by Romy Beckman
Concurrence had the honor of being the very first band to perform at the 2026 Newport Jazz Festival. They performed music from their critically acclaimed 2024 album, Indivisible, which explores how interstate construction displaced Black communities across the United States, while also celebrating the resilience of Black culture. The performance was warmly received; the Newport audience rose to their feet for a standing ovation when the set concluded.A couple hours later, I sat down with Greg Bryant (bass), Paul Horton (keys), and Aaron Smith (drums) to learn more about Indivisible, their experience at Newport Jazz, and their upcoming album, Memory is Resistance.
Preview: “Memory is resistance, because when we think about banning books, when we think about rescinding voting rights, when we think about black children who are all of a sudden missing and no one knows how they went missing or where they are, all of it is a ploy to control memory and control narratives and erase what we know to be of truth. So as long as we can remember, as long as we can hold our history in our minds and in our soul, that in and of itself is a form of fighting back.”
– Greg Bryant
Romy Beckman: You guys were chosen to be the inaugural act of the 2026 Newport Jazz Festival, how do you feel?
Greg Bryant: I feel great, man.
Aaron Smith: Yeah, it’s very surreal. To start the whole thing off, that was really an honor.
Romy: Your album, Indivisible, I’m curious to know more about the origins, where the idea for the album came from, and how it evolved over time.
Paul Horton: It really came from years of conversations with Greg and another close friend of ours, Dr. Reagan Mitchell. They’re both from Nashville. I’m from North Alabama, kinda rural Alabama, so the memory of what the city was like before the interstate was much more something that hit them and they were more familiar with. They were basically educating me over the course of years and then right around 2018, the early germs started to form. And by 2019, I’m going to the Tennessee Library Archives and Metro Nashville Archives and looking up information in other cities, reading books, and just trying to understand the history behind the interstate system and the destructive nature of it that people don’t really realize, even though we travel on it all the time. So that’s really where it started and then we secured a grant, the Pathways To Jazz Grant that allowed us to record during the pandemic.
Romy: When you guys were recording the album, to what extent did improvisation play a role in the process?
Greg: Every album we’ve ever done—with the exception of the one that’s coming out in December—we’ve always started one of the recording sessions with a completely free improvised piece. So on this album, it was ‘Last Call At The New Era’. That’s actually a sound check, so that was completely improvised. And right away we knew we had magic. Like, did you get that? He started rolling just a little late, but that actually became a tune on the record. Now, we don’t play those tunes live per se, but they’re constructed in the moment as if they were just a song, you know, just a vibe. So I would say that for sure has been a hallmark of our stuff. We like to be able to take the temperature, like, what are we feeling right now? Damn, that was pretty good. Put it on the record.
Romy: You said during your set today that Indivisible was a tribute and a triumph. I thought that those two words were a great encapsulation of so much of what the album’s about. It’s a complex subject matter so I’m curious about the process of making music—and predominantly instrumental music—with such heavy and nuanced themes. What did that process look like, and how do you channel those ideas into music?
Greg: I think it always runs through us, to be honest. Because where we come from, this heritage of ours, it keeps on giving. The more we learn about it, it’s just like gifts, and it’s energy. And that energy—however it manifests itself—I believe is nothing for us to hold on to as if it was a possession. As corny as it sounds, It’s more like a sieve or a conduit: it just pours and pours and pours. And we’re literally just receiving it so you can have it. So, like Paul was talking about with our research, when we learned more about, not just musicians, but things that happen to us and what our ancestors went through or how they won or how they overcame, that becomes part of our information. It becomes part of our DNA. So I may not be thinking about what Rosa Parks did, Malcolm X did, or Harriet Tubman did, or whoever, in the moment. But as I learned those lessons and I’m inspired by their courage, I want to have that kind of courage, that kind of abandon when I create. We don’t think anymore in terms of genre, we just think about our sound, how we can represent that with our voice. So nothing is really off limits anymore.
