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DOMi & JD BECK: Tiny Desk Concert
yewtu.beBobby Carter | August 10, 2022
If you've heard a DOMi & JD BECK song or watched a performance online, expectations of catching brilliance when you witness the jazz duo in person are likely high. JD's drumsticks move faster than the brain can process. DOMi offers every appendage on her body to the keys. It's frantic but focused, and I can't stop watching. For as tight as the two artists are musically — and even physically; one of their few Tiny Desk requests was for the drums and keys to be set up as close as possible — they take silly self-deprecating jabs when they aren't playing. It's believable until they transform and the music starts.
The two musicians come from two completely different parts of the world. James Beck began cutting his teeth as young as eleven at jam sessions in Dallas. DOMi, aka DOMi Louna, was born in France and raised on jazz, and enrolled at the Conservatoire Régional du Grand Nancy at five. DOMi eventually made her way to the States via a Presidential Scholarship from the Berklee College of Music. The two met at a trade show in 2018 and have been inseparable since, playing sets on YouTube and driving the internet nuts. Before they knew it, they were rubbing elbows with the upper echelon in jazz, R&B, and hip-hop.
The duo's debut album, ironically titled NOT TiGHT, is a graduation of sorts with all of their OGs lending a hand — notably Anderson .Paak, who took DOMi and JD BECK under his wing and made the duo the first signee to his APES*** label. The two brought highlights from that album to the Tiny Desk, including the vines, turf and vibrant floral arrangements from the album cover. Before "U DON'T HAVE TO ROB ME," a true story turned comedy, they make another attempt at neutralizing the room. DOMi says, "We're gonna ruin it!" It's too late for all of that. We're already amazed.
SET LIST
"NOT TiGHT"
"SMiLE"
"U DON'T HAVE TO ROB ME"
"WHATUP"
MUSICIANS
DOMi: keys, vocals
JD BECK: drums, vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin, Jhair "Jha" Lazo
Director: Kara Frame
Creative Director: Bob Boilen
Editor: Joshua Bryant
Videographers: Kara Frame, Pierre Kattar, Joshua Bryant
Art Direction: Winston Studios, Carlos Lopez, Iman Jordan
Audio Assistant: Josephine Nyounai
Production Assistants: Jill Britton, Joby Tanseco
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Maia Stern
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
#TinyDesk #NPRMusic #DOMiandJDBECK
😊 This is such a wholesome conversation. Thanks for taking the time to listen. I’m pleased to hear that it hits you in the same way it does for me.
Here’s something pretty that he wrote and performed recently with a similarly divine feel. https://youtu.be/bFRVK_1o2cU This one reminds me of Debussy.
You should post some jazz links on here for the acts you mentioned. I’d love to check them out. You seem to have great taste.
I should also share one of the most divine musical moments I’ve ever witnessed live. I was a student at UMass at the time and sat in the front row of the cavernous Fine Arts Center auditorium and saw Herbie Hancock, Michael Becker, Roy Hargrove, Brian Blade, John Pattitucci playing a tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. IMO, my recording of Brecker’s interpretation of Naima is better than the performance that made the album where they used his performance. Sorry about the microphone noise! https://youtu.be/nU7x2odQGfM
For sure, music is honestly one of the few things that doesn’t make me kinda loathe other human beings (I usually feel compelled to use my online time to raise awareness about terrible current event things), so, yeah, the wholesomeness has been mutually appreciated
Wow, that Lage track is a great showcase for him, it shouldn’t be possible to get all those different sounds out of an electric guitar without having an array of pedals but he’s got such a delicate touch, it’s like the aural equivalent of what a good painter can do with brush strokes.
And thank you for sharing that live Brecker recording, that was something special and something I probably never would have stumbled across on my own. That combination of venue performers and composers sounds incredible, and speaking as someone who’s done a bootleg or two the microphone noises just add to the authenticity and story of it for me.
I wouldn’t want to spam/overwhelm the community by posting all these on their own at once, but a quick list of some favorite songs/moments,
Makaya McCraven,
Kamasi Washington,
Zs,
Terrace Martin,
Louis Cole
Thundercat,
Kendrick Lamar,
Colin Stetson
BBNG
Anyway, this has been weirdly uplifting and I don’t know what to do with positive emotions, so I’m going to have to go seek out like a nextdoor thread on an upcoming city council meeting with a proposal to license a youth homeless shelter on the agenda or something
🥹 You sincerely made my day. This was the best interaction I’ve had on Lemmy. Thank you, my friend.
I will definitely be in touch and I promise to give each one of these links my undivided attention. 😊