The rise of Brainfeeder, the LA label that could have saved jazz music
- Home to musicians including Kamasi Washington and Thundercat, hip hop and jazz label Brainfeeder is defining the sound of contemporary Los Angeles
- We talk to label head Steve Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, on the label’s claim to have resuscitated jazz and who was behind the Brainfeeder “spark”
Producer and label head Steve Ellison, who performs as Flying Lotus, is leaning back in a patio chair behind his Los Angeles home on a recent sunny morning. He is reflecting on a boast that his forward-thinking jazz and instrumental hip-hop record label Brainfeeder made in a press release late last year.
Issued during the roll-out of its 10th anniversary collection, Brainfeeder X, it read, in part: “If the resuscitation of jazz has been one of the predominant narratives of the last several years, it’s unquestionably due to the lasting impact of the Brainfeeder confederation.”
Now, it’s one thing to tout Los Angeles’ musical evolution, but it could be considered near blasphemous to claim that a jazz resurgence – if there even is one – is the result of a single label’s efforts.
Founded as a venue to release records that reflected Ellison’s aesthetic, Brainfeeder has helped define the sound of contemporary Los Angeles, and the three dozen Brainfeeder X songs illustrate how.
Asked if Brainfeeder was taking credit for the “resuscitation of jazz”, the 35-year-old, who is the nephew of the late free-jazz composer and harpist Alice Coltrane, paused before confirming the claim.