The Los Angeles Suite
April 2019 Los Angeles;
My role: Executive Producer —
Interdisciplinary workshop at Optimist Studios, Los Angeles. A process-based celebration of community and creativity in times of division. Four days and nights outside the confines of commercial enterprise.
I curated the line-up, negotiated agreements with involved management and publishing companies, managed the record production and publishing rights, licensed the record to a record label, and organized the promotional campaign.
Participants —
Zaire Black, vōx, Morgan Sorne, Grayson, Addie Hamilton, Sekou Andrews, The String Theory, Jens Kuross, Shana Halligan, FreQ Nasty, Robot Koch, Grayson and 50+ superb musicians and singers.
The story —
In cooperation with the artist collective The String Theory from Berlin and the LA-based production company California Music I gathered 70 performers, singers, songwriters, musicians and composers from Los Angeles and Berlin at Optimist Studios in LA with the intention to compose, arrange, rehearse and record a whole album of 12 songs in four days — with total strangers.
We set out to produce a larger than life album that displays the immensity of the LA music scene and paints a picture of the diverse cultures that coexist in the city.
Since most professional creators in LA are used to having to hustle at all times and putting themselves first, we decided to use the occasion to set an example; we challenged ourselves and the participants to let go of the commercial pressures of the music industry for a while and rediscover the reason why everyone got into making music in the first place — community and creativity.
This intense workshop became what can only be described as a legendary happening. By devoting their time, talent and energy with the sole intention to simply be creative together, everyone did what felt best, not what would best help their careers. Paradoxically, and beautifully, the workshop turned out to become the starting point for further collaborations, one of them leading to a Grammy nomination.
The songs on The Los Angeles Suite explore the outskirts of electronic and classical music and pop, transcend the boundaries of genre and tell the colorful, gritty story of the city of Los Angeles and her people. Before the historical backdrop of a wall being built between the United States and Mexico the project became a passionate homage to overcoming borders.
For your consideration; The Los Angeles Suite has been submitted to the Recording Academy for a Grammy 2022 consideration in the category Best New Age Album.
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