218: Jake Sherman

Jake Sherman is everywhere at once and yet somehow maintains a certain air of mystery. There he is singing romantic 80s inspired jams. Here he comes making a jazz Hammond organ record at Dizzy’s Coca-Cola Club and jamming with Larry Goldings. Don’t look now but he’s hanging out in LA with his friends in Scary Pockets, or with his project Jake and Abe (a duo with drummer Abe Rounds). Is that him playing on the new Rosalia record? Wait, he plays harmonica? With Jacob Collier? 

Maybe you heard him playing with Meshell Ndegeocello, Andrew Bird, Emily King, Bilal, Nick Hakim, or Chance the Rapper. 

Yes, all of this is true. But who is Jake Sherman really?

Born in Boston, Jake learned classical piano by listening to his father play Bach every morning. If not for an intervention - stumbling upon the catalog of Weird Al Yankovic at 11 years old - he would have followed in his father’s path or perhaps become a jazz purist.  But Weird Al changed everything.  Fast forward some years beyond his time studying at Berklee College of Music and it’s clear Jake has found a way to combine his appreciation of great songwriting with his piano/organ-playing prowess.   

We spoke recently about his love of the hammond organ and Weird Al Yankovic, surrealist comedy, finding his lane, learning to sing, what he learned from Dr. Lonnie Smith, why LA is too sunny, making friends with social media, and why he keeps saying ladies’ names in his songs.

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