“I really thought I was going to the NBA. You couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t going to the NBA,” Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman tells me over Zoom.
The Emmy-winning musician, producer, and songwriter recalls when his dream to pursue a basketball career was ultimately benched by music. “When I heard Jimi Hendrix, I think that was a pinnacle moment for me to stop pursuing a career in professional basketball,” says Gitelman, who was around 12 when he had a change of heart.
Gitelman begins our video call by giving me a tour of his Los Angeles studio. He briefly pauses at his analog tapes, noting, “I record on real tape to get that old-school official sound.” Then he introduces his assistant Ryan and shows off some of his guitars. “This is awesome to have this place. It is a home for all my creative endeavors,” he beams.
Long before Gitelman became an award-winning producer, he was just a kid with a big heart for music. The Moldova native recalls falling in love with music around age eight when he heard “Yesterday” by The Beatles on a vinyl his father owned. “That really resonated with me,” he states. “This was some kind of Beatles compilation of their love songs. ‘Yesterday’ was on there. I would listen to that and a bunch of their other songs over and over again.”
The Beatles weren’t Gitelman’s only musical obsession. He remembers his father also playing a lot of Stevie Wonder songs and singing staples like “Isn’t She Lovely?” loudly in the shower. Both The Beatles and Stevie Wonder would become Gitelman’s two biggest musical influences growing up.
Gitelman’s father wasn’t just a fan of music; he was also a professional musician. The producer recollects seeing all sorts of instruments lying around the house, but it was the guitar that plucked at his heartstrings. “I’m not going to lie. It was a really cool and popular thing to do. Either you were playing basketball or playing guitar,” he chuckles. “I think because I had it in the house, I’m like, ‘OK, I could just pick that one up and ask my dad to show me [how to play].’”
By the time their family moved to America, they didn’t have any instruments in the house. Then, one day, Gitelman finds an old guitar and has his dad string it up. He first learned how to play along Nirvana songs, and as mentioned previously, when he discovered Jimi Hendrix, he knew that he wanted to pursue a musical career.
The guitar led him down the road of metal, studying bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and Pantera, before becoming curious about jazz. At that point, he was interested in specific playing techniques. “I realized the technique and virtuosity actually is more interesting when you apply it with something like jazz,” he shares.
Gitelman remembers when his father brought home Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery’s The Dynamic Duo vinyl. “It resonated very heavily with me,” he says. “I still listen to that record. It’s one of the greatest jazz recordings of all time. I remember in that first song, ‘Down by the Riverside,’ the groove was swinging so hard. It was the organ doing the bass. And if you know what B3 sounds like doing bass, it’s actually similar to doing 808. It was grooving so hard.”
That groove led Gitelman’s father to take him to his first jazz concert in high school, and eventually, he started playing his own jazz gigs.
After graduating from Berklee College of Music, one of Gitelman’s earliest gigs was as a touring and recording guitarist for Ms. Lauryn Hill. His time on the road paved the way for an opportunity to work with Alicia Keys.
One of his contributions was playing the electric guitar on “This Bed” from Keys’ 2009 album, The Element of Freedom. But it wasn’t until Gitelman’s guitar work on J. Cole’s “Apparently,” from his featureless album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, that gave him a much-needed boost.
Over the years, Gitelman has become a go-to collaborator for a wide net of artists, including H.E.R. (with whom he won an Emmy and scored a few Grammy nods), Beyoncé, Usher, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Jennifer Lopez, Anderson .Paak, Muni Long, Victoria Monét, Jessie Murph, and Teddy Swims, among many others.
In our interview with Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman, he discusses his musical journey, his passion for mentorship, and the stories behind some of the songs he’s recently worked on.
You started playing the guitar at an early age. What drew you to that instrument?
I always had instruments lying around the house, and my dad would teach me. I really just knew that one riff. I remember listening to the radio and hearing the song by Eric Johnson called “Cliffs of Dove.” It was a hit song, but it was instrumental — just guitar, bass, and drums. That was the era of Van Halen and Guns N’ Roses and guitars were just cool. I think because I had it in the house, it was just like, “OK, I could just pick that one up and ask my dad to show me [how to play].” That was in Russia.
