BIOGRAPHY
"There is relief in repetition," the prolific multi-instrumentalist and visionary composer, Morgan Guerin explains — “And there is healing that comes from the predictability of melody and form."
Synthesizing the vast scope of Guerin’s latest album, Tales Of The Facade, into a single expression presents a formidable task. His intricately crafted compositions stretch seamlessly across traditional genre boundaries — featuring everything from expansive fusion grooves to ambitious instrumental improvisation, to hip-hop verses, to experimental - yet intoxicating R&B melodies. "I'm trying to get to music that people can dance to, the music that I like to hear, which means many influences, many moods, many genres. It's not 'world music' in the way people use the phrase,” he concludes, “but some other type of world music."
The project's title, Tales Of The Facade, came to Guerin before he felt like he knew exactly what it meant. His brother Chase, a featured vocalist on the album, shot the release's cover — a photograph that illuminates the title's true meaning. "Sometimes we can't see our true selves," he says. "Especially when we're wrapped up in technology; we take on almost another identity. That's not who we are — so it's about trying to figure out what that real version of us is."
Born into a family of musicians right outside New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and learning drums and saxophone before he reached double digits, the Louisiana and later Atlanta, Georgia native has a profound musical pedigree. Now 25 years old, Guerin holds a master’s degree in Jazz and has studied at both the prestigious New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and Berklee College of Music. He’s performed on stages around the world, working with luminaries like Terri Lyne Carrington, Chief Adjuah, Tyshawn Sorey, and esperanza spalding. He’s contributed work to two GRAMMY award-winning albums. He’s released a series of acclaimed albums of his own (The Saga Trilogy), and he’s already been dubbed a “wunderkind saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist” by The New York Times.
Despite his rising jazz credibility, Guerin emphasizes his reluctance for this new release to be solely thought of as a "jazz album" — both because of the genre’s designation, which he sometimes finds reductive and limiting and because of the rigid structure that it implies. "It touches a lot of different periods and styles of music — yes, Wayne Shorter and John & Alice Coltrane are big influences, but so are people like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Minnie Riperton, and Kendrick Lamar,” he explains. “I wanted all of those sounds to be represented.”
Guerin spent nearly a year creating the album, layering a variety of different instruments and sounds track upon track — the vast majority of which he recorded himself in his apartment. The album's polish and richness reflect the many months Guerin spent refining Tales Of The Facade as its primary instrumentalist and producer. And while it’s true that an impressive amount of the album is performed solely by Guerin, there is also a stellar class of collaborators, including Georgia Anne Muldrow, Melanie Charles, Cisco Swank, Zacchae’us Paul, J Hoard, and Kokayi, among others.
"This whole album deals with community — I wanted to have that represented throughout its sound," says Guerin. Pyramid, for example, features not only a deep, danceable groove but also a chorus of voices singing a joyful, wordless melody, all meant to trace the common ground between the music scenes Guerin grew up in and the notable stages in which he finds himself now. "I want this album to reach people of all different generations; Hearing my baby sisters singing these songs means more than anything to me," he says.
That same thoughtfulness is reflected in the way the album integrates current events, whether it's discussing the pandemic and war-induced chaos of the past few years on "Peace Of Mind," the inescapability of anti-Black racism on "Day By Day," or the persistent sexism in the world of music on "Something In The Air." Tales Of The Facade bridges the junction between Guerin’s personal life and his many influences — one of which is Patricia Hill Collins, whose book, Black Feminist Thought, inspired the album’s conclusion, "Homeland Heroine." There's a natural next-generation sensibility to how organically Guerin incorporates progressive and inclusive challenges to the societal status quo in his music. He sees activism as a necessary part of his life.
His deliberateness, his “discovery, and rediscovery, unlearning and relearning" were all meant to reach this "raw and honest" sound. It is one that's surprising, yet inviting enough to encourage repeat listens.