Welcome to the Truth in Us Art, your source for conversations that connect arts, culture, and community. These are stories that matter, and I am your host, Rob Lee. Today, I'm incredibly excited to introduce my next guest, a vocalist whose music truly transcends genre. She's a soprano and a songwriter as well as creating a captivating blend of soul, jazz, and vernacular sound that makes her a force to be reckoned with. She's also the lead of the dynamic group Alicia Waller and the Excursion, and they'll be performing in the DMV this month.
Rob Lee:So please welcome my next guest, Alicia Waller. Welcome to the podcast.
Alicia Waller:Hi. Thank you so much, Rob. I'm really excited to be here.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Thank you for for coming on. Thank you for making the time. And for the listeners who are undeped or just discovering, like, you and and what your background is about, could you introduce yourself? Tell them a little bit about, like, your work, just a just a tease, just a little bit of the, you know, the tease.
Alicia Waller:A tiny bit before I launch onto the into the flip box. My name is Alicia Waller. I am a, classically trained soprano. I am a jazz vocalist, and I am a singer songwriter, and bandleader for the contemporary jazz fusion ensemble, Alicia Waller and the excursion, which is named as such because, the goal is to take you places.
Rob Lee:Wow. Is it look. Look. See, that that right there, I I don't know what else I can really do right there. The goal is to take you places.
Rob Lee:Wow.
Alicia Waller:That's what we're saying.
Rob Lee:I love it. I love it. So talk a bit about, like, you know, early experiences in music and sort of like what was the hook? What drew you to music? I see the classical music background.
Rob Lee:Where did that that fascination start, and where did that sort of shift to bringing in jazz and bringing infusion, to to your music? Is there a pivotal moment that sticks out for you?
Alicia Waller:There's a few kind of pivotal moments that led to, a couple of unexpected but very, nourishing shifts. So I I think almost every school I always make the joke, like, the girl in the school that sang down the hallways. Every school has one, and I was that. There isn't a time in my life that I was not singing. My earliest memory is actually with my parents.
Alicia Waller:My my parents have edited, asked me to edit how I tell the story, so I won't say where I was in the vehicle. But I was frequently asked to, sing, Luther Vandross, I Don't Wanna Be a Fool. And the story goes, because I do predate, like, a cell phone being in your face when you're a kid. The story goes that I sang it with such passion, and my parents got very amused by it. I really meant what I was saying.
Alicia Waller:And they from then on, I was just always kind of very much encouraged to keep singing. It was yeah. There's many other twists and turns. So I, began as just, like, someone who loves singing. I remember my aunt asked me when I was probably like five or six what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Alicia Waller:And I still remember saying I want to be a singer and her being like, Yeah, but what else? And kind of as my career is beginning to happen, I think about that moment. Because at five years old, I knew. And I think a lot of us do know who we are at those young ages. But then like So then the story gets a bit more kind of like, you know, I don't sing normal.
Alicia Waller:It's not that unpredictable. I go to school. I sing in church. Was, like, naturally attracted to, like, the awesome, like, R and B, and soul, of the, like, late nineties, early '2 thousands. Definitely also very much listened to the music that my parents were listening to.
Alicia Waller:I think that's very actually quite formative. And if you look at the way even when I look at the way that I write music now, it's very much like soul music of the seventies. Like, that's what I loved. I loved Marvin Gaye. Anytime I'm in an interview and they ask me who my favorite singer is, I always say Bobby Womack, which nobody expects, but that's Bobby Womack is my mom's favorite singer.
Alicia Waller:And as a result, I love Bobby Womack, and I just think he's, like, one of the most badass voices and, like, instrumentalists, vocalists, like musicians. He's he was really quite prolific, a wild man, but, like, an incredible musician. I love that time of diversity of instruments, again, of the '70s. The diversity of sound, you just have excellent musicianship and people really taking bold chances and telling very important social stories. And I think that that planted a seed riding along with my parents in a car at a young age.
Alicia Waller:So then, though, you go to high school. And I went to kind of a responsible high school, and was very much like we were all on the college track and that's what one was meant to do. And I was always like a little wild. Not wild. I was like a young creative.
Alicia Waller:So my head was kind of like bouncing left and right. My grades were so so at best. But I knew that I was capable. And I remember just very like being very calculated that the most plausible choice for me to get into the best school that I could was to sing my way in. So I decided, okay, We'll just, you know, do some auditions and see what happens.
Alicia Waller:I get into the University of Maryland at College Park, and I know this is like a, like, Maryland based, Baltimore based podcast. So, many of you might know that University of Maryland at College Park is a, like, banging music program. So I ended up getting in. I did get a scholarship. And I was like, okay.
Alicia Waller:The program was opera. Alright. So I'll just, you know, see what this is about. I really it was very like, I just gotta get into the best school I can because that's what the responsible, you know, expectation is. And then when I was 17 years old, my voice teacher, whose name was Carmen Balthrop, who to this day, she, recently passed away.
