For Jamael Dean, the prodigious pianist and grandson of renowned jazz drummer Donald Dean, May 2, 2024, was more than just another performance—it was a necessity. With his rent unexpectedly increasing by several hundred dollars, the evening served as both a gig and a means of survival.
On that night, inside the familiar walls of 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles, Dean approached the grand piano with no prepared setlist and no written script. Uncertain of what would unfold, he delivered a fully improvised, hour-long solo performance that would eventually become his latest album, Oriki Duuru, set for release on May 9 through Stones Throw Records.
Dean, a jazz pianist born in Bakersfield and the youngest of ten siblings, was surrounded by music from an early age. By the time he was eight, he had picked up both the piano and violin. However, upon enrolling in a performing arts high school, he chose to dedicate himself fully to the piano.
“I loved how vast the instrument was, how percussive it could be,” Dean explains. “It plays a lot of different roles at one time.”
A pivotal influence in his musical upbringing was his grandfather, Donald Dean, best known for his drumming on Swiss Movement with Les McCann and Eddie Harris. Summers spent at Donald’s home became a formative experience.
“I used to spend every summer at my grandpa’s house,” Dean recalls. “He’d be playing around, and I’d follow him to gigs and stuff.”
One day, Donald invited over Charlie Owens—affectionately called “Uncle Charlie” by Jamael—a legendary figure in L.A.’s jazz scene. Still a violinist at the time, Jamael was asked to join them in a spontaneous jam session.
“They had me bring out my violin and just start improvising,” Dean remembers. “He would play something, and I would mimic it, then try to add an inflection. That was one of my first introductions into improvisation.”
As he gradually shifted from violin to piano, Donald continued to mentor him, challenging him to learn jazz masterpieces like “Giant Steps” and “Seven Steps to Heaven,” known for their technical difficulty and improvisational depth.
“One of the first songs I played was ‘Ruby, My Dear.’ That was because of my grandfather,” Dean says. “He’s definitely one of my biggest influences.”
These early lessons became the foundation of Dean’s lifelong approach to music and life.
“Spontaneity plays a huge role in life,” he says. “To get better at improvising in general is key to living a more balanced life. Whatever decision we make, the consequences are our own.”
Reflecting on the evening that inspired Oriki Duuru, Dean admits he had no predetermined idea of what he would perform. His emotional state—still processing a recent engagement that had ended—added a layer of vulnerability to the night. His former partner was in the audience, and emotions lingered just beneath the surface.
“I didn’t have any clue what songs I was going to play,” Dean recalls. “I was just playing how I felt.”
He opened the set with “Eledumare,” a regional variation of “Olódùmarè,” a Yoruba term referring to the creator.
“I figured if I started in that place, it would be good and make sense,” Dean explains. “That’s the cool thing about the piano. You get to let stuff out that you don’t necessarily want to verbalize.”
That performance, driven by raw feeling and cultural reverence, became Oriki Duuru—a title derived from the Yoruba word for a prayer or poem. It’s a tribute to Dean’s heritage and the spiritual undertone that shaped the night.
Unlike his past collaborative projects with notable artists such as André 3000, Thundercat, and Kamasi Washington, Oriki Duuru strips everything down to its most elemental form: Dean alone with the piano. The intimate performance, infused with silence, emotion, and sincerity, transcends the boundaries of a typical concert—it stands as a prayer, a spiritual invocation set to music.
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