Robert Nelson and Manuela Velasquez

[00:02] ROBERT NELSON: I'm Manuela Velasquez I'm 24 years old. Today is October 6, 2023, and I'm here in St. Louis, Missouri, with Robert, who we're going to learn a little bit more about today.

[00:11] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Wow. Hi, manuela, and thank you for having me.

[00:15] ROBERT NELSON: Thanks for coming. Thanks for being here. So, Robert, tell me a little bit more about yourself. I know you're wanting to talk about music and your journey with that in your life, so I'm interested to hear maybe a little more about what impact music had on your formative years.

[00:32] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Music has had an incredible impact on my formative years. I mean, I don't really remember. I think I remember music more than I remember my siblings. I don't know where that came from. But music has been so significant in my connection to my community, my connection to my own emotions, and it has been an incredible connection for me to the world. You know, growing up in the late sixties in St. Louis and listening to the voices around Christmas time of, you know, the male Torme and a lot of those jazz, Nat King Cole and those jazz singers of that time, you know, around the holidays, I thought, who are these people? How do they get these voices? Why are these voices so dreamy? And I think that it just kind of the music transported me to just different places and, you know, you're looking into the sky and you're looking for Santa to come across the sky. But I think music opened up a curiosity, a curiosity for me that said, there's a whole world out there, and I wanted to know more about it, and I wanted to know more about the people and the places. And so music has been, in those early years, it was just really a connection, and it has continued to be that through my teenage years and my connection with music in church and traveling, touring choirs for HBCUs. And I just, in my studies, I think that the more that I learn, the more that I want to know, the more that I practice, the more that I set a higher bar for myself to go further with it. It just never stops giving.

[02:31] ROBERT NELSON: I agree. I mean, when I listen to jazz music, it is the first time I feel like I really started thinking about voice as an instrument or just the things that they can do with it. Amazing and evocative. And so what kind of, I mean, how do you practice music? Like, are you a singer? What, what is your instrument?

[02:50] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: My instrument is my voice.

[02:51] ROBERT NELSON: Oh, beautiful.

[02:52] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Right. And I love that because, you know, I have a lot of respect for trumpet players and my drummers. And, I mean, there isn't an instrument, I don't think. I mean, that I'm not interested in, but I think that the voice is the one instrument that I think that has the clearest fingerprint on it. I think that the edges and the ridges in the fingerprint of a voice are so unique. When you listen to the voice of a Billie holiday, and then you kind of juxtapose that voice to the voice of an Ella Fitzgerald Gerald or Louis Armstrong. You know, the textures or Sarah Vaughan.

[03:40] ROBERT NELSON: Love Sarah Vaughan.

[03:40] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yeah, love Sarah Vaughan. The textures, and many of them have sung the same songs, and they're so different. I mean, same lyrics, same melody. But the voice and the texture and the fingerprint of that voice can make the song in Sarah's hand feel so sublime. In Ella's hand so buoyant and happy, and in Billy's hand so sad and so heart tugging, I would say, you know, and I think that that's fascinating to me. So it is the voice. It's the voice.

[04:23] ROBERT NELSON: Yeah. I mean, you make a great point, too, with, like, it is the same song that there's all these different versions of, but each of those versions feels, like, so their own. Like, it's not like that. That song is, like, in a sentimental mood, not owned by anyone in particular. Everyone has their own, like, really, really connected rendition of it. I am not. I'm. We're gonna learn more about your music career. I'm not much of a trained musician myself, but I, like, sing, and I love jazz vocals, and I love, like, making my own music. But I'm definitely excited to learn more about, you know, your journey as an artist. And so I see another question that you, or maybe wanting to consider is, what does it mean to be a successful music artist to you?