Alicia Waller:But to this day, she still I'm still in I still look at her as I did when I was 17. I just could not believe someone being that beautiful with such an exquisite voice, just like a beautiful killing soprano, who is a beautiful black woman. I was in awe of her, and she assigned me an aria that actually probably was a little bit premature, but I get I get where she was going. It was, from, Ma Balma Butterfly by Puccini. And, I went to the library.
Alicia Waller:I'm dating myself because, you know, YouTube was out, but it wasn't quite what it is now. So I went to the library and put the CD in.
Rob Lee:Oof.
Alicia Waller:And I did. I did. And I listened to that aria, that two and a half minute aria, probably 80 times that night. And I could not believe it actually almost brings tears to my eyes because I still remember how much I fell in love with the soprano, Leontyne Price, who was singing and with the exquisite vocal art form that is opera.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alicia Waller:And I was sold hook line and singer sinker. Like, that's what I was meant to do. That's what I was gonna be. I am so prano. I will sing Verdi.
Alicia Waller:I will sing Puccini. And that's it. And then, I moved to New York. And I was very much on the track. I loved it, but I did start to get a little itchy.
Alicia Waller:I always asked and it Like things like this happened when I was in college. I remember asking Carmen, who I referenced before, like, Could I sing this song that is traditionally sung by a man? Or like, What happens if I do like a Michael Jackson, like, but in a classical way? And I kept kind of like asking these questions that weren't quite appropriate. Like it was a little too much for a young classical singer.
Alicia Waller:So then I get to New York and you get to have a playground. And I decided to do something a little atypical. I was meant to, go to graduate school for opera, like is expected of a classical musician. But I decided to go to NYU, the Gallatin School at NYU, which just allows you to create your own program. And I started exploring music from around the world, because I thought to myself, I like the practice of interpreting songs, but I want to not only look at the continent of Europe.
Alicia Waller:I wanna look at the music of the world and, like, take the skill I learned. So then, anyways, that's when it gets a little bit quicker. That kind of takes off a little bit. I end up being invited to Portugal, for this awesome opportunity, to be featured in a, like, documentary short about my effort to, explore the musics of the world, through my lens. And then I remember being on the plane coming back, and I said to myself, you gotta write your own stuff.
Alicia Waller:If you're gonna if you're gonna legitimately lend a voice to interpreting the musics of others, you have to offer your perspective as well. And that is truly what took me finally to songwriting. Sorry for the long diatribe.
Rob Lee:No. No. No. Thank you so much, because I think it one, it's it's it's good to have folks not only share their insights, their perspectives, but also share sort of the story that goes into the foundation. And so I have a few things I want to ask that are embedded in there.
Rob Lee:And one comment I want to make, I'll ask I'll make the comment first. Because I listen to this song semi regularly and you're based in Harlem, I'm just gonna blame Bobby Womack for, you know, this the across 100 And Tenth Street. This is it's all it's all that's why you're there. It's in it's in the music. It's it's all there.
Rob Lee:So that's one. That's one thing. That's a comment there. He looked it up and I was just like, I'm, yeah, that's Bobby Womack. The other thing that comes to mind is sort of this question because I think we all have our way of going about what we do.
Rob Lee:Like, we kind of learn these different things. Like, I look back at some of my old interviews. I didn't know how to ask somebody a question or what have you and really delve in and go deep and how far is too deep and which direction to go. But you find it, but in some instances, I was perhaps taking maybe questions and adapting them or taking questions from other more seasoned interviewers and then be able to build my own voice out because I'm looking for these insights. And I have my approach to storytelling.
Rob Lee:I call it facilitating, someone else sharing their story. And there was a term that came up a few times in in your background, vernacular sound, vernacular music. Talk a bit about that. What what do what do we have here?
Alicia Waller:Yeah. That is my, you know, that is, poignantly listed in my bio. It is a term that I use to express what is essentially understood as world music. The reason why I don't particularly, or the reason why I try to veer away from the term world music is because to me, it kind of creates an Us versus them. It tends to be very US centered.
Alicia Waller:So, there's the music of the West and or of The United States, and then there's just everyone else. And really, well, there are many cultures within The United States as we well know. But we're all All cultures offer something equally important to our kind of human storytelling effort through sound. So I use the term vernacular music to kind of express that it is a singularly identifiable expression of sound through culture, through a given culture, and that we all have them and to kind of equate them, if that makes sense.
Rob Lee:It does. It does. And, you know, thinking thinking from a world citizen, you're thinking from that perspective. You you touched on the travel component. You touched on sort of having, you know, this diverse background in music and in sound, and I think that that definitely goes together.
Rob Lee:I'm almost waiting for because I heard a little accent there. I'm almost waiting for, like, oh, I'm also a, you know, a polyglot as well. I was like, all right.
Alicia Waller:I am. Oh, you called it.
