Night People by Tyler Higgins

This album was crafted by slowing down and chopping up samples off old records (50's jazz/R&B, Chicano soul, jazz play-a-long LPs) to build beat tracks with a Roland SP-404 sampler and a DJ mixer. Over top of these structures, I wrote and improvised new melodies on a variety of instruments (alto sax, cornet, piano, electric guitar, synthesizers).

This record is heavily indebted to hip-hop (especially RZA, DJ Screw, J Dilla, Madlib) and jazz improvisation. The concept here was to make a jazz record that can be listened to as a rap album. While I've wanted to make an album like this for many, many years, I was especially inspired to do so after J Dilla's "Donuts". I feel like my melodic approach here was equally informed by cool and free schools of playing (specifically Lester Young and Ornette Coleman).

As my buddy, jazz drummer Nik Francis, put it I cooked up old records to make 'jazz rocks'. And I labored over this record non-stop from 2017-2022. Exclusively at night.

Turn it up!

Tracklist

1.	Hocus Pocus	2:04

2.	Last Chance for a Slow Dance	2:30

3.	Lonely is the Night	2:25

4.	Smoke Rings	1:24

5.	Gold Tooth	2:12

6.	Milky Way	1:00

7.	Low $ Rates	1:04

8.	Traces	3:30

9.	Sea of Tranquility	3:30

10.	Play It Straight	1:12

11.	The Way It Feels	2:23

Credits

released October 31, 2025

Tyler Higgins - sampler, mixer, alto sax, cornet, piano, synths, e guitar
Paul Stevens - Hammond organ, Wurlitzer, bass synth

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