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Brandon Meeks is an Indianapolis–based jazz bassist, bandleader, and hip-hop producer, recognized as a key figure in the city’s jazz scene. Meeks is known for his work with saxophonist Rob Dixon, and the hip-hop jazz trio Native Sun. In 2015, he gained national attention for portraying jazz bassist Ron Carter in the Miles Davis biopic “Miles Ahead.”
Earlier this month, Meeks was awarded a prestigious Creative Capital grant for Unsung Giants, a project celebrating under-recognized Indiana jazz legends. WFYI’s Kyle Long spoke with Meeks to learn more.
This interview has been edited for style and clarity.
Kyle Long: I'm just going to jump right into this. You have some exciting news to share. You just received a Creative Capital award. This is a prestigious national grant for artists. Tell us a little bit about this award you just received.
Brandon Meeks: The award I received is called the Creative Capital State of the Art Prize. Each state gets one award for one artist in the state. So I won the award for Indiana. There were like 4,200 applicants. So it was pretty humbling to be chosen for that and have my work validated on that level. So it's been pretty cool. It's been quite a moment.
Long: You have a really interesting project that you're going to pursue with this grant. You're calling it Unsung Giants. Tell us a bit about this.
Meeks: In addition to the Creative Capital grant, I recently received a project grant from the Indiana Arts Council, and beyond that, for the last few years, I've been getting support from the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation to do a project called Third Sunday Jazz Concerts.
And this year, I have a concept called Unsung Giants: Indiana's Hidden Jazz Stories Come Alive. And what this project is about is honoring the overlooked Black and Midwest jazz elders, particularly in Indiana. So I'm looking at some artists from my hometown of Gary, Indiana, as well as some of my mentors and elders here in Indianapolis. And I want to do some compositions based on their stories.
So it'll be musical, cultural storytelling, along with some recorded excerpts from interviews that I'll do with them, and kind of interweave those into some new compositions. And we want to just have a creative, innovative way of telling their story and pushing the culture forward, while also honoring those elders that have maybe not been a part of the national conversation the way it should be. But, you know, we're going to do something about that.
Long: Speaking more broadly, how has the history and legacy of jazz music in Indiana shaped you as an artist?
Meeks: Yeah, one of the first jazz records that I ever purchased was Wes Montgomery’s "Guitar on the Go," with Melvin Rhyne on the organ. Even before I knew I was going to be a jazz musician, it was like, "Whoa, what is happening? How is he doing this? I want to learn how to do it." That was before I even moved to Indianapolis.
And then once I moved down here in 2004 and was actually able to play with Melvin Rhyne and meet Clifford Ratliff, Larry Clark and certain musicians that kind of came from that period, it's really been a privilege to be connected to such a rich historical lineage and doing what I can do to carry it forward. But it's definitely a point of inspiration.
Long: Well, congratulations again on this award, and I'm excited to see the process of the project.
Meeks: Oh yeah, it's gonna be really cool.
Long: I appreciate all the work you do. Brandon, thank you so much for being here.
Meeks: Thank you as well, man.
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