Today we’d like to introduce you to Julian-Quan Viet Le.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the practice, why don’t you give our readers a few quick bullet points about you and your story.
Parents migrated from Vietnam
Both have masters in Music Performance and Composition
I was born in Michigan in 1990
Lived in Albany CA most of my life
Lived in Vietnam for a year and a half
Parents taught me piano starting at 3, Bamboo flute and Vietnamese monochord at 8
Spent a lot of time in the water growing up.
Went to UCLA on a full jazz scholarship under the mentorship of Dr. James Newton and Prof. Kenny Burrell.
Linked with Anderson Paak and Dumbfoundead when I was still in College
Auditioned for Jhene Aiko right after college and have been with here ever since on and off, whenever they needed me.
Some other people I’ve toured for include Judith Hill, Khalid, Anderson paak, Dumbfoundead, AI (Japan).
I would spend most of my time programming/performing with Jhene Aiko
2016 I took a year long tour with AI that changed my life.
I’ve dabbled with making beats my whole life but starting 2015 is when I really started to dive in and develop good fundamentals, learn how the industry was doing stuff as well.
First placement was with Jhene Aiko and Fisticuffs and David Foster “In a world of my own” Disney comp album.
Fisticuffs would have me make sounds on a lot of their projects (Yuna, Jhene, Sabrina Claudio)
First song I ever made with Jhene was in rehearsal.
She came with the melody and I played the chords around “new Balance.”
When the Japan tour came around, I made a point that I would spend that time to get to experience living in a different country and culture as well as study hard in terms of music production.
I decided that as much as I love the piano, I didn’t want to just play piano. I mainly wanted to make music and compose and learn how to achieve different sounds.
I’d stay behind on the stage after every soundcheck and just make songs nonstop till I turned blue in the face.
Practicing quantity and how to never run out of ideas, just develop that endless flow of creativity while at the same time honing my technical ability.
First placement in which I produced the track from the ground up, drums and all was with AI “I Can’t Pretend.”
from 2015 and on, I spent a lot of time dissecting different styles because it was something I was genuinely curious about and I found out that it was something I loved doing
A lot of people don’t know this about me but I absolutely love the heavy bass electronic scene.
People like Joker, Ivy Lab, Skrillex, Troyboi and so many more….
After Japan, I moved back to the bay so I could still be involved with our family’s music school
It has been a really good balance for me. Teaching/creating music/being around family at home, and then traveling for Jhene shows.
Recently, I’ve been collaborating a lot with Jhene Aiko, Tobilou, Hypebeast, and various artists from Japan.
In terms of my music, I’m sitting on a lot of music right now and I’m having a lot more fun just making stuff everyday at the moment rather than worrying about releasing music to the public sooo I’ll probably release some stuff next year.
I also plan on doing a lot more acoustic trio music now that my studio setup can accommodate that type of tracking.
The main things going on for me right now is continuing to develop my family’s music school in the bay area, and helping my friends finish their albums.
The music industry can get a little crazy so I think it’s important to surround yourself with genuine and good people. The road might be a little longer when you make an effort to always do the right thing, focus on developing your skills rather than promotion, I think these are key factors to creating a very solid foundation and getting rid of insecurities in your ability.
I’m not saying focusing on promotion is wrong. In fact, if I was good at marketing myself, I’d probably use it to my advantage but it’s just not me so I chose another way.
My main reason for doing music is I love growing and learning. Sometimes there will be weeks where I feel like I’ve gotten nowhere but then all of a sudden you listen back to the stuff you’ve been making and you notice its evolved, it’s one of the best feelings in the world. Now when I teach music, I tell them upfront that I’m not here to teach them how to have a career in music because I’m trying to figure that out myself. But more so how to find peace in music, how to enjoy growing in music, and using the lessons that come with learning an instrument or production, and applying it to life.
I associate my personality a lot with my music, which is why I feel like it is just as important for me to do things outside of music such as go camping, travel, sports. When I grow in anything, my music grows with me.
Just trying to live a balanced life, hold on to the things I enjoy, and make a comfortable living doing what I love.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Anything that sounds interesting to me, I will study it and add it to my musical vocabulary.
Basically, this whole journey for me is absorbing everything that is interesting to me, and spitting it back out in my own weird way.
When it comes to working with other people, it’s more so helping them turn the musical ideas in their mind into actual audio, introducing ideas that might spark a lightbulb.
My focus is always on growth. Take money out of the equation for a second and I will still focused on growing because that is what brings me a lot of joy, noticing that I am improving at something.
Being open minded is important.
Listen first, react later.
I’ll always give someone else’s opinion a chance to digest in my mind. After that, I have every right to decide whether or not I agree or disagree. This goes with everyone, which is why I don’t really take it personally when someone dislikes the music I work on or put out.
I am always changing as a person. My music will change with me. One day, I’ll be really into Brad Mehldau, the next day I’ll be more interested in Hudson Mohawke, and then I’ll go to Vietnamese traditional music. I think my genuine interest in all these different genres is what makes me who I am and it took me a second to accept it because early on, I always felt like I needed to stick to a “sound.”
Sure it might be terrible for my marketing the fact that I’m spread so thin among all these different genres but the end of the day, going back to what I said earlier, I care the most about my growth. That and my close friends and family haha.
Embrace who you are, work hard, but don’t get too lost, be aware of when it’s time to take a break and reconnect with people, nature, etc…
I feel like I could ramble about this forever but this is the gist of it.
Do you think conditions are generally improving for artists? What more can cities and communities do to improve conditions for artists?
I don’t know about easier or harder.
A lot has changed with the growth and popularity of streaming platforms.
Distribution is a lot easier, however, royalties have gone down.
There’s so many interesting and unorthodox ways to break into whatever path you’re trying to go. Social Media is still a mystery to me.
My biggest fear is that live music and learning to play an instrument might get lost somewhere down the line so my goal in the future as I acquire more and more resources throughout my career is to create more opportunities for live music genre’s that aren’t as popular. Our music school started off as just a music school. It is now a music school and recording studio. The final step will be to turn it into a school, studio, and live music venue and at this point it seems totally doable. I think cities create more events that promote less popular art and artists. However, the only way I think that this will really grow is with more investors and a huge wave of events. Initially, trying to run these type of events with profit in mind is not the look. The goal is to promote and spread art and I think people will be more down to spend money and tickets for these type of events if there’s more buzz about them. People are more than willing to spend 100 dollars for a pop concert, but when it comes to paying 20 bucks to support a local jazz band, they’re less willing and a lot of times, these musicians are amazing. I think combining food (which is an art in itself), with art in events should be done more often as well. This stuff gets a lot deeper though.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
www.Lejkeys.com
https://lejkeys.bandcamp.com/music
https://soundcloud.com/lejkeys
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Lejkeys.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lejkeys/
Image Credit:
Zeke
Brian Warfield
Minh Ngo
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
