Blue Note Records has announced FATHERS, the self-titled debut by a collective of musicians composed of producer Kenny Beats, keyboardist Kiefer, bassist CARRTOONS, and drummer Nate Smith. The album is led by a single, “PEARL,” a groovy track conjuring a lost Brazilian pop-jazz LP. FATHERS is out July 10.
Smith first assembled the core trio in 2023 as part of his residency at the Montreal Jazz Festival. The trio developed their chemistry during tours of the U.S. and Japan. “We all write, we all play at a high level, and we’re pushing each other to be better,” says CARRTOONS. “So we know going into anything that there’s going to be an inspiration and a push from everybody else, so that hunger that we all have independently becomes this super-being when we get together.”
FATHERS was produced by Kenny Beats and recorded at his Putnam Hill studio in Los Angeles. “I was 95 percent through building my studio, and I asked Kiefer if he could come by with a band and play some instruments,” he recalls. “We custom-built our recording console and hadn’t heard anything through it yet. So it was meant to be a test day to make sure the studio was up and running. Kiefer happened to be playing shows with Ben and Nate at the time, and in testing out the equipment we recorded these songs in 48 hours. Turns out the board works just fine.”
The eight tracks feature additional contributions from saxophonist Nicole McCabe, vocalist Genevieve Artadi (KNOWER), guitarist Paul Castelluzzo (HETHER) and the strings of Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi. The project’s name comes from a term of recognition from Kiefer towards his collaborators. “Just another weird thing he would say in the long list of weird things,” Kenny says. “The project honestly couldn’t ever have been named anything else.”
Producer Kenneth Blume—aka Kenny Beats—acts as the project’s creative director. He is known for his work with Vince Staples, Denzel Curry, Rico Nasty, IDLES, Freddie Gibbs, Geese, Weezer, and more.
Keyboardist Kiefer Shackelford, whose records under the name Kiefer, has earned acclaim for his original blend of jazz, electronic and hip-hop. As a collaborator and producer his credits include Terrace Martin and Anderson .Paak. He co-produced two tracks on the latter’s Grammy-winning album Ventura.
The genre-blurring multi-instrumentalist Ben Carr, a.k.a. CARRTOONS, serves as the group’s bassist. The New York-based musician’s latest project is titled Space Cadet. He has appeared during multiple Tiny Desk performances and production credits with rap, R&B and jazz heavyweights like George Clinton, Freddie Gibbs, Jadakiss, Usher, and Roy Ayers.
Nate Smith is considered among the most respected and influential drummers of his generation. His collaborative credits as a musician and writer-producer include a who’s-who of groundbreaking musicians: Michael Jackson, Brittany Howard, Jon Batiste, Pat Metheny, Childish Gambino, Vulfpeck, on and on. In 2026, he won two GRAMMY Awards for LIVE-ACTION.
