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This is unpaid bill from Questlove Supreme.
So questlof does this thing.
Usually like once a season where it sits down for one of them. Many of us do that and you can expect to hear mine soon. But anyway, back in May of twenty twenty, a Mere spoke with Nora Jones about her career an unlikely journey.
Into the spotlight.
There's a lot of heart and soul in this conversation, and if you know Nora's music, that's no surprise. As we celebrate women's history months, we are picking special.
Episodes for classics.
This one is very special and you'll hear why.
All right, this is gonna be silly. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of Quest Love Supreme. This is Questlove Today. I'm solo, solo alone, holding it down to the fort without boss or paybilled sugar, Steve Light here or take a look. We are very honored today to be talking shop with a good friend of mine, multi Grammy winner, multi instrumentalist, singer just just about everything, almost almost celebrating twenty years in this industry since her debut.
What else is there to say? So well rounded, so awesome. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Norah Jones to Questlove Supreme. I'm a cheering accession.
How you doing, I'll take it.
Where are you right now?
I'm in the country. I'm I'm in a bedroom, my bedroom here. Yeah, I'm in bedroom.
Okay, So I'm sort of in bed, yeah, kind of in this new reality yep. So yes, of course I have to ask, like, how are you adjusting to what we are now calling the new reality? You know, for a lot of creatives, I know this is either a moment for them to finally just take a breather and not have to deal with the circle of the work that we put into. For other people, it's like, okay, more creativity, Like where are you falling on this?
Well, my kids are almost four years old and six, so I wish I could be more creative, but there isn't a ton of time. Okay, but I have little snippets of ideas and yeah, it's more about how do I get them to not yell at me?
Okay?
So you're in that way entertainment mode, yes, exactly, full.
Time entertainment mood. Okay, I see oh.
Would you like a hot dog for lunch?
Again?
Okay?
Cool sor are there? Okay?
Good? Though it's a good distraction, I'll say that, Okay. Yeah.
The prime purpose of the podcast for me is kind of seeing the the machinery inside the vehicle and always the creative process. So, I mean, I know you've been asked this a billion times before, but you know, I like to take this approach for our viewers or our listeners. Where were you born?
I was born in New York? Actually, yeah, what part of the I think her apartment was like on twenty seventh in Lexington, Okay, in Manhattan. Yeah.
Do you know your first musical memory? Your first childhood musical memory?
Probably my mom's records. I don't know the exact first, but I remember listening to Willie Nelson and Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.
So your mom was a promoter, correct, you know?
She she That's how she met my dad. She worked for a promoter for a short time, but not really, not like long term.
So she wasn't the Bill Graham of her error that time.
No, she definitely wasn't. She had many careers. She was a dancer, and then she broke her ankle, and then she was in the theater, and she worked in commercials behind the scenes, and then she was a real estate agent and then a nurse. So she was kind of all over the place.
Okay, So her record collection sort of seeped into you. What types of records were those?
A lot of gospel, Aretha Franklin, gospel era stuff, a lot of early Ray Charles country music. She's from Oklahoma, Okay, so that was sort of in the water too, because I grew up in Texas. We moved to Texas when I was about three.
Really, yeah, so how different was that from well, I mean not that you would have.
I don't have that many memories memories, but I actually my first memory is of a dream I had of playing in the playground at Washington Square Parks. So okay, I don't really remember.
So even in the beginning, I mean, what was there for you? I know, like a lot of musicians come through either an older siblings record or you know, like a cousin or someone that puts them onto it. But for you, like, did you also like the music of the day, Like I meant, by the time you were five or six, like Madonna was a thing so like, do you remember like your first actual purchase outside of your mother's record collection.
Yeah, I mean I don't think. I listened to the music of the day till I was about nine or ten, and then I sort of started listening to pop radio.
Oh so you were old soul from zero to.
Nine, Well kind of okay, Yeah.
Explained your seasoning, all right.
I listened to like oldies radio, and you know, for us in that generation, it was like the nineteen fifties and sixties.
Pop music you got tricked.
Not the Beatles, like not as cool as that yet, but like before that, pre that, you know.
No that that's my story, Like, yeah, which is bad. My dad was an oldies duop singer, so I thought the thing was that he tricked me. I thought that was the music of the day.
That's so funny.
And then in first grade, like my music teachers like no, yeah, like here are the Beg's, here are you know that sort of thing. But I thought, like Frankie Lyon and the teenagers was like I thought there was like a new record white a fool small love like that sort of thing.
That's pretty funny. Yeah, that was my stuff until I was like nine and then because my mom didn't listen to pop radio. She listen to NPR, so I didn't know about that stuff. Maybe I had like a babysitter who was into Madonna. But then when I was nine, it was full on whatever was out and popular. I was into.
So what were you like, how are you relating to your friend friends in the area, like in school and whatnot if you didn't share the same music taste that they did.
I don't even know. I mean I was in choiring school and church. I don't remember it being weird or being feeling different. And then by the time kids were more interested in that kind of stuff, I was already listening. I think the first cassette I purchased was Digital Underground because I liked the humpy dance. Yeah, I loved it. It was the best thing I'd ever heard.
