Al Davis: It’s good to meet you, Omar! So, your CD came to the station and I said, “Wow, this is great.” And then I had a chance to talk with one of our other co-workers, Téa Mottolese, who had produced this album here at GBH!

Va Lynda Robinson: Before we talk about your recording, I’m curious to find this out. You are a composer, arranger, and educator. What was the catalyst that brought you to music?

Omar Thomas: I’ve got to give all credit to public school music education because I’m 100% a product of that. I started in band in fourth grade and I grew up in a household that loved music in general. But I started in band in 4th grade on the trombone, and I kind of took advantage of all that public school education had to offer in middle school. Jazz Ensemble became available for the first time and that’s when I joined that. In high school, it was marching band, orchestra, and choir. Music education is the reason that I am fortunate enough to live the life that I lead, and so I wanted to pay that forward. And that’s why I got a degree in music education.

Al Davis: Tell us about “Griot Songs.” That’s an interesting title!

Omar Thomas: So a griot in West African tradition is a person in society who is responsible for the proliferation of culture through storytelling, through music. The oral tradition. And that’s the role that I feel like I inhabit in this album, because all of these seven pieces, as you can see, the runtimes are pretty epic. The shortest track is nine minutes and the longest one is over 17. I’m just giving time for the piece to breathe and to evolve and to unfold. And so I feel like I’m telling all of these different stories and trying to to share who I am and how I see myself in the tradition of this music.

I cover a lot of different styles: you’ve got that kind of light, two-beat swing in the first track, and then we go straight into alternative rock, kind of aleatoric classical jazz with the Radiohead arrangement. “Obeah Woman” is a kind of a call to my heritage as being a first generation American. My family hails from Guyana, South America. We’re a part of the Caribbean diaspora, and so I’m kind of reaching to that with that. And also giving some reference to go-go music of DC, you know? It’s all in there. This is me just kind of telling these stories in a way that I feel works well as a cohesive kind of entity. So by the end of the album, you look back and you’re like, wow, that was quite the journey. And hopefully you’re not too exhausted to want to take it again.

Al Davis: Was all of it recorded at the Fraser Studio at GBH?

Omar Thomas: It sure was. Absolutely.

Va Lynda Robinson: I’m just marveling at the number of singers who have performed your arrangements, including Yolanda Adams and Dee Dee Winans and Sheila E, Dionne Warwick and Shaka Khan. Tell me about those collaborations.

Omar Thomas: So that was like a star-studded one-night event, actually, at the Howard Theater in D.C. for its rededication. And it actually happened the week of the Boston Marathon bombing. I was hired by the great Terri Lynn Carrington to create all of those charts for her all-female band. And so I went ahead, and we were basically putting on medleys to honor Shaka Khan, Etta James, Valerie Simpson, and Dionne Warwick. And so I did all of these horn arrangements of medleys of their music, and we rehearsed them, and they brought in all these different singers to sing different parts of the tributes. And then, you, know, Shaka was in the audience, so she came up at the end and did what she does on “I’m Every Woman,” sounding exactly like it did on the original record! And that was just a really special, special experience that I was honored to be a part of.

Al Davis: Now, I gotta ask you a question. What is it like to write charts for such a big ensemble? It sounds wonderful when it’s put together, but starting from the beginning, what is that like putting together the pieces?

Omar Thomas: Well, large ensemble is home for me. I’ve always been in love with -- even when I first started writing, it was immediately for big groups. I started off writing for marching bands and so I fell in love with the big band as an instrument in high school. But especially in college where I was being introduced to all of these writers who just really opened my eyes and my heart and the world with the music that they created. And so for me, that’s where I feel most at home. I mean, yes, it’s exhausting, but you know, I’m that kid who wants the 88 crayon Crayola box! I don’t want the four crayons, you know what I’m saying? [Robinson and Davis laugh] The one with the little crayon sharpener on the back? I enjoy living in that space.

Al Davis: Well Omar Thomas, thanks again, we really appreciate your time and your company this morning.

Omar Thomas: Thank you all for making the time. I’m glad we could do this. It’s an honor.