Meet Freddie Bryant

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Freddie Bryant. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Freddie below.

Freddie, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience and many other positive traits and blessings have been fostered by and passed down from my parents. They are positive examples/role models in many ways.

They were a very unique couple. First, my father was 30 years older than my mother and born in 1901. He was a pacifist during WW I and by WW II was in the fight against fascism heading the Hollywood Canteen as vice-president along with Betty Davis as president. He played in the White House many times for three different presidents and was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Committee because of his leftist sympathies and work accompanying Paul Robeson.

He was a brilliant musician (pianist) and married my mother in 1959 when interracial marriages were illegal in many states. My father was white and my mother black. He was from Connecticut and she was born in Harlem Hospital. She was also a brilliant musician (singer) and won many awards and had acclaim without having gone to college or music conservatory.

Growing up in the 70’s with a senior/aged father in a mixed family gave me insight into some of the darkest parts of our society. I saw racism in a way that was unique to many of my friends in Manhattan and I was keenly aware of the struggles – macro and micro that one has to deal with as a person of color in the U.S. but also as a musician. My parents were also activists from being community organizers to marching in protests and performing at rallies and fund raisers and they instilled a heightened awareness of inequality, a vision of the struggle towards justice and freedom born in the Civil Rights era. They were examples I could see first hand.

Although I grew up in a “successful” musical family I knew that economically we were lower income. We had a middle-class life on a subsistence income. I knew that every month the bank account approached zero. In addition to working hard to continue performing (booking concerts, rehearsing, touring) my mother had at least four other jobs teaching at music schools and once in the NYC Public Schools and she also started a non-profit/free music, dance and drama school for the rural poor in upstate NY.

My father, although in his 70s never gave up music and kept teaching private students and at a couple music schools as well. He eventually died when I was 19 in my first year of college. He was 82 and had lost his eyesight. Despite that he continued to give house concerts. Music was always in his heart and soul. He was resilient as a musician and as a father. He was there every day I came home from school and was a gentle soul and completely supportive.

My mother, on the other hand, ended up the main money earner and had to support a family of four and take care of an aged husband. She eventually retired from music at the age of 50 and got a job as a school secretary until she retired. That she stopped singing was a tragedy in the eyes of her friends, family and fans. She told people she still sang, but only in church (in the pews and not as a soloist). She was resilient as a mother, was completely supportive and still spread joy wherever she was.

As a young person entering professional musical life I knew the trials and tribulations that are constant. Luckily I had two wonderful examples of how to deal with adversity while being supportive and loving parents and members of the community – whether our neighborhood, schools, city, country and internationally.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
The most obvious professional label I have is “Jazz Guitarist.” https://www.freddiebryant.com/ gives a good overview of my work. As with all labels, there is a lot more that the label does not explain.

I have a masters in Classical Guitar from Yale School of Music. I’ve toured in 55 countries and played music with people in most of those countries including: Indian classical musicians, African singers, oud players, traditional Arab groups, Cuban musicians and klezmer bands. And there is a deep focus on Brazilian music that one can see in my CDs and compositions.

I always played both the acoustic and electric guitars from a young age. I kept the “Classical” and “Jazz” worlds separate for a long time but in the early 90’s began playing Brazilian music on my classical guitar. That opened me to connecting the two instruments (electric/acoustic) with a blending of styles and genres. What emerged was my group “KALEIDOSCOPE.”

Kaleidoscope began with the blending of jazz, classical and Brazilian/Latin music with other “World” influences – flamenco, African, Middle-Eastern and Indian. In 2003 I toured nine countries: Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Oman, U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and India. That tour opened my world view further and led to some wonderful collaborations. Our shows are like a rhythmic kaleidoscope with grooves from jazz, blues, funk to music influenced by the African Diaspora.

I am very proud of my last project, “UPPER WEST SIDE LOVE STORY – a song cycle.” It’s an opus of 16 songs/92 minutes, like a jazz opera that focuses on the iconic neighborhood where I grew up. It delves into the history and personalities and gentrification over the last 60 years and also is a personal account of childhood, family, love and loss. The band is an all-star cast of nine musicians with an amazing singer. The use of strings gives it a classical timbre at times but the jazz horn players and rhythm section continue the multicultural grooves that Kaleidoscope is known for. As was written in the Downbeat review it “delivers blues, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban, Afrobeat, reggae and spoken word.”

It is available on all platforms and for more info visit: https://upperwestsidelovestory.com/

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Inspiration – starting with and always connected to something that moves me emotionally Focus – from hard work to clarity and peace (in the sense of openness from empty/non-judgmental meditative approach)
Patience – learning from all experiences whether successful or not…trying again along with evolution to new ideas

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryū Suzuki

Simply put “Beginner’s Mind” is where I like to compose and improvise from. It’s not as easy as stated but the process of letting go of preconceived expectations is a blessing.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
CD cover pic by Warren B. Lee CD illustrations by Zoe Matthiessen Promo pic with 3 guitars by John Davenport

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