Temple5

The local hip-hop and jazz outfit Temple5 have their EP “Strategic Arrival: The Statement” available as a free download on Bandcamp (physical copies can purchased online and at Gravity Records). Released in April, the EP was recorded locally at Hourglass Studios. It shows different sides of the group, from the relaxed vibe of “Excursion Pt 2 (A Tribute to Tribe)” and “Departure” to the anthem “Gritz.”

“Excursions Pt. 2” is inspired by influential hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. It features Hayden Williams’ rap vocals over Keith Butler Jr.’s restrained backbeat and Cameron Tinklberg’s equally subtle but moody keyboard playing. An early point in the song features AJ Reynolds’ double duty on vocoder and saxophone accompanied by Aaron Lane’s flugelhorn, an effect that’s a bit spacey. The horns provide warmth and the vocals via the vocoder while adding a strange playfulness. The final third of the song becomes a smoky, intoxicating piece of music.

“Gritz” uses part of a speech by President Obama as it opens, focusing on a section about inequality and the jeopardy facing the notion of working hard to get ahead. Set against the pop and chatter of energetic percussion along with warm, rising horns, “Gritz” boasts positive and equally energetic lyrics, namely the important refrain of, “Your identity is not in your pocket.”

The idea is furthered by its opening verse, delivered by Jared “J.Sales” Sales: “it’s in your shoes, how far did you walk, what you lost what you got you got to lose…it’s not your wallet, not your job, and definitely not where you went to college…” They take the notion of identity further, and what it is, by elevating it to larger levels – “It’s not the ticket sales or the people that holler at you…who are you and what is your purpose, your identity is not in your pocket but in your verses.”

“(g)Nardis” makes the most of a mellow vibe with a ready-made head bobbing beat. It slides along easy, using a steady kick beat that rocks and slaps. The song features three vocalists (Hayden “VI” Williams, Fred “Mighty Fred” Cunningham, and J.Sales) delivering nods to hip-hop and its importance.

“Departure” is a 10minute track that likes to wander and play while never losing focus as an instrumental that evokes city lights, hideaways, and buzzy atmosphere. Awash in smoky, whirling horn playing, spicy guitar interludes, and the scattershot feel of jazz-meets-funk percussion, “Departure” is both a breezy exploration and a musical version of letting your head (and soul) unwind. - Star News

Wilmington offers a large dose of sound—at least in rock. From the shoe-gazer indie kids to the metal bands to the hippie jam bands to the avantgarde hipsters, any music lover can pick their dose of rock and likely hear it any day during the week across town. Sure, a few other genres exist, too, but what happens if we blend the kaleidoscopic trip-rock of members from Justin Lacy and the Swimming Machine with the ‘90s-infused jazzy, hip-hop of members from The Coastal Collective? Quite simply: Temple5.

Temple5 play The Calico Room every Thursday for free through December.
A new outfit that started in August 2013, Aaron Lane (trumpet/ horns), AJ Reynolds (saxophone), Cameron Tinklenberg (keyboards), Michael Buckley (guitar), Sean Howard (bass), and Keith Butler Jr. (drums) came together to fulfill their own desires to perform hip-hop and jazz, and push the boundaries of what audiences were hearing locally. “We also wanted to provide an opportunity for ourselves to collaborate with local singers and MCs,” AJ Reynolds says. “We feel like there is so much talent here in Wilmington and beyond that we all want to work with, but we didn’t have a medium that allowed the opportunity.”

With inspirations rooted in bands and performers like A Tribe Called Quest, Robert Glasper, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Chris Dave, Joe Chamber, among others, almost all of the Temple5 musicians are UNCW students. They have either graduated or are currently studying jazz within the music department.

“Our sound, due to our education, utilizes much of the jazz idiom, yet pulls chord progressions or drum beats from hip-hop,” Reynolds explains. “When we don’t have a vocalist, we are immediately identified as a jazz band because of the horns. We use saxophone and trumpet as our lead voices, and that is a huge part of jazz, but the second a vocalist is added to the mix, the horns are used as a texture.”

Each genre comes tightly mixed and inspiring to the musicians, mainly because they find it hard to decipher between the two.“Hip-hop really is just an extension or evolution of the jazz medium,” Reynolds notes. Having only recorded one song, “Excursions Part 2 (A Tribute to Tribe)”—available to stream on their Bandcamp or Soundcloud sites—it will be released on their EP “Strategic Arrival” this winter. The group featured one of their friends, Hayden “VI” Williams, on the track.

“We thought it would be suiting for our debut single to be a tribute to all of our biggest influences for this genre of music,” Reynolds notes. “Temple5’s purpose is to be a medium for singers and rappers to collaborate. The band provides the music, while the singer/rapper has the chance to make the track whatever they would like. We are essentially a live beat machine for the artist.”

Though they played together first at 2012’s Cucalorus Film Festival with Michaela Basilio, they started rehearsing and booking gigs throughout fall 2013. Throughout December, Temple5 has played The Calico Room every Thursday night—and for free. They’ll be wrapping up their residency on December 26th. They also hope to release two EPs and a full album in 2014.

“‘Strategic Arrival’ will be released late January, featuring both Jared Sales, a.k.a. J. Sales, and Hayden Williams, a.k.a. VI,” Reynolds says. “We are still on the lookout for some singers to help bring the EP to a closure.”

They hope to play more venues across Wilmington, too, but also tour, with the goal of hitting the Triangle by the end of next year. “For now the biggest chunk of our focus is recording, recording, recording—with artists, artists, artists!” Reynolds exclaims.

