Conversations with: Rory A. Green
Rory A. Green in his studio during our musical conversation.
“How can I sound the most like me?”
Rory A. Green, 2024.
Rory and I connected recently as two artists finding inspiration through our own mediums, myself in the world of visuals and music photography, Rory as a phenomenal contemporary jazz guitarist. Our conversation was one I believe many artists have with numerous others in their lifetime: what inspires us and moves our creative worlds, what challenges we face, the people around us that spark creativity.
I joined Rory and Ada during a writing session in his little studio in Manchester on a (surprisingly) sunny day in March. Rory was already in prime music-making energy with his jeans rolled up, a cup of coffee nearby and his boots discarded to the side of the space.
A wonderful thing I can share about being a music photographer: the element of magic present when you sit in a room with musicians, especially when they’re writing together, is a feeling scarcely experienced otherwise and a joy to be part of.
Rory recently released a song titled Little House - a piece about a vivid childhood memory from growing up in Ghana, seeing the colours and the movement of the dry season. I listened also as Rory talked about a song he co-wrote recently about a friend’s family and her own experiences of multiracial heritage. The piece was beautiful to listen to, so I’ve put it in the background of the video we created on Instagram here.
Here’s some of the thoughts of the day, in conversation with Rory A. Green:
Jay: Would you like to write more based on others’ experiences of growing up multiracial in the UK?
Rory: I think so. I think it’s something that has probably opened up a lot more than I actually thought it would. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time [of writing the song about someone else’s experience] anyway. It’s definitely made me think more about my actual experiences. Or anything I’ve been through that’s influenced my writing.
Jay: Is there anything you’d like to explain about this project and your influences that you can’t express with the music alone?
Rory: I think one thing I really enjoy with this is how vague things can be anyway. With instrumental music in general, there’s a story behind most of it, but it only really makes sense when you explain it to people. So it’s really fun having other people leave after listening to your music and having their own images in their head. I think explaining the story can sometimes take away from the individual experience.
Jay: Has anybody described a personal experience of their own that your music has prompted them to remember?
Rory: When listening to my music I’m not sure. But I had somebody recently who thought that the painting I did for Little House, which is just the colours of the flag of Ghana, he thought it was actually a map of the street I lived on. Which I didn’t think of at all, but yeah, that was an interesting take on a painting that I did.
Later in the day we were discussing about our personal journeys, I thought some of Rory’s points were something a lot of creatives can connect to. So I thought to share them here too:
Rory: What you said before about trying to connect back with photography and the visual arts that you do, it’s something I’ve been thinking about too, especially since the residency. It threw what I thought I knew about my guitar and playing my instrument. I thought I had a firm grasp on what I wanted to do, where I was with guitar and where I wanted to go to get to where I wanted to be. Then having so much time to just focus on guitar, just music and just creating stuff I realised there’s a lot that I’ve not uncovered yet. Everything I thought I knew doesn’t really cover anything close to what I actually want to achieve with it. So I’ve really been going back to the beginning with my instrument and actually trying to focus on how… how I can sound the most like me.
Check out our little video here on Instagram, and have a listen to Rory’s music here too.