Paul: Nashville is a part of the story of our album, but of course it is about every interstate that is constructed in the United States. So it was twofold. The Nashville part is, what would the music scene in Nashville today be like if the interstate hadn’t run through and basically destroyed all the venues that people like Ray Charles and Duke Ellington would come through and play. And so it was kind of like picturing an alternate universe where they were still there, or picturing what it would be like to be in some of those venues. We have a couple songs named after venues, like ‘New Era’. And then the other half is when we’re working on a song, if there’s a vibe, if there is a feeling that I feel connects with an idea of the story behind what we’re trying to communicate, then, aside from the musical context, we use song titles to let people know. I think the most… conspicuous may not be the right word, but the most obvious one is ‘I-40’. There’s a lot of obvious rage and it breaks down and then rebuilds, which signifies that the culture, that culture, is still able to exist even though there was extreme damage to it economically and physically.
Romy: What were some reactions to the album that felt the most rewarding or gratifying in the time since it’s been released?
Greg: Number one, I would have to say, quite frankly, our parents and some of their friends have given us kudos, because they went through a lot of what we’re talking about firsthand. I would also say the fact that we were a little bit ahead, because I’m just now starting to hear people in other cities talk about this, openly and in the news. I live in Los Angeles now and they talked about how South Central and south of downtown, the Black American community was affected by interstate highway construction. The West Adams neighborhood, which was once an affluent black neighborhood in the 30s, 40s, 50s. Then all of a sudden an interstate comes through and, you know, food deserts and high crime, and they’re just now starting to really gentrify and bring other people into the community. So the fact that now it’s being talked about more, even in the two years since this album has been out, maybe in some small way, we planted a seed to help get people activated about it. We’re not Grammy winning artists yet, but to be able to lend our voice in the conversation has been a real treat for me. To see people starting to talk about it, it’s not a secret as much. What do you think?
Paul: Yeah, it varies. Inevitably when we play in a town, someone always comes up and the music and the idea behind the album will trigger a memory about what life was like for them. When we were in Philly, there was a tall gentleman that came up to us after and he was telling me about his memories of I-75 cutting through his neighborhood. And we played at a place in Knoxville, the Bottoms, it was a bookstore. And the Bottoms was a black neighborhood that got destroyed by urban renewal. When people had not heard of it at all and didn’t even think about it, that is when it’s rewarding that I’m able to shine a light on something. The ultimate goal is to get people hip to it through music and then they can keep their heads open, their eyes open, and their ears open to stuff that may happen today. Because it’s still happening in many different ways. Data centers is another thing where, through eminent domain, the government is taking people’s homes. And the interstate stuff is still happening. There’s a lady that said that she had never thought about it, and now she can’t stop thinking about it when she drives on the highways.
Romy: I really enjoyed getting to listen to your set this morning, but I am curious to know what that experience was like for you. Some people find performing live for an audience to be nerve-wracking, other people find it exhilarating. So I wanted to know where you feel you land on that spectrum. And on a stage as legendary and historic as Newport Jazz, what does it feel like performing here?
Greg: For the first time in a long time, I was very present. I wasn’t overanalyzing what I was playing or what they were playing. I was trying to take it in at the same time as keeping it going. As a kid, reading about these festivals here at Newport and having an opportunity to participate my first time here, it’s just… I’m just grateful, man. I know that’s not the most eloquent answer, but it’s just catching up to me what we just did.
Paul: For me, the nerves—regardless of where I’m playing and the size of room—the nerves are always there a little bit. But I did a little relaxation thing before the set and then just let the music take over. So I wasn’t really nervous once we started playing, just honored and, like Aaron said, it’s really surreal to be playing Newport with our own music.
Aaron: I think the thing that I’m grateful for with this experience is just seeing it over the years and being able to not only participate in it and be an artist in it, but to be the very first set, I think that was really an honor. It’s an honor just to be able to be a part of this group. But knowing and seeing the history behind Newport and being a big part of it is really, really cool. Especially for it to be your very first time.
Greg: You can’t always judge by the applause, the attentiveness of an audience. But I felt really warm when I saw Nate Smith’s embrace, they really cheered him on and welcomed him royally, as they should have. I think his introduction was straight to the point, and I felt the love in it, and I think it helped the audience to warm up to us before we even played a note. Paul and I were just at the merch tent before this. There was a gentleman who just had cardiac arrest and his doctor just cleared him to come today. And he said, man, I really appreciate you saying, “keep going” and playing the way that you played, I feel encouraged, I feel freed up. So that makes it worth it to me.
