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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey, y'all, it's justin Richmond. Today on the show,

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Speaker 1: we're talking to John Batiste, someone who I absolutely love

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Speaker 1: for bringing jazz back to Late Night. From the days

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Speaker 1: of Doc seven Sin on Carson to Branford Marsalis on Leno,

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Speaker 1: Late Night was one of the last places keeping jazz

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Speaker 1: alive in households across the country. Of course, it would

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Speaker 1: be John Batiste to bring that tradition back. Batiste is

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Speaker 1: an overachiever. As a kid, he was a state champion

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Speaker 1: basketball player and a chess champion. And then when he

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Speaker 1: turned his attention to music at age fourteen, after picking

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Speaker 1: up drums then switching to piano, he started a band

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Speaker 1: with fellow New Orleans musician Trombone Shorty, and that still

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Speaker 1: wasn't enough. He had to then go to Juilliard. Today,

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Speaker 1: Batiste is the band leader on The Late Show with

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Speaker 1: Stephen Colbert and an Oscar winning composer for the Pick

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Speaker 1: Sorry animated movie Soul. He also received the highest number

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Speaker 1: of Grammy nominations this year, with eleven, including Album of

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Speaker 1: the Year for his most recent release, We Are Let's

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Speaker 1: listen to a bit of the song Cry from that album,

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Speaker 1: which expertly blends a number of genres. John considers we

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Speaker 1: are his best work yet. As you can tell from

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Speaker 1: that clip, it's an accessible mix of jazz, blues, soul,

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Speaker 1: and hip hop. Batisse talks with Bruce Headlam today about

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Speaker 1: what it was like coming up in legendary Nola barrooms.

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Speaker 1: He also talks about setting up a piano in the

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Speaker 1: midst of Brooklyn protests after George Floyd's murder, and he

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Speaker 1: talks about what it meant to have Obama call him

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Speaker 1: personally after hearing his new album, This is Broken raping

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Speaker 1: liner notes for the digital Age. I'm justin Richard. Here's

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Speaker 1: Bruce Headlam with John Batiste. Let's start by talking about

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Speaker 1: year album which came out last year and it's been

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Speaker 1: nominated for a million Grammys. You're gonna be one of

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Speaker 1: those guys at the end of your career who has

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Speaker 1: like one hundred and seventy Grammys, right, my goodness. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, I make music and I just keep my

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Speaker 1: head down and work on the craft. And this is

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Speaker 1: incredible because think about the process this year for the Grammys,

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Speaker 1: how transparent it's become, and this year they're really pushing

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Speaker 1: for it to be peer voted without so many committees,

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Speaker 1: and to have everybody who's an expert in their field

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Speaker 1: nominate me in their field, you know, classical folk. I

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Speaker 1: don't know what to say. It's just an honor beyond words,

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Speaker 1: and I'm very humbled by the nominations. You know, one

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Speaker 1: thing about this album, like listening to it with your

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Speaker 1: other albums, is this is such a rhythmic album. Did

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Speaker 1: you write it differently? Were you writing it at the

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Speaker 1: piano or did you start with rhythm for some of

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Speaker 1: these songs. Well, I think that I'm just getting more

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Speaker 1: and more in tune with my artist trip, and I

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Speaker 1: feel like I'm just getting started, feel like I'm getting better.

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Speaker 1: I don't know why. There's this mentality that artists as

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Speaker 1: they get older, you know, they peak and then at

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Speaker 1: some point they can't find the rhythm again. And maybe

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Speaker 1: that would be true for me. But I feel like

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Speaker 1: this album is my first album. It's almost as if

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Speaker 1: I'm a late bloomer in that way. I started music

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Speaker 1: and recording when I was sixteen seventeen, but you know,

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Speaker 1: this feels like my first album in the sense of

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Speaker 1: me getting my game in my package together. You did

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Speaker 1: start as a drummer, is that right. Yeah, I started

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Speaker 1: as a drummer. I dabbled on piano, but I was

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Speaker 1: not a pianist by definition. Now, a lot of pianist

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Speaker 1: I've talked to really started at as drummers. They say

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Speaker 1: it had a big effect on their piano playing. Did

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Speaker 1: being a drummer affect how you approached the piano? Everything

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Speaker 1: is everything. You get a sense of connectivity between all

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Speaker 1: types of activities that you do, especially at that age.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm thinking about when I was eleven. I

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Speaker 1: don't think there's anything that directly impacted the next thing,

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Speaker 1: but it all affected everything. I didn't actively become a

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Speaker 1: musician or a music listener until I was about fifteen

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Speaker 1: or sixteen. Everything before that point was acquired through osmosis.

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Speaker 1: I had so many different experiences from my dad being

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Speaker 1: a musician and my uncle's plan in the blues and

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Speaker 1: Chitland circuit of the Southeast United States, and then Plan

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Speaker 1: you know folks like Jackie Wilson, Isaac Hayes, King, Floyd

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Speaker 1: Lloyd Price, blues singers, folks singers, soul singers of the

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Speaker 1: black idiom of that time. Then you have my sister

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Speaker 1: who's listening to cash money records and the Hot Boys

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Speaker 1: and Alanis Moore set on cassette tape, my cousins who

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Speaker 1: are advanced music producers at this time, producing making beats, rapping.

