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Interviews
Quamon Fowler: His Life and Faith
Carla Rupp and Jason Rupp
Carla and Jason Rupp are photo journalists who enjoy jazz, culture, travel, film, and theater.AAJ: Do you have any experiences with that?
QF: People tell me things, that when I play they are really blessed. People tell me how my music has really liberated them, has really blessed them.
AAJ: You were really great that night at BB King's.
QF: We had to play so early there weren't that many people there yet.
AAJ: How many songs are on this latest CD?
QF: Actually, it's twelve tracks. All the musicians on there are believers. We have the same faith. And all of the musicians on there are skillful musicians. It's a variety of musical concepts. It's not just one type of sound in music. Like I have fusion, I have things in odd meters. I have feelgood, easy listening. I have stuff that's family oriented. I also have things that the average jazz musician could get into. Even the most complex mind in jazz would appreciate it because I have challenging stuff. It's variety.
AAJ: Do you think it's unusual?
QF: It's different. It's unique. It speaks well of the time we're in. It's fresh and refreshing.
AAJ: I always wanted to make a CD where people can put it on and leave it on and have it looping throughout the day. A lot of times when I hear a jazz CD, it's just focused on one type of texture, or one type of contour of sound. There's often not enough variety. Each song that comes after the next is kind of predictable, whereas I don't have that. Every song is different. From the first song, it catches you off guard. It is the song that won, called "Special Delivery. It's more aggressive and it's fusion. And it's exciting. It's in 10/4 time, then it switches to 4/4 time
AAJ: What's one reason you made this CD?
QF: I wanted to bridge the gap between the experiences in the world and the experience in the church. Because it's people that don't go to church that love church music, people that don't have the same faith but love music. Music is a language that speaks to everybody. If you have someone who has faith and creates music that is appealing to someone in the world who has never been in church, this is a medium in which you can introduce them to faith.
This is a thing that goes deeper. I believe when you have musicians who play and have the same faith and who are in agreement with each, who pray with each other before they play just to welcome the spirit of god to flow through their music. I believe that the spirit is going to ride on that music, and it's going to go into the heart of the people who are listening, who are there at the performance. The musicians, they're going to experience it first.
The same heart and nature in me will flow in the music. This spirit is going to go across to the people. The spirit that's in my heart is going to come out, and God is going to make people feel better and uplift them. Even if they don't know about faith, it's going to put them in a positive mood. It's going to give them hope. It's gong to have an inquiry to want to know more about getting to know the person playing.
The lifestyle I live, people don't get to see everyday. They don't see that.
AAJ: What is that lifestyle?
QF: I don't drink. I don't smoke. I'm married. Me and my wife we pray together. We go to church every Sunday. We talk about the Lord. We talk about our relationship to God. We give. We pay our tithes. We give offering to different ministries. I have friends that I talk with who are the same way, and their lives are just going great because of what they do in secret. There is scripture that says what you do in secret, God will reward you openly. The people get to see the fruits of where they don't see the seed of: families and being nice to people. These qualities all comes out through music when I perform. So you might have people who just party all the time and are irresponsible, their hearts are touched and can change; they can try to get their life in order because of the way they felt the day they heard us play.
It's like an eternal moment. One of those meaningful moments you never forget. That's what I'm interested, those types of moments. We meet people all the time, and we're only around them a couple of hours. But the time I'm around them, I want God to speak to their hearts. That's what he created me for.
AAJ: How does someone find your CDs?
QF: You can go to www.quamonfowler.com. It'll be available on all of the digital download sites.
AAJ: Have you tried to get with a jazz label yet?
QF: No. I'm not one who wants to hook up with a label. I want to stay independent. It depends. I want to stay the way we are at the present. It depends on whatever I'm led to do. Whatever feels right...If God wants me to get with a label I'll do it.
The main thing is I want to hook up with people who have the same heart, who have the same vision, who are willing to help serve the same Purpose that I'm trying to serve.
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