I ran into Portland soul/funk artist Nigel Hall at The Big Easy and hit him up for the low-down on his signature sound. Nigel, who for the record has been "fully raging," had a whiskey in hand and an ear-to-ear grin.

He should be smiling; Nigel has joined forces with the very artists who sculpted him into a budding soul man.

"Before I was even born I was into music," he recounts. His mother even introduced him to tunes while still in the womb.

"My mother used to put headphones on her belly and blast George Duke and Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway. Hence, Nigel Hall has come to break it all down."

Nigel’s belly soundtrack influenced him later in life as he picked up on emerging soul/jazz/funk groups like Lettuce and Soulive.  A Washington, D.C. transplant, Hall is now a member of Portland musician network that has ties to the Boston and New York City scenes.

With the creme de la creme of local players at his disposal, Nigel chose the lineup for The Nigel Hall Band and quickly built a name for himself.  Collaborating on projects with Boston cats like Sam Kininger (Soulive, Lettuce, The Sam Kininger Band), Nigel found himself sharing a stage with his early influences.

"It’s been an honor and a privilege to play with those guys ‘cause I’ve been listening to them all my life," he says. "Lettuce has been around for years.  I remember listenin’ to Lettuce when I was a kid and now I’m playin’ with these cats. It’s so surreal for me it’s not even funny."

It’s collaborations like this that leave Nigel with a full plate.  He sings and plays keys on Lettuce’s latest album, "Rage," set for release April 22nd of this year.  He will then join Lettuce for The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on April 25th, then a two week tour of Japan in July.

On top of that, Nigel is recording his second solo album and plans to eventually unleash the return of The Nigel Hall Band in "full force."  He says his new album, "Music For Living," is a departure from the sound he introduced with his debut, "The Face of Things to Come."  

"This album is gonna be about a lot of things. It’s gonna be about love, it’s gonna be about hate, it’s gonna be about cleaning your mind. It’s gonna be some spiritual (music)."

The anticipated release features all-stars such as Andy Clifford, Brian Hurst (Tyler Perry’s Madea), Sam Kininger, Aaron Bellamy (Martin Luther, Sam Kininger Band), Adam Smirnoff (Robert Randolf, Lettuce) Mr. Blu and Jim Thorpe (Green Tank) as well as a host of others.

Jaye Drew fronts the Portland Nu-jazz project.