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Speaker 1: You know. I was studying classical piano lessons. My mom,

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Speaker 1: she insisted that I take classical music. She was not

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Speaker 1: a musician, but a very aerodype person. She had two degrees.

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Speaker 1: She was an environmentalist before it was in vogue. She

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Speaker 1: would tell me to read books and things that I

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Speaker 1: didn't have any real connection to in my environment. But

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Speaker 1: it just kind of got me to thinking about a

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Speaker 1: lot of things. And then I played sports, played basketball

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Speaker 1: competitively until I was fourteen fifteen, won a national AAU

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Speaker 1: championship and things like that, chess championships. I was a

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Speaker 1: gamer and a comic book kid more than a music fan.

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Speaker 1: And then I also went to jazz camps because I'm

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Speaker 1: in New Orleans and I'm studying with these guys who

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Speaker 1: are like village elders. You're talking about Ellis Marsalis, Alvin Batiz,

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Speaker 1: my late great mentor and the one who actually helped

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Speaker 1: me to find my voice as a jazz musician when

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Speaker 1: I was fifteen sixteen. But this is when I was

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Speaker 1: like eleven or twelve, and I didn't understand the word

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Speaker 1: he was saying, and I was just doing it because

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Speaker 1: it was another one of the many activities and things

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Speaker 1: that I was doing. So I didn't really buy my

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Speaker 1: first record or listen to music or say that this

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Speaker 1: influenced that as a musician until I was about fifteen.

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Speaker 1: I was ambivalent to it. It was just around me

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Speaker 1: before that age. I wasn't really an active musician or

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Speaker 1: considered myself a musician until I was fifteen. So it's

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Speaker 1: hard for me to say that my drumming was an

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Speaker 1: impactful thing on my piano playing because it was all

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Speaker 1: just a part of this really rich tapestry of my

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Speaker 1: upbringing that I was fortunate enough to be born into.

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Speaker 1: Without even my knowledge of it being something that is

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Speaker 1: so culturally rich or diverse, I just was in it.

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Speaker 1: And I actually was more ambivalent to being a musician

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Speaker 1: than anything, because everybody was a musician on my father's

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Speaker 1: side of the family. So it was just like, well,

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Speaker 1: I do this, but I don't want to do this

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Speaker 1: for a living. I mean the family business. You want

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Speaker 1: to escape, Yeah, it's like what you know. Couple with

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Speaker 1: the fact that I had this feeling that I wanted

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Speaker 1: to leave New Orleans to explore the world and see

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Speaker 1: the world because I just had so many ideas about

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Speaker 1: what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be,

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Speaker 1: and at a certain point, as beautiful as home is

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Speaker 1: and it'll always be home for me, I felt like

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Speaker 1: I needed to make a home for myself somewhere else.

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Speaker 1: And one of your songs is about that, isn't it?

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Speaker 1: On the new albums at Boyhood? About Is that about

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Speaker 1: your father telling you to what it's going to be

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Speaker 1: like in New York City? Do you thinking of boyhood?

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Speaker 1: And tell the Truth? Both songs are about this idea

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Speaker 1: of growing up, coming out of this age of being

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Speaker 1: a boy and a child and a son of your parents,

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Speaker 1: to being a man, being your own man, and understanding

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Speaker 1: you know. He says, tell it like it is love

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Speaker 1: how you live and when you're doing what you do,

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Speaker 1: tell the truth. A lot of people tell you have fun,

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Speaker 1: do your best, but tell the truth. Tell the truth

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Speaker 1: is different to do your best, have fun, give it

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Speaker 1: you all. Tell the truth says something very specific about

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Speaker 1: you going into a dinner Vipers. You're going into a

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Speaker 1: place where there's a lot of posturing and dishonesty and

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Speaker 1: lacks authenticity. So what's gonna make you successful? What's your

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Speaker 1: definition of success? At least that he was trying to

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Speaker 1: impart to me. And what that song is about is

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Speaker 1: a lot of people may not see your truth as

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Speaker 1: successful or as the way or as the thing that

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Speaker 1: is what you should be pursuing. But tell it like

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Speaker 1: it is love how you live when when you're doing

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Speaker 1: what you do, tell the truth. So tell the truth

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Speaker 1: is really about that. You know, those lyrics are all true.

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Speaker 1: Listening to that song. My dad had a small house

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Speaker 1: up on the east side East Louisiana State Drive, small

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Speaker 1: house up on the east side of the Magnani tree

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Speaker 1: in the front yard. You know, this is where I

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Speaker 1: grew up. He grew up in The times were hard

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Speaker 1: and gritty. You know, tell me stories about growing up

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Speaker 1: on tour, people coming into the club pulling out a

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Speaker 1: rifle and the band having to jump behind stacks to

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Speaker 1: amplify as a driving packing the van, you know, touring

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Speaker 1: and driving, being the tour manager, the band performing and

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Speaker 1: also the roadie all in one. Yeah, you know, this

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Speaker 1: is the kind of stuff that that song is about. Wow,

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Speaker 1: do you think you've been able to do that your

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Speaker 1: whole career. Has there ever been a time you thought

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Speaker 1: I'm not quite doing it, I'm not quite telling the

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Speaker 1: truth here. No, I've always told the truth. That's whether

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Speaker 1: it's to my immediate career advancement or detriment. And I've

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Speaker 1: always told the truth. I've happened to get to a

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Speaker 1: point now where telling the truth has allowed me to

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Speaker 1: win an Oscar and being nominated for all these Grammys

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Speaker 1: and all these things. But I know, I don't take

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Speaker 1: it for granted. I'm very humble by the fact that

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Speaker 1: me being who I am and being recognized in this

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Speaker 1: way as a me to have success. And I'm on

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Speaker 1: TV and I'm playing a night in Tunisia on TV.

