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May 22-28, 2008
buzz@boulderweekly.com
Working overtime
Jazz drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic discusses his nonstop
schedule and his collaboration with Tom Morello and Boots Riley
by Dave Kirby
The evolution of hip-hop
Rapper Y-Love is a Hasidic Jew who delivers his message of unity to the
world in five languages
by Gene Ira Katz
 Working overtime
Jazz drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic discusses his nonstop
schedule and his collaboration with Tom Morello and Boots Riley
by Dave Kirby
It was only a handful of days after JazzFest when we happened to catch Stanton Moore, one of the Big Easy’s favorite musical sons, already halfway across the country in between gigs on the West Coast with his Trio.
Apart from the drumming — chunky and shuffly and usually right on top — the guy is just a working blur. We asked how JazzFest went.
“It was a little… hectic. Basically doing 19 gigs in 11 days, plus sound checks, rehearsals, interviews, having houseguests in from out of town... And then the Monday after it was all over, we went up to New York to do the Jammys with Galactic. Then out to the West Coast to start the Trio tour.”
Moore’s latest release features him anchoring his Trio — Robert Walter on keys (mostly B3), Will Bernard on guitar — on Emphasis! (on Parenthesis), the lineup’s second outing and a jamjazz offering leaning into funk and downtown club hooks, Moore unleashing his irresistible jazz chops in between martial 4/4 workouts and punctuated melodic shout outs.
We especially enjoyed the slippery “(Smell My) Special Ingredients,” the speakeasy grease of “(Late Night At The) Maple Leaf” and the last-call wooziness of “Wissions (Of Vu).” Good stuff — equal parts rock, funk, improv and cerebria.
“Thanks, yeah. The band is more of a unit now than on the first album. Robert’s really become a very strong writer — that makes it a lot easier to collaborate.
“But I really wanted to write more as a group on this record. I think we’re starting to establish our identity, and I wanted the writing to really reflect that. Just wanted to make it a more pure thing, do as much live in the studio as we could, no overdubs… none of that studio trickeration.
“Robert and I met a few days before we started recording, just threw some ideas at each other. Once we’re in the studio, we’re making up parts and hooks, tying ideas together. It’s not so much just coming up with riffs, it’s trying to flesh out the whole idea of a piece.”
These pieces must come from a lot of different places, between all the different projects these guys breeze through.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s the way it happens. You play something for one group of people and it doesn’t stick. Play it for someone else and they love it.”
We couldn’t help but ask: How does the guy manage to compartmentalize? Mile-wide funk grooves with Galactic, slippery-assed riff-jazz with Robert Walter, fusion chops with Garaj a Trois. How do you keep one greasy side dish from sliding into the next?
“I’ve been so many different things for so long now, it’s pretty easy, whether it’s Corrosion of Conformity or Garaj A Trois or backing up Irma Thomas. You just want to concentrate on what works best for the song. I mean, even within the same project, there are different things happening, different types of songs. You just have to focus on what your role is to make the song as good as it can be. It all comes down to the song.
“There’s little things you can do — different drums, more or fewer drums, different cymbals, stuff like that. But it’s basically all from the same thing: blues-based or jazz-based music. It’s not like we’re trying to play Eastern European folk or Indian classical music or something.”
Moore’s latest project is a trio record with RATM (and recent Springsteen cohort) Tom Morello and rapper Boots Riley, called Street Sweepers, slated for release sometime this year on Epic.
“It’s very cool, very hip. I heard some rough mixes of it. I like to affectionately call this “riff-rap,” but it’s basically what you’d expect from the three of us. The ball’s in Tom’s court, but I’d love to see it get released this year. I think people will dig it.”
And when is Galactic heading back into the studio?
“Galactic’s always in. We’re working on putting together a new record.”
Any word on what it’ll sound like?
“Ah… can’t divulge that, sorry,” he said, chuckling with a hint of menace. “You’ll just have to wait.”
