music
by Carl Gibson
Precocious Strings
Nathaniel Smith,15, is a professional cellist who has played with musicians such as Belá Fleck and Yo-Yo Ma.
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ifteen-year-old Nathaniel Smith eagerly leads me upstairs to his second-floor bedroom in an expansive ranch house nestled in rural Brandon. Opening a white case, he produces a sleek, antiquated mahogany cello, made in 1896 by Vincentius Postiglione. I ask him to play it, and he smiles sheepishly before delicately playing a busy rhythmic melody, using long sweeps and short chopping motions with his bow. Before completely losing himself in his playing, Smith stops and flashes a wide, toothy grin. “I like playing some of the more modern stuff, I guess,” he says, blushing. Smith has played the cello since age 5, encouraged by his parents, Wayne and Janelle. Nathaniel is the youngest of three children, all of them musically gifted. His father, a guitarist by hobby, says music has fascinated his son since he was a toddler.
“Anything with a string on it, he could play,” Wayne Smith says.” He’d just pick up my mandolin and play it all over the place. He got way better than me without any instruction. He passed me quite early.” Nathaniel has professionally toured the United States and Canada since age 12, mostly with acclaimed fiddler Natalie MacMaster. He’s also performed with contemporary musical greats like Belá Fleck and Victor Wooten, and composed music for Yo-Yo Ma. Nathaniel, who grew up homeschooled, says his career as a professional cellist early in life leaves little room for anything else. “The shows start at 8, something like that,” he says, describing a typical tour schedule. “It gets done at like, 10:30. Then you pack up, get on the bus and leave probably around 12:30. Sometimes you stay up until like 3 or 4, go to a truck stop, meet some different people. Then you go to bed, and
you wake up at like, 2 for a sound check. Or maybe a shower.” The tall, lanky teenager, sporting a slicked-back black ponytail, shyly recalls his first memories when he discovered his love for music. “I remember there was like, a plastic guitar that we had, and I was trying to play a song on it like a cello with a violin bow,” he says, chuckling. “I thought it was a great song, but I heard it turned out screechy. I’ve always been immersed in different kinds of music, because my dad played and listened to a lot of the guys I’ve gotten to play with over the past couple of years.” Wayne Smith says his son may shine as a cellist, but that his true passion is for composing. “It took me about three or four years to get him to bring an mp3 recorder into the studio with him,” he says. Nathaniel had a habit of simply playing and making beautiful music. But without recording it, Nathaniel wasn’t able to remember what he had played and couldn’t reproduce it. “I’d just think, oh my gosh, we need to start recording this,” his father says. The young cellist is celebrating the release of two albums: “The Nathaniel Smith Jazz Project Live,” and “Arrythmia,” which features Nathaniel’s solo work. The jazz album features Jackson musicians Allison Jenkins on vocals, Jimmy Jarratt on piano and Tim Avalon on guitar, and includes renditions of timeless Jazz standards. Nathaniel composed the original works on “Arrythmia” just prior to playing and recording them, the senior Smith says.
“He went in the morning with no idea of what he was going to do, and come out that afternoon with a completely developed musical idea,” he says. “I’d drop him off, come back in the afternoon and hear what he had done, and I was just blown away.” Ever the proud father, Wayne Smith is quick to note the amount of respect Nathaniel has already received as a professional in the music business. He says the connections his son has made through music have helped the growth of his career, particularly in his current tours with Natalie MacMaster. “Mark O’Connor, Darol Anger—who used to play for the David Grisman Quartet— and Matt Glaser, who is the string instructor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, they all know Nathaniel,” Wayne Smith says. “And so when Natalie called them, they all referred Natalie to Nathaniel. We flew up to Canada for the audition. She said within 10 minutes, she knew she wanted him. And so, for the last three years, he’s been with her.” This month and next, Nathaniel will play small tours throughout the South and the East Coast with MacMaster, child prodigy violinist Sam Weiser and Grammy Nominee Sarah Jarosz. Smith says constantly touring and traveling can take its toll, but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. “There was one Canadian tour, where it was like a flight every day after a show. It gets really old being in airports all the time, I guess,” Smith says, laughing. “It’s still just, like, awesome. And a lot of people don’t get to do this who want to. And I really enjoy it in the long run—for sure.” COURTESY BILLY BRAGG
Breaking Up is Hard to Do by Rob Hamilton
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oo often, the break-up song subgenre is not diverse enough. There are several types of break-up songs, generally falling under one of two tents. The first type is the “I-still-loveyou-why-did-you-leave-me?” song. These songs have been the cornerstone of blues, pop and soul for as long as genres have existed. The tone is fairly easy to capture and of course many of the best songs ever written fall into this category. The second form of break-up song is considerably harder. These songs remove the self-victimization from the break-up. Generally, these songs fall under one of two categories: 1. I just broke up with you and I feel OK; and, 2. You broke up with me, and I’m fine with it now. The main risk with these songs is confusing stoicism with self-righteous-
ness and frustration with whininess. Ben Folds Five epitomized this pratfall with its 1997 clunker “Song for the Dumped.” After listening to this drivel, the first thing you wonder is what took his girlfriend so long to kick his a** to the curb? Due to the fear and overbearing selfrighteousness, you rarely find men singing these songs. Women are far more prone to write proactive break-up songs, largely because their inherent underdog status often encourages self-empowerment. Can you imagine Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” sung by Ne-Yo or Akon? It wouldn’t go over quite as well. So how does a man walk that fine line between pride and misogyny? The artists who are most able to do it end up with the classic break-up songs. Let’s look at three examples: “A New England” by Billy Bragg is one of the bluntest break-up songs you
will ever hear by either gender. Nothing simmers under the surface of the song, which makes it surprisingly unique. He tells his girlfriend that he loved her and loves her still, but he’s now “looking for another girl.” It’s definitely one of the most unsentimental break-up depictions. Then we have the much more abstract songs. “The Rabbit, the Bat, and the Reindeer” by Dr. Dog exemplifies this category. The narrator explains his frustrations in a more conceptual, though no less damning, way. He has had all he can take from his girlfriend and has finally decided to stand up to her, to “get it back like it’s four in the morning” and be rid of her. All this leads to the best break-up song in recent years, The Exploding Hearts’ “Sleeping Aides & Razorblades.” It is the most convincing and vivid song of the past decade about persevering and overcoming break-up hardships. “I hung new posters on my wall, and
“A New England” by Billy Bragg is one of the bluntest break-up songs to date.
the dog don’t remember your name,” our victim sings. Few songs have ever summed up the idea of having “moved on” from a relationship so succinctly and poignantly. Being able to capture something other than heartbreak from a break-up is admirable. It is something that is done well so rarely and gives a listener hope that something positive can emerge from the wreckage of a relationship. Happy Valentine’s Day!
jacksonfreepress.com
COURTESY NATE SMITH
To see Nathaniel’s upcoming performances or buy his new CDs visit www.nathanielsmithcello.com.
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