Filmed live session by American singer and keyboardist PJ Morton for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk, recorded on July 2, 2018. A preacher’s son from New Orleans, a member of Maroon 5 and a protégé of Stevie Wonder, Morton bet on independence by founding his label Morton Records to champion an organic soul steeped in gospel and in his city’s musical heritage. For this intimate full concert, he managed to fit a ten-piece string section, the Matt Jones Orchestra, behind NPR’s desk, alongside his backing vocalists The Amours, bass and percussion — fifteen performers in all. The three-song set (Claustrophobic, Go Thru Your Phone, First Began) illustrates a songwriting that refuses the boxes imposed by the industry. Carried by his Fender Rhodes and a soulful voice, this live concert is a dive into the most sincere contemporary soul, ideal for fans of R&B, neo-soul and refined arrangements filmed up close to the musicians.
Setlist
- Claustrophobic
- Go Thru Your Phone
- First Began
Personnel & credits
- PJ Morton — chant, Fender Rhodes
- Brian Cockerham — basse
- Ed Clark — percussions
- Matt Jones — direction (Matt Jones Orchestra)
- Clayton Penrose-Whitmore — violon
- Arianne Urban — violon
- Olya Prohorova — violon
- Alexandria Hill — violon
- Danielle Taylor — violon
- Istvan Loga — alto
- Caitlin Adamson — alto
- Seth Woods — violoncelle
- Malik Johnson — violoncelle
- Victor Ray Holmes — contrebasse
- Jakiya Ayanna — chœurs
- Shaina Aisha — chœurs
