CULTURE
MAKING MAHAKALA: Since 2019, Chad Fowler has been quietly releasing albums from jazz luminaries on his Hot Springs Village-based label.
GARDEN T PARTY THE HOME OF THE STATE’S MOST FORWARD-THINKING JAZZ LABEL ISN’T WHERE YOU MIGHT EXPECT. BY SAMMY WILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN CHILSON
he gated community of Hot Springs Village attracts retirees from all over the country with its resort-like atmosphere of lakes, lush golf courses and tidy tennis courts. To most of its inhabitants, jazz is about familiar tunes and the comfort of nostalgia — Duke Ellington or Ella Fitzgerald. But to Arkansas native and Village resident Chad Fowler, jazz is something much more adventurous, visceral and forwardlooking. Lurking behind the Village gates is the home base of Mahakala Music, an exciting new avant-garde jazz label. Fowler launched Mahakala Music in 2019 upon returning to Arkansas after a globe-trotting career in tech, and after decades of nurturing a love of music. Fowler began playing saxophone at Sylvan Hills Junior High in Sherwood in the mid-1980s. He learned the instrument quickly, and was one of the few students who could play by ear. Teachers sent him to the elementary school to show off
his impressive skills by playing the “Leave It to Beaver” theme song for the younger children. Fowler was a bit of an outcast and sought out any genre of music that could further differentiate him from his peers. He scoured the racks at Camelot Music in North Little Rock’s McCain Mall for punk, goth and noise rock albums, eventually stumbling onto jazz. By the end of high school, he was playing saxophone and bass in the school’s two jazz bands, singing in the choir and coercing the band director to teach a music theory class. Outside of school, he was playing guitar in the Little Rock punk scene, including a stint in the band Step by Step. Fowler describes his final year of high school as “nonstop music.” During high school, Fowler met fellow teenager and jazz aficionado Chris Parker backstage at Riverfest. They’d both made a point to attend the now-defunct Little Rock music festival to meet the members of the Count Basie Orchestra. ARKTIMES.COM
JUNE 2022 39
