As the first artist to grace the stage for KCRW’s Apogee Sessions this year, Nick Waterhouse did so with the exact degree of style and suavity you’d expect and then some. Dressed in a simple, but elegant dark button down shirt and a very snazzy pair of lightly colored slacks he led his 11 piece band through a groovy sampling of tunes from his forthcoming album. Of those new tunes, “Black Glass” stands out as a major highlight so we just had to make sure you heard it today before the rest of the session and the self titled album drop on Friday.
“Black Glass” beautifully exemplifies what has always made Nick Waterhouse so appealing as a performer. His collaborative spirit shines through as he yields the stage to his spectacular horn section, and a percussion breakdown for the ages. All the while maintaining a loose, easy control over his composition. Despite the lyrics relaying something of a cautionary tale, the music is pure escapism. Like, swaying underneath the stars on some remote beach during a different decade escapism.
Escapism may very well have been the theme of the entire Apogee performance. Taking our cues from the people on stage, those of us in the crowd were moving a bit here and there from the moment we heard the opening notes to “Song for Winners.” By the time they got around to fan favorites like “Is That Clear” a full blown dance party was underway. Somewhere in the midst of all of this getting down, the band cleared the stage for a much deserved break while Waterhouse had a chat with the evening’s host Anne Litt. A variety of topics were covered including how he came to title this new record, his fourth, Nick Waterhouse:
“After it was all done, I realized that it was probably telling the strongest story about my own motives and perspectives.”
He went on to shift between sincerely detailing the process of how this record is trying to convey an ideology and value system, and semi joking that: “A saxophone player that’s really good should have a solo - that’s an ideology!” He noted the evolution from his first record which he describes as “a collection of 45s” to this one where he put a lot of thought into how it would exist as a full record, and what it would say.
There’s so much more that we could say about Nick Waterhouse and his powerhouse Apogee performance, but we’ve got to leave you with something to look forward to…
The full broadcast of Apogee Sessions featuring Nick Waterhouse will air during Morning Becomes Eclectic on Friday March 8th. Nick Waterhouse will also be released on March 8th via Innovative Leisure.