Darryl Yokley is a uniquely gifted artist with a vast array of skills at his disposal. Not only is he an accomplished saxophonist, but he is also recognized as a very talented composer and arranger, writing unforgettable tunes for his own band Sound Reformation as well as arranging music for artists such as Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band, Rhonda Ross, Michigan State University Jazz Ensemble, and more. Some people have characterized his playing and writing, as “different”, “unique”, “adventurous”, “special”, or saying that Yokley has “his own thing.” Brent Black describes Yokley playing by saying “Yokley is a critic’s worst nightmare as he sidesteps standard categorization with ease.” However his music is described, the consensus is that Darryl Yokley is an artist with a concept and vision, and a sound that sounds like no one else.
Yokley began his musical studies in his native state of California, starting at the age of ten on clarinet and moving to saxophone a year later upon entering middle school. He took quickly to the saxophone and the language of music, placing in honors bands for both classical and jazz.
Yokley moved to North Carolina in high school and met his future saxophone professor James Houlik at a clinic in Lenoir, NC. It was then in 1997 that Yokley decided to focus solely on classical saxophone and it would be ten years before Yokley truly dedicated himself to jazz. He attended Duquesne University for his undergraduate studies and Michigan State University for graduate studies. He studied with the aforementioned James Houlik and then later concert alto saxophonist Joseph Lulloff in Michigan, practicing constantly and perfecting his skills on the instrument. While Yokley dabbled in jazz studies with Mike Tomaro at Duquesne and Derrick Gardner and Michigan State, a vast majority of his time and focus was towards being a concert soloist.
After graduating Michigan State University, Yokley started playing and touring with Motown legends the Four Tops, the Temptations, and the O Jays. Yokley was enjoying his time playing with the legendary musicians, but had a desire to swing again and he felt he finally had the time to dedicate himself to jazz and uphold the tradition of learning the music in the streets from older musicians. He moved to Philadelphia in 2007 to complete his “doctoral studies” from mentors such as Tim Warfield, Orrin Evans, Mike Boone, Sid Simmons, Mickey Roker, Edgar Bateman, and Byron Landham playing gigs in Philadelphia and frequenting the jam sessions almost every night. He moved to New York in 2009 and within less than a year he started performing main shows as a leader at a variety of venues and has performed with such artists as Orrin Evans, the Captain Black Big Band, Valery Pomonarev’s Big Band “Our Father who Art Blakey”, Eddie
Allen, Jack Walrath, Ralph Peterson, Frank Lacy, Duane Eubanks, Bill McHenry, and others. Yokley has performed for world-renowned musician and producer Quincy Jones as well as being the special guest artist for the closing ceremony for the ARPA International Film Festival in Hollywood 2014. in 2015 he was commissioned to write music for the Philadelphia Museum of Arts exhibition Represent: 200 years of African-American Art, and his success as a bandleader and sideman has now lead him to the international stage performing as a sideman and as a special guest artist in Japan and Brazil.
Yokley formed his band Sound Reformation back in 2010 and they released their debut album “The Void” in 2012, which received favorable reviews from such critics as Brent Black and Charles Latimer. Now in 2017 the band’s popularity is growing even more and Yokley is set to release his second album “Pictures at an African Exhibition” with Truth Revolution Recording Collective which will feature Zaccai Curtis on piano, Luques Curtis on bass, Wayne Smith Jr. on drums, and special guest Nasheet Waits on drums for a double drum sextet which will be accompanied by small chamber wind ensemble and thirteen pieces of original art. The band recently premiered the project at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in January that received much praise by critics and audience members alike.
Alongside having a very busy performance and composing career Darryl Yokley is an active educator teaching at Westminster Conservatory in Princeton, NJ and the Fort Lee School of Music as well as being an active clinician. Darryl, who has taught at Westminster conservatory for over eight years now founded the Westminster Saxophone Quartet back in 2011 and has mentored young talented saxophonists, helping them develop their skills as young musicians and coaching the quartet to two first-place finishes in competition at Carnegie Hall.
Darryl Yokley performs on a Selmer Mark VI on tenor with a Vandoren V16 T8 mouthpiece, Vandoren Gold MO Ligature, with Vandoren V16 reeds. For alto, he performs on a Selmer Super Action 80 Series II with a Vandoren V16 A9, Vandoren Gold MO ligature, and Vandoren Java select reeds. He also uses the BREATHTAKING strap designed by Yumiko Komura. Be sure to sign up for his mailing list and to follow Darryl on social media for the latest news!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Darryl. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Darryl! Thank you for granting the interview. Your music is amazing. Let’s talk Mines of Diamonds and Crimson and Gold. The arrangement is ear candy! I love it! What inspired the songs?
