Chris Bullock is perhaps best known as the sax player for Snarky Puppy, the 5-time Grammy-winning funk-world-jazz fusion band. Chris leans most heavily on tenor sax with the band but also hits flute regularly and occasionally on soprano sax and bass clarinet. His solos are always adventurous and powerful. On the recent Empire Central album, he penned one of the funkiest tunes called East Bay.
On Chris’ prior solo release, Boomtown, he relied heavily on keys and electronic jams for a very modern musical journey. Now, with the release of his latest album, he takes it back to some straight ahead funky jazz with seven absolutely super cool tracks. This one should be on everyone’s playlist. Here’s a deep dive track-by-track rundown with Chris’ own commentary in the call out boxes!
‘Radio Child’ is the next step in the creative journey of Chris Bullock. This album celebrates the discoveries he made early in his life while exploring the radio airwaves and the music it provided. The variety of sounds and music from around the world led him to disregard genre lines and seek out the good music that truly spoke to his ears and personal tastes.
These seven songs are a collection of creative truths, choosing to be present in the now, trusting the process, and doubling down. The unconventional nature of combining certain instruments and production choices leads to some new musical possibilities heard throughout the album. These were created using a lot of keyboards and synthesizers, drum machines, woodwinds, the human voice, percussion, and the drum set. I genuinely hope this music will speak to you and bring whatever it may to your life and listening pleasures.
Track By Track
So High is such a fun tune to start out with. The initial horn shout is distinctive and memorable and Chris’ solos throughout are sharp and classic. The keys actually produce some vocalese sounding sections and it’s a very joyous tune. The video provides removes any nuance to the title as the imagery depicts Chris flying and floating in the form of various organisms. I very much enjoy watching and listening to this one.
This song is so high, you dig? So lofty & towering. The melody, intentionally crafted to be an ear worm, poignant and reminiscent of that moment when the dopamine rush kicks in. Oh, that ecstatic feeling. Whatever your poison or what you’re into, this song’s a musical tribute to that precious moment in time. It moves and twists through different tonalities, provoking this subtle lift, drawn out through the entire composition. So high.
- Chris Bullock – tenor sax, soprano sax, flute, mellotron, fender rhodes
- Frank LoCrasto – piano, and fender rhodes
- Corey Bernhard – hammond and moog jupiter
- Jharis Yokley – drumset
- Chris Bullock – tenor sax, flute, mellotron, fender rhodes, moog DFAM, roland tr-08
- Frank LoCrasto – piano, prophet 5, arp string ensemble
- Corey Bernhard – moog jupiter
- Jharis Yokley – drumset
7 AM kicks off with the keys sounding like a Heavy Weather (Weather Report),opening followed by the main sax line sounding like a wake up alarm. The ongoing ambience feels morning, perhaps coffee brewing, a bit of a commute. The song keeps a good pace with a bit of a drum and electronic synth jam bridge before the return to the theme for the fadeout.
People often say the fun happens late. I’ve discovered the flip side of that is true as well. The fun can also happen early. This song was first conceived during a period in my life when I flipped my normal daily schedule to explore the AM hours and what they could offer to the creative process. This song developed into a sci-fi film-esque sonic exploration. The tune was conceived and tracked live in the studio. During the editing process, I decided to integrate a few of my drum machines into the musical environment. The final outcome was to explore how those electronic sounds could coexist with what we captured as a band. Dig the hidden drum solo at the end, accompanied by a slew of spacey synth sounds.
Late Summer (As You Slip Away) starts both light and airy with some flute work but also with some heavier, more ominous bass. The main melody is sax driven with a nice relaxed pace and then a shift to soprano sax and some conversational interplay with bass, drums and keys. Just past the midpoint, there’s an extended jazz piano interlude that segues back to the main theme up to the end. It fades out with drums and a quick piano chord – overall nicely done.
For the first time in my life, I wrote a song that was prophetic. Not all of my songs are autobiographical, but this one began to feel that way while looking
back on the creation of it and how it evolved. That song is called “Late Summer.” It represents and narrates a sonic exploration of two individuals’ relationship unraveling, unbeknownst to them. There’s a bittersweet feeling throughout, captured in the layers of woodwinds and the interplay of the drums with the band, along with the solos heard from the soprano sax & piano. The song fades into the last chord, without any real resolution.