Okay. Fiona Apple also has a hilarious story where when she was making title, I think she was like getting gas and she saw like SHATCHI Digital Underground, like lost it like this around. That's amazing, freaking Digital Underground. Okay. You mentioned, uh, playing piano in church? What type of church was this? Was this?
This was a Methodist church in you know, suburban Texas. It was. It was a nice enough church, but they had a really Actually I played, I sang in church. I didn't play piano in church. But she was a cool choir director. I think she was a maybe a former Catholic, and so she taught us all these Latin hymns, right, so it was cool. And then you know, we did like our God is an awesome God. And then I
stopped going to church after that. But oh okay, not because of the song, but you know, it was like a mix of It was a mix of stuff, is my point.
Trust me. Everyone has their church Exodus booth exactly.
Yeah, I see that, the children choir basically.
Okay, well she be noted you went to you went to Booker t Washington. Yeah, high school. Yeah, notables. So I meant at the time, well, Roy is way older than you.
Yeah, he was older, but he was like the hometown hero.
So were you in school at the time of Erica or was that.
Even she was with Well she was a little bit older too, and her album came out when I was a junior maybe or a senior. So again it was like a huge big deal for us all and I was obsessed with that album and it was so cool. She came back and like did a talk at the school and it was fine, Okay.
What is it about that high school? Is that a performing arts high school? Or so what is it? Because oftentimes, I mean when people think of Texas, we don't think of like performing arts schools and you know, type of artistic expressions and that sort of thing. But like, is the community like that down there or.
I mean, Texas is a big place. The Dallas area is a huge suburban place full of small neighborhoods, you know, or big neighborhoods, so you know, you can travel twenty miles and it's completely different community. But so this school was cool because it draws. It draws from all over the city. You have to audition to get in, but anybody can go there. So kids were commuting from all over the city and it was sort of a it was I don't know, it was like the place where
all the cool, weird artists went ended up. You know. I came from like a super heavy football marching band situation. Cheerleaders were queens of the school.
Tea. You were in the marching band. I was. I played saxophone, you played saxophone.
I mean I haven't in thirty or twenty five years maybe.
But if you see a saxophone, I'm assuming the alto or a tenor like alto.
I do hold a special place for marching band in my heart.
But you'll never pick up a sax again.
I mean, so gross. I still have my saxophone. No, no, the saxophone is not gross. I still have my saxophone, and I think like the read is still attached from twenty five years. It's probably disgusting and growing up kinds of mold in it, but for some reason, I still have it somewhere.
I feel like you're the type of creative that will You're the type of artist that I feel as though you you like experiments. You often change, evolve and go through metamorphosis. I do.
I like that.
That's feeling. Okay, when you break out your saxophone, I'll be in that bad.
I don't know about that. I don't know if that's going to happen. I need to practice guitar more.
First. You always down here, Like every clip I see of you and you talk about your guitar. You always saying like I need to prove my guitar. I need to prove. Yeah, I do you seem to do fine? Or are you saying that you just hide well behind whoever's playing. Oh that's the secret.
Well, I think my thing on guitar is cool. I just I don't play enough. I'm not I'm not good at just playing music at home all the time. I don't know how you are if you're always playing no matter what. For so long. I think I just worked so much I didn't even think about having to play or practice, and so now when I'm not working at all, I'm like, I forget to play, you know.
I was going to say, I wanted to know well before I get into that, I wanted to know what your When when did piano was? I mean, when all said and done, do you consider the piano your acts of choice? Or voice and acts of choice? When did you start playing piano?
I started playing piano when I was seven, and I wanted to take piano lessons really bad, and so my mom got a piano and after a couple of weeks, I wanted to quit because I didn't like the idea of having to practice, you know, and so my mom, Yeah, my mom was like, no, I bought you a piano because you wanted to play, and she said, I have She said you have to take into for five years and that way, and then you can quit that way if you ever want to go back to it'll be easier.
And I thought that was pretty annoying at the time, but in hindsight, it's pretty It was pretty cool because after five years I quit, like on the dot. I was like, all right, my five years is up? Really more scales? Yeah, I just didn't want to practice.
How many hours a day did you have to practice?
I'm the most lazy, p procrastinating practicer. But I don't even remember. But I know I had a really good teacher. She was awesome, but it was just the classical style of learning and it didn't spark a lot of creativity in my mind for some reason. So I quit. And then about a year later, my mom took me to like, I don't know, some she took me to a big band concert, and then she took me to see Mary and McPartland play in the park, right, and I said, this is cool? What's this?
You know?
And so she found this teacher. Well, I think I was playing saxophone by that time. In Marching Band, and my saxophone teacher recommended this jazz piano teacher in Dallas named Julie Bank. She was super cool and she was a great teacher. She taught me how to readcord changes and improvise and tried to spark me and writing songs. So it just totally took a different direction from then.
So this is how you're discovering jazz chops.
Yeah, this is like eighth grade when I got into jazz and my mom she checked out, like, you know, the Smithsonian Jazz Collection at the library and we dubbed it on a cassette and then that was my bible for a few years.
