If you've read the liner notes of any of Kendrick Lamar's albums, you'll know that Terrace Martin is his secret weapon. The Crenshaw-bred multi-instrumentalist has been adding jazzy twists to Kendrick's music since the Section.80 days. He has gone on to collaborate with many of hip hop's biggest acts, such as Snoop Dogg, The Game, Busta Rhymes and YG.
Jazz is no solo endeavour. It's all about feeding off the energy of the company you keep and Terrace Martin keeps some great company around him. He enlisted a superstar cast of musicians for Kendrick's To Pimp A Butterfly and he has reunited with some of its key players (Kamasi Washington, Ronald Bruner Jr.) to produce a new live album, Sounds Of Crenshaw & Jammcard present: Terrace Martin's Gray Area Live at the JammJam.
The album was recorded at Studio A of United Recording in Los Angeles with 300 Jammcard members surrounding the band, witnessing re-imaginations of Martin's creations, like TPAB's "For Free". "It was a beautiful exchange of energy to have people that close to you in the midst of the music," Martin said about the album's recording experience. "Because we do life music. We do human-being music. We're trying to help heal souls, and heal ourselves. So through that sometimes you need to feel your brothers and sisters, you need to feel them as close as possible to you to make sure the right message is conveyed to the public."
