0:00

Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

0:07

What's Up?

0:07

This is unpaid bill from Questlove Supreme.

0:10

So questlof does this thing.

0:11

Usually like once a season where it sits down for

0:13

one of them. Many of us do that and you can

0:15

expect to hear mine soon. But anyway,

0:17

back in May of twenty twenty, a Mere spoke with Nora

0:19

Jones about her career an unlikely

0:21

journey.

0:22

Into the spotlight.

0:23

There's a lot of heart and soul in this conversation, and if

0:25

you know Nora's music, that's no surprise. As

0:28

we celebrate women's history months, we are picking

0:30

special.

0:30

Episodes for classics.

0:32

This one is very special and you'll

0:34

hear why.

0:42

All right, this is gonna be silly. Ladies and gentlemen,

0:44

Welcome to another episode of Quest Love

0:46

Supreme. This is Questlove Today.

0:49

I'm solo, solo alone,

0:51

holding it down to the fort without

0:54

boss or paybilled sugar, Steve Light

0:56

here or take a look. We

0:58

are very honored today to

1:00

be talking shop with

1:02

a good friend of mine, multi

1:04

Grammy winner, multi instrumentalist,

1:08

singer just just about

1:10

everything, almost almost celebrating

1:12

twenty years in this industry since

1:15

her debut. What else

1:17

is there to say? So well rounded, so awesome.

1:20

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Norah Jones

1:22

to Questlove Supreme. I'm

1:25

a cheering accession.

1:27

How you doing, I'll take it.

1:30

Where are you right now?

1:32

I'm in the country. I'm I'm in a bedroom,

1:34

my bedroom here. Yeah, I'm in bedroom.

1:37

Okay, So I'm sort of in

1:39

bed, yeah, kind of in this

1:42

new reality yep. So

1:44

yes, of course I have to ask,

1:47

like, how are you adjusting to

1:51

what we are now calling the new reality?

1:54

You know, for a lot of creatives, I know this

1:56

is either a moment for them to

2:00

finally just take a breather and

2:04

not have to deal with the circle

2:08

of the work that

2:10

we put into. For other people, it's like, okay,

2:12

more creativity, Like where are you falling

2:14

on this?

2:15

Well, my kids are almost four years old and

2:18

six, so I

2:20

wish I could be more creative, but

2:24

there isn't a ton of time. Okay,

2:27

but I have little snippets of ideas

2:30

and yeah, it's

2:32

more about how do I get them to not yell

2:34

at me?

2:36

Okay?

2:37

So you're in that way

2:39

entertainment mode, yes, exactly,

2:42

full.

2:42

Time entertainment mood. Okay, I see

2:44

oh.

2:44

Would you like a hot dog for lunch?

2:46

Again?

2:46

Okay?

2:47

Cool sor

2:49

are there? Okay?

2:51

Good? Though it's a good distraction, I'll say

2:53

that, Okay. Yeah.

2:56

The prime purpose of

2:58

the podcast for

3:00

me is kind of seeing

3:03

the the

3:06

machinery inside the vehicle

3:08

and always

3:11

the creative process. So, I

3:13

mean, I know you've been asked this a billion times

3:15

before, but you know, I like to

3:18

take this approach for our viewers or

3:20

our listeners. Where were

3:22

you born?

3:24

I was born in New York? Actually,

3:27

yeah, what part

3:29

of the I think her apartment

3:32

was like on twenty seventh in Lexington,

3:35

Okay, in Manhattan. Yeah.

3:37

Do you know your first musical memory?

3:39

Your first childhood musical memory?

3:42

Probably my mom's records.

3:44

I don't know the exact first, but

3:46

I remember listening to Willie Nelson

3:48

and Ray Charles and Aretha

3:51

Franklin.

3:52

So your mom was a promoter, correct,

3:55

you know?

3:55

She she That's how she met my dad. She worked

3:57

for a promoter for a short time, but not really,

4:00

not like long term.

4:02

So she wasn't the Bill Graham of her error

4:04

that time.

4:04

No, she definitely wasn't. She

4:08

had many careers. She was a dancer,

4:10

and then she broke her ankle, and then she was in

4:13

the theater, and she worked in commercials

4:16

behind the scenes, and then she was a real estate agent

4:18

and then a nurse. So she was kind of all over the

4:20

place.

4:21

Okay, So her record collection

4:24

sort of seeped into you. What

4:27

types of records were those?

4:29

A lot of gospel, Aretha Franklin,

4:32

gospel era stuff, a

4:34

lot of early Ray Charles country

4:36

music. She's from Oklahoma, Okay,

4:40

so that was sort of in the water

4:42

too, because I grew up in Texas. We moved to

4:44

Texas when I was about three.

4:46

Really, yeah, so

4:48

how different was that from well,

4:51

I mean not that you would have.

4:53

I don't have that many memories memories,

4:56

but I actually my first memory is

4:58

of a dream I had of playing in the

5:00

playground at Washington Square Parks. So okay,

5:06

I don't really remember.

5:08

So even in the beginning, I mean, what

5:11

was there for

5:13

you? I know, like a lot of musicians

5:15

come through either an older siblings

5:18

record or

5:21

you know, like a cousin or someone that puts them onto

5:23

it. But for

5:25

you, like, did you also

5:28

like the music of the day, Like I

5:31

meant, by the time you were five or six, like

5:33

Madonna was a thing so like, do

5:35

you remember like your first actual purchase outside

5:38

of your mother's

5:40

record collection.

5:42

Yeah, I mean I don't think. I listened to the music

5:44

of the day till I was about nine or ten, and

5:46

then I sort of started listening to pop radio.

5:49

Oh so you were old soul from zero to.

5:51

Nine, Well kind

5:53

of okay, Yeah.

5:55

Explained your seasoning, all right.

5:56

I listened to like oldies radio, and

6:00

you know, for us in that generation, it was

6:02

like the nineteen fifties and sixties.

6:04

Pop music you got tricked.

6:05

Not the Beatles, like not as cool as that yet,

6:08

but like before that, pre that, you know.

6:10

No that that's my story, Like, yeah, which

6:12

is bad. My dad was an oldies

6:14

duop singer, so I thought

6:17

the thing was that he tricked me. I thought

6:19

that was the music of

6:22

the day.

6:23

That's so funny.

6:25

And then in first grade, like my music teachers

6:27

like no, yeah, like

6:29

here are the Beg's, here are you know that sort

6:32

of thing. But I thought, like Frankie Lyon and the

6:34

teenagers was like I thought

6:36

there was like a new record white a fool small love

6:38

like that sort of thing.

6:39

That's pretty funny. Yeah, that was my stuff until

6:41

I was like nine and then because

6:43

my mom didn't listen to pop radio. She listen to NPR,

6:46

so I didn't know about that stuff. Maybe I had like

6:48

a babysitter who was into Madonna. But

6:51

then when I was nine, it was full on whatever

6:54

was out and popular. I was into.

6:56

So what were you like, how are you relating

6:59

to your friend friends in the area,

7:01

like in school and whatnot if you

7:03

didn't share the same music taste that

7:05

they did.

7:07

I don't even know. I mean I was in choiring

7:09

school and church. I

7:12

don't remember it being weird or

7:14

being feeling different. And

7:17

then by the time kids were more interested

7:19

in that kind of stuff, I was already listening.