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Speaker 1: I'm playing jazz and these types of music you never

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Speaker 1: hear on TV, at least when I was growing up,

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Speaker 1: I didn't hear it. And now I'm able to be

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Speaker 1: a household name in a sense doing something that's so

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Speaker 1: true to me. And one day that's not gonna work,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure, so the tables will turn and it will

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Speaker 1: be a moment where me doing this thing and doing

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Speaker 1: my things not necessarily going to be the thing that

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Speaker 1: is going to advance me the most. I'm getting better

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Speaker 1: at telling the truth of who I am and making

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Speaker 1: it something that most people can understand. It's accessible, it's translatable,

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Speaker 1: and that's the goal, right. It's not about popularity. It's

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Speaker 1: about tapping into something in the soul of human kind

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Speaker 1: that is universal and makes people feel like they're not alone.

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Speaker 1: So if I can do that, boom, it's a win.

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Speaker 1: When I was listening to this album, you do a

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Speaker 1: lot of things with your voice. You got a lot

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Speaker 1: of different sounds, and that used to be more common

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Speaker 1: and I'm thinking more pop and soul singers like Stevie

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Speaker 1: Wonder when they talk about his voice, he's got like

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Speaker 1: three or four voices. Paul McCartney's another one who would

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Speaker 1: like he'd growl sometimes, he would do different things. Tell

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Speaker 1: me how you how you approach singing. It's about the

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Speaker 1: message of the song. It's about serving the message of

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Speaker 1: the song, and that means that you have something that

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Speaker 1: you can say honestly. The voice doesn't lie. The voice

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Speaker 1: is so pure and we're so in tune with hearing

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Speaker 1: people's voices from the time that we're born. Musicians, non musicians,

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Speaker 1: music lovers, non music lovers. We just have this radar

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Speaker 1: for truth in the voice, for emotion being transmitted through

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Speaker 1: the voice. And if someone knows that you're not bought

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Speaker 1: in or you're telling something that isn't really to your

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Speaker 1: core a truth for you is not going to stay connected.

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Speaker 1: But for me, the easiest way to do that is

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Speaker 1: to just be telling the truth all the time, or

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Speaker 1: to say something that you really mean all the time.

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Speaker 1: And if I can't get to that, something needs to

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Speaker 1: be adjusted with the music. Something needs to be adjusted

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Speaker 1: with the lyric, something needs to be adjusted with the key,

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Speaker 1: something needs to be adjusted somewhere because I'm not feeling it.

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Speaker 1: I'm not getting to that space with it. Were there

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Speaker 1: songs on this album that you struggled with to find

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Speaker 1: the right voice for? Oh, absolutely all of them. I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't say struggle with, but there were a process for

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Speaker 1: some of them that didn't come as natural, Like Freedom

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Speaker 1: came natural. That's the first take that you hear on

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Speaker 1: the record for Freedom? Is that right? Yeah? Sung that

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Speaker 1: straight down? That was just like, I don't know. That

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Speaker 1: was one of those ones. I need you was like

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Speaker 1: that too, not the first take, but like in the

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Speaker 1: first three takes, I typically only want to do six

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Speaker 1: takes at the most. Three is really my sweet spot.

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Speaker 1: I don't like doing more than six takes. I feel

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Speaker 1: like something misses, I'll have to labor over it in

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Speaker 1: my mind for months. Adulthood was like that. Adulthood was

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Speaker 1: the last one I finished because it was such a

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Speaker 1: personal song for me, but it was covert at the

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Speaker 1: same time. You know, it's KOI personal, but koy and

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Speaker 1: just finding that tone and the spacing of it and

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Speaker 1: the music already said so much. And then I'm also

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Speaker 1: going in that song from singing in my falsetto to rapping,

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Speaker 1: to go from these two vocal approaches and have it

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Speaker 1: be connected in a way that feels organic and inevitable.

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Speaker 1: It just took a lot of thought in thinking through.

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Speaker 1: I love the way that that came out. Did you

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Speaker 1: actually did you sing and rap in the same take? Yeah? Wow,

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Speaker 1: Well that's not always the case. You know. I think

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Speaker 1: about production quality more than I think about trying to

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Speaker 1: preserve a take unless it's the live performance, live band

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Speaker 1: type of album. I don't typically try to perform to

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Speaker 1: take unless that's what's best for the take. Like Boyhood.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned Boyhood earlier. Boyhood The production style for that

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Speaker 1: is not as a performance. It's it's more about this

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Speaker 1: is a produced rap record, an impressionistic rap record, whereas

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Speaker 1: a song like Cry, that's a performance that's on stage

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Speaker 1: with the guitar and we just sing that down with

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Speaker 1: the band. I remember we we played that when in

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Speaker 1: the band band was playing. Steve Jordan was on the drums,

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Speaker 1: incredible Steve Jordan playing and he was doing this thing

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Speaker 1: and he started to scream. He said, oh, he started

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Speaker 1: to scream when he found the right pocket. He was like,

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Speaker 1: this is gonna be the take. You gotta this, this,

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Speaker 1: this is this is it. You gotta record, you gotta record,

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Speaker 1: you know, we record everything. And he he's like, you

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Speaker 1: gotta record. This is gonna be the take, and everybody

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Speaker 1: says that, but when he says it, I know it's true.