Romy: That’s beautiful, what a great story. I wanted to ask you… (at this moment a marching band begins playing just behind the media tent) we should probably wait a second.
Paul: (laughing) What band is that, who is that?
Greg: I don’t even know! I didn’t know they had a brass band on the bill.
*after roughly a minute of listening to the marching band pass by*
Romy: I think they are far enough now. You guys performed today as a trio. Purely hypothetically, If you were performing as a quintet and you could invite any two musicians in history to join you, who would you want to play with?
Greg: Dead or alive, who are you adding to this band Paul?
Paul: Two people? Oh, man. I don’t know why, but maybe something like a Woody Shaw… I could hear Woody Shaw. And I wouldn’t mind getting down with another keyboardist or so, maybe Shirley…
Greg: Oh shit, you went there, you went there. So Shirley Scott and Woody Shaw? That’s kinda nasty, that’s kinda crazy.
Paul: Yeah, maybe something like that, that might be kinda crazy.
Greg: I’m gonna let Aaron go last and give him some more time. Two musicians to add to Concurrence, dead or alive. Wow. All right, I’m gonna do a wild card. I am going to say DJ Jazzy Jeff. That would be kind of nuts. And this is today’s answer, because tomorrow’s answer will change. Jazzy Jeff and, man, I’m actually going to say Pharoah Sanders. That would be nuts.
Romy: Why those two?
Greg: Pharoah because I think he was one of the most complete saxophonists that there’s ever been. A lot of people love him for one of the things that he did, but he had it all, so he could go anywhere. And the few times I actually heard him play against more groove based stuff, his sound still takes off and still does exactly what it’s supposed to do. I think Jazzy Jeff, because he’s the most complete turntablist that I’ve ever heard. He knows when to not scratch. But when it’s his time to solo, he solos as linearly and as satisfyingly to me as a Joe Henderson. He just does it with turntables. The best party I ever went to was a Jazzy Jeff block party. And the best moment was when he got those doubles of LL Cool J’s ‘Rock the Bells’ and just did the routine, and then did the routine with ‘Peter Piper’, the Run-D.M.C. one, he can do anything, man. And he engineered and produced Gil Scott’s first record, which tells me his head is in a totally different place, the way he hears music. I don’t know if it will work, but I would love to try it.
Aaron: I just have one. Rest in peace to him, Casey Benjamin. I think that would be something crazy. And (he’d) bring an element that would compliment what we do because he plays synths, but he also plays sax and all that stuff. So he’s able to make all the weird sound effects and all the stuff that we need. I just think that he would take us to a different… a different realm.
Greg: That would be dope.
Paul: I want to redo mine. My other two would be Georgia Anne Muldrow and maybe Isaiah Sharkey.
Greg: Oooooh!
Aaron: I was gonna say Isaiah Sharkey.
Romy: I saw him at Newport last year, he was insane. I’ve never seen anyone play guitar like that in my whole life.
Paul: We had the same exact experience. And we said the same thing, I think he’s the most complete guitar player living right now.
Romy: You mentioned that you have a new album coming out this year, can you tell me a little more about that project?
Greg: We’re completing our new record that will be out in December. trying to synthesize some of the lessons we learned making and thinking about Indivisible, and still speaking to the time and the trials and trying to keep encouraging people. We landed on the title of Memory is Resistance. That’s what it’s going to be called. Memory is Resistance, because when we think about banning books, when we think about rescinding voting rights, when we think about black children who are all of a sudden missing and no one knows how they went missing or where they are, all of it is a ploy to control memory and control narratives and erase what we know to be of truth. So as long as we can remember, as long as we can hold our history in our minds and in our soul, that in and of itself is a form of fighting back. So that’s what it’s called: Memory is Resistance.
Romy: I’m really looking forward to that. Thank you guys so much, I appreciate you taking the time.
Concurrence’s Indivisible is available now on all streaming services. Keep an eye out for their upcoming album, Memory is Resistance, which will be released on December 11, 2026.
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