Really. Yeah, So how did you hone those chaps into like did you play and local bands? High school bands? Like did you bond with anybody your age in jazz or yeah?
I just keep it to yourself, well being in Marching band. I mean the kids in Marching Band already were sort of into stuff like that, some of them there was like a jazz band. And then I went to interlock In for a summer.
What is that?
It's like an arts camp in Michigan and it's too Yeah, it's two months long and I got really into hanging with people who knew a lot about it, you know, and then I really wanted to go there. They had a they have a school during the year and arts school, but you have to leave home. It's like a what do you call it? A school where you live there. My brain isn't working right now. But my mom was like, no way, You're not leaving home. Oh yeah. I just
loved it. It was great, and I wanted to continue doing it, and she was like, hell no. Checked the school out and she found Booker T Washington and we moved to Dallas just so I could be in county to audition and go there, and then all the kids there. That's I mean, I learned from the kids at my school. I learned so much. So many of those kids knew so much about music, so many geniuses, you know.
Probably I was going to say any other notable students at they're at the time that.
Are like, well, I think the people that I learned the most with were piano players who a couple of them were a year or two older, like I was there when Brayln Lacey was there, and Sean Martin on the keys. R. C. Williams right I learned so much from these guys. They grew up in church, playing piano in the church bands and stuff, and they knew. I mean, they're just geniuses anyway. But I don't know. It was a cool, cool environment.
Was an equally like a sort of accepting atmosphere or did you feel like, all right, I got to come with it and let them know I speak the same language, or no, I'm such a dork.
I was just like, Hi, guys, can I hang out with you? It was super accepting. Everybody there was an oddball, you know anyway, so everybody was cool.
See I went to I went to school with Christian McBride and Joey de Francisco Wow and and Kurt Roseawinkle and I can. I I always compare going to that the school I went to the Philadelphia version of that school kind of as I consider it, sort of like a it was like a gang experience, like a Bloods
and Crypts experience. And Joey and Chris like they wouldn't even they don't give you the time of day or respect, like you instantly know that they're the alphas of band class and that you had to I mean the first day of school the first day of school, Miles Davis is giving a masterclass and not only takes Joey and Chris to do this thing with him on television, but then later hires Joey's to replace Kenny Kirkland. So that was like my first day at the school. And so
you know, they just knew all traditional jazz. Meanwhile, Kurt Rosenwinkle, who's such an experimental avant garde musician. I mean he's on Verb Records right now, but back then he was trying to unlearn me or unteach me all the traditional like the traditional stuff, and he's like, nah, man, I want you to listening to Frank Zappa, Yeah, Captain Beefheart and you know Minor Vshue Orchestra John mclaughing. So you know, I was like trying to I was on like both sides of the gang.
That's great for you.
I'm in school, but then I left them both for a rap career.
So oh you're informed. You're informed by all of it, and you became who you are.
You know, it helped, but it was it was like it was literally like being into like whatever side was winning, that was my side.
Like okay, that's funny. Here there the ping pong ball exactly. I didn't feel that. I know that attitude you're talking about. It's like a young musician thing, for sure, I feel like, but I didn't feel that at my school. Maybe I was too naive to see it, but I never I never felt it. It's pretty pretty welcoming, honestly.
I mean before your career took off. I mean, did you have a plan just for like, Okay, I'll do the college thing, go to Berkeley or go to Yeah.
I well, we were in Dallas, so I did. I wanted to go to like the New School or Manhattan School Music, but we stayed in state tuition because University of North Texas has a great jazz program, okay, And so I went there for two years and I took all my classes, all my music classes, and I failed my classical piano jury because I just didn't practice enough.
And then I came to New York for the summer, and I had a real sort of moment of reckoning, and I thought, well, if I go back to finish college, I'm gonna have to take academics for two years because I already took all the jazz classes and I'm going to have to do classical two years of classical juries and really practice, and I just didn't want to do any of that.
What does that mean? What did it 't tell? Like the classical jury.
Part, it's not that it was so hard. It's that I really just didn't practice enough. It was like scales and arpeggios and one song. It wasn't that hard. I was really into the other stuff I was doing, and I kind of let it slide.
Understandable. I'm just standable. So once she came to New York, what was the paradigm shift that really opened its doors as far as like, Okay, I can have a career and start singing. Like what was that moment?
Well, I mean I realized that I could play gigs and but I would have to start witting tables. It was different because in college I had a weekly gig where I made enough money to make my rent and plus tips and food. I played at this restaurant and I learned how to sing and play at the same time, which is sort of It was just like paid practice.
So it was great. But then when I moved to New York, I realized, oh shit, I gotta wait tables because I can't make enough money playing gigs because they didn't pay very much at all, and I got a little burnt out. I came to New York singing jazz and playing the piano, but I wasn't as good a piano player as most piano players out there, but I knew I could sing, so I had that, you know that going for me, sort of, you know, trying to. I came to New York to do this thing, and
then I what happened? Your eyes just went like.