Rob Lee:We see our own. I mean, I'm right now in my duolingo. I have six different classes I'm taking.
Alicia Waller:Yes. What are you studying?
Rob Lee:Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, French.
Alicia Waller:Awesome. I haven't so I'm good with the romance languages. I haven't actually veered outside of them. But, yeah, that's awesome.
Rob Lee:And I and I think it's something about it that opens up the pathways of of one's mind and how they approach something creatively. I I'm diving into it. The one I've spent the most time in is is Japanese. And I have a friend who Japanese American, and it was an attempt to better connect with him and to enjoy the anime I'm watching in a different way. And it's about connection for me, and it just opens up how I think and how I go about what I'm doing here and even where I'm maybe getting insights for some of these questions and these perspectives that I'm inserting in this podcast.
Rob Lee:So as it relates to having, you know, now I'm just free jazzing, as it relates to having having, you know, your background and your interest, how does, like, sort of that international approach, like being local, being based where you're at, but having sort of a mind and a footing outside of, you know, sort of The US involve, like, maybe how you approach your songwriting, how you approach music, how you approach your career?
Alicia Waller:I do. There's, one, just going back to your, what you were saying about better connecting with your Japanese American friend. I always say when you learn a language, that's a million more people you get to talk to, which is like, you know, you know what I'm saying? Which is pretty cool. And to your point that you were just getting to, it does kind of, it broadens the, it broadens your expectations.
Alicia Waller:I think it broadens your expectations. I think that's the way to put it. We can, we can as human beings, limit ourselves sometimes to what we know and what we're familiar with. So the further you venture out from home, I tend to feel, the more you you experience what you don't know. And then the more you, experience what you don't know, your outlook becomes slightly more broadened because you've now learned something else new.
Alicia Waller:So for me, I I am a black American woman, and I am practicing in the soul and jazz tradition. Like, I I know what I'm doing. But I also know that this story it it's important to me to communicate and and navigate that this particular cultural expression is part of a larger, like, African diaspora. You know? So it's not like to me, black music does not mean soul, jazz, and r and b.
Alicia Waller:Black music is like a broad, beautiful, global, culturally diverse, linguistically diverse sets of many, many, many musics. And I find it kind of maybe, again, as a black American woman, it's, we, you know, out very much of our history was stolen from us.
Rob Lee:Sure.
Alicia Waller:I think that there's also maybe a little bit of a desire to discover, you know, my history a little bit or reconnect with my history through music. I don't know if that quite answers your question on, the influence of kind of like a global perspective on my music making, but that jumble is kind of about it.
Rob Lee:No. No. I I think I think that's great. And I think even, you know, with how I approach doing this, like, yes, I'm Baltimore based, yes, I'm a delicious black man, a six'four, all of the things, and start throwing out specs, and Aquarius as well. But it's this thing where when I'm doing interviews with folks and it's sort of, I'm asked like, what's your curation process?
Rob Lee:And I'm like, what catches my eye? I'm not a curator, you know, is that, but I do have intent in how I go about things, and you know, when I see someone's work, it's like it came across my came across my, you know, my my attention for some reason. We're fighting this attention economy. So if something grabs my eye, grabs my attention, and I go a bit deeper, that's the curation right there for me. And, you know, it's not always only black artists, only black folks in arts and culture, only black folks in arts and culture in Baltimore.
Rob Lee:It's a wide variety of folks, and I find that there's this fight every now and again of, Hey, you can only do this. I'm like, Yeah, but I'm going to do this, because I'm really curious about that. And it leads me to conversations with folks that don't fit into that traditional, hey, you're in East Baltimore. You gotta you gotta get a podcast. It's like, no.
Rob Lee:I'm talking to talking to you, for instance. And, so that's that's really that's really cool. So I wanna move a little bit into specific works, if you will.
Alicia Waller:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go.
Rob Lee:Yeah. So I see that there is an album, Some Hidden Treasure. Right?
Alicia Waller:Yes.
Rob Lee:We're we're five five five year anniversary? That's where we're at?
Alicia Waller:Yeah. It's actually literally tomorrow, at at least in the date that we are speaking. It's gonna be, five years on February 14. It was released in 2020.
Rob Lee:Nice. And so, you know, and this is before everything kinda went weird back in 2020. Yeah. That's the way I can put it because people get so negative about it. It's like, everything went weird.
Rob Lee:It's like, yes. Everything went weird then. But I think it was a really interesting time for for artists that, you know, during that time, just folks were able to unplug, disconnect, and kind of reassess. And really, you know, folks are inside baking. You know, it's the outside is, you know, tough, and it was a really hard time, but I think, and I can say personally, that's when this podcast took off during that time.
Rob Lee:You know, like, I had maybe 20 interviews in, like, 2019. As soon as 2020 hit, people hit me up like, oh, yes, let's connect, let's talk. So can you take us back to that time? What was it like creating and releasing music amidst this backdrop of uncertainty? I like to call it dark uncertainty because everything is uncertain, but like dark uncertainty.