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Speaker 1: He's got a gift for that. So Steve was locked

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Speaker 1: in and everybody just locked in at the same time.

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Speaker 1: And when it's like that, you just gotta hit it.

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Speaker 1: You gotta hit you gotta make it, make it happen, baby,

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Speaker 1: come on, sing it sing. It was that great guitar

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Speaker 1: solo on the same take too. Yeah, that's Robert Randolph

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Speaker 1: Robert Randolph is an incredible sacred pedal steel musician, obviously

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Speaker 1: of world renowned. People who know about his music know

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Speaker 1: that he's one of the kings of that style. He

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Speaker 1: just he knows how to do what he's doing, so

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Speaker 1: you just let him have it. It's really more about

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Speaker 1: finding the pocket, the space where I wanted to put it.

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Speaker 1: Tell me about writing that song, because it seems one

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Speaker 1: of the most plaintiff and most kind of emotionally open

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Speaker 1: songs on the record, that right there that I felt

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Speaker 1: that in my soul. I felt that piano riff bow

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Speaker 1: the weeny. I felt that, and I didn't know what

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Speaker 1: I wanted to say, but I felt that. One day,

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Speaker 1: I sat and I played that and I put it

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Speaker 1: on loop and I just listened to it and we

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Speaker 1: listened to it, and I called my friend Steve McEwen,

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Speaker 1: and then he came over and we listened to it,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, I want to say something with this,

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Speaker 1: and I'm just trying to find the words, and I

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Speaker 1: just started singing, which you know, sometimes ends up being

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Speaker 1: a song, even if it starts out it's just mumbles

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Speaker 1: or just turn into what I really want to say.

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Speaker 1: It's in there somewhere and I just started cry cry.

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Speaker 1: I just said, I just want to like cry, cry cry.

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Speaker 1: You know, I started singing. I said I want to cry.

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Speaker 1: But then he's like, that's that's what you want to say.

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Speaker 1: It came out the chorus at least that kind of cry,

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Speaker 1: cry cry. And then when when Nat was there and

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Speaker 1: that was clear, and this when both of those things

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Speaker 1: came together, the song just came out. We just wrote

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Speaker 1: it that day, but it was I had to call Steve.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you gotta call a friend to kind of put

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Speaker 1: the mirror up to yourself and you know, this is

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Speaker 1: this is what you're saying. Can you see it more clearly? Now?

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Speaker 1: It's like, okay, I got you. We're gonna take a

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Speaker 1: quick break, but we'll be right back with more from

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Speaker 1: John Batiste. We're back with Bruce Hellam's conversation with John Batiste.

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Speaker 1: So you said you didn't take being musician seriously until

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Speaker 1: you're around fifteen and started thinking of yourself as one.

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Speaker 1: But then you put your first album out when you

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Speaker 1: were seventeen. What flipped for you? What changed? I gotta

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Speaker 1: give a lot of credit to seeing my peers who

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Speaker 1: were doing it and also having mentorship from people who

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Speaker 1: saw something in me that I didn't see it myself.

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Speaker 1: So I'm thinking about peers of mine, like Sullivan Fortner,

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Speaker 1: who wasn't a professional musician at the time, but I

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Speaker 1: remember him playing the organ in church. I saw a

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Speaker 1: clip of him as this whiz kid on public access television.

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Speaker 1: He was playing the organ and the church at four

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Speaker 1: years old, and he was the quiet, direct, incredible musician.

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Speaker 1: We ended up going to school together. We practiced together

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Speaker 1: for hours and hours at a time, you know, just

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Speaker 1: seeing him somebody who was at the level where people

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Speaker 1: were telling me I'm at this level and then I

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Speaker 1: see this kid who's my age and then oh wow.

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Speaker 1: Or seeing somebody like Troy Andrews trombone Shorty, who was

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Speaker 1: out there touring when he was four years old. And

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Speaker 1: then he came to me on the courtyard in high school.

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Speaker 1: I was fourteen at the time, and he says, let's

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Speaker 1: start a band together, you and I and we started

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Speaker 1: playing at the Maple Leaf Bar, the historic bar on

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Speaker 1: Oak Street. He's like fifteen to sixteen, fourteen, and we're

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Speaker 1: playing in this club every week this New Orleans. So

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Speaker 1: it's not an abnormal thing, but you know, you got

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Speaker 1: this band led by these two fourteen year olds in

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Speaker 1: a barroom on Wednesday nights after school, and just seeing

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Speaker 1: him do that, and recording his first album as a leader,

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Speaker 1: and me helping him kind of put that together, and

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Speaker 1: us being these brothers at this time where you know,

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Speaker 1: we're both trying to put this show together and lead

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Speaker 1: this band, which, by the way, is the band that

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Speaker 1: he still leads today, Orleans Avenue. That was the band

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Speaker 1: that we started in high school before I went to Juilliard.