[05:04] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: First, I want to say that I'm so happy to hear that at 24, we're not sure somewhere around there at 24, that you're listening to jazz music, that you are familiar. I mean, that makes me so happy. I mean, I think that's part of my. Part of my personal mission is to ensure that the music of those artists that, you know, the proliferation of that music, to make sure that people your age and younger or older, whoever they are, if they haven't had the experience of listening to an Armstrong or a holiday or a Fitzgerald, that I want to make sure that I'm connected to something or someone that is making sure that that music is as relevant today as it was then, because I believe that music really doesn't get old. I believe that music is alive. I believe that it's well, and it's alive and it's inexplicable. And so when you listen to those recordings, especially if this is the first time you've ever heard it, then that's new music to you. And so I don't believe in sweeping music and artists under the rug and saying, oh, that's old time. And I think that there are people like me that I think that we are commissioned to make sure that those artists are known and their contributions to music are respected and that we're educating people and that we're continuing in that style of music and creating opportunities for people to like to experience that music. This is american music, and I'm just very proud of the accomplishments of those artists, and I'm honored to be a part of making sure that those legacies remain vibrant, you know?

[06:54] ROBERT NELSON: Well, I know earlier you were like, oh, do you guys know Dean Martin and the other guy? Don't even. I obviously heard of Dean Martin and like, that, you know, his impact on music, but the other guy, not a clue in the acting realm. But I agree. Like, it is. It is important and such a part of the fabric of history and community and, like, expression that we have a lot to, you know, learn from in today's world, too. Like, there's a way to, like, listen to it that I think can really connect you both to the past and the present and the future, too.

[07:26] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Absolutely. Absolutely. I remember being in college, and I think the movie, when Harry met Sally.

[07:32] ROBERT NELSON: Came out, great movie.

[07:33] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: And I had a roommate, and he was from Birmingham, and this was at Alabama A and M University, and he said, dude, I bought this album. You've got to listen to this album. I think that we listened to the soundtrack with Harry Connick Junior. I think we listened to that for probably five weeks, maybe an entire semester. And I was just so. I mean, I fell in love with Harry Connick Junior s voice, his style. I mean, of course, it was a throwback, but he made it relevant, he made it current, and it was so great to see. I was so inspired to see how Harry Connick Junior can take those standards and bring it to this contemporary movie and this love story and redo the music and I. And speak to a whole new generation. I mean, I was the jazz guy and my roommate, who probably did not consider himself such. He was turning me on to something that I had been living my entire life. And so that was really exciting. And the same thing with other artists who kind of rely on the nuances of the traditional. I listened to Anita Baker. When I listened to Anita Baker, I hear Sarah Vaughan. And I thought in the eighties, well, this is an incredible artist. I mean, she's definitely her own artist and she has her own fingerprint, but she is continuing that legacy of sassy soul jazz to a new audience and bringing it and making it slightly more contemporary and a little more palatable for an audience that may not be jazz aficionados. And so I have so much respect, and I thought, I can do this. I can be a part of this. And I have to find my way to bridge that gap, to take a piece of the history and the foundation of jazz music and bring in the soul, bring in some of those gospel nuances, and then present that to today and prepare it for tomorrow and pass it on so that there are more artists that are coming up that are 24 or 16 or five who will continue that music. And so I want to be a part of that.

[09:43] ROBERT NELSON: So can you lay out your journey as a musician a little more for me? You know, you mentioned, like, getting that interest in childhood and carrying that through your teen years, listening to all this music in college, like, what has your journey looked like since then?

