What’s up Si Sessioners and welcome back! 2023 is coming to an end, so we need to end things off with a BANG with our last artist spotlighter for the year.
Our December fave is fresh from a release that has major industry DJ’s talking and we're obviously here to tell you, our readers, all about it. So ladies and gents without wasting any more time let us introduce you to, James Winston Canham, who goes by the name Jazzed Montage!
Who's is Jazzed Montage...
Born on the 24th of August and currently residing in Johannesburg South Africa, the Lesotho born Producer shares a lot on his story with us. He describes himself as ‘analytical’ , ’ introverted’, ‘open minded’ and enjoys a warm hearty, country style slow cooked beef stew as his go to meal. This Leo's birth date may be the 24th of August, but he shared something really interesting with us about that. Apparently he has 2 birthdays! the 24th and 26th. He tells us that his fathers handwriting wasn't the clearest when they were registering his date of birth as his '4' looked like a '6' so they decided to celebrate his birthday on both dates.
We really loved the name “Jazzed Montage” so we needed to know its origin story. “I derived the name Jazzed Montage from the name I used in a hip hop act I was part of in school called Jazzed1”. He further tells us that he was primarily a sample based producer who listened to a lot of jazz music and drew from it so the name also draws from that, and also his says he's got a really chilled personality.
Into the Musical heart & mind of Jazzed Montage
Jazzed Montage started playing around with ‘fruity loops 3’ in high school but shares that he really started getting into making music in varsity from 2012. So we obviously had to know...why the music industry... “music has always been a soundtrack to my life, from being the sound engineer at church in my youth, I feel like it has always been a path I was going to thread one day”. Jazzed Montage describes his sound as laid back, smooth soulful and often infused with analog elements and with a sound like this, we had to know who or what he draws inspiration from... and listen to this… music from 90’s video game soundtracks! That’s definitely a first for us. To add on, he also draws inspiration from old soul records that his parents used to listen to. When it comes to ‘who’ inspires him, he mentions Madlib, Atjazz, Charles Webster, J Dilla, Mf Doom, Jimpster as the artists that ignited the flame in his music journey.
Being in the industry for over 11 years comes with it's stories, that’s for sure. So we had to know what challenges he’s faced, what highlights and lowlights he’s encountered in his 11 year journey. He starts by telling us that there was a period in his life where he was incapable of creating worthwhile music. “I had a lot of personal things going on and at the same time, I was spending a lot of time with people who are not creatively inclined and the result was me being unmotivated and putting in less than 100% effort into making my music”. Thankfully he eventually overcame this creative block by listening to different music genres which refreshed his ears to start creating again. To add onto that, he also tells us that he has set a goal to open his work station and creating something daily, this pushes him to generate new ideas everyday and eventually the result is something meaningful, creative and technically beneficial for him.
Every musician has some sort of opinion about the state of the music industry, so we had to know whether Jazzed Montage is satisfied with the South African Music industry at the moment. He shares that he’s happy with the growth of digital service providers, so places like Apple Music, Spotify etc, and it's a great time to be a musician right now, because there's a better reach to find your niche and audience. He although hopes to see less exploitation of artists stating - “there is an abundance of information and tools to help upcoming and young artists to put their music out without the need of someone controlling them”.
He also adds that the worst thing for him about being in the music industry is when creatives find the need to please the norm or put out what's expected of them, thereby overshadowing their creativity and ability to experiment with their own flow. One the flip side, the diversity of the music industry is something that he tells us he really enjoys, saying “there is always something new and different sprouting about”. One thing about South Africans ladies and gents is that THEY…ARE…TALENTED…PERIOD!
What's the plan for the future?
So what the plan for 2024 Jazzed Montage? …”the plan is to have four singles out during the course of the year and collab with more local producers and vocalists”. You heard it here first ladies and gents!. But listen…it's still 2023 and we have you covered…in the mean time, go ahead and listen to his single, “Praise the beat”.
Jazzed Montage signing out
Its time for Jazzed Montage to sign out, and as you know, we love our artist spotlighters to sign out with their favourite quote…so here’s the man himself signing out, saying…”I am you and you are me”