Rob Lee:And how does it feel to, you know, five years removed?
Alicia Waller:Yeah. I thank you for that. That's super thoughtful. I would say I remember being surprised by my music reaching unexpected places during the pandemic and during the early pandemic. I remember a, someone a review came up by this, kind of like music enthusiast in Mexico City, who covered my music all in Spanish.
Alicia Waller:And I, am a Spanish speaker, and so I was already hyped on that. But he also said something that I still remember to this day. He said she's a singer, but she has the heart of an ethnomusicologist. And I I know this might sound funny, me bringing this up, but I remember I think the time that people had allowed them to maybe, like, sift a little more deeply and connect a little more deeply. And I remember it was the first time that I kind of realized that not only did I have something to say, but that there that and not only did it have a place, it it had, like, a purpose.
Alicia Waller:Like, it actually or like it had a destination. Yeah. It actually reached people and and affected them. And, you know, hindsight is twenty twenty. Maybe something similar.
Alicia Waller:Maybe he would have covered my music, but I don't actually know that he would have. I don't know that he would have come across it if we didn't all have that time that we had, during 2020. So it it kind of allowed me to, I think, connect a little more deeply with my audience and also discover who my audience was, which was very cool. Very cool.
Rob Lee:Thank you. It it's it's a time where, you know, there again, it's that desire to connect, and I just see sort of the importance of it. You know, we're we're all inside. Like, I know I was inside during that time. I It was funny.
Rob Lee:I had, I was supposed to go for a concert that I was really looking forward to, and I got the notice like that day. It was at the Kennedy Center. It was like that day, you know, a little foreshadowing, that day. And I think it was like March 16 or something, and I was like, What's this call? And then I get the message from at work.
Rob Lee:It's like, Yo, we're all going home indefinitely. I was like, Oh, but I'll say, being here, I'm recording this in my studio, the home studio, just spending a lot of time in the studio, just not sure what's happening and wanting to be around this creative stuff. Like, you know, before that, I was out there in the community doing, you know, interviews in a comedy club. That's why I was regularly recording. Some out there in one of our, like, in Baltimore, One of our, more prominent art districts.
Rob Lee:So I'm, like, around it and not really having that, but somehow blowing up and having more and more conversations with folks. And one of the ones that stuck out, it wasn't even an interview. It was just a guy who thought I looked familiar. He was in Spain. And he was like, I hope everyone is safe there.
Rob Lee:And he just got on, like, video randomly. And I was like, what are we doing? And I just thanked the sort of connection. And you touched on like sort of finding your audience and sort of that time. I'm looking at, you know, that's when that voice is starting to develop because I'm diving back into that now with these interviews.
Rob Lee:And it's just like, okay, yeah, I would ask that question differently now, or who am I talking to? I always knew about this person, but I never thought to interview them or reach out and go deeper, and now I can call some of these folks friends. But it all starts in that 2020 time. And what was it like? Like, did any of what was like floating around as far as like the reality?
Rob Lee:Was any of that like showing up in how you approached your work? Was it like, okay. I can spend many more hours now because, you know, like, my recording schedule is wild because I was home all the time. Oh, 6AM interview? Sure.
Rob Lee:Let's do it. Sure.
Alicia Waller:I, I think the one, so there's a couple of things. The first thing is I remember, you know, like every artist we're going to go out, we're going to go on tour and it's going to hit. And then we were like, oh, we are not. And like, we're just not. So there's that.
Alicia Waller:I actually kind of look at that. And, you know, it's like, I don't want to say laugh to keep from crying, but it's like fondly or affectionately. I remember how big the hopes were and it was just let down by this, like, unprecedented global happening.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alicia Waller:So there's that. But to really answer your question on how it kind of impacted my creativity, I actually I didn't go so much into songwriting. I got a little more deeper into, like, what informed my creative voice. I I did not get as far as you, but I started a project with, a friend of mine called, Sopranos Without Borders. And, we were kind of exploring, black voices that had made great contributions to classical music.
Alicia Waller:Because, of course, it was 2020, you know, George Floyd. There was great conversation, or conversations around, the kind of erasure of black lives. I think every real artist, real artist has to care about what came before them and has to be connected to it. Yeah. And I think that I had that before, but I think that it really took off during the pandemic.
Alicia Waller:The, like, where does it come from, and and how and what am I interested, and why am I interested in it, and and how do I desire to transform or, I I wanna say decipher, but that's not the quite the right word. But how do I wanna, like, translate, what is appealing to me and what I'm chasing into creative work. I think it's when I discovered my why that's the easy response.
Rob Lee:That's great. That's great. When when I and again, thinking about it because it's right here. It's right here as far as, you know, I think five years we always do ten years of it's so big. It's tenth anniversary.