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Speaker 1: So seeing that and experiencing that and saying, you know,

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Speaker 1: this is really a special thing. This isn't just a

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Speaker 1: part of something I love to do with my dad

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Speaker 1: at home. And this isn't just those classical piano lessons

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Speaker 1: that I'm using my ears to act like I'm site

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Speaker 1: reading box, but I'm really just playing it by ear

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Speaker 1: because I didn't know I had perfect pitch. Like, It's

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Speaker 1: beyond just this activity or this thing that I do.

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Speaker 1: It's this ability to reach people and have a voice

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Speaker 1: and have a real impact in the community and in

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Speaker 1: the world. So something about the epicness of it struck

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Speaker 1: me at that time, seeing those guys who were my

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Speaker 1: age doing things that I thought were really cool, and

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Speaker 1: then having an Alvin Baptiste in my life who was

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Speaker 1: a mentor like no other, who would tell me things

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Speaker 1: about his time hanging with John Coltrane or his time

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Speaker 1: talking Onette Coleman about the meaning of life and music

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Speaker 1: being an allegory, a tonal allegory for life, and how

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Speaker 1: that implies free jazz and avant garde music, which he

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Speaker 1: played and it was completely alienating to most of the audience,

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Speaker 1: but he was so passionate about it, and he would

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Speaker 1: just share these records with me and make me do

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Speaker 1: things musically that I was uncomfortable, to the point that

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Speaker 1: I would grow so dramatically over the course of weeks

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Speaker 1: of just being around him that by the time I

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Speaker 1: was seventeen, I had reached this point where I had

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Speaker 1: felt that was something worth documented. I really didn't know

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Speaker 1: how to produce an album, so my father helped me,

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Speaker 1: but I knew I wanted to do it, and he

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Speaker 1: kind of showed me, and that was really my first production.

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Speaker 1: When I was sixteen, I started writing the music for it,

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Speaker 1: putting the bands together, doing dates around New Orleans on

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Speaker 1: Frenchman Street, playing with all these older musicians who I admired,

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Speaker 1: really calling them for the first time, nervous on the phone,

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Speaker 1: saying will you come and playing my band and then

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Speaker 1: playing the gig and showing them my music and they

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Speaker 1: play and they're like, oh, this is great stuff. And

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Speaker 1: then I'm playing and Donald Harrison Junior, who's another one

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Speaker 1: of my mentors and teachers, playing on the album and really,

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Speaker 1: you know, just saying like, yeah, I believe in this.

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Speaker 1: I see what you're doing, Alvin Battist, I see what

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Speaker 1: you're doing. This is really important. This is the stuff.

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Speaker 1: This is the stuff, man, you have it. Do it. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm interested. What did he push you to do on

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Speaker 1: the piano that you said you weren't comfortable doing. It's

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Speaker 1: funny it wasn't the piano. It was the clarinet. My

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Speaker 1: last year of high school. Yeah, sixteen years old. He

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Speaker 1: was a great clarinetist, incredible avant garde jazz, any style

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Speaker 1: of music clarinetist, he could do it. He was an

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Speaker 1: incredible teacher, philosopher. One day he just said, this year

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Speaker 1: you're gonna play the clarinet. And the entire year he

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Speaker 1: studied one on one with me, teaching me the clarinet.

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Speaker 1: And this is not the saxophone. This is not the

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Speaker 1: instrument that you know you consider when you're a sixteen

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Speaker 1: year old high school to be the instrument that you

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00:23:07,996 --> 00:23:12,276
Speaker 1: want to study. But he's obviously one of your heroes.

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Speaker 1: So I did it, and it was one of the

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Speaker 1: most important things I ever did, because he was trying

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Speaker 1: to show me that music and your ability, your talent,

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Speaker 1: the innate thing that you have within you can be

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00:23:28,916 --> 00:23:33,076
Speaker 1: applied to anything. It doesn't have to just fit the

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Speaker 1: thing that you know you're capable of doing today. And

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Speaker 1: that's why I don't believe in limitations of genre or

404
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Speaker 1: limitations of creativity in any way. If you're good at

405
00:23:42,316 --> 00:23:45,076
Speaker 1: this thing, then you can apply that same spark to

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Speaker 1: something else, if you figure out the code of how

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Speaker 1: you can break into that space, into that world of

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Speaker 1: creativity in this arena. So it was an incredible lesson

409
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Speaker 1: because it wasn't about me becoming the greatest clarinet player

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Speaker 1: in the world. I still play on my records. I

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Speaker 1: played on We Are, played twelve instruments on We Are.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't have played so many instruments on Who we

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Speaker 1: Are had I thought of myself off as just a

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Speaker 1: pianist just a jazz musician, just this guy from New Orleans.