- Chris Bullock – soprano sax, flute, bass flute, mellotron
- Frank Locrasto – piano, prophet 5, clavinet
- Corey Bernhard – roland juno
- Logan Roth – key bass
- Jharis Yokley – drumset
- Chris Bullock – flute, bass flute
- Keita Ogawa – percussion
Let’sssss (KwerkOut Intro) is a beautiful multi-flute and percussion short intro for the next tune KwerkOut, very elegant.
This song was written as a tribute & celebration of one of my all-time favorite musicians and humans, the great Carlos Malta. I met him on my first visit to Brazil some years ago. We became instant friends through our shared obsession with music and revelry. Getting to know his music and vibe encouraged me to explore some new avenues of music and creativity. When I wrote this flute chamber piece I soon discovered it could required the quirky, inventive percussive sounds and personality of another friend and Brazil-o-phile, Keita Ogawa. The title comes from a phrase often heard with exuberance from Carlos, ‘let’sssss!!’
KwerkOut picks up on the intro but with sax augmenting the flute. It alternates between the main theme and a very airy and upbeat second theme. Chris breaks into a short soprano solo that gives way to a mimicing synth solo and then they sync before Chris and the synth alternate again. The tune soothes and soars simultaneously – it definitely has some Snarky Puppy vibes naturally since bandmates Jusin Stanton and Keita Ogawa are in the mix!
During the pandemic, when much of the world was laying low, numerous musicians sought novel ways to engage online. Among them, one of my favorite musician/composers, Kurt Rosenwinkel, posed a composition challenge through his social media platform. This song sprang forth from the seeds of that initial musical exercise, a work out that Rosenwinkel generously shared with his audience.
In the heart of this composition resides an abundance of musical interplay, born from the collaboration of these extraordinary musicians who participated in this
recording. The bridge and concluding section offer a nod to the nostalgic sentiments and vibrant essence of the hip-hop and groove music that I fell in love with during my early teen years.
- Chris Bullock – soprano sax, flute, bass flute, mellotron, prophet 6, roland tr-08
- Frank LoCrasto – prophet 5, clavinet
- Corey Bernhard – moog jupiter, roland juno
- Justin Stanton – prophet 6
- Jharis Yokley – drumset
- Keita Ogawa – percussion
- JSWISS – vocals
- Chanel Fetaz – vocals
- Chris Bullock – vocals, soprano sax, bass clarinet, moog DFAM, drum programming, roland tr-08
- Frank LoCrasto – prophet 5
- Corey Bernhard – roland sh-1000
- Jharis Yokley – drumset
We’ve Got Bars starts with a pinging sound, maybe the signal before Chris plays a lead intermittent sax with some hip hop bass and drum. JSWISS enters with the rap vocals, ending with the title line. The tune is a bit of an acid jazz mix that ultimately closes out with the title line again and a fade out synth.
What initially began as a live, studio improvisation blossomed into this trippy musical odyssey. At its inception, I wrote a repetitive, ambient beat on my
trusted OP-1 synth device that became the foundation in which we recorded along too. A majority of what you hear was all improvised in that moment. The only pre-composed melody and chorus line, “we’ve got bars,” echoed persistently in my mind as the band shared in a musical dialogue and let the melodies flow. This recording is a product of three adventurous takes fused into one wild track. The tune found its ultimate completeness when I invited the great NYC-based rapper and wordsmith, JSWISS, to join us. His verses seamlessly merged with the band’s improvisations and vibe. “We’ve Got Bars;” do you?
SO HiGH (er) is the bookend to the opener and is fuller, slower and a brighter. I features either vocals or synths that sound like a “bop, bop” lyric. It has and extended warped, fade out from the synth. Just a very fun ending to a terrific album.
My love of music has made me constantly seek that next hit, so to say. While conceptualizing this album and the overall musical structure, I felt the creative
urge framing Radio Child with two distinct renditions of the same song. As the final touches were nearing completion on Radio Child, my composition, “So High” was perpetually stuck in my mind. It epitomizes what I think of as a sticky melody, one that refuses to let go.
I recalled that we had tracked a live studio version, intentionally much slower than the original, to experiment with the song. One night, while enhanced by some THC, this seemingly discarded slow version evolved into this psychedelic version. Guided by this inspiration, I modified the live take with some of my favorite instruments and musical combinations. Those heard include a flute choir, mellotron voices, and the classic Prophet synth. This is So High(er).
- Chris Bullock – flute, bass flute, bass clarinet, roland se-02, mellotron, prophet 6, drum programming
- Frank LoCrasto – piano, prophet 5
- Jharis Yokley – drumset