7:22

I think the first cassette I purchased

7:24

was Digital Underground because I liked the

7:27

humpy dance. Yeah, I loved

7:29

it. It was the best thing I'd ever heard.

7:32

Okay. Fiona Apple also

7:34

has a hilarious story where when

7:37

she was making title, I think she was like

7:39

getting gas and she saw like SHATCHI

7:41

Digital Underground, like lost it like this around.

7:45

That's amazing, freaking Digital Underground.

7:47

Okay. You mentioned,

7:50

uh, playing piano

7:52

in church? What type of church was this?

7:54

Was this?

7:55

This was a Methodist church in

7:58

you know, suburban Texas.

8:02

It was. It

8:04

was a nice enough church, but they had a

8:07

really Actually I played, I sang in church.

8:09

I didn't play piano in church. But

8:13

she was a cool choir director. I

8:15

think she was a maybe

8:18

a former Catholic, and so she taught us all

8:20

these Latin hymns, right, so

8:22

it was cool. And then you know, we did like

8:24

our God is an awesome God. And then I stopped

8:26

going to church after that. But oh okay,

8:29

not because of the song, but you

8:32

know, it was like a mix of It was a mix of stuff,

8:34

is my point.

8:34

Trust me. Everyone has their church Exodus

8:37

booth exactly.

8:38

Yeah, I see that, the

8:41

children choir basically.

8:43

Okay, well she be noted you went

8:45

to you went

8:47

to Booker t Washington. Yeah, high

8:50

school. Yeah, notables.

8:52

So I meant at the time, well, Roy is way

8:54

older than you.

8:56

Yeah, he was older, but he was like the

8:58

hometown hero.

9:00

So were you in school at the time of

9:02

Erica or was that.

9:03

Even she was with Well she was a

9:05

little bit older too, and her album came

9:07

out when I was a junior maybe or

9:10

a senior. So again it was like a huge

9:13

big deal for us all and I

9:15

was obsessed with that album and

9:18

it was so cool. She came back and like

9:20

did a talk at the school and it was fine,

9:22

Okay.

9:23

What is it about that high school? Is that a performing

9:26

arts high school? Or so

9:29

what is it? Because

9:31

oftentimes, I mean when people

9:33

think of Texas, we don't think of like performing

9:37

arts schools and you know, type

9:40

of artistic

9:43

expressions and that sort of thing. But

9:46

like, is the community like that down there or.

9:48

I mean, Texas is a big place. The Dallas

9:51

area is a huge suburban place

9:55

full of small neighborhoods,

9:57

you know, or big neighborhoods, so

10:00

you know, you can travel twenty miles and it's completely

10:02

different community. But

10:06

so this school was cool because it

10:08

draws. It draws from all over

10:10

the city. You have to audition to get

10:12

in, but anybody can go there. So kids

10:14

were commuting from all over the city and

10:18

it was sort of a it

10:20

was I don't know, it was like

10:22

the place where all the cool, weird

10:24

artists went ended up.

10:27

You know. I came from like a

10:29

super heavy football marching band situation.

10:32

Cheerleaders were queens

10:36

of the school.

10:37

Tea. You were in the marching band. I was. I played

10:39

saxophone, you played saxophone.

10:42

I mean I haven't in thirty

10:44

or twenty five years maybe.

10:46

But if you see a saxophone,

10:48

I'm assuming the alto or a tenor like

10:51

alto.

10:53

I do hold a special place for marching band in

10:55

my heart.

10:57

But you'll never pick up a sax again.

10:59

I mean, so gross. I

11:02

still have my saxophone. No, no, the saxophone

11:05

is not gross. I still have my saxophone, and

11:07

I think like the read is still attached

11:09

from twenty five years. It's probably disgusting and

11:12

growing up kinds of mold in it, but

11:14

for some reason, I still have it

11:16

somewhere.

11:17

I feel like you're the type of creative that

11:19

will You're

11:22

the type of artist that I feel as

11:24

though you you like

11:27

experiments. You often change, evolve

11:31

and go through metamorphosis. I

11:34

do.

11:34

I like that.

11:36

That's feeling. Okay, when you break out

11:38

your saxophone, I'll be in that bad.

11:41

I don't know about that. I don't know if that's

11:43

going to happen. I need to practice guitar

11:45

more.

11:45

First. You always

11:48

down here, Like every clip

11:50

I see of you and you talk about your

11:53

guitar. You always saying like I need to prove my guitar.

11:55

I need to prove. Yeah, I do

11:58

you seem to do fine? Or are you saying that you just

12:00

hide well behind whoever's playing.

12:03

Oh that's the secret.

12:05

Well, I think my thing on guitar is

12:07

cool. I just I

12:09

don't play enough. I'm not I'm

12:11

not good at just playing music

12:14

at home all the time. I don't

12:16

know how you are if you're always playing no

12:18

matter what. For so long. I think

12:20

I just worked so much I didn't even think about

12:22

having to play or practice, and so

12:25

now when I'm not working at all, I'm like,

12:27

I forget to play, you know.

12:30

I was going to say, I wanted to

12:32

know well before I get into that, I

12:34

wanted to know what your When when did

12:36

piano was? I mean, when all

12:39

said and done, do you consider the

12:42

piano your acts of choice? Or

12:45

voice and acts of choice? When did you start playing

12:47

piano?

12:48

I started playing piano when I was

12:50

seven, and I wanted to take

12:52

piano lessons really bad, and

12:54

so my mom got a piano and after

12:57

a couple of weeks, I wanted to quit because I didn't

12:59

like the idea of having to practice,

13:02

you know, and so my mom, Yeah, my mom

13:04

was like, no, I bought you a piano

13:06

because you wanted to play, and she

13:09

said, I have She said you have to

13:11

take into for five years and that way,

13:13

and then you can quit that way if you ever want

13:15

to go back to it'll be easier. And I thought that was pretty

13:18

annoying at the time, but in hindsight, it's

13:20

pretty It was pretty cool because after

13:23

five years I quit, like on the

13:25

dot. I was like, all right, my five years is up? Really

13:28

more scales? Yeah, I just didn't want

13:30

to practice.

13:30

How many hours a day did you have to practice?

13:34

I'm the most lazy, p

13:36

procrastinating practicer. But I

13:39

don't even remember. But I know I

13:41

had a really good teacher. She was awesome,

13:44

but it was just the classical style of learning

13:46

and it didn't spark a

13:48

lot of creativity in my mind

13:50

for some reason. So I

13:52

quit. And then about

13:55

a year later, my mom took me to like, I

13:57

don't know, some she took me to a big band

13:59

concert, and then she took me to

14:01

see Mary and McPartland play in the park,

14:04

right, and I said, this is cool? What's

14:06

this?

14:07

You know?

14:10

And so she found this teacher. Well,

14:12

I think I was playing saxophone by that time.

14:15

In Marching Band, and

14:17

my saxophone teacher recommended this jazz

14:19

piano teacher in Dallas named

14:23

Julie Bank. She was super cool and she was a

14:25

great teacher. She taught me

14:27

how to readcord changes and improvise

14:29

and tried to spark me and writing

14:31

songs. So it just totally took a

14:33

different direction from then.

14:35

So this is how you're discovering jazz chops.

14:38

Yeah, this is like eighth grade when

14:41

I got into jazz and

14:43

my mom she checked out, like, you

14:45

know, the Smithsonian Jazz

14:47

Collection at the library and we dubbed

14:49

it on a cassette and then that was my bible

14:51

for a few years.

