In late 2019, prompted by a push from his publisher, the pianist set out to create a solo album. The pandemic lockdown turned out to have a silver lining: Adopting the name BLKBOK, he composed at his keyboard for 121 consecutive days, crafting 10 pieces and landing a record deal.
That debut album, “Black Book,” was released in summer 2021, following an EP dubbed “CVRART,” featuring classically infused renditions of songs by Drake, Cardi B and others.
“It was all an experiment for me — and it still is an experiment — but it worked,” he says. “Somehow I had mixed the right chemicals to create something that was really cool. So this (new album ‘9’) is just the continuation. This is the second iteration of, ‘Let’s sit down and mix some chemicals and see what we get.’”
It wasn’t just the quarantine that fueled BLKBOK’s creative vision: Amid the killing of George Floyd and other racially charged 2020 incidents, he found a thematic purpose.
For the new album, BLKBOK traveled the South, meeting with police reform advocates and ultimately crafting a largely instrumental album of what he calls “conversation starters.”
Song titles such as “Magic’s Apology to Isiah,” “The Dissolution of Kanye West” and “Toddlers Don’t Care About Race” give a sense of the record’s bent.
That last one, says BLKBOK, “is just a reminder to us adults that, you know, this is not really what the world is all about. It’s about this wonderment and understanding that everything is beautiful, and let’s have fun. And that’s pretty much what the album is all about — just togetherness.”
While writing, he sits at a keyboard, digitally recording it all as he goes, playing “until something feels right.” Later, he’ll listen through, pick out the bits that speak to him, and begin filling in a song like a jigsaw puzzle.
Despite his deep classical background, he says he doesn’t consciously tap the style or approach of the composer greats who enchanted him in his youth. The inspiration is instead intuitive, as on “What Is Truth,” whose chorus melody was shaped around a four-note bird song he heard outdoors.
“So I’m not really leaning on anything that’s been created in the past. My ideal and objective is to create things relevant to our time,” he says. “I think classical music very much exists around pieces that were created, 100, 200, 300 years ago. But what about what’s going on right now? I think our time needs its own voice as well.”
BLKBOK’s live shows typically find him solo at a piano, often accompanied by video and recorded poetry, performing for what he calls “the most diverse, colorful audiences I’ve ever seen.”
“With music like this, I believe that it allows enough space for everyone’s mind to kind of travel, to create their own narrative. I’m not giving you anything to lock you into these words. And I think that’s always a great experience for people. The beautiful thing after shows is that people always say, ‘You made me cry.’ And I say, ‘Well, that means I did my job.’”
BLKBOK says he’s enjoying his artistic journey as it goes (“there’s no final destination,” he says), and while he’s focused for now on the new record, his songs are being arranged for orchestra by a cousin, music scholar Bill Banfield. He hopes to perform at some point with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
And even as a seasoned piano pro, BLKBOK says his solo adventure continues to bring new lessons.
“I have a better understanding of art, like the fact that I’m just the vessel, sitting here with a message and using frequency and resonance to convey an idea,” he says. “I think that’s the most important thing I’ve learned in the last couple of years — and this vision has become more focused.”
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