[09:57] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: I. When I. Well, I grew up in church, so I grew up, but I grew up in church and around a lot of gospel music, but I didn't have a family that was very, very strict to gospel music. So in our home, my dad was a huge blues guy. I mean, my dad was. It was all about BB King. When my dad came home, it was like my dad had his cigars, you know, and my mom, you know, she fried his fish and his food the way he wanted it. He had his drink, and it was BB King. And I could feel that and the music and what it felt like at that time. But then my brothers at that time, they were listening to the temptations and psychedelic shack, and they were listening to the supremes. And because I was much younger, I gravitated towards the Jackson five, you know, and I think that everybody began to kind of pull towards to the music that kind of best spoke to them. And so. But on Sundays, it was all about gospel music. And so at a very early age, around eight, I was tapped by an incredible musician from St. Louis by the name of Lee Cochran. Very well known musician, very well trained and well educated and extremely talented. He chose me, I believe, around the age of eight, maybe not ten, somewhere between eight and ten, to be a lead vocalist for our gospel unit that he put together. And we did a broadcast show for the church. And so at eight, around eight, I was a lead singer and my voice was on the airwaves and I was singing gospel music on the radio, and I didn't understand the significance of that. I didn't understand the impact, because I really, I wasn't really interested in doing it so much because for me, the music was more personal, and so I wasn't ready, and I really wasn't interested in standing before people singing. I was much more comfortable at home in my own bedroom where no one was around. And I would sing forever. I would never stop singing. But I realized that I was singing for myself. I sang because the sound of my voice, it soothed me, it spoke to me, and I didn't think that it would speak to anyone else. I didn't think that it would matter to anyone else. And so that's where the journey began. And so at a very early age, I wanted a private music life, and I was already being pushed into more of a public music life.

[12:41] ROBERT NELSON: You know, that is interesting. When. And I know you were already being pushed towards the public music life.

[12:49] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yes.

[12:49] ROBERT NELSON: You know, how do you feel about your relationship to it now with the public or the private? And, like, when did you see a shift where you started to potentially want to make that journey more public or more extended outside yourself?

[13:02] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: That's a great question. I think that as I began to kind of mature and sing in the choirs and learn gospel music, and we didn't have a choice. I mean, there were eight of us and my family.

[13:16] ROBERT NELSON: Oh, like eight siblings?

[13:18] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Yes.

[13:18] ROBERT NELSON: Oh, nice.

[13:19] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: There were eight of us, and all of us had to be active in church, and you had to sing in the choir, you had to be an usher, you had to do poems on Easter, you had to be in the plays, you had to sweep the church, whatever they asked. You had to wash cars and do bake sales, whatever the church had going on, we didn't have an option. We had to be a part of that. And. But I would. I started to steal away into my brother's record collection. It's really interesting. There were three record collections. I had one brother who was really into, what I would say, just traditional, standard rhythm and blues music. He was listening to the OJs and I Diana Ross and, you know, artists like that. I had another brother who was really heavy into, like, funk. He was listening to parliament Funkadelics and he was really into Rick James and really heavy, hard funk music and rufus and chaka Khan. And then my oldest brother, he had a collection of jazz records and he was listening to Ramsey Lewis and Grover Washington Juniore and Deborah Laws and Sarah Vaughn. And while I took time over those formative years to go through probably every record in each of their collections and try to put them back so that my brothers didn't realize that I was digging in the crates, you know, I found beauty in all of them, but particularly the jazz and particularly the traditional r and b. And so I realized that today I consider myself a rhythm and jazz artist because I like to blend the two. I don't want to choose. I mean, we live in a world where people want to talk about genres. Everything's about a genre. You know, people are saying, well, we should perform at this place because it has this name, but this is jazz, and that's not jazz or this isn't blues. And I'm thinking, what does it matter? It's all music. And music will connect with the heart. And so for someone who's kind of anti genre, I'm always using those terms, rhythm and jazz to blend and create a music that I hope would supersede any kind of genre. I believe that genres are kind of man made to separate and divide people and create some kind of a judgment of some sort. You know, this is country music, and you black, so you can't do this. You shouldn't even be listening. You're weird. You're listening to country music. Black country artists have a difficult time doing country music. Record company. It's just so weird.

[16:09] ROBERT NELSON: It is strange.

[16:10] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: You know, jazz music. Well, who's the founding, if you look at the jazz charts now, many of the big jazz artists happen to be white artists, and they're incredible. And then you have a sector that are going, well, this is our music. And, I mean, there's so much dialogue around genre, and I think it's. I think we should just kind of take a minute and just take a deep breath and just say, you know what? Let's do quality music. Let's do really, really good music, and let's just share it and let the music be and let all of us be, and no division. And it's just. It's music. It's alive, you know, and the music speaks for itself.