14:53

Really. Yeah, So how

14:55

did you hone

14:58

those chaps into like did you play and

15:01

local bands? High school bands? Like

15:03

did you bond with anybody your

15:06

age in jazz

15:09

or yeah?

15:10

I just keep it to yourself, well being

15:12

in Marching band. I mean the

15:14

kids in Marching Band already were sort of

15:16

into stuff like that, some of them

15:19

there was like a jazz band. And then

15:21

I went to interlock In for a summer.

15:24

What is that?

15:25

It's like an arts camp in Michigan and

15:28

it's too Yeah, it's two months long and

15:33

I got really into

15:37

hanging with people who knew a lot about it,

15:39

you know, and then I really

15:41

wanted to go there. They had a

15:44

they have a school during the year and arts school,

15:46

but you have to leave home. It's like a what

15:49

do you call it? A school where you live there. My

15:51

brain isn't working right now. But my

15:54

mom was like, no way, You're not leaving

15:56

home. Oh yeah.

16:00

I just loved it. It was great, and I wanted to continue

16:02

doing it, and she was like, hell

16:05

no. Checked the school

16:07

out and she found Booker T Washington and

16:11

we moved to Dallas just

16:13

so I could be in county to audition

16:16

and go there, and then all the kids there.

16:19

That's I mean, I learned from the kids

16:21

at my school. I learned

16:24

so much. So many of those kids knew

16:26

so much about music, so many geniuses,

16:28

you know.

16:29

Probably I was going to say any other

16:31

notable students at they're

16:33

at the time that.

16:34

Are like, well, I think the people

16:37

that I learned the most with were piano

16:39

players who a couple

16:41

of them were a year or two older, like I was

16:43

there when Brayln Lacey was there, and

16:45

Sean Martin on the keys. R.

16:48

C. Williams right

16:51

I learned so much from these guys. They

16:53

grew up in church, playing piano in

16:55

the church bands and stuff, and they

16:58

knew. I mean, they're just

17:01

geniuses anyway. But I

17:03

don't know. It was a cool, cool environment.

17:05

Was an equally like a sort

17:08

of accepting atmosphere or did you

17:10

feel like, all right, I got to

17:12

come with it and let them know I speak

17:14

the same language, or no,

17:16

I'm such a dork.

17:17

I was just like, Hi, guys, can I hang out with you? It

17:21

was super accepting. Everybody there was an

17:24

oddball, you know anyway,

17:26

so everybody was cool.

17:29

See I went to I

17:31

went to school with Christian

17:34

McBride and Joey de Francisco

17:37

Wow and and Kurt

17:39

Roseawinkle and I

17:41

can. I I

17:43

always compare going

17:46

to that the school I went to the Philadelphia

17:49

version of that school kind

17:51

of as I

17:54

consider it, sort of like a it

17:56

was like a gang experience, like a Bloods and

17:58

Crypts experience. And Joey

18:02

and Chris like they wouldn't even

18:04

they don't give you the time of day or respect,

18:07

like you instantly know that they're the

18:09

alphas of band

18:11

class and that you had to I

18:13

mean the first day of school the

18:16

first day of school, Miles

18:18

Davis is

18:21

giving a masterclass and not

18:24

only takes Joey and Chris to do

18:26

this thing with him on television, but then later

18:29

hires Joey's to

18:32

replace Kenny Kirkland. So that was like my

18:34

first day at the school. And so you

18:37

know, they just knew all traditional jazz.

18:39

Meanwhile, Kurt Rosenwinkle, who's

18:42

such an experimental avant

18:45

garde musician. I mean

18:47

he's on Verb Records right now, but

18:49

back then he was trying to unlearn

18:51

me or unteach me all

18:54

the traditional like the traditional

18:57

stuff, and he's like, nah, man, I want you to listening to Frank

18:59

Zappa, Yeah, Captain

19:01

Beefheart and you know Minor

19:04

Vshue Orchestra John mclaughing. So you

19:07

know, I was like trying to I was on like both sides

19:09

of the gang.

19:10

That's great for you.

19:12

I'm in school, but then I left them both for

19:14

a rap career.

19:15

So

19:18

oh you're informed. You're informed by all

19:20

of it, and you became who you are.

19:22

You know, it helped, but it

19:24

was it was like it was literally like being into like

19:26

whatever side was winning, that was my side.

19:28

Like okay, that's funny. Here there

19:30

the ping pong ball exactly.

19:33

I didn't feel that. I know that attitude you're

19:35

talking about. It's

19:37

like a young musician

19:39

thing, for sure, I feel like, but I

19:42

didn't feel that at my school. Maybe

19:45

I was too naive to see it, but

19:47

I never I never felt it.

19:50

It's pretty pretty welcoming, honestly.

19:57

I mean before your career took off.

19:59

I mean, did you have a plan just

20:01

for like, Okay, I'll do the college thing, go

20:05

to Berkeley or go to Yeah.

20:08

I well, we

20:10

were in Dallas, so I

20:12

did. I wanted to go to like the New School

20:14

or Manhattan School Music, but we

20:18

stayed in state tuition because University

20:20

of North Texas has a great jazz program,

20:23

okay, And so I went there for two years

20:26

and I took all my classes, all

20:28

my music classes, and I

20:30

failed my classical piano jury because

20:32

I just didn't practice enough. And

20:34

then I came

20:36

to New York for the summer, and

20:39

I had a real sort of moment of reckoning,

20:42

and I thought, well, if I go back

20:45

to finish college, I'm gonna

20:47

have to take academics for two years because I already

20:49

took all the jazz classes and I'm going to

20:51

have to do classical two

20:53

years of classical juries and really practice,

20:56

and I just didn't want to do any of that.

20:58

What does that mean? What

21:01

did it 't tell? Like the classical jury.

21:02

Part, it's not that it was so

21:05

hard. It's that I really just didn't practice

21:07

enough. It was like scales

21:09

and arpeggios and one

21:11

song. It wasn't that hard. I was

21:14

really into the other stuff I was doing, and

21:17

I kind of let it slide.

21:19

Understandable. I'm just standable. So

21:22

once she came to New York, what was the paradigm

21:25

shift that really opened its doors

21:27

as far as like, Okay,

21:30

I can have a career

21:32

and start singing. Like what was that moment?

21:35

Well, I mean I realized that

21:37

I could play

21:40

gigs and but I would have to start witting

21:42

tables. It was different

21:44

because in college I had a weekly gig

21:46

where I made enough

21:49

money to make my rent and plus

21:51

tips and food. I played

21:53

at this restaurant and I learned how

21:56

to sing and play at the same time, which

21:59

is sort of It was just like paid practice.

22:01

So it was great. But then when

22:03

I moved to New York, I realized, oh shit, I

22:05

gotta wait tables because I can't make enough

22:07

money playing gigs because they didn't pay very

22:09

much at all, and

22:13

I got a little burnt out. I

22:15

came to New York singing jazz and

22:18

playing the piano, but I wasn't as good a piano

22:20

player as most piano players out there, but

22:23

I knew I could sing, so I had that, you

22:25

know that going for me, sort

22:28

of, you know, trying to. I came

22:30

to New York to do this thing, and then I what

22:34

happened? Your eyes just

22:36

went like.

22:36

Oh shit, you can't hear

22:38

this, can you? No, Zoe,

22:41

I'm interviewing Nord Jones right Okay, this

22:43

is a flex. Zoe Kravis

22:45

just interrupted us. I'm

22:48

interviewing Nord Jones right now for my podcast.