Oh shit, you can't hear this, can you? No, Zoe, I'm interviewing Nord Jones right Okay, this is a flex. Zoe Kravis just interrupted us. I'm interviewing Nord Jones right now for my podcast. Hi, She said, all right, this is Are you okay over there in London? Okay? Thank you? Sorry? Wait, I'm sorry, okay. Side note, it's twenty twenty. I'm the person that likes a person to text me first and then tell me that they're calling, not just call me.
That's the thing that people do now, but it's kind of weird too.
Wait are you a call before you are you a text before you call? Person? Yes?
Or at least because everybody.
Is, or at least Warren before you FaceTime.
Yes, but I'm also not somebody who just picks up the phone if somebody calls me. You seem to also be someone who just picks it up no matter what.
Well. I saw it with her, and I'm like, okay, this must be about I work on her show, so obviously, but I forgot to turn my ringer off. So I know that Bill kill me over that too. Sorry.
No, it's the thing. You You either ignore the call if you don't want to be caught off guard, or you take it anyway. So I guess that says a lot about you, even though you prefer the text.
I didn't know how to turn it off. Sorry, Oh I don't care anyway. Yeah, so you were saying that singing at least gave you an edge. I really I love your voice, by the way, which I don't think you get enough praise for. Like who's the person that who's your your spirit animal when you're singing? Like you know, because I'm not a singer, I can't say I know that. When I'm drumming. There's four particular drummers that I know influenced and raised me and I'm like a combination of that.
But who's your singing spirit animal?
I think growing up it was Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin and Billie Holliday.
All right, I'm skipping into the future. How is it working with Ray on the Ones stew Wets record?
It was amazing. He was super sweet. We did three live takes and then he left and that was.
It, just real quick in and out.
It was just real quick live takes with the band and Billy Preston was playing Oregon, so it was awesome. My mom came. She saw him play when she was in high school, so it's the first time I've ever seen her quiet. You know, it was great. He was he was he was pretty sick already, so okay, he was nice though.
So just sing the song got out super nice.
Though, Yeah, like like warm and kind. But I mean, I love all these people, but I think I've tried to keep I don't know, I learned. I think when I came to New York and I was singing jazz and I got a little sort of disheartened and I realized, I'm singing all these old songs that Billy Holliday sang, and I'm putting my own been on it and it's cool.
But I started going in the living room and writing songs and singing songs by my friends that they were writing, and I felt a little more creative in that way. And I kind of fell off the jazz scene.
So you didn't want to get typecast as like a sort of derivative Billie Holiday.
And I don't know if it was about wanting to get typecast. I think it was just about I couldn't get any gigs that were satisfying. You know. I played in restaurants. I went to Smiles a lot, and I watched people play and it was awesome, but I couldn't get a gig there yet. And I did get a gig at the living room though, where the audience listened and I felt really connected to something.
I was going to say, Okay, so I've been in New York for ten years now, and how often I got like I got a little maybe four or five in the cut jazz spots that I go to just to yeah, chilled and be anonymous, or is any that says you can be at six ' three with an afro? But but the one thing that really like it's disheartening for me when I'm in these jazz clubs is oftentimes like tourists will come and they'll just talk over you, and it's almost like you're just a human juke box
and just in the background to their conversation. Like is that just that's the disheartening thing that you were.
I don't know if I realized it as tourists then, I mean, that was twenty years ago. I moved to New York twenty years ago. Last summer.
Well, now I'm observe. I observe it as like I'll.
Go now, well now it is more tourists. It is more so than it used to be. But I mean I think at the time, like I couldn't get a gig there yet because I wasn't as good as a piano player, and a lot of those places didn't hire a ton of singers. Not saying they never hired singers, but it wasn't really it didn't seem that easy for me to play in a place where people were really listening.
Oh, you would have what I'm saying, So your piano chops have to be on point to get kind of I get it, okay. Yeah.
And also just like the gigs they could get and did get. Were restaurant gigs were I kind of knew going in. They weren't like listening room gigs, and they were great practice. But once I started playing original music for tips instead of like forty bucks, it was just more satisfying. I started waiting more tables and doing less restaurant gigs and more singer songwriter plays gigs, and it was more sad. It was just more fulfilling and inspiring.
If masse some I'm curious, before you started doing original material, you would just go through the fake book and just through the standards. Yeah.
I kind of mostly did standards. I mean I wouldn't just yeah. I mean I had like my favorites, and that's I would do a lot of that.
I wonder, is the fake book still a thing?
I still have one?
You still have a fake Okay?
Yeah?
For our listeners out there. I don't I don't want to date myself, but I would probably say that if you were a jazz musician, a working jazz musician, or a student. In the sixties, seventies, or eighties, there was sort of a a Wikipedia slash cliff Notes guide tutorial to core charts of every jazz song and the same for singers as well. And it's almost like a Bible of jazz, which yeah, you kind of need if you're cool. So you still So they still make fake books.
I don't know. I know, I have an old, old, old one.
You. I just want to say, do you know why they call it a fake book?
I don't know. But then they had the real book. They called it the real book, I thought, and then they called it a fake book too, But I could never understand the difference between a real book and a fake book.
Well, I think I always guess is that the fake book had other songs in it, and it wasn't officially done by that company.
But yeah, it was definitely like not nobody got paid for it since it wasn't It wasn't chet music. It was like cheat music that was underground and circulated like on a Xerox machine.