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Speaker 1: If I limit myself in that way, I won't make

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Speaker 1: who we are. I won't be able to be what

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Speaker 1: it is that I am in the world today. So

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Speaker 1: you got to break the limitations in your mind. And

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Speaker 1: that was an incredible way that he kind of planted

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Speaker 1: that seed. That's interesting because when I was listening many

421
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Speaker 1: many times to the record, it occurred to me, this

422
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Speaker 1: is an album actually about music. It's made of music,

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00:24:38,836 --> 00:24:41,756
Speaker 1: but there's so many references to music that you talk

424
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Speaker 1: about your Alto Sacks when you're a kid. You mentioned

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Speaker 1: Obama singing Amazing Grace in one of the songs. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: I remember. You had a quote once that you said,

427
00:24:52,196 --> 00:24:55,596
Speaker 1: the world mostly sees music as entertainment, but it's much

428
00:24:55,636 --> 00:24:58,676
Speaker 1: more than that. So did your ideas about music change

429
00:24:58,676 --> 00:25:02,076
Speaker 1: while you made this record. Well, I've had these ideas

430
00:25:02,116 --> 00:25:05,556
Speaker 1: about music, and just really the public is coming into

431
00:25:05,556 --> 00:25:09,356
Speaker 1: the consciousness about these ideas I call social music. Fact

432
00:25:09,396 --> 00:25:11,556
Speaker 1: the album that I put out in twenty thirteen is

433
00:25:11,596 --> 00:25:14,356
Speaker 1: called social music. And that was kind of when those

434
00:25:14,396 --> 00:25:19,476
Speaker 1: ideas really became very clearly codified in my mind and

435
00:25:19,516 --> 00:25:22,716
Speaker 1: I could articulate them and I could speak about them.

436
00:25:22,796 --> 00:25:26,116
Speaker 1: This was like twenty twenty thirteen, and around that time,

437
00:25:26,196 --> 00:25:29,356
Speaker 1: the name of my band that I was touring with

438
00:25:29,476 --> 00:25:32,556
Speaker 1: and knowledge the house band on the Late Show with

439
00:25:32,596 --> 00:25:35,956
Speaker 1: Stephen Colbert to Stay Human band Stay Human. That's when

440
00:25:35,996 --> 00:25:38,436
Speaker 1: the band name changed to Stay Human. I just had

441
00:25:38,476 --> 00:25:43,716
Speaker 1: a very clear philosophical awakening about what my understanding of

442
00:25:43,796 --> 00:25:46,436
Speaker 1: music was at this time when I was coming down

443
00:25:46,516 --> 00:25:49,156
Speaker 1: from Juilliard, playing in the subways, playing in the streets

444
00:25:49,156 --> 00:25:51,956
Speaker 1: of New York City, and just really kind of figure

445
00:25:51,996 --> 00:25:56,276
Speaker 1: it out. Social music, What does that mean in the

446
00:25:56,316 --> 00:25:59,956
Speaker 1: twenty first century? What are these proto forms of music

447
00:26:00,036 --> 00:26:04,676
Speaker 1: before entertainment? How they connected to globalization and the connectivity

448
00:26:04,676 --> 00:26:07,036
Speaker 1: of culture now and the internet in a way that

449
00:26:07,076 --> 00:26:11,116
Speaker 1: we've all become so enmeshed with each other and have

450
00:26:11,276 --> 00:26:15,316
Speaker 1: always been, but it's just been more emboldened by technological advancement.

451
00:26:15,676 --> 00:26:18,876
Speaker 1: How do I represent that as a musician? Social music?

452
00:26:18,996 --> 00:26:22,436
Speaker 1: So this is a ten year plus concept. It's just

453
00:26:22,516 --> 00:26:25,596
Speaker 1: now I've been able to really make the album that

454
00:26:25,916 --> 00:26:29,236
Speaker 1: can reach to people and connect that concept to the

455
00:26:29,596 --> 00:26:32,796
Speaker 1: greater public. But social music and we are, you know,

456
00:26:32,796 --> 00:26:37,836
Speaker 1: it's almost like we are is the same conceptual definition

457
00:26:38,076 --> 00:26:42,036
Speaker 1: as what social music was, except it's evolved and gotten better.

458
00:26:42,956 --> 00:26:46,876
Speaker 1: As you're talking, it makes sense to me. And you said,

459
00:26:46,916 --> 00:26:48,556
Speaker 1: you know, you don't want to be bound by being

460
00:26:48,596 --> 00:26:51,636
Speaker 1: just a New Orleans musician, but that city is one

461
00:26:51,676 --> 00:26:55,716
Speaker 1: of the few places left where music is played in

462
00:26:55,756 --> 00:27:00,316
Speaker 1: a lot of different social environments. That's right for most

463
00:27:00,436 --> 00:27:03,836
Speaker 1: people now, I guess, other than the national anthem, there's

464
00:27:03,916 --> 00:27:08,596
Speaker 1: not too many social occasions for music or people go

465
00:27:08,636 --> 00:27:11,836
Speaker 1: to clubs to dance or whatever. And you've always tried

466
00:27:11,876 --> 00:27:14,036
Speaker 1: to do that. You did that with my New York

467
00:27:14,756 --> 00:27:16,756
Speaker 1: You played on subways, and when you tell people, oh,

468
00:27:16,796 --> 00:27:19,116
Speaker 1: he did an album on the subway, they think, oh,

469
00:27:19,156 --> 00:27:22,396
Speaker 1: you got a subway card. You miked it up. It's like, no, no, no,

470
00:27:24,076 --> 00:27:27,756
Speaker 1: there are people there playing. And then you also you

471
00:27:27,756 --> 00:27:30,676
Speaker 1: were in my neighborhood in Brooklyn during the George Floyd

472
00:27:30,756 --> 00:27:34,516
Speaker 1: protests and you kind of brought music to those protests.

