Chris Minh Doky’s Fresh Chapter: “New Beginnings,” Nordic Roots, and Funky Upright Sounds

Chris Minh Doky is having a prolific year, but his new solo album New Beginnings marks more than just another release. It’s a statement of reinvention.

The album, which arrived in February, is his first in seven years. During that stretch, Doky stayed active on tour and collaborated widely, but he took his time deciding what he wanted to say with a new solo project. “I was searching for what I wanted to say on an album,” he says. “I knew I wanted something more electric and big in sound, more funky and modern.” That shift came after a period of exploring acoustic Nordic jazz, including a pared-down trio where he imposed strict compositional limits: no harmonies from the American songbook, only homegrown elements.

When he finally found the direction for New Beginnings, things moved fast. “Once I had it and I knew what I wanted to say, it kind of wrote itself,” Doky explains. “That whole album, from starting it to having the master, was six months. But it took five years to get there.”

New Beginnings is available now on as a digital download (Apple Music and Amazon Music) as well as physical copies through Doky’s website.

A key voice in that process came from inside the family. His 20-year-old son Milo not only co-wrote several songs but also inspired much of the album’s sonic identity. “He was always into music,” Doky says. “Then one day, he plays me some stuff he’s working on, and I’m like, whoa. Where did that come from?” The two began trading ideas, with Milo suggesting new vamps and arrangements. One of the tracks on the album is his composition entirely. “I can take no credit whatsoever for where he’s at and how good he is,” Doky says. “It’s been an immense joy working with him. Humanly and musically.”

With a fresh creative direction, Doky also fully committed to incorporating effects and textures into his sound. That includes distortion, which he deploys mid-solo on the track “The Sniper.” The move wasn’t added in post. “It’s all live,” he explains. “I’ve always fussed around with effects on the bass, but I made a conscious effort that when I started the Nomads again this third time around, I wasn’t just going to screw around with it. I was going to commit and work it into how I write and sew stuff together.”

The album features Doky’s electric upright bass on nearly every track, with one exception: the acoustic bass on the title track. His primary instrument is the Yamaha SLB-300 Pro, which he helped develop back in 1999. It started as a solution for touring after 9/11, when traveling with a full acoustic bass became difficult. “It was supposed to just be for rehearsals and around town, but it became an instrument on its own,” he says. “Now I play it maybe 55 to 60 percent of the time.”

As for his effects setup, Doky prefers the flexibility of the Line 6 Helix. “I started with single pedals, but routing and switching became a nightmare,” he says. “I like the Helix because you can move stuff around and try different combinations. It’s perfect for how I think.”

His years of exploration with effects began in part during his time with saxophone legend Michael Brecker, who encouraged him to dive deeper into tech and tone-shaping. “He kind of got me into experimenting with all the electronic stuff in jazz,” Doky recalls. “We talked about it a lot. That got me on the track to investigate how we could do this on bass.”

All of this, from collaborating with Milo to embracing new textures and letting go of old boundaries, fed into the title of the album. “New Beginnings is about committing to ideas,” Doky says. “Not overthinking every book. Just, “Here it is. Let’s go.” You make mistakes, but what the hell. Then you’re learning.”

The good news for fans: he doesn’t plan to wait another seven years before the next one.