Exactly. Yeah, when did you get your deal and how did you come to the attention of Bruce at a Blue Note?
Well, I was doing one of those jazz restaurant gigs at the garage on Seventh Avenue, and my bass player's friend's wife, they all came for brunch. It was like a brunch gig. And she happened to work for Emi Music Publishing and I was doing jazz at that gig. I had started, you know, doing those songwriter gigs already, but this was a jazz gig. And she said, Hey, I know Bruce Linvall. I met him at a company picnic.
What if I set up an appointment for you? And I was like, all right, whatever, Yeah, I'm like okay, I mean, sure, I'll show up, that's for sure. But I didn't really know if she was for real all right. And I had a demo that I had made to take around the clubs to get gigs. So I brought the demo. I had two standards on it, and I had one song by my friend Jesse Harris who wrote Don't Know Why, And we were already friends and playing
around together, and so I brought it in. I was twenty, it was the gig was my twenty first birthday, so it was probably two thousand. The yeah, it was two thousand. April of two thousand is when I had this meeting with him.
When your birthday?
No, the gig was on my birthday, so it was like a month later.
Totally okay, okay. And then that's when you knew shit was real.
I mean, I knew she could get me an appointment with him. I didn't really know what was real for a while. But he said, well, there's this pop song on here, kind of it's not really a pop song, but whatever, it was not a jazz standard, right, And he's like, so, do you want to be a jazz singer or a pop singer? And I was like, I'm sitting there in Blue Note office jazz singer.
You know.
And then he gave me some money to make some demos, and the demos ended up being a few of the songs from that first record, and he decided that it wasn't super jazz. It wasn't like, it wasn't what he thought. It wasn't jazz, but he still liked it enough to sign it, right, so he went ahead and signed me.
All right. So, in hindsight, because no one can plan, no one can plan this phenomenon, how does one capture lightning in the bottle? Like, there's no way in the world that you can ever foresee that you're about to make history. I don't even know if you accepted the fact that you've made history or if you're just taking the No, it was just those are the that's what I was feeling at the time in nineteen ninety nine and made these songs and that's.
Yeah, it definitely was. The actual album was just us capturing moments, as a lot of albums are, but I think this one was done with a lot of spontaneity. And don't know why. That song don't know why. It was the demo that we recorded the first day of recording, and it was the live take. Everything in the take is live. We added an extra guitar and some harmonies, and that was it.
So that was the very first thing you've recorded.
Yeah, And that was for these demos to get signed, and wasn't even signed yet. And then once I got signed, I like went back in and we did a bunch of more produced sessions that ended up getting mostly cut, and then we went back to kind of the demo style of recording.
Just said, oh, let's get that first song we did and see what happens with that.
We tried to re record don't know why, and it was so not as good, so we just.
It's it's funny you say that, do you do you know the story behind Christina Aguilera is beautiful. Linda Perry has a story in which, you know, like she wants our artist to like live with a demo for about three or four weeks and then that way they really internalized the song and then they come back and then they kill the song. And so Christina is like, all right, let me just go in and sing this thing real quick.
And so she just did like a rough you know, yawn, All right, here's my take, and then I'll come back and I'll really you.
Know, kill this before she lived with it.
Yeah, yeah, before she lived with it, you know. And then Christina is expecting like to add her you know, of her aguilera is to it, and you know, Linda was like, no, let's just stick with the demo, and Christina like it was like the biggest fight of their relationship, like really, and She's like, no, the dryness and the regularness of this is what sells the song, trust me.
And she I don't know they forced it or kicked and screamed it, but like she, Linda Perry won the battle and the demo is the version that we know, whereas Christina felt like, let me, you know, add exclamation points to the end of the sentence, and she's like, she's.
Like an athlete. She's like this insane, right.
But this was just a foul shot. It wasn't a it wasn't the you know, the All Star dunk contest, but it.
Had the heart. I mean, I think that for me, I'm way better on first takes or not even just for takes, but like when the spontaneity factor is there, and yes, you need to know the song and be able to sell the lyric. But for me, when I when I overthink or over rehearse something, it's not as good. Yeah, spontaneity.
My engineer is smart enough to know to record everything. So oftentimes I'll like quote run down a performance and then be like, all right, let me go for it, and then we always just wind up choosing the or you're not thinking about it I had or.
The fifteenth drunk take, yeah, the first three, you know.
Okay, So you worked with one of my heroes on this record, mister Martin. Yeah, Reef Martin, Uh yeah a Reef. You know he for me, I know this is odd for people to hear, but the average white band is like they were my heroes growing up, and their Gruman Steve aron is my drumming idol. Steve Roon actually gave me his actual drum set from all those Sun sessions that I still use on the Tonight Show now and
a Reef produced them. And so that's how I came to attention from you, because it's almost like anything that a Reef has touched. Then I purchased it without fault. So that's how like, that's funny. I was like, oh, wow, he has a new artist, he's still producing, Oh my god. And then that's how it entered. How did you how? How was he assigned to you?
