When jazz pianist Daniel Weatherspoon put together a music video for his single “Lights Out” earlier this year, he chose downtown Hyattsville for his location.
In the full video, which can be seen on YouTube here, Weatherspoon hangs out in a crowded Vigilante Coffee in Hyattsville, works closely with other musicians in a studio and plays a live show before a full house.
The video also includes some other shoutouts to the Route 1 corridor, with Weatherspoon walking around Hyattsville in front of Franklins, Tanglewood Works and Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.
He told the Wire that he chose Hyattsville as the location for his recording because he loves the culture and energy in the city and thinks Vigilante is a cool spot that matches his personality well.
A Takoma Park resident, Weatherspoon is a multi-award winning composer and producer who has shared the stage with the likes of Beyoncé and BeBe and CeCe Winans.
“Lights Out” is the first single off his new album “Journey,” which was released March 13 just as the pandemic hit. His previous album, “The Langley Park Project,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album chart for indie artists in 2016, features a song called “East West Hwy.”
When asked why he named the song “East West Hwy” he said the songs on his first album were based off his daily activities. East West Highway is the street that links his home to his brother-n-law’s home and he would travel back and forth several times every week.
Weatherspoon told the Wire that his second album “Journey” was named after his life on the road and his experiences from touring with The Langley Park Project. “The journey of being an indie artist, traveling city to city, performing in rooms that had 15 people to rooms of 500. Journey represents all the ups and downs of fighting for my brand,” he said.
He was set to hold a release concert for his second album “Journey” in March at the Pearl Street Warehouse in D.C. when the pandemic hit.
With so many performances canceled due to Covid-19, Weatherspoon said that so far during the pandemic he’s released a few short videos and is currently working on finishing a full-length video for “Change The World,” which is the next single from the album, featuring PJ Morton, who is best known as one of the keyboardists for the pop rock band Maroon 5, along with singer and songwriter Leon Timbo.