On the Bill
Stanton Moore Trio will perform at 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder, 303-443-3399.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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 The evolution of hip-hop
Rapper Y-Love is a Hasidic Jew who delivers his message of unity
to the world in five languages
by Gene Ira Katz
Hip-hop is not just a musical art form anymore. It is a global philosophy that reaches across language and cultural barriers in ways that defy simplistic categorization. From its humble beginnings as an underground movement in New York, it has become a mainstream phenomenon that constantly finds new, exciting opportunities to reinvent itself. In many ways, hip-hop has evolved into a cultural revolution.
Therefore it should come as no surprise that some of the most innovative hip-hop artists in the world are now dropping rhymes about theology.
Yitzchak Jordan, aka Y-Love, began rapping as a way to explore the scriptures while attending yeshiva in Jerusalem after formally converting to Hasidic Judaism in 2000. “My first study partner was an emcee from Long Island [David Singer, aka Cels-1], and we used to use hip-hop freestyle and go back and forth as we were learning. Music really brought the scriptures to life for us, and it was a good way to learn.”
While some of his schoolmates questioned why he would bring a non-Jewish type of music into a holy place, Y-Love says that he can still remember Talmudic lessons he learned back then thanks to his unorthodox study methods.
Another one of the students at the school happened to be Erez Safar, aka DJ Erez Handler, who would go on to create the Jewish music website Shemspeed.com, along with the Brooklyn-based Modular Moods Records label. Handler had produced a show on a college radio station in Maryland, so whenever their paths crossed, Y-Love would throw out some rap lines, and, eventually, Handler invited the budding artist to visit him after his studies were completed. By 2005, Y-Love was signed to Modular Moods, with Handler as his manager. Since that time, his skills have grown, and Y-Love has established a himself as a unique voice in the hip-hop community. “What I’m trying to do is distinctly global-oriented hip-hop with a higher purpose,” he says. “I’m using hip-hop to elevate, not to tranquilize.”
With his new CD, This Is Babylon, Y-Love introduces a distinctive take on rap, with lyrics in Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic and Latin, as well as English, designed to promote a more unified world. He calls it “global hip-hop.”
“My main existential issue is unity. If there’s one thing I’d want to be remembered as, it is as somebody who built bridges between people and not walls, as somebody who broke down boundaries instead of built up divisions. I am very anti-prejudice, anti-racist, anti-xenophobia, anti-anything that’s going to cause divisions between people. That’s what I hope to transmit with my music.”
His songs — many of which are literally approved by rabbis — demonstrate more than mere lip service to his message. “I have a Palestinian emcee on the album; I have an Israeli emcee on the album. That concept is very essential to my art: trying to bring peace in any way that I can.”
In addition, Y-Love feels strongly about promoting linguistic diversity. “The languages I use on the album are all holy languages to various religions. So I bring all the holy languages together to show that people who believe, regardless of their religion, are going to be relatively on the same page.”
Produced by Jake Break, This Is Babylon may help to propel Y-Love into the kind of popular recognition enjoyed by breakthrough orthodox Jewish rapper Matisyahu, who has been seen on MTV and extensively covered by the press. However, Y-Love is reticent when it comes to fame and media coverage. “No one controls who blows up when,” he says. “I’ll say that’s in the hands of God.”
This will be his first visit to Colorado, and Y-Love is looking forward to bringing his message to a new audience. “I’ve heard that Boulder has a nice little art scene: artists, musicians — you know, the cool people out there. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Expecting to be on stage with Jake Break, Y-Love hopes that the audience comes away with a lot more than driving beats and rhythmic grooves. “I would hope that after seeing my show, people would feel empowered inside themselves. I would hope that everybody would leave my show feeling like, ‘Hey, wow, I am important. I do have self worth.’ Like I say in my song ‘Bump,’ the people be equal / we all see the light. I hope that people recognize their equality and value and see some light.”
On the Bill
Y-Love and The Motet will perform at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 26, at the b.side Lounge, 2017 13th St., Boulder, 303-473-9463.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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