Well, when Bruce Lundvall signed me, I was obsessed with the Cassandra Wilson New Moon Daughter album that was on the Note that he had, you know, put out a few years before, and I really wanted to work with Craig Street, who's an amazing producer, and so I did and it was incredible, had the most amazing musicians. I love Craig. It was great, but there was something about those sessions that didn't capture my vocal in the right way that where it sounded like the thing from the
demos that we had already captured. So we ended up kind of going back to the drawing board, which was crazy. At the time. I didn't think I was going to have the option to remake my record. I didn't think they were going to give me any extra money to do it right, and it was weird that it even happened. But Bruce, it was his idea to go back and try to recapture the sort of first thing we did. So he said, but I'm going to have my friend
a Reef Martin. He had just hooked up with Manhattan, the label that Bruce was also running was another label called Manhattan. Anyway, a Reef was doing stuff with him, and so he said, I want a Reef Martin to come and do it. And I was really nervous at that point.
I was like, Ah, did you know his predigree? By that point I did.
I mean, I grew up on all those Aretha records and on Donnie Hathaway, and I was nervous that he was going to come in and not listen to me or not because he was this huge producer. And then he came in and he's like the sweetest older Turkish man and he came into the sessions and I told Bruce, I was like, Okay, but after a couple of days, if it's not working out, you're just gonna let me do this right. It was so weird. I was like
twenty one years old, you know. I was both scared and also really stubborn, you know, and he ended up being he let us kind of do our thing, but he guided us, but he knew the situation. And so the more we got to know him, the more he was able to help, you know, tell us more what we should do musically. But he became like this great friend. I never in my wife thought I would have a a friend who was a Turkish Man in his seventies. He was like one of my best friends, and it was incredible.
Man. I think the night that I first met you in person was at the Grammys when it was that New York. The night that you oh yeah, because we were like rehearsal went eminem so much. I couldn't get to a reef. I saw him in the audience and wanted to drunk for my drum set, like in stalk him, but I couldn't do that.
He was special.
I'm going to be the one person that doesn't ask you the cliche of so what have you learned? After, you know, for any lessons. So however, I will say that once Kenny g covers your.
Song, I forgot that. I forgot about that.
Actually, how many emails did you get over that?
I don't remember. I remember Pat Metheny did it.
I did.
Don't know why. I mean, I didn't write that song. My friend Jesse Harris wrote it.
But still we still associated with you.
Yeah, and I still feel like I own it a little bit, but I don't remember. I must have forgotten that era. There was a whole era there where I don't remember very much. But that's so funny. I forgot about that completely.
How eager were you to knock over your your jinga design to start all over again? I mean, that's the only I can describe it. You feel way to describe it? Yeah, how eager were you to do it?
I was super eager. I was just eager to make music, and I was eager to play guitar and write more songs. I was inspired. I was listening to a ton of like bluegrass at the time, so my second album was a little bit more country inspired. But I was definitely
excited to get it over with as well. That's not to say I rushed the music at all, or that I was like hurrying and put out something I wasn't proud of, but I was stoked to be inspired and to just go ahead and plow through the second record and not not overthink it.
Oh for feels like home? Correct, yeah, I think. But that did like a million its first week.
Which yeah, which was great.
Which it almost is like, okay.
All right, I can move on now more than.
Where did you out? Out of your you know, because you've gone through so many I won't even say phases because I don't feel like these are like drastic Bowie or Prince like changes in your music, but I mean you you definitely added personality to all your records. My okay, So my personal favorite of your cannon is Little Broken Hearts but for you and don't give me the like all my all my records to like my children, and I guess some of.
Them I like more than others. Just kidding, but do you feel.
What do you feel? Is like what's your I put my my ass in that one, my FOOTNT one.
I think I also love that one you're talking about, see I'm smart, The Danger Mouse one. It's just so different and I love the sonics of it. But it's funny because I've been playing the last couple of years. I've been playing here and there with piano trio, just me and Brian Blade on drums, Chris Thomas on bass, sometimes different bass players. But when I started playing with this group, I thought, oh, okay, I'm gonna pull out
some of the more jazzy songs in my catalog. But truthfully, my favorite songs to play with this setup is the songs from that album A Little Broken Hearts, and they are it's not just not what I thought it would be. They're just I think they're great songs, and I think I think that Brian Burton is an incredible songwriter, and we had so much fun making that record, And.
Yeah, I think, yeah, no, it's it's it's it's definitely special. Do you feel what is your creative process like with songwriting, because I know that collaboration is also a big thing for you. Do you tend to do birds of a feather as far as flock to people that because I know that you've worked with Jeff Jeff Tweety, Jeff Wilcome, I always call him no like you work with Tweety and but I'm just saying that, do you often ever consider like totally like, okay, well, time out. I totally
forgot now that you worked with Andre three thousand. So even when you're entering in what we would think your general audience would think like not familiar territory, like, how does the how does the process start?
Well? I mean a lot of stuff I've collaborated with people on it's already done and I'm just coming in and singing. Like with the Andre three thousand thing, the Q tip song, I went in and I just sang what do you wanted me to sing? But as far as collaborating songwriting, why is it's been evolving over the years, It's completely changed. I mean I used to be a nervous songwriter, and now I think after doing the record with Brian, actually his process really opened me up to no fear songwriting.