Thank you for having me for this interview. Always a pleasure to work with Occhi Magazine! With the song Mines of Diamonds, Crimson, and Gold I was writing a song that depicted the darkness of the African blood diamond trade. The workers who undertake that labor has no choice but to do so, and they risk health and life to do these jobs and make barely enough to live, while companies make a “killing” on them….the diamonds and the people if you know what I mean. This tune has very little improvisational freedom in it and all the parts are written out with the exception of the drums and myself for a brief moment in the end. I did this to represent the lack of freedom present in the blood diamond trade, which is essentially a form of slavery. All the tunes on the album depict some characteristic of human nature that we can all relate to on some level and can empathize with. The overall arc of the music is just like the storyline of a good drama– it the state is set and things are relatively on the happier side, then in the middle of the album we have the conflict which leads to what seems like an inescapable situation, and then it ends on a victorious note. Or in the case of my storyline and optimistic outlook on the future.
The album, Pictures at an African Exhibition is releasing soon. Those songs are a great preview of what’s to come. Why did you choose to release those singles before the album’s release?
Ubuntu is a catchy theme and it very upbeat. I’ve had many people tell me once they heard it they couldn’t get it out of their heads, which is what I wanted. And the way it is formatted it is almost like a pop song in a way where the bassline/ melody hook is always coming back. It’s a great way to connect with the modern audience who is used to hearing tunes of this design. Mines was a contrasting tune in many ways. It too has a melodic hook that keeps coming back for the listener to hear, but it really IS the entire song. Also, it’s slower and more somber in nature giving a complete contrast to Ubuntu. I wanted listeners to see the contrasts that are present in the album so that hopefully they will be more interested to see what else is on there.
You obviously love what you do. The songs blur the lines between classic jazz and world music. Was this your intention?
Yes. The model for this jazz symphony was based on the orchestral work Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, and coming from a classical background it’s inevitable that these influences will show up in my writing and playing. In addition to my academic training in classical and jazz (to a certain extent) I have always been fascinated with world music since I was a kid, listening to the “classical” music of India, Japan, South America, and more.
Why did you choose to play the saxophone?
I was always attracted to it from a young age, and I still love playing it today. I guess the short and honest answer is that I didn’t choose the saxophone– it chose me. It was a forced marriage from the beginning and I knew I was gonna be dealing with the saxophone and music from a young age.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
The limitless opportunities to be creative and learn about things as I explore certain themes and concepts. Aside from budget, which unfortunately controls the rate of output, I have a ton of ideas that I can’t wait to present. This album is just the tip of the iceberg, and will hopefully be the start of many great things to come. And then there are the opportunities to collaborate and learn from other great artists as well.
What has been your personal key to success?
Having patience, perseverance, and the ability to set aside my ego to learn from mistakes so I can continue to grow.
What do you love most about your profession?
So many things. Again, just making a living being creative, and doing something I love. It literally never gets old and is something I know I will continue to improve on until I die or can’t play anymore. I’m not really worried about the passion or creative well drying up. I also like that I have something very special I can share with my daughter and hopefully inspire her to play music and appreciate it. It’s a great gift to give to any other human being.
What are some of the common myths about your Jazz music?
I think there are so many myths and part of it is people’s perceptions of what the music is. The older generation has their idea of what jazz should sound like so anything that doesn’t like that isn’t jazz. Young people only hear something “jazzy” in the movies, commercials in small clips and just associate it with something old and nostalgic. Then some people either think smooth jazz is jazz or associate the R&B and hip-hop cats that frequent jazz festivals and label them as jazz so the lines have really been blurred. Not even including the myths that are in the “real” jazz, there’s a myth as to what the music even sounds like! Within some realms of the historic jazz and the music that’s followed I think some people associate the music with the things that are popular with a lot of musicians/ artist– sex, drugs, and alcohol in excess. Or they think of a very high brow music that is complex and only intellectuals can understand it. I find it interesting the various perceptions that are given to the music and the artists who practice it.
Would you like to have your own big band/ orchestra?
Maybe at some point in the future. Having all of those players cost an extremely large amount of money to maintain, and there’s a lot of time and writing involved.
What are some of your personal and/or professional goals for the future?
Basically, I’d like to have a balanced career of performing and teaching that provides for my family and their future while not taking away too much time from spending time with them in the present.
Complete this sentence, if I had an opportunity to do anything I want, I would make an investment that would ensure the financial stability of my family and allow me to pursue all my creative endeavors.
As artist we always want to be creative and unfortunately for many finding that balance can be very hard. Some teach all the time with very little performance opportunities and some perform a lot, but can never count on steady financial income that will allow them to retire like from teaching. So basically I’d like to do both on my terms and not have to sacrifice seeing my daughter grow up or spending time with her and my wife. If I can do that I’ll consider myself successful.
Check out the review of his latest releases.
Connect with Darryl:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darrylyokleymusic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrylyokley
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrylyokleymusic/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Yolance2
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/darryl-
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