Currently rehearsals run around three or four hours long and come with a hodgepodge dynamic between the new members. They’re adjusting to playing and interacting on various levels to become cohesive.

“Cameron and Sean are from The Coastal Collective, so they essentially function as a unit with one another, while on the other hand me, Aaron, Mike and Keith have been playing together for well over three years in The Swimming Machine, and Aaron and I also played with Mike Blair and The Stonewalls and The Love Language,” Reynolds notes. “Practices can be very scatterbrained, but when it’s completed, it is 100 percent finished.”

Their writing process comes with complete collaboration so far. From one person devising chord progressions while another complements the groove and percussion, and another finds the melody and harmony, a blend of energetic personalities balances the more subdued. “Writing horn lines are hard!” Reynolds jokes. “The process is stressful, but between the smiley and overall positive nature of Cameron and Keith, they help keep the band together.”

Likewise, they all share a passion for the unpredictability within the jazz genre. It’s admittedly their first love, because the shifts within the music keep them consistently enamoured and challenged. “I love how much change is within the music,” Reynolds states. “There are so many styles, such as swing, bebop, Afro-Cuban, big band, soul. There are so many sounds—anything from happy to sad, beautiful to ‘ugly.’ . . . Musicians really are able to have their own way or identity toward playing jazz that makes it a personal experience for the listener, if they can decipher the language, since it’s all tones, rather than words. There is an emotional/spiritual sensitivity that’s needed to really completely understand and bring yourself to the music.”

Paired with the vocal rhythms of hip-hop, the dichotomy of the music becoming secondary for the message to be delivered also presents an interesting layer. According to Reynolds, hip-hop offers immediate acceptance to fans thanks to vocal expression. “When there is a rapper/singer, the lyrics give the listener something to identify with immediately, and they can understand what is going on,” he remarks. “In this day and age, people connect to poetry and rhythm of lyrics, yet supported by a contagious groove, laid down by the drums and bass.”

Attending a Temple5 show also means hearing a few recognizable tunes, as they cover classics like Miles Davis’ “Nardis” and Wayne Shorter’s “Night Dreamer.” Yet, they Temple5-a-nize it by hosting a rapper over the song. “The possibilities are really endless with how we can creatively fuse hip-hop and jazz together,” Reynolds says.“ We really aim to revive the boom-bap here in Wilmington and give a breath of fresh air to those that love live music.”

Folks can hear Temple5 live this Thursday at The Calico Room for free. Their EP will be released online in late January. - Encore Pub

AJ Reynolds of Wilmington hip-hop band Temple5 said forming such a group is "something I've wanted my entire life."

Facts
What: Temple5 EP release show, with
Ellsworth Johnson, Leroy Moody and
Sam Brown
When: 10 p.m. Saturday, July 12
Where: Satellite Bar & Lounge, 120
Greenfield St., Wilmington
Tickets: Free
Details: 910-399-2796, http://
Temple5ILM.bandcamp.com or http://
SatelliteBarAndLounge.com
On Saturday, the seven-member band will perform an album release show at Satellite Bar & Lounge for their new EP "The Bap is Eternal (The Argument)." It's Temple5's second release in less than a year together and follows on the heels of "Strategic Arrival: The Statement," which was released in April. Reynolds said the new record, which was recorded at Hourglass Studios, has the band reaching back to old hip-hop, using heavy beats and incorporating rock guitar.

"It's real heavy," Reynolds said, "a head-jerker."

During a muggy Saturday afternoon in June, saxophonist Reynolds, drummer Keith Butler and trumpet player Aaron Lane said Temple5 began as a collaborative effort for the Wilmington hip-hop community, an opportunity for rappers to work with a live band instead of over prerecorded tracks.

The three met at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and later played in Port City band Justin Lacy and the Swimming Machine. By 2012, Reynolds felt it was possible to create a band mixing jazz, hip-hop and a varied lineup of rappers but putting out a positive, uplifting vibe. Temple 5's music can be sultry, smooth or heavy, and it often carries a back beat inspired by the ‘90s so-called "boom-bap" production style. Though live shows allow for some improvisation, they usually don't stray far, save for following a rapper's delivery.

"That can happen live," said Butler, who drew inspiration from hip-hop pioneers like Questlove and his band, The Roots. "If I notice someone getting into it a little more I might add syncopation. That's what's cool about the live stuff – the energy picks up according to how we're feeding off one another."

"There's an element of improv there," Lane said. "We try to have a more focused sound so we're all hitting together."

With a multitude of rappers in the area, the band's members made it known they were open to all of them. Many rappers are comfortable working with prerecorded tracks and a DJ, but the band found those who were into live instrumentation.

"That's where you get real hip-hop heads," Reynolds said. "Hip-hop is sampled off live bands – Motown, ‘70s bands, jazz music from the ‘50s through ‘90s. Even though they aren't able to play an instrument, they understand the value of having live instrumentation."

With the new EP, the band is working to make hip-hop more conscious and less caustic.

"I feel like Temple5 is trying honor that soul from hip-hop – what can we do to make it better?" Reynolds said. "To make things known to a lot of people, to talk about and deal with them. That was a movement of hip-hop, from its birth in the late ‘70s until I'd say 1999. The new millennium hit and that is gone now."

"I walk around and listen to what's playing in people's cars," Butler added. "There's no substance. It's reckless. Back in the day when people were making hip-hop they had the message. Because of the message they wanted to put the same soul and effort into the production, too. There was a community of people wanting to do good work and inspire each other to do good music for the sake of art and getting a good message out." - Star News