22:53

Hi, She said, all

22:56

right, this is Are you okay over there

22:58

in London? Okay?

23:02

Thank you? Sorry?

23:08

Wait, I'm sorry, okay. Side

23:11

note, it's twenty twenty.

23:13

I'm the person that likes a person to text

23:16

me first and then tell me that they're calling, not

23:18

just call me.

23:20

That's the thing that people do now, but it's

23:22

kind of weird too.

23:24

Wait are you a call before

23:26

you are you a text before you call? Person?

23:29

Yes?

23:29

Or at least because everybody.

23:30

Is, or at least Warren before

23:33

you FaceTime.

23:35

Yes, but I'm also not somebody who just picks

23:37

up the phone if somebody calls me. You seem

23:39

to also be someone who just picks it up no matter

23:41

what.

23:43

Well. I saw it with her, and I'm like, okay,

23:45

this must be about I work on

23:47

her show, so obviously, but

23:51

I forgot to turn my ringer off. So I know that Bill

23:53

kill me over that too. Sorry.

23:55

No, it's the thing. You You either

23:58

ignore the call if you don't want

24:00

to be caught off guard, or you take

24:02

it anyway. So I guess that says a lot about you,

24:06

even though you prefer the text.

24:08

I didn't know how to turn it off. Sorry, Oh

24:11

I don't care anyway. Yeah,

24:13

so you were saying that singing

24:17

at least gave you an edge. I

24:20

really I love your voice, by the way, which

24:23

I don't think you get enough praise for. Like

24:26

who's the person that who's

24:31

your your spirit animal when you're singing?

24:33

Like you know, because I'm not a singer,

24:36

I can't say I know that. When I'm drumming. There's

24:39

four particular drummers that I

24:42

know influenced and raised me and I'm

24:44

like a combination of that. But

24:47

who's your singing spirit animal?

24:51

I think growing up it was Ray Charles

24:53

and Aretha Franklin and Billie

24:55

Holliday.

24:57

All right, I'm skipping into the future. How

25:00

is it working with Ray on the Ones

25:02

stew Wets record?

25:04

It was amazing. He was super sweet.

25:06

We did three live takes and then

25:08

he left and that was.

25:10

It, just real quick in

25:12

and out.

25:13

It was just real quick live takes with the band

25:15

and Billy Preston was playing Oregon, so it

25:18

was awesome. My mom came. She saw him play

25:20

when she was in high school, so it's the first time

25:22

I've ever seen her quiet. You know, it

25:26

was great. He was he was

25:29

he was pretty sick already, so okay,

25:32

he was nice though.

25:34

So just sing the song got

25:36

out super nice.

25:37

Though, Yeah, like like warm and kind. But

25:41

I mean, I love all these people, but I

25:43

think I've tried to keep I

25:46

don't know, I learned. I think

25:49

when I came to New York and I was singing jazz and

25:51

I got a little sort of

25:53

disheartened and I realized,

25:55

I'm singing all these old songs that Billy Holliday

25:57

sang, and I'm putting my

25:59

own been on it and it's cool. But I

26:02

started going in the living room and writing songs

26:04

and singing songs by my friends

26:07

that they were writing, and I

26:09

felt a little more creative

26:12

in that way. And I kind of fell off the jazz

26:14

scene.

26:15

So you didn't want to get typecast as like a

26:18

sort of derivative Billie Holiday.

26:20

And I don't know if it was about

26:22

wanting to get typecast. I think

26:24

it was just about I couldn't get any

26:26

gigs that were satisfying.

26:28

You know. I played in restaurants. I went

26:31

to Smiles a lot, and I watched people play

26:33

and it was awesome, but I couldn't get a gig there yet.

26:35

And I did get a gig

26:37

at the living room though, where the audience listened and

26:39

I felt really connected to something.

26:41

I was going to say, Okay, so I've

26:44

been in New York for ten years now, and

26:48

how often I got like I got

26:50

a little maybe four or five in

26:52

the cut jazz spots

26:54

that I go to just to yeah,

26:57

chilled and be anonymous, or is any

27:00

that says you can be at six '

27:02

three with an afro? But

27:05

but the one thing that really

27:08

like it's disheartening for me when

27:11

I'm in these jazz clubs is oftentimes

27:17

like tourists will come and they'll just

27:20

talk over you, and

27:22

it's almost like you're just a human juke

27:24

box and just in the background to

27:27

their conversation. Like is

27:29

that just that's the disheartening

27:31

thing that you were.

27:34

I don't know if I realized it as tourists

27:36

then, I mean, that was twenty years ago. I

27:38

moved to New York twenty years ago. Last

27:40

summer.

27:42

Well, now I'm observe. I observe it

27:44

as like I'll.

27:45

Go now, well now it is more tourists.

27:47

It is more so than it used

27:49

to be. But I mean I

27:52

think at the time, like I couldn't get a gig

27:54

there yet because I wasn't as good as a

27:56

piano player, and a lot of those places didn't hire

27:59

a ton of singers. Not saying they never hired

28:01

singers, but it wasn't really it

28:04

didn't seem that easy for me to play in

28:06

a place where people were really listening.

28:08

Oh, you would have what I'm saying, So your

28:10

piano chops have to be on point to get

28:12

kind of I get it, okay. Yeah.

28:15

And also just like the gigs they could

28:17

get and did get. Were restaurant gigs

28:19

were I kind of knew going in. They weren't

28:21

like listening room gigs, and they

28:23

were great practice. But

28:26

once I started playing original music

28:28

for tips instead of like forty bucks,

28:32

it was just more satisfying. I started

28:34

waiting more tables and doing less restaurant

28:36

gigs and more singer songwriter

28:39

plays gigs, and it was more

28:41

sad. It was just more fulfilling

28:44

and inspiring.

28:46

If masse some I'm curious, before

28:48

you started doing original material, you would

28:51

just go through the fake

28:53

book and just through the standards.

28:56

Yeah.

28:57

I kind of mostly did standards. I mean I

28:59

wouldn't just yeah. I mean I

29:01

had like my favorites, and that's

29:03

I would do a lot of that.

29:05

I wonder, is the fake book still a thing?

29:07

I still have one?

29:08

You still have a fake Okay?

29:09

Yeah?

29:10

For our listeners out there. I

29:13

don't I don't want to date myself, but

29:15

I would probably say that if

29:17

you were a jazz musician,

29:21

a working jazz musician, or a student.

29:23

In the sixties, seventies,

29:26

or eighties, there was sort of a

29:29

a Wikipedia slash

29:32

cliff Notes guide

29:34

tutorial to core charts of

29:36

every jazz song and

29:39

the same for singers as well. And it's

29:42

almost like a Bible of jazz, which

29:45

yeah, you kind of need if

29:47

you're cool. So you

29:49

still So they still make fake books.

29:52

I don't know. I know, I have an old,

29:54

old, old one.

29:55

You. I just want to say, do you know why they call it

29:57

a fake book?

29:58

I don't know. But then they had the real book.

30:01

They called it the real book, I thought,

30:03

and then they called it a fake book too, But I

30:05

could never understand the difference between a real book

30:07

and a fake book.

30:09

Well, I think I always guess is that the fake book

30:11

had other songs in it, and it wasn't officially

30:13

done by that company.

