Dare I say TikTok is saving jazz: Black Nile rewrites the L.A. jazz story for a new generation

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Set us as preferred The Black Nile — a duo composed of Inglewood brothers Lawrence and Aaron Shaw — are about to play their biggest hometown show yet when they open for Erykah Badu at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday.The brothers were connected with Badu through L.A.

artist Lauren Halsey.It was a fitting introduction because the convergence of visual art and music was all around the band as they recorded their most recent album, “Indigo Garden,” inspired by a residency they did at Mass MoCA in Massachusetts.“The long legacy and history of visual arts with music, they are hand in hand because in some ways they elevate each other,” Lawrence says.

“The experience is elevated when you attach visuals to music and audio to visuals and being surrounded, in that environment where it’s nothing but creatives, it really brought us back, in a lot of ways, to childhood because that’s how we grew up in a lot of jazz camps and a lot of art camps.” “That was an important residency for us to have.It rejuvenated me,” Aaron adds.

“And then seeing James Terrell exhibit was probably the most prolific exhibition that I got a chance to see and was really inspirational to me because that whole year I had been getting more of an understanding of how important lighting is for being able to uplift the story and support the music in live performances, in very intimate performances.” At the Bowl, they will be part of the musical collective that will be the backing band for 82-year-old artist Charles Gaines.They share a kinship with Gaines, who not only mentored Halsey, but designed the artwork for “Indigo Garden.” According to the duo’s label head at Mass MoCA Records, Harlan Steinberger, who joined in the interview, “There’s a whole bunch of stuff circling around that I think led to this gig,” he said.

“T...