F2K Ep. 15: Antibalas Trumpeter Jordan McLean

Fun 2 Know Podcast

Jordan McLean on today's show, the composer, Antibalas trumpeter and co-founder of the System Dialing record label. Antibalas is the Brooklyn Afrobeat band that took the lead in re-popularizing the classic sound of Fela Kuti's revolutionary music beginning in the late 90s. Antibalas' success and McLean's probing playing has presented numerous musical opportunities for the trumpeter, including collaborations with David Byrne, Angélique Kidjo. Daptone Producer Mark Ronson, The Roots, St. Vincent, TV on the Radio and Valerie June. But it was his collaboration with jazz legend Ornette Coleman that led to this discussion. In 2009, McLean, Amir Zev, and Adam Holzman, partners in the band Droid, worked together with Ornette on a series of recordings that would be released late in 2014 under the title “New Vocabulary.” The recordings brought Coleman's saxophone into soundscapes unlike anything he had recorded over his 40 odd year career. I heard a few jazz purists complain, but that's certainly nothing new when it comes to the music of Ornette and I found the record to be hugely enjoyable, and not just for another rare chance to hear the octogenarian blow his horn. I found McLean to be an exceedingly earnest gentlemen and we hit it off with a great, free flowing conversation. He has a seeming ocean of varied music to draw from and we'll feature excerpts of his work with Antibalas, Droid, his solo trumpet and electronic project World Gone Mad and McLean's Piano Music & Song Trio. Over the course of our discussion we talk about McLean's NYC education, the early years of Antibalas, Lily Tomlin, McLean's time spent playing in the groundbreaking Tony-award winning Broadway play FELA!, a musical drama set during Fela last show at his legendary Nigerian nightclub The Shrine as well as McLean's collaboration with the great Ornette Coleman.