30:14

But yeah, it was definitely

30:17

like not nobody

30:19

got paid for it since

30:21

it wasn't It wasn't chet

30:24

music. It was like cheat

30:26

music that was underground

30:28

and circulated like on a Xerox machine.

30:31

Exactly. Yeah, when

30:33

did you get your deal and

30:35

how did you come to the attention of Bruce at

30:38

a Blue Note?

30:40

Well, I was doing one of those jazz restaurant

30:43

gigs at the garage on Seventh Avenue,

30:46

and my bass player's

30:48

friend's wife, they

30:51

all came for brunch. It was like a brunch

30:53

gig. And she happened

30:56

to work for Emi Music Publishing and I

30:58

was doing jazz at that gig.

31:00

I had started, you know, doing

31:02

those songwriter gigs already, but this was

31:04

a jazz gig. And she

31:07

said, Hey, I know Bruce Linvall. I met him at a company

31:10

picnic. What if I set up an appointment for

31:12

you? And I was like, all right, whatever, Yeah,

31:16

I'm like okay, I mean, sure, I'll show up,

31:18

that's for sure. But I didn't really

31:21

know if she was for real

31:23

all right. And I had

31:25

a demo that I had made to take

31:28

around the clubs to get gigs. So I brought

31:30

the demo. I had two standards

31:33

on it, and I had one song

31:35

by my friend Jesse Harris who wrote Don't

31:37

Know Why, And we were already friends and playing around

31:40

together, and so I

31:42

brought it in. I was twenty, it

31:44

was the gig was my twenty first

31:46

birthday, so it was probably two thousand. The

31:51

yeah, it was two thousand. April

31:54

of two thousand is

31:56

when I had this meeting with him.

31:58

When your birthday?

32:00

No, the gig was on my birthday, so it was like a month later.

32:02

Totally okay, okay. And

32:05

then that's when you knew shit was real.

32:08

I mean, I knew she could get me an appointment

32:10

with him. I didn't really know what

32:13

was real for a while. But he

32:16

said, well, there's this pop song on here,

32:18

kind of it's not really a pop song, but whatever,

32:20

it was not a jazz standard, right,

32:23

And he's like, so, do you want to be a jazz singer or a pop singer?

32:25

And I was like, I'm sitting there in Blue Note

32:27

office jazz singer.

32:30

You know.

32:31

And then he gave me some money to make some demos,

32:33

and the demos ended up being a

32:35

few of the songs from that first record, and

32:38

he decided that it wasn't super

32:40

jazz. It wasn't like, it

32:42

wasn't what he thought. It wasn't jazz, but

32:45

he still liked it enough to sign it, right,

32:48

so he went ahead and signed me.

32:50

All right. So, in hindsight, because

32:54

no one can plan, no one can plan

32:56

this phenomenon, how does

32:58

one capture

33:00

lightning in the bottle? Like, there's no way in the world

33:03

that you can ever foresee

33:05

that you're about to make

33:09

history. I don't even know if you accepted the fact that you've

33:11

made history or if

33:13

you're just taking the No, it was just those

33:15

are the that's what I was feeling at the time

33:17

in nineteen ninety nine and made these songs

33:20

and that's.

33:21

Yeah, it definitely was. The

33:23

actual album was just us

33:26

capturing moments, as a lot

33:28

of albums are, but I think this one was

33:30

done with a lot of spontaneity.

33:33

And don't know why.

33:35

That song don't know why. It was the demo

33:37

that we recorded the first day of recording,

33:40

and it was the live take. Everything in the take is

33:42

live. We added an extra guitar and some harmonies,

33:44

and that was it.

33:45

So that was the very first thing you've recorded.

33:48

Yeah, And that was for these demos to get signed,

33:50

and wasn't even signed yet. And then once I got signed,

33:52

I like went back in and we did a

33:54

bunch of more produced sessions that ended up getting

33:56

mostly cut, and then we went back to kind

33:58

of the demo style of

34:00

recording.

34:01

Just said, oh, let's get that first song we did and see

34:04

what happens with that.

34:05

We tried to re record don't know why, and it was so

34:07

not as good, so we just.

34:11

It's it's funny you say that, do you do you

34:13

know the story behind Christina

34:16

Aguilera is beautiful. Linda

34:19

Perry has a story in which, you know, like

34:23

she wants our artist to like live with

34:26

a demo for about three

34:28

or four weeks and then that way they really

34:30

internalized the song and then they come

34:32

back and then they kill the song.

34:35

And so Christina is

34:37

like, all right, let me just go in and sing this thing

34:39

real quick. And so she just did like a rough you

34:42

know, yawn, All right, here's my

34:44

take, and then I'll come back and

34:47

I'll really you.

34:48

Know, kill this before she lived

34:50

with it.

34:51

Yeah, yeah, before she lived with it, you

34:53

know. And then Christina is expecting like to

34:56

add her you

34:58

know, of her aguilera is to

35:00

it, and you

35:03

know, Linda was like, no, let's

35:05

just stick with the demo, and

35:08

Christina like it was like the biggest fight

35:10

of their relationship, like really, and

35:14

She's like, no, the dryness and the

35:16

regularness of this is what sells the song,

35:18

trust me. And she

35:22

I don't know they forced it or kicked and screamed

35:24

it, but like she, Linda Perry

35:26

won the battle

35:28

and the demo is the version that

35:31

we know, whereas Christina

35:33

felt like, let me, you

35:35

know, add exclamation

35:37

points to the end of the sentence, and she's like,

35:40

she's.

35:41

Like an athlete. She's like this insane,

35:44

right.

35:46

But this was just a foul shot. It wasn't

35:48

a it wasn't the you know, the All

35:50

Star dunk contest, but it.

35:52

Had the heart. I mean, I think that for

35:55

me, I'm way better on

35:57

first takes or not even just for

36:00

takes, but like when the spontaneity

36:02

factor is there, and yes,

36:05

you need to know the song and be able to sell the

36:07

lyric. But for me,

36:10

when I when I overthink or

36:12

over rehearse something, it's not as good. Yeah,

36:16

spontaneity.

36:17

My engineer is smart enough to know to

36:19

record everything. So

36:22

oftentimes I'll like quote

36:25

run down a performance

36:27

and then be like, all right, let me go for it, and then we

36:30

always just wind up choosing the or

36:32

you're not thinking about it I

36:35

had or.

36:35

The fifteenth drunk take, yeah, the

36:38

first three, you know.

36:41

Okay, So you worked with one of my heroes

36:43

on this record, mister Martin.

36:46

Yeah, Reef Martin, Uh yeah

36:49

a Reef. You know he for

36:53

me, I know this is

36:55

odd for people to hear, but the average white band

36:58

is like they

37:00

were my heroes growing up,

37:03

and their Gruman Steve aron is

37:06

my drumming idol. Steve Roon actually

37:08

gave me his actual drum set from all those

37:10

Sun sessions that I still use

37:12

on the Tonight Show now and a Reef

37:14

produced them. And so that's

37:18

how I came to attention from you, because it's almost

37:20

like anything that a Reef has touched. Then

37:23

I purchased it without fault.

37:26

So that's how like, that's funny.

37:28

I was like, oh, wow, he has a new artist, he's still producing,

37:30

Oh my god. And then that's

37:32

how it entered. How did you how?

37:35

How was he assigned to you?

