful, reflective jazz with folk, rock and soul influences. Arnold will play his album-release concert October 14th at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg.
Arnold grew up in almost-rural western Massachusetts, listening to his father’s finger-style guitar and folk music. He described a love of popular music, jazz, rock, musical theatre, and Motown. Originally auditioning for The George Washington University on classical piano, he later studied the upright bass with Herman Burney Jr. In addition to his instructors, fellow students (many of whom are close friends to this day) helped him to learn to play jazz, taking him to jams and hotspots where he got his first gigs. Arnold soon became what CapitalBop described as “…one of the most versatile bassists and side musicians on the D.C. jazz scene.”
Arnold’s band Sea Change was formed in February 2018 in Washington, D.C., when he was asked to lead a band at the Göethe-Institut’s Jazz in the Basement series. His 2020 debut album as a composer, Sea Change, was a finalist for jazz album of the year at the WAMMIE Awards and was named the #4 jazz album of 2020 by local jazz blog CapitalBop. Of his bandmates (Sarah Marie Hughes/saxophone, Federico Gonzalez Pena/piano, Nelson Dougherty/electric guitar, and Keith Butler, Jr./drums), he says he’s drawn to collaborators with their own personality and style, and describes them as “really sensitive and open to feedback, none of them are in a box, you know… It’s like having a family of friends. I feel really lucky that I’ve been able to maintain those connections, so that we can say something really heartfelt.”
During the COVID lockdown, Arnold returned home to Massachusetts and picked up his dad’s old Gibson, playing it for hours a day, inspired by Mississippi John Hurt. Returning to the D.C. area, he started playing at local clubs and composing again, creating the music of his new album. Ever versatile, Arnold plays acoustic guitar in “The Prayer,” available as an EP and on Until Now.
Arnold likens Until Now to a very personal jazz opera describing the arc of his relationship with bandmate Sarah Marie Hughes: the bass and saxophone delivering arias, with a chorus of piano, guitar and drums. The suite opens with the optimistic, bright-eyed, almost naïve joy of a new relationship, carrying through chaotic moments of intense conflict, and resolution. The music was created in the moment as the relationship was unfolding. For the album, Arnold selected the pieces that best told the story of his relationship.
Today, Arnold says he feels profoundly lucky to have had both the relationship and the music. “It really was lightning in a bottle; it was emotionally very difficult for both of us. We’re all playing ourselves. It’s really special and unique, vulnerable. It’s a really scary thing to put down on wax… I think that’s one of the beautiful things about jazz; at the same time that you’re hearing the music, if you know a little bit about the people, you’re getting that story in addition to their playing. That’s life…”
This album has what Arnold describes as a “cathartic slow burn… If you listen to it with an open mind, you might have some catharsis, listening to the story of what we went through. I hope it makes people feel good. I think part of the reason [musicians] do this, is we don’t really know how to express ourselves verbally or otherwise, in a way that is satisfying for us, to express the depth of what we’re trying to say. As musicians, we need that. The stuff that was hard didn’t stop being hard, but the music is there. There’s this joyous feeling, where I can really just put it in the notes and feel supported by my friends [playing with me]. It’s the world that our emotions live in… We have really authentic teamwork that you can’t fake. I hope that comes across.”
It does, Steve, it really does.
Stephen Arnold & Sea Change, Album Release Concert October 14th, 8pm at the Arts Barn.
Information and tickets at https://gburg.md/3PQ5gpZ or call the box office 301-258-6394.