473
00:27:35,036 --> 00:27:39,196
Speaker 1: So you seem very interested in putting music in different

474
00:27:39,516 --> 00:27:43,756
Speaker 1: social environments. Tell me first, what was it like when

475
00:27:43,796 --> 00:27:47,196
Speaker 1: you started playing at the George Floyd protests in Brooklyn?

476
00:27:47,236 --> 00:27:52,316
Speaker 1: What was that like for you? How did that feel electric? Historic?

477
00:27:53,356 --> 00:27:57,596
Speaker 1: A reckoning? It felt as if there was a collective

478
00:27:58,036 --> 00:28:02,436
Speaker 1: consciousness that was focused on the same thing in a

479
00:28:02,556 --> 00:28:08,716
Speaker 1: rare moment, in a tragic moment, but still very poignant

480
00:28:08,836 --> 00:28:13,556
Speaker 1: to see all of these voices rise up to speak

481
00:28:13,596 --> 00:28:17,916
Speaker 1: to the same thing. In contrast to the division that

482
00:28:17,956 --> 00:28:22,116
Speaker 1: we were seeing and still seeing in the political sphere,

483
00:28:22,876 --> 00:28:26,676
Speaker 1: there was a unity that I hadn't seen or felt,

484
00:28:27,356 --> 00:28:31,676
Speaker 1: And there was also a toxicity to what I was

485
00:28:31,716 --> 00:28:36,636
Speaker 1: seeing on news media and the presentation of these moments.

486
00:28:36,676 --> 00:28:39,716
Speaker 1: Even across the world, there were so many moments of protests,

487
00:28:39,756 --> 00:28:42,916
Speaker 1: it felt unified globally. At the same time, it was

488
00:28:43,236 --> 00:28:47,556
Speaker 1: the synchronicity that I felt it needed, an injection of

489
00:28:47,876 --> 00:28:51,996
Speaker 1: hope that I think about music being the real universal

490
00:28:52,076 --> 00:28:55,076
Speaker 1: force of that. I was just seeing people save their

491
00:28:55,116 --> 00:28:58,596
Speaker 1: destroying thing, police of battling with citizens, and all of

492
00:28:58,636 --> 00:29:01,356
Speaker 1: this violence and all of this rage, and I just

493
00:29:01,396 --> 00:29:04,196
Speaker 1: felt that it was such a beautiful moment of synchronicity

494
00:29:04,556 --> 00:29:08,276
Speaker 1: that if someone with a voice with a platform were

495
00:29:08,356 --> 00:29:12,796
Speaker 1: to rise up and to represent the universality and the

496
00:29:12,836 --> 00:29:16,796
Speaker 1: beauty of this moment through a musical expression, that would

497
00:29:16,796 --> 00:29:19,756
Speaker 1: be very important. That's important to see. From talking to

498
00:29:19,796 --> 00:29:22,836
Speaker 1: people before he passed away, like Congressman John Lewis in

499
00:29:22,876 --> 00:29:25,916
Speaker 1: the way he would express the feeling of when they

500
00:29:25,916 --> 00:29:27,716
Speaker 1: were on the bus in the city ins and they

501
00:29:27,716 --> 00:29:30,276
Speaker 1: would break out into song in the midst of this

502
00:29:30,436 --> 00:29:36,756
Speaker 1: pandemonium and incredible duress of spirit being crushed, they would

503
00:29:36,756 --> 00:29:38,476
Speaker 1: break out in the song and it would be this

504
00:29:38,756 --> 00:29:42,596
Speaker 1: incredible moment of healing and a bob for everyone who

505
00:29:42,636 --> 00:29:45,116
Speaker 1: was there, and also a reckoning of truth to show

506
00:29:45,156 --> 00:29:47,876
Speaker 1: you these are human beings. I didn't even have to think.

507
00:29:47,916 --> 00:29:50,596
Speaker 1: It was just, Oh, this is what social music is about.

508
00:29:50,796 --> 00:29:54,556
Speaker 1: This is what I am saying I represent for all

509
00:29:54,596 --> 00:29:57,036
Speaker 1: these years, and what I believe and I feel to

510
00:29:57,116 --> 00:30:00,356
Speaker 1: my core is the purpose of music in society. And

511
00:30:00,476 --> 00:30:03,836
Speaker 1: moments like this, I literally put on my coat and

512
00:30:03,876 --> 00:30:07,036
Speaker 1: went out the door and called my band and called musicians,

513
00:30:07,036 --> 00:30:09,476
Speaker 1: and because I'm blessed to have a platform and to

514
00:30:09,516 --> 00:30:11,636
Speaker 1: be on telligence all these things that I've been blessed

515
00:30:11,676 --> 00:30:14,476
Speaker 1: with in my career, it was picked up in so

516
00:30:14,516 --> 00:30:16,876
Speaker 1: many ways by many people, and people saw it. It

517
00:30:17,156 --> 00:30:21,076
Speaker 1: really impacted a lot of people. But it's not about me.