37:38

Well, when Bruce Lundvall signed

37:40

me, I

37:43

was obsessed with the Cassandra

37:45

Wilson New Moon Daughter album that was

37:48

on the Note that he had, you know, put

37:50

out a few years before, and

37:52

I really wanted to work with Craig Street, who's

37:54

an amazing producer, and

37:57

so I did and it was incredible,

38:00

had the most amazing musicians. I love

38:02

Craig. It was great, but there was something about

38:04

those sessions that didn't capture

38:06

my vocal

38:08

in the right way that where it

38:10

sounded like the thing from

38:13

the demos that we had already captured. So

38:15

we ended up kind of going

38:18

back to the drawing board, which was crazy. At the

38:20

time. I didn't think I was going to have

38:23

the option to remake my record. I

38:25

didn't think they were going to give me any extra

38:27

money to do it right, and it

38:30

was weird that it even happened.

38:32

But Bruce, it was his idea to go

38:34

back and try to recapture the

38:36

sort of first thing we did. So

38:39

he said, but I'm going to have my friend a Reef

38:41

Martin. He had just hooked up with Manhattan,

38:44

the label that Bruce

38:46

was also running was another

38:48

label called Manhattan. Anyway, a

38:51

Reef was doing stuff with him, and so he said,

38:53

I want a Reef Martin to come and

38:55

do it. And I was really nervous at that point.

38:57

I was like, Ah, did you know his predigree?

38:59

By that point I did.

39:01

I mean, I grew up on all those Aretha records

39:03

and on Donnie

39:06

Hathaway, and I

39:09

was nervous that he was going to come in and not listen

39:11

to me or not because he

39:13

was this huge producer. And then

39:16

he came in and he's like the sweetest

39:18

older Turkish man and

39:20

he came into the sessions and I told

39:22

Bruce, I was like, Okay, but after

39:25

a couple of days, if it's not working out, you're

39:28

just gonna let me do this right. It was so weird.

39:30

I was like twenty one years old, you know. I

39:34

was both scared and also really stubborn,

39:37

you know, and he

39:39

ended up being he let us kind of do our

39:41

thing, but he guided us, but he

39:43

knew the situation. And so

39:46

the more we got to know him, the more he was

39:48

able to help, you

39:50

know, tell us more what we

39:54

should do musically. But he

39:56

became like this great friend. I never in my

39:58

wife thought I would have a a

40:00

friend who was a Turkish

40:02

Man in his seventies. He was

40:05

like one of my best friends, and

40:07

it was incredible.

40:09

Man. I think the night that I

40:11

first met you in person was at

40:14

the Grammys when it was that

40:16

New York. The night that you oh yeah,

40:18

because we were like rehearsal went eminem so much.

40:20

I couldn't get to a reef. I

40:24

saw him in the audience and wanted to drunk for my drum

40:26

set, like in stalk him, but I

40:29

couldn't do that.

40:32

He was special.

40:33

I'm going to be the one person

40:36

that doesn't ask you the cliche

40:38

of so what have you learned? After, you know,

40:41

for any lessons.

40:43

So however, I will say

40:45

that once

40:48

Kenny g covers your.

40:49

Song, I forgot

40:51

that. I forgot about that.

40:54

Actually, how many emails did you get over

40:56

that?

40:57

I don't remember. I remember Pat Metheny

40:59

did it.

41:00

I did.

41:00

Don't know why. I mean, I didn't write that song. My

41:02

friend Jesse Harris wrote it.

41:04

But still we still associated with you.

41:05

Yeah, and I still feel like I own it a little

41:08

bit, but I don't

41:10

remember. I must have forgotten

41:12

that era. There was a whole era there where

41:14

I don't remember very much. But

41:17

that's so funny. I forgot about that completely.

41:25

How eager were you to knock

41:29

over your your jinga

41:31

design to start all over

41:33

again? I mean, that's the only I can

41:35

describe it. You feel way to describe it? Yeah,

41:38

how eager were you to do it?

41:40

I was super eager. I was just eager to make music,

41:43

and I was eager to play guitar

41:45

and write more songs. I was inspired.

41:48

I was listening to a ton of like bluegrass

41:50

at the time, so my second album was a

41:52

little bit more country inspired. But

41:56

I was definitely excited to

41:59

get it over with as well. That's

42:01

not to say I rushed the music at all, or

42:03

that I was like hurrying and put

42:06

out something I wasn't proud of, but I

42:08

was stoked to be inspired and to just go ahead

42:10

and plow through the second record and not

42:12

not overthink it.

42:15

Oh for feels like home? Correct, yeah,

42:17

I think. But that did

42:19

like a million its first week.

42:21

Which yeah, which was great.

42:23

Which it almost is like, okay.

42:26

All right, I can move on now more than.

42:30

Where did you out? Out of your

42:33

you know, because you've gone

42:35

through so many

42:39

I won't even say phases because I don't feel like

42:41

these are like drastic Bowie

42:44

or Prince like changes

42:48

in your music, but I mean you

42:50

you definitely added personality to all your

42:52

records. My okay,

42:54

So my personal favorite of your

42:57

cannon is Little

43:00

Broken Hearts but for

43:02

you and

43:05

don't give me the like all my all

43:07

my records to like my children, and

43:10

I guess some of.

43:11

Them I like more than others. Just

43:14

kidding, but do you feel.

43:15

What do you feel? Is like what's

43:18

your I

43:20

put my my ass in that one, my FOOTNT

43:22

one.

43:24

I think I also love that one

43:26

you're talking about, see

43:28

I'm smart, The Danger Mouse

43:30

one. It's just so different and I love

43:32

the sonics of it. But it's funny

43:34

because I've been playing the

43:37

last couple of years. I've been playing here and there

43:39

with piano trio, just

43:41

me and Brian Blade on drums, Chris

43:43

Thomas on bass, sometimes different

43:45

bass players. But when

43:48

I started playing with this group, I thought, oh,

43:50

okay, I'm gonna pull out some of the more jazzy

43:53

songs in my catalog. But truthfully,

43:55

my favorite songs to play with this setup

43:58

is the songs from that album A Little Broken

44:00

Hearts, and they are it's

44:02

not just not what I thought it would be. They're just

44:04

I think they're great songs, and I think

44:08

I think that Brian Burton is an incredible

44:10

songwriter, and we

44:12

had so much fun making that record, And.

44:15

Yeah, I think, yeah, no,

44:17

it's it's it's it's definitely

44:20

special. Do you feel what is

44:22

your creative process like with songwriting,

44:24

because I know that collaboration is also

44:28

a big thing for you. Do you tend

44:31

to do birds of a feather as

44:33

far as flock

44:35

to people that because I know that you've

44:37

worked with Jeff Jeff

44:40

Tweety, Jeff Wilcome, I

44:42

always call him no

44:46

like you work with Tweety and but I'm

44:48

just saying that, do

44:51

you often ever

44:54

consider like totally like, okay, well,

44:56

time out. I totally forgot

44:59

now that you worked with Andre three thousand. So

45:01

even when you're entering in

45:04

what we would think your general audience would

45:06

think like not familiar territory, like, how

45:08

does the how does the

45:10

process start?

45:12

Well? I mean a lot of stuff

45:14

I've collaborated with people on it's

45:16

already done and I'm just coming in and singing. Like

45:18

with the Andre three thousand thing, the

45:20

Q tip song, I went in and I

45:23

just sang what do you wanted me to sing? But

45:26

as far as collaborating songwriting, why

45:28

is it's been evolving over the years,

45:31

It's completely changed. I mean I

45:33

used to be a

45:36

nervous songwriter, and now I think

45:38

after doing the record with Brian, actually

45:41

his process really opened me up to

45:44

no fear songwriting.