[16:54] ROBERT NELSON: Well, so tell me a little bit more about what it's like making that kind of music that speaks for itself, blending genre into superseding the genre, basically. And, like, your work nowadays, as, you know, an artist, a performer, a music executive, but also as an educator and a father, what is it like balancing all of that and, like, creating within those many different hats that you might wear.

[17:19] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Being a father, an artist, a musician, a music exec, being involved in those conversations and being a part of the proliferation of music in all areas is really exciting for me. I think that it's just a place that I've always lived in my own head since I was in preschool. I think that in my head, I was always all of those things. I think that at five years old, I believed myself to be an artist. And as I played, when kids played cops and robbers, I think I was playing. We were preparing to go on tour. I was the record executive. I was the artist. I was the a and r guy. I was the stage manager. I was the audience. I was the writer. I was the producer. And so I played games where we created albums and we did the art, and I did the art design. I actually took album covers and did artwork to read and reflect the music that I had recorded. And then I put together tours, and I would say, oh, we're going to kick the tour off in St. Louis, and we're going to Detroit, and then we're going to do a world tour. So I think I was afraid that I was the weird kid on my block because I didn't want other kids to know that this was a world that I lived in. And so when they would come over to my house to play, I would quickly put everything away and try to hide all the stuff that I was working on, because kids are mean, and they. And when they don't understand things, they tend to criticize and try to shatter your dreams. And I realize that adults do the same thing. You know, the kids who were criticizing our dreams are still the ones today that we call haters. You know? You know, you're doing your thing, you're following your imagination, and then you have people and naysayers who have nothing to do but say negative things. And so I don't listen to that. And so I think that the world that I'm living in now is actually a world that I have been creating for years. I think that now, in 2023, I think that I'm living that on the outside, and I'm allowing people to actually see the fruition of what I have designed in my mind. And I have imagined for years now, those things are actually beginning to manifest. And now I'm much more comfortable just being in my own skin, on the outside as well as on the inside. And I really. I really don't care what anyone has to say about it. I'm having a great time, and I'm living the time of my life. I'm living my dreams and I won't let anyone take that away from me.

[19:59] ROBERT NELSON: That is such a special journey to, you know, I mean, obviously just the most integral part of your world for your whole life. And now you're getting to really express it internally and externally, like, wherever you want to be. Living that dream, it's exhilarating.

[20:13] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: It's exhilarating.

[20:14] ROBERT NELSON: Can you tell me more about what it looks like to live that dream? Like, tell me about the music scene in St. Louis and some of the places you've had the opportunity to play at and, like, what. What spaces have you been able to play in?

[20:26] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: What it. What it. What it. What it looks like. What it feels like is to just. It's like being a kid in a candy store. I mean, I get to live in an incredible city. St. Louis is. I mean, this is home for me. I left. I went away to New York. I think you. Have you ever seen the movie coming to America? There's a scene in coming to America. He is a prince and he's a king. Rather. He's looking for his queen and he takes a map and he finds queens, New York on a map and he puts his finger on the queens and he says, I'm looking for a queen. I'm going to Queensland. Well, I thought I wanted to be a jazz singer, and this was something that I wanted to pursue. So I decided to go to Harlem because I had read so much about the Harlem Renaissance as a child. In fact, I named my band Renaissance. And I was so fascinated with the Harlem Renaissance that I moved to Harlem and there I worked in record companies and I worked to start a band and write music. And that was going to be the place where I created this world and manifest this world. But after working in record companies for a very short time and beginning to put things on the ground for the music career, I received a phone call home from St. Louis and I found that one of my very close loved ones was very ill and they asked me to come home. And so I packed all my dreams and I came home to be with my loved ones, but I left all my dreams back in New York. And I thought, you won't. You won't create the band here in St. Louis. There really isn't a scene here for you to do that. There are no record companies and that kind of work for you to do. So your life is going to change significantly and you need to accept that. And then having the kids and finding that I was a single father. Before I could even realize it, I thought it was all over. But St. Louis has grown and changed as much as I have grown and changed. This year, the arch turns 58 years old, and I'm so excited. We get a chance to perform at the big, iconic gala for Gateway Arch foundation. And I thought, wow, this is what coming home means. I mean, we have the band, we have the music. We are recording live recordings now, and things are growing. And I get to be a part of a network of incredible musicians in this city. And we have incredible venues around this city. The National Blues Museum, jazz St. Louis, and we have Kranzberg arts, the Dark Room and the Grandell Theater and the Sheldon theater. And there's so many beautiful places and opportunities and music festivals that are growing and emerging in the city. And now when I look around, I go, wow, similar to Dorothy in the wizard of Oz, I thought everything that I was looking for in another place is actually here. It's home for me. And so to be able to be a part of a community of trumpet players and singers and poets and writers and artists and venues, I feel like I am living in my own renaissance here in St. Louis. I'm very, very excited. And so what it looks like is that I get to be a part of that. This is my home. I am a native son of St. Louis, and now I get to be a part of those conversations. And as a music exec, I get to have some decision making around what it looks like, how we preserve music in this city. That is probably the biggest, one of the biggest gifts in my career, I would say, and not my personal life, of course, my children would be that. But in my career, I think that being a part of this movement, this music movement, and this renaissance of music in St. Louis, to be a part of that, in the capacity that I get to be, I think that that's everything. That's the kid in the candy store saying, I get to have all of this. I get to be a part of it.

