Keyon Harrold - Foreverland

Double LP

2024 release from trumpeter and composer Keyon Harrold

When Keyon Harrold is listing the influences that he turned to during the creation of his rich and evocative new album Foreverland, he cites the likes of Radiohead, Fleet Foxes, Fela Kuti, John Coltrane, and, for a second, he becomes vulnerable — the list is too basic, too serious music listener starter pack. But, out of that moment of insecurity, he spins an indelible flex: "You are what you eat, and I have a pretty strict diet in dope shit."

Taking in Keyon Harrold's career to-date, it's clear that the "world-class trumpeter" (Essence) and composer is very serious about that diet. He's a jazz musician but in the most expansive sense, working with a list of dream collaborators: generational legends Keith Richards and Diana Ross; rap stars like Mac Miller and Nas; neo-soul icons Erykah Badu and D'Angelo; and modern soul stars Black Pumas and Leon Bridges. His circle of regular collaborators is formidable and includes his music industry mentor Common (who hired him for his first touring gig), his New School classmate Robert Glasper, and GRAMMY winners Maxwell, PJ Morton, Gregory Porter, and YEBBA.

There's also his extensive touring and recording work with pop music royalty, Jay-Z and Beyonce. And, while it's perhaps lazy to compare Keyon to Miles Davis, the connection is a little more apropos than at first glance: Harrold contributed all of the trumpet playing in Don Cheadle's Grammy-winning Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead, playing to match Cheadle's on-screen performances.

Keyon has recorded two acclaimed solo records, 2009's Introducing Keyon Harrold and 2017's breakthrough release The Mugician, which established Keyon as "a certified legend in the game" (Okayplayer). Featuring Pharoahe Monch, Gary Clark, Jr., Big K.R.I.T., Guy Torry, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Robert Glasper, the record garnered praise from The New York Times ("stirring...consolidates elegy and exhortation") and Billboard ("equal parts music and magic").

However, the origins of Foreverland begin not at the crest of a professional and artistic high but in the doldrums of COVID-19 lockdown. A pandemic birthday found Keyon adrift. It was a period of stagnation, of exhaustion in the wake of challenges both universal (global health catastrophe, racial injustice) and personal (the passing of his mother, the highly publicized and racially charged assault of his 14-year-old son).

Looking for a break and a fresh perspective, a recommendation from his brother and a friend had him headed to Vegas. But instead of the tables, Keyon hit the studio. After months of isolation, it was invigorating to reconnect with friends after so long apart. This camaraderie was the creative spark Keyon needed. The sessions were loose and exploratory, but with an artistic focus he hadn't felt in years.

The resulting music was mesmerizing. Keyon embraced a less-is-more attitude: "It was almost minimalist in a way. I wanted it to sound as if it's easy but there's more complexity deep within, to pull melody and beauty out of the abstract." He allowed harmonic structures to vamp, slowly thickening harmonies for maximum emotional impact.

"Each song has a harmony that evokes a mood," Keyon says. "I invite you to live in this tonality with me. It's not about a million notes a second, it's about finding the right mood to open people's chakras. The color of each mood gives me solace — it allowed me to reignite the hopes I had, to begin digging out of a down period."

Even apart from its compositional intricacies and stylistic innovations, Foreverland is a triumph of resilience and empowerment.

"What will be said when you're gone?," says Keyon. "If you're not living life - getting beat up, getting your heart broken, winning, losing — what are you doing? What about your life can people learn from? If you don't put yourself in the ring sometimes, there won't be anything."

On Foreverland, Keyon takes life's challenges head-on — and emerges, in both music and in life, with a renewed sense of purpose.

Find Your Peace

Beautiful Day

The Intellectual

Foreverland

Well Walk Now (Perseverance)

Don't Lie

Paranoid

Gotta Go (Outer Space)

Pictures

Peace Beyond

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