Brothers Aaron and Lawrence Shaw, performing as Black Nile, hail from Los Angeles and see a version of Hollywood that has “stolen the beautiful story of LA, created a fantasy land from a city with deep Black and Latino roots often without including those communities.”
For Black Nile, Los Angeles is “a city of improvisation, a city of fresh ideas, a city of jazz.” Born and raised in LA’s Inglewood neighborhood, the brothers grew up in the city’s Jazz scene, encountering elders as well as a younger generation, like Kamasi Washington and Thundercat.
Both Grammy-nominated artists, Aaron Shaw’s saxophone work was recently featured in collaboration with Saul Williams and Carlos Niño and he’s performed and recorded with contemporaries like Tyler, The Creator and Herbie Hancock. He was also André 3000’s flute teacher leading up to André’s 2023 album.
Lawrence Shaw has played bass for John Legend, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Aminé, Nubya Garcia, and Raphael Saadiq, and is currently touring with Pop artist Andy Grammar. Black Nile was born from “their desire to bring Jazz into a new century.”
Adopting sampling and modern production techniques that they learned from Hip-Hop, Black Nile embraces improvisation. Invited as artists in residence at MASS MoCA in 2025, Black Nile’s new album, Indigo Garden, will be released April 10, 2026 on MASS MoCA Records and will feature cover art from conceptual artist Charles Gaines.
The album was produced by Harlan Steinberger and recorded both at Studio 9 in North Adams, MA and at Steinberger’s Hen House Studios in Venice Beach, CA. The album brings in other Jazz musicians from LA, like keyboardists Luca Mendoza and Brian Hargrove, and drummer Myles Martin.
Black Nile see Jazz as “a language” and “A Black American form of communication that bridges music, visual art, and performance.”
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