On a sunny Monday afternoon at the Dempseys’ home in East Oakland, the two eldest daughters, Micaiah, 21, and Memphis, 17, positioned themselves at their instruments, finalizing their setlist for their upcoming SFJAZZ show for the annual Noise Pop festival.
“We play music at all hours of the day,” Micaiah said. “If we’re feeling it at 4 in the morning, we’re up at 4 in the morning, playing.”
Micaiah, Memphis and their brother, Matthias, make up the jazz-fusion trio MeloDious. The siblings first began learning their instruments in early childhood, with Micaiah on piano, Matthias on bass and Memphis on drums. Nearly nine years ago, they decided they wanted to reach more listeners than just their parents, youngest sister and music therapy cat, Olivia. So MeloDious was born. After years of writing, recording and finalizing their music, the family band made it official in 2023 with their debut album, Is It the Way: Volume I.
Micaiah recently returned from touring in New York and Los Angeles with Oakland-raised R&B singer Elujay. Shortly after, she and Memphis began rehearsals for their March 2 Noise Pop show with guitarist Tyler Murphy and bassist Jonathan Herrera. (Matthias is currently on a break from music and focusing on his internship with the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C.)
“It’s nice to be recognized and respected as musicians, at this point. To be like ‘Hey, we want you guys to come play and close out Noise Pop for us,’” Michiah said. “We had the music, we were stoked.”
Like many people, the Dempsey siblings found their way to music through church, where the approach differed from the structure required to master jazz. “In church music, you never have to count,” Memphis said. “You always know where you are in some way because there’s lyrics. And it’s playing instrumental music for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I actually have to count and know where I am.’”
Micaiah, Memphis and Matthias come from a musical family. Their grandfather was Tony Newsom, a member of the soul group Ebony Jam Band; he was an early influence of the siblings, along with greats like Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole and Michael and Janet Jackson. Jazz came into their lives through the Oaktown Jazz Workshops, a nonprofit that’s been nurturing young instrumentalists for three decades.
“MeloDious is extremely young and up-and-coming,” said Justin Esposito, the content, social media and marketing strategist of SFJAZZ. “This is one of our earliest efforts to bring and help cultivate new artists within our SFJAZZ audiences.”