Rob Lee:I think five years is a good marker of where we were at to see, like, for me. And I'm going back to these interviews. I'm like, did I get any better, or did I get worse? It's probably worse. But it's like, you know, what was that time then and what is it now?
Rob Lee:And I find that I'm paying much more time, care, and attention to it and seeing the connection and and seeing the importance of it. Like, a lot of times for, like, young artists, for instance, you know, this is the first time someone's asked them about their work. So I'm like, there's a responsibility that I recognize now that I didn't see then because I wouldn't have seen it. I was just doing my thing. And
Alicia Waller:live on time.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, and having having sort of that that period and really, like, looking back at it and apply that to how I go about these things now, like, you know, one of my biggest concerns and considerations is just not wasting folks' time. You know? It's like, come on and talk a bunch of nonsense for, like, a third thirty minutes.
Rob Lee:It's like, no. Let's let's go deep. Let's let's talk about the work, but also let's talk about the person behind the work. And I try to pride myself on it. That's my brand of and it was all developed then, you know.
Rob Lee:And I used to joke probably by the end of twenty twenty, I realized how I wanted to approach it. Early on, not as much, and but developing that voice. And by the end, I would say things like, yeah. You know, I want to do the typical tell me about your work conversation as I'm yawning. You know?
Rob Lee:I want to know more about the thinking that goes into it. So in in regards to other work, because we, you know, we got other things that are coming up. There's, another a new new album.
Alicia Waller:It's a
Rob Lee:new work coming out.
Alicia Waller:This is, oh, sorry.
Rob Lee:No. Please. Please.
Alicia Waller:I I jumped in. I got excited.
Rob Lee:Well, I like that.
Alicia Waller:I think you might be hinting at my, my debut full length album, which is gonna be Louder Than.
Rob Lee:Yes. I am referring to Louder Than. It's an intriguing title. So let's talk a little bit about what's the inspiration, what can folks expect? Anything that you want to share about it just kind of giving us, again, sort of that taste?
Rob Lee:Because I know, like, you know, artists are very cagey. It's like, well, it's upcoming.
Alicia Waller:So It's true. It's true. I I yeah. I, I'll get to the I'll do the title first because, that's very cool, that you kind of noticed that. So my first project was called Some Hidden Treasure, which I was joking with my father recently, was maybe, like, too craftily stated.
Alicia Waller:I meant it at the time. I love I think anyone who really loves music, loves the return to the song or the album, and the discovery, like the constant rediscovery discovering and then rediscovering of things that had never stood out to you before. Like, I didn't know that he put that instrument in there or that bass line. I didn't realize that's what the bassist chose to do. Or, wow, I never really realized what that lyric was.
Alicia Waller:I love that about music. That's probably my favorite thing about recorded music. And I wanted to create that. I'll also pair that by saying, coming out of the classical field, orchestration is very dense. Right?
Alicia Waller:You have an orchestra, which involves a lot of counterpoint, and the constant talking of voices. That's not something that is as incorporated. It is very much a part of jazz. Jazz is nothing but a conversation, obviously expressed through rhythm and harmony, at any rate. But that's not as often held in soul and R and B anymore.
Alicia Waller:It's actually become kind of sparse. So then you have me kind of entering in with this very kind of dense orchestration. But I love that. And I wanted to offer something. I wanted to create something that I would want to listen to.
Alicia Waller:That meant that every time I listened, I would discover something new. Hence discovering a new treasure. And then louder than, I made the joke about, it maybe being too too much of a hidden treasure. So loud louder than, I was thinking to myself, okay, you know, I I'm definitely not a quiet person, but I'm not, I I don't need to be at the center all the time. And we live in a time where, like, there is a constant promotion of self, to which, to be frank, I don't even agree with.
Alicia Waller:I'm cool being me. But I also do understand that I, have to participate, you know? So I told myself, okay. I'll be louder then. You want me to be louder, I'll be louder then.
Alicia Waller:So the sound is bold. It is unapologetic. I intend to be so as well. And that's what the the album is about. A bit of a a bit of a manifestation.
Rob Lee:I love that. I you know, as a person and we're we're on the same page here when it comes to that because I'm, you know, like I said, it's 800 episodes in, and when folks are like, hey. I'm just discovering this. I'm like, oh. And as I describe literally, I describe my dimensions.
Rob Lee:I'm a giant man. So when I'm out there and just folks just don't see me, I was like, I can raise this voice up a little bit.
Alicia Waller:Yeah. And
Rob Lee:then that's when people connect like WiFi. They're like, oh, you're Rob. I was like, I am. Yeah. And I was like, I need to be I need to I need to, you know, channel Ghostface Killah to make it really New York.
Rob Lee:You know, just the brightest wallabies possible. I just need to figure out a way to do that, but also in a way that I like. So I'll share share this, that I recently did something out of the ordinary. I usually dress like this when I'm doing an interview. Right?
