walking upstream…
Charlie Puth
photo: juan j. carlos · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Charlie Puth
sourcesWikipedia · Steinway & Sons · GRAMMY.com
Charlie Puth is an American singer, songwriter, and producer from Rumson, New Jersey, who trained as a jazz pianist from childhood, studying jazz piano at the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College before earning a production and engineering degree from Berklee. He built an early audience posting covers on YouTube, then broke through in 2015 with the Wiz Khalifa collaboration 'See You Again' and a run of glossy pop-R&B singles, including 'Attention' and 'How Long,' that he largely wrote and produced himself. His music is defined by the way he folds jazz voicings and late-'80s R&B grooves into radio pop, a craft he often demonstrates online by breaking his songs down to their chords.
the sound in question
2017
AttentionCharlie Puth
walk the tributaries ↓
Stevie Wonder1970s · Soul / Funk / R&B
Puth has spoken about a formative harmonic epiphany hearing a chord on Stevie Wonder's 1972 album 'Talking Book,' and interviews have traced how he threads Wonder's sophisticated R&B voicings into radio pop; he has also described a private session in which Wonder played harmonica for him.
listen: upstream & here
1972
You Are the Sunshine of My LifeStevie Wonder
2016
We Don't Talk AnymoreCharlie Puth
listen forCue the warm, jazzy keyboard chords of 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life,' then listen to how 'We Don't Talk Anymore' floats a breezy, syncopated melody over a similar bed of clean, colored chords richer than the pop surface lets on.
Babyface1990s · R&B / New jack swing / Soul
Puth's influences have been documented as running from jazz greats to R&B songwriter-producers Babyface, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Teddy Riley, and critics have noted that his groove-forward pop channels the late-1980s R&B those producers built.
listen: upstream & here
1990
Whip AppealBabyface
2017
How LongCharlie Puth
listen forPut on the slinky, finger-snap groove of Babyface's 'Whip Appeal,' then cue 'How Long' and hear the same clean, disco-tinged bassline and light, conversational vocal, pop built on an unmistakably late-'80s R&B chassis.
Bill Evans1960s · Jazz / Cool jazz / Post-bop
Puth has said he grew obsessed as a teenager with becoming the best jazz pianist he could be and traces his musical foundation to jazz pianists like Bill Evans, later describing how he came to hear the overlap between jazz chord movement and R&B.
listen: upstream & here
1961
Waltz for DebbyBill Evans
2015
One Call AwayCharlie Puth
listen forListen to the hushed, impressionistic voicings of Bill Evans's 'Waltz for Debby,' then to the piano-led verses of 'One Call Away' and the way a simple melody rests over gently shifting, colored chords with the same after-hours, harmonically curious feel.