When we moved to America [in 1991], we didn’t have any instruments. I ended up finding this guitar, and my dad ended up stringing it. Having my dad in the house, who played guitar and [other] instruments, was always helpful. We learned how to play Nirvana songs. My first talent show, I played “Yesterday” by The Beatles, and then we started doing Nirvana songs. When I heard Jimi Hendrix, that was a pinnacle moment for me to stop pursuing a career in professional basketball. I was 12 years old. I really thought I was going to the NBA. You couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t going to the NBA.
Did you see yourself wanting to be a professional musician at that time?
Yes. Guitar took me down the road of metal. We got into really heavy metal like Metallica, Megadeath, Pantera, all those bands. That got me into guitar technique and virtuoso. From there, because my dad was a jazz musician, I realized technique and virtuosity are actually more interesting when you apply it with something like jazz.
I remember when my dad brought home this record, Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery’s The Dynamic Duo. It’s one of the greatest jazz recordings of all time. I loved what they were playing, but I remember in that first song, “Down by the Riverside,” the groove was swinging so hard. It was the organ doing the bass. Looking back on it, I understood what I got bit by, and it was Black music. Jazz is a Black art form. And that’s what I fell in love with at that moment. That took my path down all kinds of music.
You’re highly in demand. How do you balance all the requests you get for collaborations?
It’s a challenge. I have a lot of work, but I’m learning to delegate even on the engineering side, creatively or technically. As a producer, I really respect songwriters. My game-winning formula is to be able to understand stylistically what an artist is looking for and how to curate a team to help deliver that result the best. Sometimes, that means bringing in an outside writer to help with lyrics or melodies, bringing in a co-producer, another artist, or whatever it is. It’s about assembling a team and having a vision. The best way I could do that is to be myself and assert the natural passion I have for the music and the respect for the craft. If I lead with that, then it seems to work.
I saw an interview where you spoke about teaching H.E.R. a few things about the guitar early on. You also served as a mentor for GRAMMY U’s “In The Mix” program, among other initiatives. Mentorship seems to be another passion of yours. What have you learned about yourself from teaching others?
I don’t know why, but I have this duty of passion to share what was shared with me. Maybe it’s the way I came up being mentored by certain guitar players or OGs. I think that’s part of the jazz form, to teach and pass down the tradition. I love the idea of being able to help somebody else; you empower them. I know what kind of loyalty and gratitude I have towards somebody who has done that for me. If I could instill that in other people, now it’s a creative army I’m building around me. That’s the way I see it now. I need help to make as much music as I possibly humanly can. So, now more than ever, I want to give this information away and see who’s really going to commit to it. Also, there’s something about the repetition of information. By teaching somebody, you’re relearning [and] reminding yourself of [it]. In some ways, you need it as well.
Let’s dive into a few of the many songs you’ve recently been a part of. I want to start with 2019’s “John Redcorn” by SiR. It’s become one of his signature songs and fan favorites. What do you remember about creating that one?
That song came together so naturally. It was one of my easiest experiences. The whole thing, I think, took a couple of hours. I’ve known SiR for a long time. The other producer, Kal [Banx], I’ve known him for a while, too. I knew them separately. They called me one night [while] they were working together. They were like, “Yo, come through. We started an idea. We want to vibe with you on something.” So I got there, and they were in the early stages of [working on] it, and we just did it — added guitar, bass, and then a little string. And that was it. It is not some over-the-top crazy production; it’s just a feeling that we just captured in the moment.
It was cool because in 2013, on my first trip to LA, I met the engineer Darryl [Farris], and he ended up being SiR. He was starting out as an engineer and was writing songs, trying to figure it out. I just kept seeing him progress, and then he started working with Anderson [.Paak]. I would see him through all these different phases, and then finally to see him get signed to TDE, and I was just like, “Wow!” We weren’t even working like that [at the time]. We worked together early on, and occasionally, we would see each other through Anderson, but we weren’t working like that. When I heard “D’Evils,” I was like, “Bro, this record is insane. That’s one of my favorite records. I’ve known you for so long. Can we work on something together?” And so he was like, “Alright, bet.” That’s when we did “John Redcorn.”
As we’ve discussed, you’ve collaborated with H.E.R. plenty of times. One of my favorites is “Damage,” which you co-produced with Cardiak. The song garnered such a positive response on the charts and even scored a Grammy nod. How did it even come about?