Rob Lee:Just comfy. I'm comfy, Rob. And I was like, I was going to throw on a suit. I wonder what the response is going to be. And the response was a whole different it's like, Oh, it's professional now.
Rob Lee:I was like, I've been doing this forever. You know what I mean? And I was like, Oh, so this is an interpretation in some ways of being louder, being more out there, being more exuberant, I suppose. And I just observe it, Aquarius. Just observing.
Rob Lee:I'm just like, oh, okay. Cool. This is what you guys value. And it has nothing to do with the actual work, and that's why why that sort of self promotion and I love that, at least from what I've taken out of it, the louder than is like you're not changing who you are or how you go about what you do. You're just amplifying what it already is.
Alicia Waller:I'm a I'm a I'm a we're gonna share it, and I'm gonna show you what I'm about.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alicia Waller:Yeah. I'm excited about it. I do. I think, I think the sound is very cool. A lot of really beautiful contributions.
Alicia Waller:You know, I mentioned that my sound is very much in the soul tradition. But the kind of filter, the way that I present it, is through the lens of jazz, which is why I always call it I make sure to call it a jazz and soul fusion ensemble. So there's a lot of prolific, beautiful players on this record. It's my favorite thing, people talking to each other through sound. I just love it.
Rob Lee:That's that's just it's beautiful. And, you know, the over the going back real quick before I move into this next question, one year I think it was 2020, I did my first foray into trying to put together just a jazz appreciation month, just interviewing jazz musicians. So, you know, we we we might have to have another, you'll really be in a run it back conversation. It's like, yeah. So let me run it back with you in April.
Rob Lee:It's like, that's two months from now. Hello again? Like, Hey, long time. And I'll say one of the first interviews I did is a New York based musician who I went to high school with And he's a jazz musician and I was just like, you're the first interview, my guy. And this sort of lane and it's coming from this spot of, alright, folks aren't reaching out so let's do it.
Rob Lee:And over, that was like the only one I got that year, Right? And I wanna say last year, I was able to do a full month of jazz musicians, jazz advocates in different cities. That was the thing that got me. I was just like, I'm doing the thing and I felt really, really good about that. So, yeah, I think you'll be in that batch of of conversation that hit
Alicia Waller:Thank you.
Rob Lee:Yeah. So I'm curious about I got a couple more questions. I'm curious about, performance because, you know, this is a little bit of a teaser of, you know, what's to come, but I'm curious about performance. Can you paint a picture of, like, maybe one of your earliest performances? What can you remember about it?
Rob Lee:Was it the nerves? Was it the excitement, the audience? And maybe something that you learned from that that you apply now.
Alicia Waller:There's so, I I'm I'm assuming of Alicia Waller and the excursion, right, of the kind of concept? Yeah. There was, a couple of performances after I graduated from NYU at, a kind of like I want to call it a supper club, but it's not quite the right way to describe it. It's on the Lower East Side, a really wonderful, delicious restaurant called Pangea, that has a, like, exquisite music room and a brilliant sound engineer. So I ended up being invited to sing there, and I was right out of my very academic program, which again, I did not go to a music school.
Alicia Waller:I went to a create your own. So it was all about kind of like, What's your theory? What's your thinking? What's the why? I came out and I just like I did a song in like sephardic.
Alicia Waller:I did a Sephardic song, I should say. I did a song in Arabic. I did songs from Brazil. Like, I went for it. I was like, We are going global.
Alicia Waller:And we watched the audience, and, like, you know, you're young. So, like, a lot of the audience is your friends. And they're, like, happy. But I started to realize, like, maybe let's, like, pare down the there's a way to communicate this global, lens. Sure.
Alicia Waller:And I think I kind of learned from those early instances to maybe not, hit folks over the head with it. There there has to be kind of like a filter, I think. But that being said, those performances were also super successful, and I think it's when I, you know, I wanna say it's when I realized I was truly a professional. I but I don't know that I felt it then. But it was I realized I was onto something.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alicia Waller:Because I started to get a little bit of love, and I still do. I started to get a lot of love for my Portuguese speaking stuff. A lot of love out of Brazil. And it's like there's something I always said that I wanted to, kind of capture the sound of a black American woman contending with the world, you know, like, in conversation with the world. And I realized, like, oh my god.
Alicia Waller:That's not just an idea. That actually people are feeling that. So yeah.
Rob Lee:Discovery. Yes. I'm hearing a lot of discovery in these these years. It's great to hear this. So I I wanna move into the last two real questions.
Rob Lee:Right? Two real questions because the rapid fire ones, people try to, like, slither away as just like, nah, Ron forgot all about it. No, I didn't. So I'm reading. You have quite a range of venues that you'll be performing, coming up.
Rob Lee:So if you will, could you give us a little bit of where you're performing? I see Mobtown, locally. I see the Hargrove. I see the Kennedy Center. Yeah.