[24:32] ROBERT NELSON: Well, so, Robert, as we start to approach the end of the conversation, I think, you know, it is so exciting. You have so much coming up for you and, like, really creating and also enjoying, like, this home of music, this home of St. Louis, and, like, everything that continues to develop with the music scene here. And, you know, I know that you've recently gotten a position as a director for a museum devoted to music. Tell me a little bit more about, you know, how you want to lay the foundation for the future of, like, being immersed in this world of music. Tell me more about what you want to accomplish in art education and music education.

[25:10] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: I'm so excited to be a part of art education in the city of St. Louis. I mean, St. Louis has provided this opportunity. I have done the work and I have been prepared by the universe, by God himself. I have devoted so much of my time and my energy and my passion to studying and appreciating and imagining and reimagining what my contribution to music, what it should be and what it should look like for me and for my family and for my city. And I think that now the universe is beginning to answer that and answer that call and put things in place where I get to be a part of the proliferation of jazz music, the proliferation of blues music, the proliferation of art and the tradition and the culture of our city, and the impact that this epicenter of St. Louis, how it has impacted around the world. And I think that legacy is undeniable. And I think that I am a part of preserving it and partnering with people in this city and abroad and in other cities to say, how do we do this together? So this is a global initiative for me. I see the National Blues Museum and all of these, and Jazz St. Louis and all of these incredible non for profit organizations. I see us as one. I think that we take different entities and different approaches towards the same goal. And I look forward to working with them, continuing to work with the community and partner with all of the sponsors that are of eager to be, to bring forth those resources to make this really, really happen. And I'm just so grateful for the opportunity. I have a servant's heart, a servant's spirit, and so as a son of St. Louis, I feel like I am a servant. And this is a job for me to do, and I intend to do that to the best of my abilities, and I intend to do that with excellence. Yeah.

[27:21] ROBERT NELSON: Amazing. Robert, as we wrap up, I just want to thank you so much for coming and recording with StoryCorps today to share a little bit more about your story and, you know, what music means to you. Is there anything that you want to add to the recording? Before we kind of wrap up today?

[27:36] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: I want to thank you, Manuela, and I want to thank you just for being a great, just having a great conversation with me. I mean, I think it made it so much more fun to know that these are the kinds of things that you're kind of interested, that you are interested in, that you find value in. And I think that's part of the awe of all of this is that when you have something that you want to share with your community and when people are receptive to it, it's like, wow. It's like meeting a new friend and finding common ground in music. And so with that being said, I just want to thank Storycorps for having me. I want to thank the people of St. Louis for just embracing our city and for opening doors and just for being open to the work that we have to do for our city and for music and for culture.

[28:34] ROBERT NELSON: Well, thank you so much, Robert.

[28:36] MANUELA VELASQUEZ: Thank you.