How did you come up with the title for your album “Rising Tide”?

I don’t usually know what I would name it until I hear the finished product. To me, rising tide is a metaphor for a new beginning - a new beginning of our continued chapters of life. I believe that this is the time to define who we are and, for those who are already defined, to sharpen the definition to become what you’re intended to do with your energy. A lot of my perspective also comes from the spiritual engagement of my surroundings.

For example, in my first album, Elevation, there were a lot of motivations and romances that played an important part in my experience of building the album. For my vinyl record, Worlds Collide, it was more introspective with raw emotions. So, for this time, I want to capture the maturing of my sound and I am ready to change up so I can satisfy my own growth. In a way, this is also a new beginning for me.

Was it different to record during the pandemic?

I was searching for a different sound than what was on my previous releases.

I wanted a different instrumentation, so I went with a guitar, instead of a vibraphone. Our plan was to head straight to the recording session, therefore prior to that I made and sent a demo of myself playing the tune and piano. However, I wasn’t able to meet up and rehearse with my guitarist at the time because of Covid, so we had a rehearsal on Zoom and it turned out well. We found ways to play for each other in real time and would record on one end for each other and it sounded fantastic. When we were all in the recording session everything went smoothly, and it sounded amazing!

What lesson, if any, did you from releasing this single?

A big lesson for me is to adapt.

Releasing singles frequently seems to be the new trend. In the tradition of recording and releasing jazz music, we are used to recording a record or a CD that contains a list of tunes. I have done recording sessions back-to-back and also released music in that setting. It is fun and exciting, but I have never released a single, so it was an interesting thought process for me to throw myself into a completely different situation. Recording a single is high intensity but it is also more relaxing because I know I am only doing one thing – recording one tune with my band.

When I was recording for my EP back in 2019, we had multiple tunes to record and a lot of times we would only take one take. But this time, we had the time to develop the groove of the song and work on the shape of the track. In general, we are often spread too thin, and it is nice to have a different approach and take time to focus on only one thing.