Conversations

At Home With Adrian Quesada, A Conversation About One Record

For many collectors, there’s at least one album of which they own multiple copies. For Adrian Quesada, that record is Roberta Flack’s First Take—he owns three of them.

One is an original 1969 pressing (with the brown border), gifted by a family friend. He picked up another when Atlantic Records remastered the album for its 50th anniversary. But it’s his first copy—purchased at Antone’s Records in Austin, TX in the Spring of his youth—that offers a glimpse into Quesada’s journey as a musician. He was seeking out new records by following his favorite sidemen, an analog search engine of sorts to help him navigate the sprawling labyrinth that is jazz music. “To be honest, when I bought that record, I don’t think I’d actually heard it,” Quesada says. “I was kind of into jazz at the time. And I just noticed that Ron Carter was playing bass on there, and bought it. And it’s been on steady, steady repeat.”

With its worn edges and timeless sound, this original pressing of First Take continues to inspire Quesada’s deep connection to music.

Quesada’s guide to Roberta Flack’s stunning debut is an institution unto himself, a double bassist who has graced literally thousands of records over his 60+ year career. Carter’s presence is felt from the first notes, strutting out onto the opening track “Compared to What” with a subdued funkiness. The record also features Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar and Ray Lucas on drums, but it’s Flack—her voice, and her elegant playing on the piano—that keeps him coming back. “Her voice has such power and grace,” Quesada says. “But it tells a story.”First Take is itself a pivotal part of Flack’s own story. It catapulted her to stardom and established her as one of her generation’s great interpreters. Her take on Leonard Cohen’s romantic send-off “Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” is definitive; Quesada didn’t even know Cohen wrote it until a few years ago. “There are certain people that just make a song their own,” he says. “The way she phrases things is so much her own that every song is such an intense story. You hear one second of her voice, and you know it’s her.” The song’s piano solo—nimble, but in the pocket, melodic, but not too melodic—is his favorite moment on the record. “My favorite thing to do on guitar is to make rhythm guitar melodic, similar to the way that she plays.”

“Jazz records are supposed to make you feel like you’re in the room with them, and I feel like the listening experience with this is more akin to that. It just feels natural.”

Adrian Quesada

More than just a vehicle for her considerable talents, First Take showcases a singular vision—eight covers from across the jazz, funk, and soul spectrum, transformed by sparse arrangements and Flack’s otherworldly voice. “The use of space on that record…It’s like all the instruments are having a conversation, but nobody’s speaking louder than her,” Quesada explains. “There’s so much space in there that everybody’s playing really memorable parts, but nobody’s ever really in the way. That kind of restraint is absolutely incredible.

”First Take has been in heavy rotation in Quesada’s life pretty much since he first heard it. “It never slows down,” he says. “My attention to that record never kind of fades away.” But he’s spent much of the last few years on the road, especially this year, touring in support of Black Pumas’ latest LP Chronicles of a Diamond, so he’s had to steal moments to listen with intimacy. His latest listening ritual is about as intimate as it gets. “I have finally been, as an old adult, embracing the calm of a bath,” he explains. “After sound check, if I have a little time at the hotel before I have to get back to the show, I’ll take a bath and put it on. It’s an interesting one, because it’s so melancholy—almost kind of gut-wrenching at times—and I put it on for that feeling, just letting go and allowing myself to accept those emotions.”

When he’s home in Texas, Quesada’s listening sessions are typically less serene, with the album often soundtracking his family’s dinner preparations or the completion of his kids’ homework. But since he set up his Wrensilva console, he’s found himself listening with more intention, reorganizing his collection and using First Take as a reference with which to gauge the new listening experience. “It sounds incredible,” he says. “It sounds super warm, but it doesn’t over-hype things. Jazz records are supposed to make you feel like you’re in the room with them, and I feel like the listening experience with this is more akin to that. It just feels natural.” He’s also found himself bringing home demos from the studio—where he’s currently wrapping up production on his follow-up to 2022’s Boleros Psicedlicos—something he found to be cumbersome on his old setup, but a breeze on the Wrensilva. “You can listen on these super expensive monitors in the studio, but really where I have the most objectivity is when I’m listening in a car or on my speakers at home,” he says. “Is it ready to be there? I was pleasantly surprised.”