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Justin Trawick reaches a milestone
For musicians growing up in the D.C. metropolitan area, the 9:30 Club is a coveted milestone. Last month Leesburg native Justin Trawick reached that landmark in his music career when he rocked the club in Northwest D.C."It was one of my New Year's resolutions to play at the 9:30 Club," said Malik Starx, who rapped on some songs with The Justin Trawick Group, an eight-piece band, with Trawick as the nucleus.
Trawick (tray-wick) is a musician whose many collaborators fill out the stage, and The Justin Trawick Group may include different musicians on any given night. For the 9:30 Club he said he really wanted to involve everyone who had been a large part of his music so far. The Group that night comprised Trawick, guitar and vocals; Aurelie Shapiro, cello; Josh Himmelsbach, electric guitar; Malik Starx, vocals; Jeff "Junior" Bryce, saxophone; Jean Finstad, upright bass; Will Reinhardt, drums; and Kevin Espinosa on conga drums and percussion.
Much of Trawick's music flows from spontaneity and collaboration.
"I enjoy having [different] people come out and play with me because that way, no show ever sounds the same and it encourages people to come out and listen more," Trawick said. "Everything that we know to do is learned through playing live and a kind of osmosis."
Trawick wrote track 13, “You & Me,” on his debut album, “How to Build a Life with a Lemonade Stand,” just minutes before they recorded to produce a spontaneous, energy-driven song.
The album was released earlier this year.
The songs on the album reflect the range of instruments and styles that you would hear at a Trawick show. While the spirit of the group's live performance cannot be captured on a circle of plastic – what band's live music can be? – the CD, recorded live in Cue Studios, Falls Church, offers a concentrated cross-section of what a live performance might sound like.
Trawick describes his music as "acoustic folk rock with an urban feel." It's in the same vein as G. Love & Special Sauce and many of the other folk rock/rap amalgamations that have been gaining popularity ever since Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith collaborated on "Walk This Way" in 1986. On the CD, though, the piano, played by Brian Lotter, and upright bass, played by Rick Netherton, add an element of jazz and Shapiro's cello gives some of the songs a classical feel. At the 9:30 Club the tenor saxophone played by Bryce added yet another dimension of jazz.
The musicians' diverse backgrounds helped to create the musical salmagundi – or mix – that took stage in front of the modest-size D.C. crowd.
Shapiro, the cellist, had years of classical training, including a couple years with the Pan-American City Orchestra.
"It's fun to play rock," Shapiro said. "My parents roll their eyes every time I cart my cello off to a bar."
Bryce, the saxophonist, received a degree in music education in clarinet at University of Maryland. He was a band director at a Maryland middle school while playing in another band.
"I'd play a show in Morgantown, [W.Va.], be done at 2 a.m., and drive all night to be in school by 8 a.m. in Waldorf, Md.," he said.
Espinosa travels to New York City every so often to play salsa, merengue and Afrobeat in clubs like Copacabana and SOBs. He also lays beats on some hip-hop tracks, he said. It seemed like all the members of the group play with other bands as well.
Trawick said he usually plays with a two-, three-, four- or five-piece band, but he brought out the big guns for the 9:30 Club.
The band started as a five-piece and inflated to a full eight-piece for the last few songs, with members entering and exiting the stage intermittently throughout the show.
During a bluesy song called "Blind Man," cellist Shapiro, bathed in blue lights and wearing sunglasses, entered the stage. She played a slow, sweeping melody as if she was feeling her way along the strings and then quietly exited stage right.
The array of styles and musical backgrounds kept the crowd – which grew denser and moved closer to the stage as the night wore on – busy.
Trawick said the title of the CD is about how to make something out of nothing, how to start from scratch.
Judging by his busy lineup and clean sound, Trawick will soon be looking back on his first professionally made CD like it was a childhood enterprise and be looking forward to a bright musical career.
Check out Trawick's music on www.justintrawick.com . His new CD can be purchased on iTunes and www.cdbaby.com
Contact the reporter at mvantassel@timespapers.com
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