Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Coleman.
Hi Brandon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Well, I started off playing at church. At Fremont high school down in Los Angeles, I joined the school choir, really just me hot girls… this was high school you know… Literally, one of my friends asked if I could play at her church that coming up Sunday. I only knew a few chords, but I was so eager to show those cords off on stage, I took the gig! I faked every song.., no one knew, directly after the service the pastor offered me a job 50 bucks a week. That’s my first gig and that’s literally how I got thrusted into playing the piano.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road has been a very interesting one for me. I grew up in South Central, we’re almost no one listened to jazz or any type of progressive music. So navigating through that was extremely treacherous. Especially being a little black boy. It felt like or seemed to me that I wasn’t really a part of my own culture because I couldn’t identify with hip-hop. I grew up in such a bad neighborhood that I did anything and everything I could to block out the sophomoric ignorant behavior I was constantly subjugated to. For me, it was listening to Jazz! Jazz allowed me to explore different types of my mind, everything from imagination to just have any more in depth consciousness. But still to this day that’s still something that I kind of regret, I feel I was robbed from my hip-hop childhood… It’s interesting discovering hip-hop later on in life, I feel like it means so much more.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I like to look at myself as a spiritual conduit. Most musicians won’t acknowledge this but when you submit to the music, something magical happens. Since the very first moment, I started playing music I knew what my intentions were. To make people feel. I was so fascinated by the musicians that I would see a church and how they would completely transformed the energy of everything that was happening. I knew I possess the power. So conceptionally, I think that’s what set me apart from the fray. Not to mention I’d like to approach Music with no boundaries, and I feel that opens me up to a lot more possibilities and people acknowledge that and then also sets me aside from the fray. I also study lots of guitar players and bass players and I like to incorporate those rhythms/concepts on the piano. I’m also a huge lover of film music. More than often when I sit on the piano I am thinking of it like an orchestra, every keyboard is carefully orchestrated when I perform.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
When people acknowledge me. Being a darker-skinned African-American, most of the time people choose to ignore me? It used to get on my nerves because I’m such a happy person and I try to treat everybody with the same amount of love, happiness and respect! So in those moments when people aren’t unafraid of the big black bogeyman and can actually see me, and acknowledge with a greeting that makes me feel happy. Makes me feel like I’m human every once in a while.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandoncoleman/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/BrandonColemanFanPage/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandoncolekeys?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25d09lfv4ybw5IZb_VHU5A
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