If you weren’t introduced to Kiefer Shakelford’s keyboard music in 2022 when he graced the pages of our LA-centric print issue, you may know him by ear as a composer and session player behind familiar tunes from Drake, Anderson .Paak, and Hannibal Buress’ recent venture into rap music as Eshu Tune. Yet his work as a solo artist is just as noteworthy, as most recently established with his LP It’s Ok, B U, which was released last September and which featured contributions from Pera Krstajic and Sooper Records nu-jazz songwriter Luke Titus.
And after honing his live show with Titus on drums and Krstajic on bass for over a year, Kiefer is announcing today that he’ll be releasing a new live album with the trio called Something for Real on May 10 via his longtime label home Stones Throw Records, which documents a show for the Scenario Conference and Festival kick-off concert last April at the LA venue Moroccan Lounge. As heard on the first single from the collection—“Cute,” originally from his 2019 EP Bridges—the release will see these songs teased out and refined, with the two-minute cut expanded into an exploratory six-and-a-half minutes.
“Like everything else this group does, this recording was made with a spark that can only exist when the art is organic and simple,” Kiefer shares. “The natural feeling of the recording comes from a few key things: First, we played at Scenario, a weekly event I was attending nearly every week at the time, and a community I feel very much a part of. Second, Daddy Kev, a good friend of mine who runs the event, graciously offered to record the performance (he also later mixed and mastered the project, which makes him the honorary fourth member of this trio on this album). Last, I did not inform Pera or Luke that we were recording, which led to a performance totally free of the expectation or anxiety of a recording session. Just three friends playing for each other, for fun, for an audience that was totally juiced to be at a free show.”
Check out the first cut from Something for Real below, and pre-save the record here.
