The evolution of Terrace Martin is anchored and centered around one consistent element and that’s simply musicality. From the blog era of rap to the multi-hyphenate music culture of 2023, there are two elements that make him stand out from the crowd and remain steadfast in his musical identity: his consistent work and musicality. He has been able to express that talent in multiple albums over a 15 year career, earning critical acclaim and spots on music heads’ best of list. Albums like 3ChordFul, Sneeze or last year’s Drones, my personal favorite album of that year. Webster’s defines musicality as “sensitivity to, knowledge of, or talent for music.” This is the bedrock of what makes up Terrace Martin’s career. Musicality is his marketing, not a Twitch stream, a faux relationship scandal, or a piece of merch, but simply musicality.

Terrace Martin has released two of the best albums of the year. One being Curly, a pure and unadulterated jazz album named after his father and the other being the Nova EP, which he recorded with fellow musical alien and savant, James Faunteleroy.  Not to be trumped, James Faunteleroy has career accolades including background vocals for Jay-Z, Kanye West, featured on choruses with Frank Ocean, and being a band member in the Avengers-like and revered group of the 2010s called Cocaine 80s which included him, Common, Jhene Aiko and No I.D.  Faunteleroy and Terrace have been frequent collaborators but, this is their first full length collaboration. 

Curly, a jazz album that is part of a planned six part series, does not include any vocals,just instrumentation that ranges from the conscious to the seductive to the thought provoking. The album starts with a song called “24th and Lake” that sets the musical bed for what will come in, as something that is vibrant and filled with rhythm. It feels like the intro to a coming of age movie for a young boy trying to thrive in the world of Leimert Park, Los Angeles. The album is littered with amazing Hammond organ, probably due to Terrace growing up in the Church band and playing in it every Sunday. Curly never gets boring. Usually when I listen to jazz albums there are moments of lull but not on this album. It doesn’t feel like artists are just playing music instruments at a high level but creating scenes of music that evoke a variety of emotions. The song “Final Thought” includes fellow music savant Kamasi Washington and brings texture and layers that further compliment Terrace’s musicality and combine it with that texture which allows the music to morph into something that likens more of a living and breathing environment instead of just a jazz song. Curly has an extended version of “How to Much a Dollar Cost” from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. In this alternate version, Terrace is able to build off of the original and create something that compliments its sentiment.  For an apt conclusion to this beautiful album, it is closes out with the song “The Voice of Nipsey”, which not only acts as a tribute but acts as a rhythm laden track that acts as musical and rhythmic recap of Nipsey’s life, with audio textures that represent sadness and hope.

I didn’t even see any type of promotion for Terrace Martin and James Faunteleroy’s excellent EP (try saying that five times fast) when I realized it had been released via my resident streaming app. When I realized the album was indeed a genuine release from both artists and not some type of mashup project that we see so frequently, I immediately started listening to the project. Even though it is a joint EP, James Faunteleroy is more of a supporting actor to Terrace Martin’s protagonist,which I believe was by design, because in songs like “Witchcraft” and “like it like that” there is more of him playing background vocals that really let Terrace shine with his producing and him performing the alto Saxophone, which has been his calling card since 2009.  My favorite song from the project, “Chocolates and Dinner,” which sounds like a stroll in the Tiffany’s store in Manhattan in the 1960s.  The fact that Terrance is always building on his existing sound and taking others with him on his musical journey will be his legacy.