45:46

I'm just curious, because we're

45:49

supposed to eventually get with

45:51

Brian, what is his actual

45:53

process because

45:56

no, the thing is I know I know

45:58

his YouTube process.

46:00

Yeah it might be different for everyone.

46:02

Oh, I know that's way different. I want

46:04

to know another non

46:07

YouTube way,

46:10

like, how does it start well?

46:13

For us? I mean we just went in We're

46:16

pretty comfortable with each other. At this point, we were

46:18

already friends, we'd already hung

46:20

out a bunch. I sang on the Rome album

46:23

with him, so I got to know him through all that. But

46:27

you know, we both play whatever

46:30

instruments sound good in the room,

46:34

and the song

46:36

starts with a weird bass line or a

46:38

weird chord progression

46:41

or me strumming something.

46:43

On the guitar, and it

46:45

goes to music first.

46:48

I mean, honestly, I don't remember completely,

46:50

not always. Sometimes like it'll be a melody,

46:53

or he'll have a melody in his head, or he'll

46:55

have a lyric and a melody in his head, or I

46:57

will, and it sort of just built

47:00

from there, and usually

47:02

we tried to get some kind of melody down,

47:04

whether he's hearing something or whether I am. And

47:08

then this is where I learned a lot

47:10

from him, because first of all,

47:12

this process was totally different than anything I'd ever

47:14

done. I'd never gone into the studio with nothing

47:17

or with a bunch of instruments and just like adding

47:19

stuff, layering it. I've

47:22

never done that. I had never done that, And

47:24

so I would like sing some scratch

47:26

lyrics and he's like that's cool, We'll get the lyrics later. I was like,

47:29

really, I'm so worried about it. Are we going to get him?

47:31

You know?

47:32

And I would come in and I'd be like, I'm

47:34

just worried about this. I

47:36

really like this, but I don't know what to write.

47:39

What are the lyrics? He's like, they'll come, don't worry about

47:41

it, And you know what, they always came, and

47:43

they were always in the moment and heartfelt,

47:46

and you know, we worked on him.

47:48

But that was a nice

47:52

way for me to learn. And lately I've

47:54

been doing more of that. I've been going

47:56

in with people with nothing and just trying to

47:58

like throw stuff at the wall and coming out

48:00

with stuff that I'm totally in love with. You

48:02

know.

48:04

So you never go through because the one the one

48:06

thing I had to commend you on at least, is

48:08

that you deliver and

48:10

you push through. Because normally, whenever

48:14

anyone gets into a

48:17

position of something that gargantuan

48:19

or successful, that's

48:22

usually when they start sabotaging

48:26

their creative process. That's usually when

48:28

writer's block sets in and

48:32

decades go by before even

48:34

hear another note from them. And

48:37

so the fact that you push

48:39

through it and also, I mean all

48:41

your side projects with

48:42

the Little Willie's and

48:46

with Push and Boots. How

48:48

many other side projects do you have? Which one is?

48:50

Well, my favorite is Carlo what projects?

48:52

You're like, you're like the only fan of that

48:54

band? You know that that

49:00

is called El Madmo And that was brief.

49:03

But we put out a record and

49:05

we didn't put any of our names on it because at the time,

49:08

I think it was right after my second album had come

49:10

out, and I think part of me

49:12

staying creative and enjoying music

49:14

was to pull back a little bit from all the

49:16

attention, and so this album

49:19

was really fun, and then we put

49:21

it out under these fake names, and then nobody

49:23

really knew about it. It was kind of like we totally sabotaged

49:26

it by doing that. But you're like

49:28

the only fan.

49:29

But yeah, I have it.

49:31

It's still on my iPod. Yes.

49:33

That was sort of the beginning of me playing guitar, and we

49:36

went on like this huge stadium tour on

49:38

the fields like home record basically, and my drummer

49:41

and my backup singer at the time we

49:43

started this band, and me and her learned how to play

49:45

bass and guitar a little bit and that was before

49:48

Puss in Boots continued my sort

49:50

of guitar education.

49:52

But speaking of collaborations,

49:54

how did you and Billy Joe Armstrong wind

49:56

up doing the Evely Brothers album.

49:59

Billy Chill called me and he asked

50:01

if I would be into doing this thing, and

50:05

I I was a little

50:07

unsure. I was like, well, let's go in the studio a couple of

50:10

days and see if we fit.

50:11

I'm not going to commit to did you know anything

50:14

like of him?

50:16

Oh?

50:16

Yeah, well the screen day.

50:18

But I mean like it

50:21

was like a cold call.

50:22

And yeah, it was cold call and

50:24

I picked up. No. See that's what happens

50:26

when you pick.

50:27

Up and now you got to commit

50:29

to an album.

50:30

Oh damn it. No, No, I don't

50:32

remember. I don't remember. It was a cold call.

50:34

But well, I can

50:36

only imagine that there's

50:39

other projects that have been pitched

50:41

to you that you were sort of like, I'm not

50:43

sure. Wait, can

50:45

you name one artist that you were supposed to work

50:47

with or.

50:49

I'll never tell.

50:50

Okay,

50:51

the.

50:54

Things that I regretted saying no to though,

50:56

let me know one.

50:57

Let me know one.

50:59

No, Oh, I feel weird, Just say

51:01

what I

51:04

regret? I

51:06

got an email from Farrell once and I

51:08

was just too busy or something.

51:09

I don't know.

51:10

I was bummed I didn't do it, but I don't

51:12

know. I don't know if it was

51:15

something crazy or what.

51:16

But I would have liked you on a song

51:18

that starts with four hits at the beginning, me

51:21

too.

51:22

Tell him to call me back, I miss I missed

51:24

my chance.

51:25

An He's always created, So.

51:28

Yeah, I mean that's the thing is. I think

51:30

I went through a little period of kind of being

51:32

overwhelmed by everything and

51:35

just wanting to sort of chill.

51:38

So I said, notice some things. That year I

51:40

had a little bit of my own little mini

51:42

nervous breakdown. But yeah,

51:45

Billy Joe called me and I said, let's try a

51:47

couple of days before we commit

51:49

to doing it because he wanted to do this

51:51

whole album. It wasn't just a song or two,

51:54

and it was cool. He let me hire the

51:57

band from New York. He came to New York to do it,

52:00

and I really love that record. Is beautiful.

52:04

Yeah.

52:05

Surprising. Well, I mean it's not surprising.

52:07

Because it is surprising.

52:09

Well, I mean, the thing is is that I was

52:11

sort of like, okay, but

52:14

then it's like, Okay, you collaborate with

52:16

everyone, so it's almost like I'm

52:19

not shocked. It wasn't that shocking,

52:22

but

52:24

yeah, okay, so.

52:25

It's just cool play well with others. You could say,

52:28

all.

52:28

Right, so our alto saxophone,

52:32

jermm, collaboration, we'll

52:35

do sun raw songs or whatever. So

52:39

it's pick Me off the Floor. That's going to be

52:41

your eighth record, correct.

52:43

I don't know, well, your eighths

52:47

or eight I'm not sure.

52:49

Okay, besides the

52:51

single, I haven't heard the I

52:55

haven't heard the album yet.