I'm just curious, because we're supposed to eventually get with Brian, what is his actual process because no, the thing is I know I know his YouTube process.
Yeah it might be different for everyone.
Oh, I know that's way different. I want to know another non YouTube way, like, how does it start well?
For us? I mean we just went in We're pretty comfortable with each other. At this point, we were already friends, we'd already hung out a bunch. I sang on the Rome album with him, so I got to know him through all that. But you know, we both play whatever instruments sound good in the room, and the song starts with a weird bass line or a weird chord progression or me strumming something.
On the guitar, and it goes to music first.
I mean, honestly, I don't remember completely, not always. Sometimes like it'll be a melody, or he'll have a melody in his head, or he'll have a lyric and a melody in his head, or I will, and it sort of just built from there, and usually we tried to get some kind of melody down, whether he's hearing something or whether I am. And then this is where I learned a lot from him, because first of all, this
process was totally different than anything I'd ever done. I'd never gone into the studio with nothing or with a bunch of instruments and just like adding stuff, layering it. I've never done that. I had never done that, And so I would like sing some scratch lyrics and he's like that's cool, We'll get the lyrics later. I was like, really, I'm so worried about it. Are we going to get him?
You know?
And I would come in and I'd be like, I'm just worried about this. I really like this, but I don't know what to write. What are the lyrics? He's like, they'll come, don't worry about it, And you know what, they always came, and they were always in the moment and heartfelt, and you know, we worked on him. But that was a nice way for me to learn. And
lately I've been doing more of that. I've been going in with people with nothing and just trying to like throw stuff at the wall and coming out with stuff that I'm totally in love with. You know.
So you never go through because the one the one thing I had to commend you on at least, is that you deliver and you push through. Because normally, whenever anyone gets into a position of something that gargantuan or successful, that's usually when they start sabotaging their creative process. That's usually when writer's block sets in and decades go by
before even hear another note from them. And so the fact that you push through it and also, I mean all your side projects with the Little Willie's and with Push and Boots. How many other side projects do you have? Which one is? Well, my favorite is Carlo what projects?
You're like, you're like the only fan of that band? You know that that is called El Madmo And that was brief. But we put out a record and we didn't put any of our names on it because at the time, I think it was right after my second album had come out, and I think part of me staying creative and enjoying music was to pull back a little bit from all the attention, and so this album was really fun, and then we put it out under
these fake names, and then nobody really knew about it. It was kind of like we totally sabotaged it by doing that. But you're like the only fan.
But yeah, I have it. It's still on my iPod. Yes.
That was sort of the beginning of me playing guitar, and we went on like this huge stadium tour on the fields like home record basically, and my drummer and my backup singer at the time we started this band, and me and her learned how to play bass and guitar a little bit and that was before Puss in Boots continued my sort of guitar education.
But speaking of collaborations, how did you and Billy Joe Armstrong wind up doing the Evely Brothers album.
Billy Chill called me and he asked if I would be into doing this thing, and I I was a little unsure. I was like, well, let's go in the studio a couple of days and see if we fit.
I'm not going to commit to did you know anything like of him?
Oh?
Yeah, well the screen day. But I mean like it was like a cold call.
And yeah, it was cold call and I picked up. No. See that's what happens when you pick.
Up and now you got to commit to an album.
Oh damn it. No, No, I don't remember. I don't remember. It was a cold call.
But well, I can only imagine that there's other projects that have been pitched to you that you were sort of like, I'm not sure. Wait, can you name one artist that you were supposed to work with or.
I'll never tell.
Okay, the.
Things that I regretted saying no to though, let me know one.
Let me know one.
No, Oh, I feel weird, Just say what I regret? I got an email from Farrell once and I was just too busy or something.
I don't know.
I was bummed I didn't do it, but I don't know. I don't know if it was something crazy or what.
But I would have liked you on a song that starts with four hits at the beginning, me too.
Tell him to call me back, I miss I missed my chance.
An He's always created, So.
Yeah, I mean that's the thing is. I think I went through a little period of kind of being overwhelmed by everything and just wanting to sort of chill. So I said, notice some things. That year I had a little bit of my own little mini nervous breakdown. But yeah, Billy Joe called me and I said, let's try a couple of days before we commit to doing it because he wanted to do this whole album. It wasn't just a song or two, and it was cool. He let
me hire the band from New York. He came to New York to do it, and I really love that record. Is beautiful. Yeah.
Surprising. Well, I mean it's not surprising.
Because it is surprising.
Well, I mean, the thing is is that I was sort of like, okay, but then it's like, Okay, you collaborate with everyone, so it's almost like I'm not shocked. It wasn't that shocking, but yeah, okay, so.
It's just cool play well with others. You could say, all.
Right, so our alto saxophone, jermm, collaboration, we'll do sun raw songs or whatever. So it's pick Me off the Floor. That's going to be your eighth record, correct.
I don't know, well, your eighths or eight I'm not sure.
Okay, besides the single, I haven't heard the I haven't heard the album yet.
But oh that's too bad. I really I think you'll be into it, are you, indo Brian.
