100 Episodes: Nomad on How to Become a Session Musician (Episode 100)

You learned how to make music. Nobody taught you how to make a living making music.

For Episode 100, the tables turned. The TCM team, led by Lola with Eric G and Charlie, sat Nomad down on New Year's Eve and interviewed the host himself. Nomad is a guitarist, composer and producer who has played with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand, served as music director for Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, and recorded on films like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Lorax and Men in Black 3.

This is his own story of how to become a session musician and build a career that lasts, from a basement band on Long Island to the biggest stages in the world. It is the closest thing to an origin story for The Career Musician.

Why The Career Musician exists

Nomad says he felt two things through his career: fulfillment and disdain. Fulfillment, because his film, record and touring resume was strong. Disdain, because while he was working for all those artists, he was not doing his own thing, and that can turn into bitterness toward the whole industry. Lola helped him reframe it: those were victories. Then came the idea. If he felt this way, a lot of other professional musicians probably did too. So he started interviewing the people he looked up to, beginning with a tour manager he sat down with on a 2015 Babyface tour in South Africa.

The mission has not changed: capture the stories and wisdom of those who came before us, and use them to inform the next generation of career musicians.

Hustle gets noticed

At his performing arts high school in Fort Lauderdale, Nomad was loading the truck after a gig when a teacher pointed at him and said that guy is going to make it in the business, because he has hustle. He is always the first one here and the last one to leave. Nomad never forgot it.

He passed on a scholarship, did a semester of community college, and then took his dad's advice: you don't need a piece of paper to tell you that you can play your instrument, so go get a gig. He landed a beach club residency, six nights a week, six sets a night, 9 PM to 3 AM, for $600 a week. He was the baby of the band. While others got into the nightlife, he went home and practiced the next day. He held that gig for three years and learned a huge amount about the business.

When the residency ends, the real test begins

Losing that gig is where, in Nomad's words, the rubber met the road. He went to jam sessions, hung out at clubs and studied with local players he admired. One bebop teacher told him to play what was in his soul. When he played the blues, he came alive.

So he kept reinventing. He answered a flyer for a 70s funk band, showed up with a rock rig and long hair, and won them over because he could play the funk rhythms and the rock solos. A singer friend booked him as a hybrid flamenco solo act. A Miami studio owner kept him in the studio all night, and he recorded his first album there. A hundred dollars here, a wedding there. As he puts it, that is the test.

Find your niche

In 1997 he moved to Nashville to become a session ace. For the first year he worked at a bagel shop from 4:30 in the morning, carefully, because his dad never let him risk his hands. In under a year he landed fly dates with saxophonist Kirk Whalum, then went right back to the bagel shop on Monday. Soon he was in the studio around the clock, for seven of his eight years there.

"When you find your niche, that's the gold mine... I moved to Nashville to pursue my career as a studio musician, only to play Latin, R&B and gospel music."

Nomad, 33:43

There were plenty of great country and rock players in town. Not many were doing Latin, jazz, R&B and gospel. He carved out that lane, played on records, and wrote songs in those genres that still pay him royalties. His point was not bragging. It was: you can do it if you stay focused.

Make the calls, stay humble

A friend told him he would do great in film, so in 2005 he moved to Los Angeles. On those weekend fly dates he had collected every LA player's number. Every morning at 8 AM sharp he sat in a coffee shop and called them: I'm in LA, if you ever need anything, let me know, and I'll help however I can.

"Put yourself out there, be humble and say, how can I be of assistance to you?"

Nomad, 44:09

Within months, one call turned into a national arena tour with no audition. Another friend, a bass player on a session with film composer John Powell, heard John ask for a guitarist who could play funk, flamenco, country and rock. That was Nomad, and it led to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Happy Feet and many more scores. Have your marketing tools ready, he says, but the work usually comes from an inside connection and being known for something. Work begets work.

The audition, and the chart

The Babyface audition came with a day's notice while he was in Nashville visiting his daughter. He flew back, caught a bug on the plane, and walked in sick with an acoustic guitar. He asked the other guitarists if he could go first, and told the room he would not shake hands so he would not get them sick. Then he played. He got a callback, got the gig as guitarist, and two years later became the music director, a role he held for ten years. Everything you do is an audition, including how you handle a bad day.

He also shared a humbling moment. On stage at a jazz festival, Stevie Wonder called out a key change because Nomad was playing in the record key. The band had moved the song for the live show, and he had not read the chart because he thought he knew the song. His lesson to every young player: read the chart. Reliability beats virtuosity.

Eyes and ears wide open

Asked what 100 episodes taught him, Nomad did not hesitate.

"Eyes and ears wide open, mouth shut."

Nomad, 55:29

Walking through the big studios, he realized how much he did not know. He has become a better interviewer by talking less. At 48, he says he still feels like an infant when it comes to knowledge. That is Humility from the ETHOS code, and it is also his rule for a good session or tour: leave your ego at the door.

His advice to a struggling musician came from his dad: art and commerce don't mix. Be honest with yourself and the people in your life about whether this is what you are called to do. If it is, you can't half do it. You have to go all in.

The takeaway

Be the first one there and the last to leave. Reinvent when the gig ends. Find the niche nobody else is filling. Make the calls and offer help, not a pitch. Read the chart. Keep your eyes and ears open. If you want the step-by-step version of what Nomad learned, start with the free Get the Gig Guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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