Rob Lee:So talk a bit about, you know, the process in preparing for, like, different venues. There are different sizes and sort of what all of that kinda looks like for you right now because we're getting close.
Alicia Waller:Yeah. It really is. It's actually it's very soon. I, you kind of wanna I I like the analogy of, like, a comedy, a comedian. Your material needs time to cook.
Alicia Waller:And it's not just the taping. You know? Like the prep work, the shows, before, those are informative. They allow you to discover with to connect with your audience, to connect with new audiences, and to discover and hone what you're saying. And so naturally, I'm interested in doing this musically.
Alicia Waller:And that is the process of touring. But I will also say I am from the DC Metropolitan Area. I'm from Fairfax, Virginia. I'm actually from Oakton, but I always say Fairfax because Oakton's really small and and people it's, like, in between Vienna and Fairfax. But I would like I said, I went to College Park, and I've wanted to come home to the DC Metro, the DMV, for a long time.
Alicia Waller:But I wanted to I did wanna come back with a little bit of a, you know, you know, like, I wanted to come back with a little bit of a bang. And, Kennedy Center was offered to me. And I thought that's it. That's gonna be my homecoming. I'm so excited.
Alicia Waller:I am I am beyond excited to share my live sound, with my hometown community, who have meant so much to me my whole life. I'm so excited to be doing the opening performance in Baltimore, in Maryland, where which really formed my early musical years. That is where I went to school. Like, that's where my that pre professional time, you know, like, that's when I was really forming as a young musician. So, yeah, I'm really excited.
Alicia Waller:Oh, the venues sorry. The venues, I should say I think you actually shared the venues. You did. I'll restate them though because now I'm, you know, going on and on. I'm starting out at Mobtown Ballroom.
Alicia Waller:That's gonna be on the February 20. We're going to the Hargrove also in Baltimore on the twenty first, and we're gonna be closing out at the Kennedy Center on, Saturday, February.
Rob Lee:This is this is great. I mean, venues that I enjoy, venues that I go to, venues that I will be going to. You know, I dig Mobtown. It's right there in Station North. That's where this podcast was born, in Station North.
Alicia Waller:Oh, isn't that nice?
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's our most famous arts district here. It's our oldest arts district, so you're in a good spot. And to kind of kick things off, always talk about how, you know, Baltimore is sort of that proving ground, and it we have very discerning taste here.
Rob Lee:So when to hear that this was a region where you kind of, you know, cut your teeth a little bit musically, that's that's that's great to hear. And, you know, when you initially reached out, we initially had the conversation and chatted via email. I was like, oh, you're gonna be here locally? Hell, yeah. Let let's do it.
Rob Lee:Let's see what happens. And, so that's gonna be great, and it's gonna be a great fit in that area. And yeah. But that doesn't get you off the hook. It doesn't get you off the hook.
Rob Lee:Because you actually technically, you answered my my second question. So I don't have any more real questions. You
Alicia Waller:Oh, okay. So it
Rob Lee:happens when you let people cook, you know? It's kinda just about answering
Alicia Waller:questions. I I took the floor.
Rob Lee:Going going rogue on me. So but what you have earned it was only three initially, rapid fire questions, but what you have earned is a fourth.
Alicia Waller:Oh, okay.
Rob Lee:So I'm going to hit you with I'm going to hit you with the easiest one, probably.
Alicia Waller:Mhmm.
Rob Lee:What is the best way to wrap up the night after a great performance?
Alicia Waller:Oh. Definitely with tea and a good laugh. I like to go to bed laughing. I like a good TV show. Something to help you watch.
Rob Lee:Okay. You almost gave yourself another one because you you can't open it like a good TV show. I was like, what you watching? I was like so, here's another one. This is part of the pre conversation.
Rob Lee:K. Favorite soul food dishes.
Alicia Waller:Oh. Yeah. Okay. Uh-huh. I went I automatically went to a side.
Alicia Waller:As soon as you said soul food, I was like, cornbread. Corn bread. Right?
Rob Lee:Okay. We're friends. We're friends now.
Alicia Waller:We're friends. We're good. Like, we're good. Okay. So I'll see you in April.
Alicia Waller:That's awesome. So but for dishes, I'm gonna go with what I go for every time I'm in a soul food restaurant. I gotta I have to have the fried fish. For me, it's fried fish all day. I know most people say the chicken, but for me, it's the fried fish.
Alicia Waller:I wanna know what's up.
Rob Lee:You're you're selling tickets over here. Look. You know? I like me some cornbread. You know?
Rob Lee:Like like a nice piece of fried fish. When I was younger, I was just like, I don't really bang with the fish. I would say it like that as a kid. I don't bang with the fish. But now as an adult adult, I'm like, fish.
Rob Lee:Get the right batter. Get the right crust in there.
Alicia Waller:Yes. The whiting, the catfish. Like, yes.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah. No. No. It's hot hot sauce.
