“Talk less, smile more” may be the motto of the character he plays 8 times a week in the Broadway smash “Hamilton,” but Leslie Odom Jr. certainly isn’t keeping his mouth shut.
The 34-year-old actor, whose memorable role as Aaron Burr scored him a nomination in this Sunday’s Tony awards, is set to release his first solo record on June 10th. However the songs fall more under the category of classical and modern jazz than standard show tunes.
Odom Jr. has been working on putting out his own album for over 15 years, but until recently he didn’t have the financial means or support.
Before Lin-Manuel Miranda recognized his unique voice and gave him his breakout role as Burr in 2015, Odom acted mainly in television. He played significant parts in NBC’s short lived musical sitcom “Smash” as well as crime dramas like “Person of Interest” and “Law & Order: SVU”.
Back in October 2013, the performer started a Kickstarter campaign to fund his musical vision, never expecting it would one day receive donations from all over the world. He wrote on his personal Kickstarter page that he hoped family and friends could help him create a debut album that would be a mix of “modern and traditional black male vocals” like Nat King Cole and would inspire others and provide them comfort during “private moments”.
When he began the project, Odom was just like any other of the millions of artists and musicians out there looking to self-fund their dreams. He never could’ve imagined that his personal passion project would suddenly become a reality, raising more than $10,000 more than it’s intended goal of $30,000 and acquiring close to 700 enthusiastic sponsors.
“Hamilton’s” casting is revolutionary not only for it’s diversity of casting but also for providing opportunities for new, talented performers to step into leading roles. Rather than take the easy route by casting well-established star, Miranda wanted to bring attention to fresh talent. His risk is certainly paying off.
"As you can see with my music, as you can see with Daveed [Diggs'] music, these are things that we’ve been doing our whole lives," Odom says. "These are things that we’ve been dedicated to for years and years, that nobody cared about. And so what [Hamilton] does is that it allows us to get some things to the forefront, it allows us to make some art now that people are hopefully going to care about. That’s all you want as artist. So the fact that the fans love the show in the way that they do and that love has extended to each of us and that love extends to the outside projects that we do, it doesn’t get any better," Odom said in an interview with “Billboard”.
Even though his contract with “Hamilton” is set to expire in July, Odom Jr. told “The New York Times” that he plans to extend his run with the show a while longer. So if you’re lucky enough to have tickets this summer make sure to let everyone know you saw the original Aaron Burr because he’s set to become a major up-and-coming star!