The way that song came about at the end is really interesting. I didn’t do the original song with her and the team; they did the song first with Cardiak, and they had the [Herb Alpert “Making Love in the Rain“] sample in there. Something happened that they couldn’t clear the sample. They cleared the publishing because Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis worked that out, but it had something to do with clearing the master recording of the sample.
The song was not going to come out. They were going to redo everything, not drop it as a single, [and] push it back. This was at the beginning of the quarantine. I was like, “Wait, I ain’t got shit to do. I could remake the sample and make it sound exactly like the original.” So, I basically replicated the first eight bars of the song. I was listening to the record and was like, “That’s the Moog for the bass. I have that. For that bell part, that’s the Oberheim. I have that. The other sound that sounds like some kind of Roland, I have that.” And then it’s just guitar.
Mary J. Blige’s “Still Believe in Love” featuring Vado dominated Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart for eight weeks. You were also involved with that record. What’s the backstory?
I was a fan of Mary for years. When I used to tour as a guitar player, I used to tour with Jaheim. We opened for Mary [on The Breakthrough Experience Tour.] Every night, for maybe three months, I would watch Mary perform. DJ Cassidy, who’s a friend of mine, and he’s the co-producer, came to me with a vision, and he wanted, in the style of her album My Life, to kind of go back to an older soul sound but bring it into the now.
We crafted it by interpolating “C.O.D. (I’ll Deliver)” [by Mtume]. The cool story about that one is that Mtume is one of the greatest architects of this music. He comes from a long lineage. The Heath Brothers, who I grew up studying in the jazz world. So Mtume, one of the last things he did before he passed was he redid a couple of his big recordings. We were able to use pretty much the last thing that Mtume did before passing. We were able to use those stems and make this new version that interpolates the original composition, but essentially, it’s all reproduced from scratch.
Muni Long’s “Ruined Me” is heating up at R&B radio. You worked with her before. How did this song come about?
Priscilla Renea is one of my close friends. I’ve known her for years. I was there for the early stages when she started the Muni Long project, where she changed her name and really went for it as an artist because she was a songwriter up until then. It’s been amazing to be with her in the game and on the sideline cheering for her because she was able to have a lot of success with “Hrs & Hrs” and “Made For Me.” I’ve had a song on every one of her projects. She’s somebody I’ve always always respected and believed in. She’s literally one of the greatest writers. I knew eventually, her songs would pave the way for her.
So, we were working on a whole other record for somebody else one night. This was after her album [Revenge] was done, and it was going to mixing. I played her this beat and she wrote [“Ruined Me”] right there. She’s like, “If we could get the stems over, this could actually be on the album, even though my album is literally done, and they’re all going to look at me crazy, but this needs to be on the album.” It was an accident, bro. I wasn’t even going to come through that night. I came to work on something completely different, and we did that. She knocked it out. Those things, you just don’t plan. I know that she was in her feels. She wanted to get some shit off her chest, so I just provided the soundtrack.
Last year, we couldn’t escape Victoria Monét’s Grammy-nominated hit “On My Mama.” The song topped multiple radio charts and Billboard charts. What was that studio session like for you?
Victoria is an artist with a vision who knows what she wants. That was the first time me and [producer] Deputy worked together. It was a nice competitive nature that day. We were testing each other to see how great we could make one another. Iron sharpens iron. It was a great session. We knew it was special. It’s been amazing to see that song become the cultural groundbreaker that it was. It became a self-affirmation for all of us. I know it touched a lot of women, but just all of us, it was a self-affirmation. My kid was three when that record started hitting and came out. She ended up loving it. She was chanting it. I was like, “Wow, it had a really positive effect on the world.” It’s been amazing to see what “On My Mama” did for Victoria and where it took her. It’s been incredible to be a part of that ride.
What else are you working on that you’re excited about?
We have more Jessie Reyez songs coming out. We got Teddy Swims coming out at the top of the year-ish. Me and Theron Thomas, who’s an amazing songwriter and won the Grammy for Songwriter of the Year last year, partnered up on a project [and] created a new genre of music. I think it’s going to make some waves in the culture. This is something I’m so excited about. I’ve never heard it done in music. It’s almost a new lifestyle that we created with an incredible vocalist, Susan Carol. We are going to change the jazz world.
Follow Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman on Instagram @jeffgitty.