Rob Lee:Gotta be the right type.
Alicia Waller:Yeah. Literally. A little bit. A little sprinkle. But I also love the one that's like, okay.
Alicia Waller:Wow. I got I got passionate. You know
Rob Lee:what I'm saying? So
Alicia Waller:I also I really love, you know, like the the savory, like when the batter's good, you know, it's got that little little like, savory, the salt in there. I don't know. A little bit of crunch. It's delicious.
Rob Lee:Yeah. I mean, we're very corn centric people. You can just say like, look, give me this, like, cornmeal batter, give me some hush puppies, and give me cornbread. I know they're the same thing essentially, but let's just let's just do it and leave here friends. Now now we get to the the we get to another one that's a callback from earlier in the episode.
Rob Lee:And because I've recently watched a documentary on Max, what is your favorite Luther song? Yeah. I I watched that last weekend.
Alicia Waller:Too much. Never too much. Never too much. Right?
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah.
Alicia Waller:Come on. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm gonna be that musician. Just sing the line to you.
Alicia Waller:Definitely. But, also, I did mention I did mention don't wanna be a fool. That one probably that one means a lot to my musical story, so I think I have to say two.
Rob Lee:Okay. That that's that's fair. That's fair. And here's the last one. This is one I've been using a little trolly with some of the guests I've had on.
Rob Lee:I I troll a lot. That's what the whole rapid fire portion is, but I've been nice for this one. So let's say, you know, tomorrow, you're suddenly well, let's say after after the tour. Right? You're suddenly allergic to anything creative.
Rob Lee:You can no longer have express your creative talent. Right? No longer say no no longer music, nothing. Yes. What is it what is a career that you could pursue with, like, confidence?
Alicia Waller:Diplomat. I'd be a diplomat.
Rob Lee:That was no pause in that one. Yeah.
Alicia Waller:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You made me sad because you made me consider a time of not singing. That was very hurtful.
Alicia Waller:But then I realized that there was light at the end of the tunnel, and I have always said that that response is diplomat. I would be running around just, like, country to country, talking to people in their languages. I'd love it.
Rob Lee:I mean, that that's that's you know, we we talked about food a little bit in that back end, but that's, you know, how I think sort of information exchange and and music is exchange, pop culture. All of that stuff is just my entry point to connect with people. And, you know, I remember I was down in DC with, like, Embassy Row, just like, alright. Who's here? Who's there?
Rob Lee:And I stumbled across, I think it was the JICC. It was just, like, the Japanese embassy, like, cultural center. And I I'm looking at it right now. I have this very interesting, like, Japanese paper from an exhibition that was there. And I was like, why do I have, like, paper?
Rob Lee:I was like, oh, no. That's the Japanese paper. That's the that's the, like, the bougie paper. I gotta keep that paper. Don't write on it.
Rob Lee:Don't use the scrap paper.
Alicia Waller:No. It's, the I I will I mean, I I was about to say I'll never tire tire of looking at the world, but it's because there's so much to discover. And, yeah, just that is going back to the question, that would be my dream situation. And I've effectively, I'm trying to make it happen through music, if you think about it. I'm just trying to do both.
Rob Lee:Yeah. I mean, like, what I've gotten out of this conversation before we before we wrap up here, what I've gotten out of this this conversation is I just hear this theme of discovery, whether it be discovery as you you touched on, sort of this period of finding your why, finding your musical voice, finding the things that that interest you, and even, you know, what you kind of capped it off with. Like, I'm kinda doing it, but I'm doing it in this way, this unique way, this this path of discovery. So that's why I'm here.
Alicia Waller:Yeah. Thank you. I think, I mentioned my father earlier. I'm very close with him. And another thing he always says is that people see you before you see yourself.
Alicia Waller:So thank you for sharing that, you know. It's it strikes me as true.
Rob Lee:Absolute well, it's the truth in this art. And wow. That was that was kinda gauche. Wow. So as we wrap up here, there's two things I would like to do here.
Rob Lee:One, thank you so much for being a part of this podcast, coming on, spending some time. And, two, you know, it's the same with chainless plug. Feel free to let folks know the social media, the website, anything that you wanna share. Let folks know again those dates. The floor is yours.
Alicia Waller:Thank you, Rob. Baltimore, what's up? My name is Alicia. Again, I would love to share some upcoming shows with you, February 20. That's Thursday, February 20 at Mobtown Ballroom, and Friday, the twenty first at the Hargrove.
Alicia Waller:I would love to see you. Love to make some music for you for you. And, please also check out my music that is currently out, Some Hidden Treasure. It is available on all platforms, and you can follow me at alicia waller dot music on all social media.
Rob Lee:And there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank Alicia Waller from Alicia Waller and the Excursion for coming on to the podcast. She'll be performing very, very soon in the Baltimore DMV DC area. And for Alicia Waller, I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You just have to look for it.
