Songwriter Nick Hakim and jazz saxophonist and poet Roy Nathanson have collaborated on an unexpected new album, and released a spacey new music video for their single "Moonman." The upcoming release, titled Small Things, is the result of a connection through New York based group Onyx Collective.
Roy Nathanson once taught, and later collaborated with, one of the founding members of Onyx Collective, appearing alongside Hakim on the group's 2020 release Manhattan Special. The two connected when they both performed at an Onyx Collective show where Hakim sang one of Nathanson's poems.
Nathanson released a statement describing how Hakim came to his apartment and sang more of his poems, bringing life to the new project. He shared how he showed Hakim "some poems from my new book. And just like that, Nick just stood behind my old fender Rhodes played the chords for ‘Moonman’ and ‘New Guy to Look At’ and I played along and that was that. Of course we spent the next almost year working out the arrangements re-recording and doing the work that you do but that’s was really that.”
Small Things is the first release on Onyx Collective's new label NYXO, set for April 16th. Watch the video for "Moonman" below.