52:56

But oh that's too bad. I really I think you'll

52:59

be into it, are you, indo Brian.

53:01

Blade, Yes, well more

53:03

than that, I'm a Neward Jones fan. I'm not.

53:06

I'm not doing this because you're just next on the pike.

53:08

Like, well, I

53:10

think you'd like it because it's

53:12

a lot of this piano trio stuff I was talking

53:14

about. I got really inspired to write for

53:18

this piano trio setup, and we

53:20

ended up adding stuff and adding

53:22

some production to it, but it all most of the

53:24

records started sort of stripped

53:26

down, and the single is actually not even

53:29

what this is. The two songs I released

53:31

so far are the two exceptions

53:33

to this sort of piano trio bass

53:36

of this record. But it

53:38

yeah, a little bit, but that's okay.

53:40

But who did you work with? Production

53:43

ones?

53:44

I did two songs with Jeff Tweety, okay,

53:47

and those were awesome, and then the rest I just sort

53:49

of did it in New York. I've

53:51

been doing these collaborations and trying to release

53:53

singles lately just to stay inspired

53:56

and not have to do like a whole album cycle.

53:59

And in the process of doing all these I got

54:01

all these extra tracks that I loved,

54:04

and so they all

54:06

kind of fit together.

54:08

And that's just to do a bunch of one off singles,

54:10

and yeah.

54:11

I have been doing I

54:13

have been trying to just like collaborate

54:16

with people I love, like like doing

54:18

that Billy Joel thing was so cool, but it was still

54:20

a commitment because it was a whole album. So I've been trying

54:22

to do just one song with people. I

54:25

did one with Tank, you know, Tank from the

54:28

Bengus and Jeff Tweety.

54:30

We did a couple and these two songs on this album

54:32

are from that session too. I just had

54:34

all these extra songs from these

54:36

sessions, so all.

54:38

Right, well, I mean in terms

54:40

of Do you still

54:43

feel that the

54:45

the date will still get honored or I.

54:49

Think we pushed it to June?

54:52

Okay, yeah,

54:54

you know it's funny. I feel like people are home,

54:57

maybe they want something to listen to, but I think

54:59

everybody's watching that Flix, so

55:02

it's okay.

55:03

What are you? What are you watching?

55:04

Like?

55:04

What have you binged out on?

55:07

Oh? A lot of Barbie Dream House?

55:10

So what your kids are watching?

55:11

Yeah? Basically I don't have any control.

55:14

It's funny.

55:15

I four to seven. Your kids are in the house.

55:17

Oh god, they do. And every night

55:19

they go to sleep and then I'm like, cool, I'm going to

55:21

watch something. Nope, I'm

55:24

asleep.

55:25

I see, I see. I

55:27

feel you.

55:28

Have you watched Last Man on Earth?

55:30

The sitcom?

55:32

Yeah?

55:32

With what's his name? I

55:35

love that show to death.

55:36

Yes, I love that show so much. I'm so sad

55:38

when it stopped. I know every night

55:41

I think I'm going to rewatch Last Man on Earth. Right

55:43

now it feels like the right moment.

55:45

But I'm one of those people

55:47

that when I commit to a series

55:50

and I know it's going to be over, I

55:53

never watched the last three, Like my pen

55:56

ultimate is always like the last three or four.

55:58

So even with my modern

56:00

family, which as

56:02

a completist, I feel like I have to watch the last

56:05

season, even though kind of Wayne Dalf thatf there's

56:07

season nine. But I

56:09

never like watching the last

56:11

three episodes of a series

56:13

when it's over. And really, yeah,

56:16

I loved I loved Last

56:19

Man on Earth, and I kind of

56:21

feel like that's my reality right now.

56:23

Well, I know that's that's what reminded me of

56:25

it for sure. Wait, so you didn't watch

56:28

the last three?

56:28

No, no, I did, Yes, I didn't watch. I

56:30

didn't watch the last three yet.

56:32

No, Oh, you should watch them. Now it's

56:38

the time, is right.

56:39

I hate goodbye? I mean I I don't

56:42

know. It's like her you.

56:43

Like having it hanging over your head.

56:46

Yeah, but now you're right, now

56:48

is the time to do it because I've been watching.

56:52

I made the mistake of watching that damn what

56:55

do you call it? The Tiger King thing?

56:57

Oh? I didn't watch that?

56:58

Yeah, which I kind of want my nine

57:00

hours back.

57:02

Well, you were part of a

57:04

movement. You

57:06

were in it with the rest of.

57:08

The world, every right, I mean everyone

57:10

was part of the conversation. I was like, I felt fomo

57:13

and I wanted you know. Okay, I want to

57:15

watch it too and now regret it. Yeah,

57:18

so I don't know. I mean, I'm going to finish

57:20

Ozarks and oh yeah, I.

57:22

Want to start that because I have never watched that. I was

57:24

talking about that.

57:25

Okay, so does in

57:28

my opinion, does okay,

57:30

does Sopranos or The Wire or

57:33

Breaking Bad mean anything to you?

57:36

I watched all the Sopranos, I watched

57:39

all of Breaking Bad. Okay, not watch

57:41

all of the Wire.

57:42

Okay, then this

57:45

could easily be in

57:49

fourth place. I mean, in my personal opinion,

57:51

I feel like, oh,

57:53

no doubt, no doubt. I mean, even

57:56

one of the actresses has already

57:59

won an Emmy for

58:01

a performance. It's it's it's

58:03

that level of.

58:06

Darkness and sounds

58:08

delicious.

58:09

So that's that's my recommendation. Wait

58:11

now, I feel like I'm taking away from creativity

58:14

if I'm telling you to start binging.

58:15

Out on tele I would I

58:17

would love to have a show to binge on. I

58:20

would love to. Okay,

58:24

I'll write a song.

58:25

But I see, I see,

58:27

well, you know, I appreciate you

58:30

for taking the time out to do this,

58:32

and you too.

58:34

Good to see you.

58:35

Hopefully, I don't know, maybe you

58:37

can, you know, broadcast

58:41

from your crib? Do you do social media at all?

58:44

No, it's it kind of terrorisfies

58:46

me. I've started doing some live

58:49

recordings and putting them out during

58:51

all this, right, and it's

58:53

been fun. But I'm not good

58:55

at like browsing the

58:57

comments. It's no feel

59:00

crazy.

59:01

Never read the comments.

59:02

Makes me feel crazy. I've tried to do. I tried

59:04

to do Instagram a few years back, and I

59:06

just felt like an idiot because I don't

59:08

want to show pictures

59:11

of my kids, but I don't want to fake it and pretend.

59:14

So I just hated it. I couldn't I

59:16

couldn't deal. And then I was thinking

59:19

about, oh, what would be a good post. I'm like, Okay,

59:21

that goes against the point. You either got to like just

59:23

post whatever.

59:24

Or or don't post

59:27

what you're cooking. That's a that's a good place to start.

59:30

No one, no one ever disagreement.

59:33

Talks for lunch again.

59:34

Yes, there you go. You

59:36

should just start a hot dog account. Seriously,

59:39

all right? Yeah, well, Nora, I appreciate

59:42

you, thank you for your artistry, thank you for taking the

59:44

time out. Thank you ladies and gentlemen.

59:46

This has been quest love Supreme. You

59:48

have the team Supreme. I bid you do.

59:51

Stay safe for everybody and we will

59:53

see you on this story.

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