Homegrown talent captures spotlight

3rd November 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Rookie of the Year is the rather deceptive title of Kyle Roussel’s debut album as a leader. After all, the keyboardist spent two-and-a-half years on the road with the world-renowned Dirty Dozen Brass Band, recorded with the legendary Headhunters and is regularly heard with highly regarded artists such as drummer Shannon Powell and trumpeter Christian Scott. A seasoned musician, Roussel, who celebrates the release of the CD at Snug Harbor on Sunday, November 9, hardly fits the description of novice as the word rookie is defined.

“I feel like I’m a rookie in that I’m stepping out on my own,” explains the 26-year-old Roussel. “But then it’s like I’m not. I’m the rookie ‘of the year’ because I’m not just any rookie as I’ve been a pretty noticed sideman playing with all these great New Orleans artists.”

If there is one word that accurately defines Roussel it is diverse. That is instantly realized considering the spectrum of musicians from various genres he’s performed and recorded with – even hill country blues drummer Cedric Burnside. His many musical interests and talents are also revealed on Rookie of the Year on which he plays piano, clavinet, organ, a Fender Rhodes, bass, percussion instruments and even sings through a voice altering vocoder. He touches on classical, jazz and even rock on the disc’s opening cut, “King Kyle,” which, like all but one cut on the album, is a Roussel original.

Roussel, a native of Hahnville, Louisiana began his musical journey playing classical music. Having shown some promise while “banging around” on his sister’s toy keyboard, his grandfather suggested that he take piano lessons. “My first teacher started me out reading music, playing classical music – Beethoven – and piano exercises. So I really took the classical route,” says Roussel who participated in children’s classical piano contests presented by Loyola University and other such competitions.

At the urging of his mother and grandfather, at age 12 Roussel somewhat begrudgingly began playing in nearby churches – first organ in a Catholic Church and later in a Methodist Church where, he says, he got his first taste of Gospel music. Roussel adds that he’s played in almost every denomination of Christian churches since then and continues to be regularly heard at the Jazz Festival’s Gospel Tent with such artists as trombonist/vocalist Glen David Andrews and singer Tanya Boutte.

It was at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA) that Roussel was introduced to jazz, commuting there while also attending Hahnville High School. “NOCCA was a really big eye-opener for me because it was kind of where I grew up,” Roussel offers. “It was the first time I really saw other young kids doing what I do. (In Hahnville) there were no young Black kids playing classical music or playing piano.”

Roussel says that since childhood, he’s been listening to old school funk music like Earth, Wind & Fire, the Isley Brothers and Stevie Wonder. His interest in funk is also in evidence by some of the groups he’s been associated with like Khris Royal’s Dark Matter and shows up on his tune “Kitchen Grease” off the new album.

Somewhat surprisingly, Roussel’s aim wasn’t necessarily to be a professional musician even after his NOCCA experience and was heading to college. He wanted to become an architect but he wasn’t offered any scholarship money in that field though he was offered a full scholarship to study music. So music became his major when he attended the University of New Orleans. Roussel sees the fateful turn of events having a spiritual nature.

“I feel like this is my purpose – I was put here to do music. There were countless signs in my life that God put me here to be a musician.”

The first major artist that gave Roussel “a chance” was drummer Shannon Powell. The pianist performed with Powell’s band at those memorable Sunday night gigs at the now, unfortunately, defunct Donna’s Bar & Grill.

“That was my introduction to being in the big leagues and I guess I started getting passed around,” Roussel remembers, mentioning those who would soon call on his talents such as vocalist Topsy Chapman and master percussionist Bill Summers. “I guess it just snowballed.”

After spending two-and-a-half years with the Dirty Dozen, Roussel left the band two months ago to pursue his individual career. “That really took up most of my time. It was a great experience to learn from those legends and learn from a band that’s been together for 37 years. To travel with those guys is an education you can’t get in anyone’s college.”

On Sunday night’s gig, Roussel will be joined by guys heard on Rookie of the Year including drummer Alvin Ford Jr., now with Dumpstaphunk, and guitarist Sam Woodbury plus saxophonist Stephen Gladney and bassist Max Moran. In his somewhat new role as leader, Roussel will also front his own band at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse on December 30 and at Café Istanbul on January 9.

On Rookie of the Year, Kyle Roussel boldly steps out to present his diverse interests in a myriad of ways that can be somewhat startling but not surprising considering his musical background. Roussel, who also works as a professional personal trainer, is a no holds barred musician and thus someone to watch out for.

Honoring Maya Angelou

SISTAWorks, a local non-profit organization that, for the large part, focuses its work on sponsoring girls’ education in Ghana, presents its second annual fundraiser on Saturday, November 8. The event, taking place in the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, will honor the award-winning and culturally significant poet, author, actress and activist, the late Maya Angelou. An array of artists will interpret her work including jazz vocalists Germaine Bazzle, Betty Shirley, Sharon Martin and more plus spoken-word, dance and choir performances. The gala begins at 5 pm and the ticket price of $65 for an individual and $120 for a pair includes food and drinks. For more information and tickets, go to www.sistaworks.org.

Brassin’ It Up in the Tremé

The Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival strikes up at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9, at Arm­strong Park. The free event, presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, could be dubbed a brass band festival this year as all of the scheduled artists are in the brass band family. They included the must-have Tremé Brass Band at 12:30 p.m .on Saturday with the hard-hitting Stooges Brass Band closing out the day starting at 6 p.m. Sunday boasts an interesting start with the Louisiana Phil­harmonic Orchestra Brass Band (yes, that’s right) at 11 a.m. Later that day, last year’s winner of the Foundation’s Class Got Brass high school brass band competition, St. Augustine High School Brass Band takes the stage at 3:30 p.m. with the Soul Rebels taking it out beginning at 5:30 p.m.

While the brass bands sizzle, pots of gumbo of all kinds will be simmering. The festival is bringing back the Vegan Gumbo Contest that was such a hit last year. For the full schedule, go to www.jazzand­heritage.­org/­treme.

This article originally published in the November 3, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.