Los Angeles-based alto saxophonist Nicole McCabe, a 2023/4 Next Jazz Legacy artist(*), says of her highly-praised album, Mosaic (Ghost Note Records): “Finding different concepts for the album,…. putting them all together on the record reminded me of a mosaic, how it’s made of all these different pieces.”
Nicole McCabe is an extremely versatile musician, with each new release in her growing discography revealing different facets of her creativity. Having moved to Los Angeles in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s safe to say (thanks to her instrumental chops and savvy social media navigation) that she has truly made her mark on the West Coast scene as part of a busy community of adventurous and highly individual musicians.
Dolphin Hyperspace, the post-internet electro-jazz duo which she formed with bassist and partner Logan Kane released What Is My Porpoise? on Dox Records earlier this year. It draws on McCabe’s childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist, and the duo’s playful and unpretentious brand of fusion places them firmly amongst the current wave of artists including KNOWER, Sam Gendel and Jacob Mann.
Orbit (2022), the self-released EP she wrote in collaboration with Angeleno beatmakers Vooo and 10.4 Rog is a thoroughly convincing take on progressive hip hop.
And then there’s Nicole’s work under her own name, recorded with a variety of ensemble members but with each release possessing a quintessentially modernistic post-bop edge. Mosaic, her latest album which we’ve arranged to discuss here, represents the strongest and most persuasive attempt to pull together different colours of her personality and combine them in her work.
This aspect of bringing together disparate strands was where our conversation started. “Something I’m working a lot on in my music is just being more honest with myself,” she tells me. “[Finding] different concepts for the album… putting them all together on the record reminded me of a mosaic, how it’s made of all these different pieces.”
McCabe’s intrepid musical journey, which has seen her flourish out of Portland State University and USC Thornton School of Music into one of the West Coast’s most in-demand players, offers a contemporary take on a long school of bebop tradition. “My foundation is Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley, and then later came Lee Konitz, Gary Bartz and Kenny Garrett… That’s at the core of what I’m doing.” She plans to continue exploring more personal themes and experiences in her future albums, following the vulnerable approach displayed in her recent LP.
Social media has played a small but significant role in the musician’s life since moving to LA in 2020, as she highlights the importance of digital networking: “I couldn’t really be a part of the community [then], but I’ve made so many friends just from posting videos… Once it was time to go out and play, a lot of people already knew who I was.” Despite that, she’s still surprised at the extent to which strangers approach her with compliments and job offers – “I connected with a pianist from Hungary, like two days ago…” – largely agreeing that it’s important to strike a balance between creating content online and making music in person.
Reflecting on her discography so far, Mosaic came about from Nicole wanting to create a more cohesive sound across her projects, incorporating more improvisation and post-production elements into her work. Not only that, the record displays a clear-cut sensitivity in handling personal topics, such as her uncle’s death from an overdose (‘Tight Grip’), discovering more about her grandmother’s life in central Europe (‘Derecske’) as well as dedicating a two-part suite to the women who’ve shaped her (‘Force of Good/Architect’). “It feels very vulnerable to put work out that’s so close to me… Things I wouldn’t have known unless I’d asked. That made me feel like I should be more aware of asking questions to my family, not fully realising what’s going on in everyone else’s lives.”
These intimate themes are a far cry from the inflatable sea creatures and stylised stage entrances she’s developed with Dolphin Hyperspace. “It’s nice to have a body of work that feels personal to me out in the world for people to connect with. I’m looking forward to continuing to search.” Is there room for these contrastingly weighty and wackier sides to co-exist, I ask her? “I’d like to find ways to incorporate that into all my work, because I do write serious music… I do give myself the freedom to be silly, and I’m a very funny person – I think my friends would describe me that way!”
In all, it’s her charismatic and well-rounded personality that also makes the saxophonist stand out as a bandleader. In order to achieve their unscripted moments of striking improvisation, Nicole often tells her bandmates to ignore the chart in front of them in favour of their own feelings and intuition. There’s a point during Mosaic (at the end of ‘Tight Grip, to be precise) where the music combusts in a fiery ball of unbridled energy: “That’s one of my favourite parts on the record; everyone just went right there with me – talk about being supported! I told them I wanted to go to a different place, but I didn’t tell them exactly what was going to happen.” And yet, through their whole-hearted commitment to these spontaneous interactions and even without a map, her group reaches its final destination all the same.
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Mosaic features McCabe with her trio of Logan Kane on bass, Tim Angulo on drums and Julius Rodriguez on piano and Rhodes. Guests on individual tracks are Jon Hatamiya (trombone), Aaron Janik (trumpet) and AACM legend Jeff Parker (guitar) who also produced the album.
LINKS: Nicole McCabe’s website
(*)Nicole McCabe Next Jazz Legacy artist page at New Music USA
Mosaic (Ghost Note Records) on Bandcamp
