Musician Niles Rivers is an undeterred idealist. He wants to change the world, and for him, setbacks are only delays. He relies on his musical craft when challenges arise.
The singer, songwriter and instrumentalist is building an audience after moving to Atlanta, last February, from Los Angeles. His metro Atlanta experience has ranged from spending hours street performing to landing gigs at such notable venues as The Velvet Note in Alpharetta.
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Rivers is not a typical performer at the jazz venue. The versatile vocalist is a storyteller in his performances of jazz, rock and soul. During a recent performance at The Velvet Note, Rivers moved from a tender, soulful rendition of “Autumn Leaves” to the soft rock sound of “That’s Just the Way It Is.” In between songs the musician shares aspects of himself with the audience: his musical inspirations, family experiences and more.
The Niles Rivers Band will perform at the Red Clay Music Foundry in Duluth on Friday.
Music was third on Rivers’ list of priorities when he relocated to Atlanta.
Within months, his romantic relationship — which was the reason for his move to Atlanta — ended. The two were partnering on his other passion, he said, a food alliance to connect underserved farmers with families experiencing food insecurity.
“Food is the most basic way to care about people,” Rivers said. “What I’m doing in my music is trying to connect people and transfer that passion to food and help people understand they can eat healthy.”
Rivers’ pursuit of his food venture, called Bloom, is moving forward but slowed after his break-up in early 2023. He started street performing outside shops and grocery stores and forming friendships.
Last May, he learned about The Velvet Note Open Mic Jams and found a home-base at the venue during the Thursday night events. Two months later, Rivers was announced as the winner of The Velvet Note’s second annual open mic competition and was awarded his own two-set show on a Saturday night last October, performing with the house band.
The competition is a separate event from the venue’s regular Thursday night open mic jams and took place during the month of June. Silent judges included pianist Gary Motley, who is founding director of Jazz Studies at Emory University; guitarist Slim Gambill, best known for his years of working with Lady A, formerly known as Lady Antebellum; and others in the music industry.
Tamara Fuller, owner of The Velvet Note, became so impressed with Rivers during his quest to win the open mic competition that she decided to manage and produce him as an artist.
“I noticed there was a lot of energy in the room when he would play,” Fuller said. “This just seemed like a really talented guy who was really capturing the audience’s attention. He has a very different, a very unusual voice. The upper register is his comfort zone ... He also plays the guitar beautifully.
“He also had an arrangement of songs we know and love but they’re done in an arrangement that I had never heard before.”
Fuller, who has managed Gambill, the 4 Corners Band and the Ray Howard Band, in the past, says artists each have different goals and Rivers’ goals are about bringing people together.
Rivers is the first artist that Fuller is producing. She is working to book and help create shows at various venues, and helped to bring in original band members, she said.
“Niles believes all kinds of people enjoy good music and he can bring them together to enjoy good music despite differences in age, socioeconomic background or politics,” Fuller said.
Rivers resides in Roswell and is a native of Cleveland, Ohio.
He started performing in church as a child and was writing music at age 13, he said. Rivers’ father introduced him to the jazz genre playing music by such late greats as Chick Corea and Ahmad Jamal.
The varied sounds of Phil Collins, Babyface and Natalie Cole began to draw him in as well, during his teen years, Rivers said.
“What we’ve tried to do is encapsulate that in the show and have a range,” he added. “I’ve been influenced by them all.”
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