Upon our safe arrival at the REVOLT Studios at Hollywood and Highland, we were treated to cocktails and hors d'oeuvres on their outdoor deck while we waited for everything to be set up for Terrace Martin's performance. It was soon lights, camera, action as Terrace and his band took to the stage, and we were his attentive audience. We had a front row seat to watch this young master at work and witnessed one of the most amazing live shows we've seen this year. Martin took turns on the keys and saxophone and fluidly moved from playing one instrument to the next to leading his band and making sure that everyone was on point. He played selections from Kendrick, Robert Glasper Experiment and his own catalog and even created a song from scratch live on the spot. Yes, that happened, and, yes, it was epic.
When he invited singer/songwriter Rose Gold onstage to lend her vocals to "Real" (from good kid, m.A.A.d city) and "These Walls" (from To Pimp A Butterfly) in place of Anna Wise, she left us slack-jawed in awe. This sista sounded even more incredible live than she does on records such as "Think Of You" from Velvet Portraits. We were smitten with Rose Gold from the first note she sang and that love only grew deeper when we learned that she's from Baltimore and related to Maimouna Youssef (who was also in attendance at the taping).
Throughout this performance, Terrace Martin proved without a shadow of a doubt that he's one of the foremost talents in modern music and defies classification. He's an artist's artist, creative genius and all-around cool cat who is well into his journey and has a long road ahead of him filled with more accolades, notoriety and -- most importantly -- music to come. To see what we mean, watch Terrace perform and wrap up our experience on A Journey Into Sound with the final piece of the puzzle, The Music:
A Journey Into Sound was a fantastic voyage that we are happy to have been a part of. Thanks to Chevrolet and REVOLT for producing this once-in-a-lifetime experience and to General Motors Diversity Communications for the invitation. Shout out to all the dope people we met on this whirlwind trip. For more viewpoints about A Journey Into Sound, read what our colleagues Datwon Thomas, Stephen Bardo and Vanessa James had to say about their experiences.