Blade, Yes, well more than that, I'm a Neward Jones fan. I'm not. I'm not doing this because you're just next on the pike.
Like, well, I think you'd like it because it's a lot of this piano trio stuff I was talking about. I got really inspired to write for this piano trio setup, and we ended up adding stuff and adding some production to it, but it all most of the records started sort of stripped down, and the single is actually not even what this is. The two songs I released so far are the two exceptions to this sort of piano trio bass of this record. But it yeah, a little bit, but that's okay.
But who did you work with? Production ones?
I did two songs with Jeff Tweety, okay, and those were awesome, and then the rest I just sort of did it in New York. I've been doing these collaborations and trying to release singles lately just to stay inspired and not have to do like a whole album cycle. And in the process of doing all these I got all these extra tracks that I loved, and so they all kind of fit together.
And that's just to do a bunch of one off singles, and yeah.
I have been doing I have been trying to just like collaborate with people I love, like like doing that Billy Joel thing was so cool, but it was still a commitment because it was a whole album. So I've been trying to do just one song with people. I did one with Tank, you know, Tank from the Bengus and Jeff Tweety. We did a couple and these two songs on this album are from that session too. I just had all these extra songs from these sessions, so all.
Right, well, I mean in terms of Do you still feel that the the date will still get honored or I.
Think we pushed it to June? Okay, yeah, you know it's funny. I feel like people are home, maybe they want something to listen to, but I think everybody's watching that Flix, so it's okay.
What are you? What are you watching?
Like?
What have you binged out on?
Oh? A lot of Barbie Dream House?
So what your kids are watching?
Yeah? Basically I don't have any control. It's funny.
I four to seven. Your kids are in the house.
Oh god, they do. And every night they go to sleep and then I'm like, cool, I'm going to watch something. Nope, I'm asleep.
I see, I see. I feel you.
Have you watched Last Man on Earth?
The sitcom?
Yeah?
With what's his name? I love that show to death.
Yes, I love that show so much. I'm so sad when it stopped. I know every night I think I'm going to rewatch Last Man on Earth. Right now it feels like the right moment.
But I'm one of those people that when I commit to a series and I know it's going to be over, I never watched the last three, Like my pen ultimate is always like the last three or four. So even with my modern family, which as a completist, I feel like I have to watch the last season, even though kind of Wayne Dalf thatf there's season nine. But I never like watching the last three episodes of a series
when it's over. And really, yeah, I loved I loved Last Man on Earth, and I kind of feel like that's my reality right now.
Well, I know that's that's what reminded me of it for sure. Wait, so you didn't watch the last three?
No, no, I did, Yes, I didn't watch. I didn't watch the last three yet.
No, Oh, you should watch them. Now it's the time, is right.
I hate goodbye? I mean I I don't know. It's like her you.
Like having it hanging over your head.
Yeah, but now you're right, now is the time to do it because I've been watching. I made the mistake of watching that damn what do you call it? The Tiger King thing?
Oh? I didn't watch that?
Yeah, which I kind of want my nine hours back.
Well, you were part of a movement. You were in it with the rest of.
The world, every right, I mean everyone was part of the conversation. I was like, I felt fomo and I wanted you know. Okay, I want to watch it too and now regret it. Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, I'm going to finish Ozarks and oh yeah, I.
Want to start that because I have never watched that. I was talking about that.
Okay, so does in my opinion, does okay, does Sopranos or The Wire or Breaking Bad mean anything to you?
I watched all the Sopranos, I watched all of Breaking Bad. Okay, not watch all of the Wire.
Okay, then this could easily be in fourth place. I mean, in my personal opinion, I feel like, oh, no doubt, no doubt. I mean, even one of the actresses has already won an Emmy for a performance. It's it's it's that level of.
Darkness and sounds delicious.
So that's that's my recommendation. Wait now, I feel like I'm taking away from creativity if I'm telling you to start binging.
Out on tele I would I would love to have a show to binge on. I would love to. Okay, I'll write a song.
But I see, I see, well, you know, I appreciate you for taking the time out to do this, and you too.
Good to see you.
Hopefully, I don't know, maybe you can, you know, broadcast from your crib? Do you do social media at all?
No, it's it kind of terrorisfies me. I've started doing some live recordings and putting them out during all this, right, and it's been fun. But I'm not good at like browsing the comments. It's no feel crazy.
Never read the comments.
Makes me feel crazy. I've tried to do. I tried to do Instagram a few years back, and I just felt like an idiot because I don't want to show pictures of my kids, but I don't want to fake it and pretend. So I just hated it. I couldn't I couldn't deal. And then I was thinking about, oh, what would be a good post. I'm like, Okay, that goes against the point. You either got to like just post whatever.
Or or don't post what you're cooking. That's a that's a good place to start. No one, no one ever disagreement.
Talks for lunch again.
Yes, there you go. You should just start a hot dog account. Seriously, all right? Yeah, well, Nora, I appreciate you, thank you for your artistry, thank you for taking the time out. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. This has been quest love Supreme. You have the team Supreme. I bid you do. Stay safe for everybody and we will see you on this story.
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