Julius Rodriguez has dazzled audiences worldwide as a musical polymath. From small jazz clubs swinging blues standards, to backing up hip-hop stars on stadium tours with pyrotechnics, at 25 he may have already logged his 10,000 hours.
Rodriguez prefers playing those smaller clubs, however, and that ethos carried over last June when he decided to play the intimate, artist-run house concert series called Notsolatin in South Philly. (We've featured many concerts from Notsolatin in our weekly Moment's Notice listings.) About 55 people surrounded the band, sitting on couches, chairs, standing and even sitting on the floor by the piano.
He talked about that experience with Greg Bryant and Nate Chinen on a recent episode of The Late Set podcast.
“When there are spaces like [Notsolatin] available, I always try to gravitate towards those if I can,” Rodriguez told WRTI. “When I play a place like Notsolatin, I look at who’s in the room, how are they feeling, are they drinking, are people quiet, or are they making noise, do they want some more feedback from us? And then I’m able to read those emotions and figure out what I need to do musically to address this.”
Rodriguez's performance at Notsolatin here in Philly was his second stop on what was his first U.S. tour as a leader. It was nothing short of mesmerizing, and WRTI was there with our crew to capture the magic. Now, you can watch highlights from the set in our new concert film.
Rodriguez's band includes the young Detroit-born bassist Jeremiah Edwards, New Orleans drummer Brian Richburg Jr. and trumpeter Alonzo Demetrius who has Philly roots as an alumnus of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts. You'll hear the pianist's burning original material, and a house-infused take on the Herbie Hancock classic "Butterfly."