A new campaign from the New York Times highlights some of their more remarkable readers. Jordan Rich is a jazz trumpeter who graduated from Lakeside High School here in Atlanta. He now plays in the funk-soul band Chanda and the Passengers. Jordan’s story is among those highlighted in the Times campaign, and he joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom to share his snapshot from the life of a working musician that inspired the New York Times.
Rich’s story takes him from growing up in Decatur and joining the high school drumline marching band to today, where he lives and plays his music in Montreal, Canada. He spread the spotlight to many of his influences and mentors, but his first and most significant influence may well have been his grandmother.
“Grandma Velma. She played gospel music, and she would always … just hum and sing songs,” recalled Rich. “In her house, right next to the window, she had a Yamaha keyboard with a green music book that had all these notes, these foreign notes that I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it had something to do with music. And from there, I would just go and play, and just play and play and play, and pretend like I’m reading the music.”
Grandma Velma took notice of her young grandson’s enthusiasm. “Lo and behold, one day in the mail, a very familiar keyboard and book showed up in a box just for me. As a little kid, you think, ‘Okay, a box is coming for me? What is this?’ And it was that keyboard,” Rich said. “I immediately set it up, had it up and running, and I was just wailing, going to town. I probably drove my parents crazy.”
Attending Stevenson Middle School, Rich joined the symphonic and jazz bands. He then enrolled at Lakeside High, where he joined the marching band. Fast-forward: out of school and emerging as a professional musician, Rich gigged with for-hire bands at weddings, parties and events with musicians from all over Atlanta’s jazz, blues, and other musical communities.
Rich’s journey brought him, finally, to Canada, after meeting the woman who’d become his wife and collaborator — Chanda Holmes of funk band Chanda and the Passengers. Their long-distance relationship and growing history of playing gigs together sustained them for some time, but as Rich puts it: “We realized, ‘Hey, I want to be with you, and you want to be with me. How can we close the gap?’ It was ‘Operation Close Gap.’”
Though Montreal is a new scene for Rich, he joins a well-established band within a vibrant, diverse musical community.
“Chanda and the Passengers are like the United Nations of funk; that’s what we like to call ourselves … and we play with various other really, really great musicians here in Montreal. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of talent that’s here,” said Rich.
Rich was discovered by the New York Times as they were researching their subscribers, aiming to present a series promoting independent journalism by putting the readers forward; highly individual, richly storied readers with unique backgrounds and personal reasons for supporting journalism. The Times’ campaign comprises a video interview with Rich and a featured post on their website, listing a collection of articles chosen by Rich and meaningful to him. He’s also lit up on a billboard in Times Square.
As Rich’s story of coming into his own as a musician helps to inspire readers looking for gems in news and journalism, he shared his gratitude for the work of the Times and other independent news media, saying, “I have so much more respect for the people that create any type of media, and the crew. Everybody that worked with me they were all wonderful and really wanted to make sure that I’m just being who I am, just being authentic … I really felt like I was in good hands the whole time.”
Jordan Rich’s feature in the New York Times’ new campaign to promote independent journalism can be found here. Rich’s billboards are in NYC, DC, LA and Atlanta.
