Today we’d like to introduce you to Coco Columbia.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Coco. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I grew up in a small town in Oregon (Bend, Oregon) listening to a lot of music and playing the drums. I played rock music in middle school and started listening to and playing a lot of jazz in high school. I went to school for jazz (on drums) at the University of Oregon and Portland State University for a few years before dropping out in 2012.
After I dropped out I started teaching myself how to write songs, record, make beats and play the piano. I was basically learning how to do all of these things while recording, so it took around two years to get it all together. My first album “The Weight” (released in 2014) was essentially the final product of that process. Having never performed live, I put together a group of young Portland jazz musicians, (all friends I had gone to school with at Portland State), to learn my material and begin performing around Portland and up and down the west coast.
I released my second album “When the Birds Begin to Walk” in 2016 to critical acclaim in the Portland music scene. The album was voted “Best Jazz Album of the Year” by Willamette Week. The album was mostly songs I’d written myself, a few co-written by my guitar player and best friend, Grant Sayler. The songs were arranged by myself and my very talented band at the time–Grant Sayler, (Guitar), Micah Hummel, (Drums) and Alex Meltzer, (bass).
I had a couple of different versions of my band before I left Portland, I was lucky enough to have some amazing talent in my band, including Peter Knudsen, (guitarist who now tours with Ghost Note), shredding bassist RJ Reyes, piano master Matt Sazima, and slaying drummer Kirk Kalbfleish– all amazing people and staples of the younger Portland jazz scene.
I moved to LA in January of this year, halfway through writing my 3rd record. I’m loving LA, and I have met a ton of talented artists, musicians, producers, etc. I’m currently finishing my record and label hunting.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being an artist of any kind, especially if you don’t have any money, is one of the hardest paths you can choose… but also so rewarding.
Most of my personal struggles come down to a few things…
1) Often feeling as if I wasn’t being taken seriously by male musicians (especially when I was playing drums) and the deep insecurity that grew out of that.
2) Being a deeply depressed perfectionist, and never feeling that anything I do is good enough. I basically think I suck at everything, all the time. It’s terrible, but it’s also what drives me. I’m never satisfied. I’m always looking something new, better, more expressive, more emotive, whatever.
I’m drawn to music is that is executed with both genuine feeling and precision. This is why I love art though– it’s elusive– you never really arrive anywhere. You’re always chasing something. It’s like a perpetual crush that is never reciprocated.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I feel lucky to be alive and playing music in an era and part of the world where women are allowed to be independent and have actual lives. I’ve looked up to female musicians who showed me that what I thought was impossible was possible. I’m lucky to have found them, I’d be almost nothing without them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cococolumbia.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coco_columbia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cococolumbiamusic
Image Credit:
Reed Ricker, Stephan Partipilo, Katy Strutz, Jason Quigley, Julia Sherman, Erin Carstens, John Palmer
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