518
00:30:21,276 --> 00:30:23,716
Speaker 1: That's just what the music is. That's the truth of

519
00:30:23,796 --> 00:30:28,156
Speaker 1: the music. It also has a galvanizing quality that can

520
00:30:28,236 --> 00:30:33,796
Speaker 1: connect people and ideas and can take emotion and transmutate

521
00:30:33,876 --> 00:30:38,876
Speaker 1: emotion to things that we don't even know but the

522
00:30:38,956 --> 00:30:41,156
Speaker 1: comes from. And John Lewis would always talk about that

523
00:30:41,276 --> 00:30:45,916
Speaker 1: kind of solution based approach to dealing with the rest

524
00:30:45,916 --> 00:30:49,556
Speaker 1: of our times and the inner turmoil that comes with

525
00:30:49,756 --> 00:30:53,676
Speaker 1: that heaviness that we deal with. You're reminding me that

526
00:30:53,956 --> 00:30:56,156
Speaker 1: I was thinking back to the clip of Obama that

527
00:30:56,236 --> 00:30:59,956
Speaker 1: you mentioned in your album when he was singing Amazing Grace.

528
00:31:00,596 --> 00:31:02,476
Speaker 1: It was literally at a point that he'd kind of

529
00:31:02,556 --> 00:31:05,316
Speaker 1: run out of things to say, or he didn't know

530
00:31:05,396 --> 00:31:08,596
Speaker 1: he was a little he was overcome. It's like quite

531
00:31:08,636 --> 00:31:11,596
Speaker 1: a moment for him. I thought, Man, he listened to

532
00:31:11,636 --> 00:31:15,676
Speaker 1: the album, and this is probably one of the greatest

533
00:31:15,676 --> 00:31:19,196
Speaker 1: honors of my life, him reaching out and giving me

534
00:31:19,276 --> 00:31:23,676
Speaker 1: his thoughts on the album and just telling me that

535
00:31:23,716 --> 00:31:28,356
Speaker 1: this album is an important piece of American culture and

536
00:31:28,476 --> 00:31:33,996
Speaker 1: music culture. So to have that reference being the album

537
00:31:35,156 --> 00:31:38,316
Speaker 1: of him singing an Amazing Grace at that church, what

538
00:31:38,476 --> 00:31:40,956
Speaker 1: that means, what this album is in the wake of

539
00:31:41,116 --> 00:31:44,316
Speaker 1: what it represents in the world today, what it represents

540
00:31:44,316 --> 00:31:46,716
Speaker 1: for me personally as a coming of age thirty three

541
00:31:46,796 --> 00:31:50,356
Speaker 1: years old, making this album and then for him to

542
00:31:50,476 --> 00:31:54,116
Speaker 1: reach out full circle to tell me that I sat

543
00:31:54,156 --> 00:31:57,396
Speaker 1: and listened to this album. It deserves all the accolades

544
00:31:57,516 --> 00:32:02,756
Speaker 1: is receiving. This is an incredible expression of our identity

545
00:32:02,756 --> 00:32:05,796
Speaker 1: and ideals as Americans, all these things that are embedded

546
00:32:05,796 --> 00:32:08,636
Speaker 1: in the album. Right, it's not just music. It's album

547
00:32:08,636 --> 00:32:11,676
Speaker 1: about music, yes, but it's what is the expression of

548
00:32:11,796 --> 00:32:14,316
Speaker 1: music being used for at its highest and best use

549
00:32:14,396 --> 00:32:19,196
Speaker 1: throughout all time. Wow, you're talking so much about social

550
00:32:19,316 --> 00:32:24,716
Speaker 1: music and music in these different places with bringing people together.

551
00:32:25,556 --> 00:32:28,516
Speaker 1: But you did it during the pandemic. Right, you wrote

552
00:32:28,516 --> 00:32:32,636
Speaker 1: this mainly in twenty nineteen. What was it like when

553
00:32:32,636 --> 00:32:34,996
Speaker 1: you were writing some of these songs and creating some

554
00:32:35,036 --> 00:32:39,756
Speaker 1: of this music. Were you imagining different environments? I know,

555
00:32:39,996 --> 00:32:41,716
Speaker 1: I think the song I Need You, you said, was

556
00:32:41,756 --> 00:32:44,796
Speaker 1: about the the Chitland circuit. Did each song have a

557
00:32:44,876 --> 00:32:48,596
Speaker 1: kind of social place for you in your brain? Yeah?

558
00:32:48,676 --> 00:32:55,076
Speaker 1: You know that baseline? Sure don't. Don't. You heard that

559
00:32:55,156 --> 00:32:59,836
Speaker 1: song and you hear a history when you hit that

560
00:32:59,916 --> 00:33:03,316
Speaker 1: baseline ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding.

561
00:33:03,476 --> 00:33:09,636
Speaker 1: That that baseline comes with lineage. Uh, It's it's something

562
00:33:09,756 --> 00:33:17,756
Speaker 1: special about taking things and making them anew by combining

563
00:33:17,796 --> 00:33:22,076
Speaker 1: them with other things that they maybe haven't met yet

564
00:33:22,796 --> 00:33:26,076
Speaker 1: or haven't met in that way, and then also taking

565
00:33:26,076 --> 00:33:31,436
Speaker 1: those elements of things that mean something more and more

566
00:33:31,516 --> 00:33:36,236
Speaker 1: as time progresses, whether it's going into the past and

567
00:33:36,236 --> 00:33:40,796
Speaker 1: finding those things are things that are born today, and

568
00:33:40,916 --> 00:33:45,356
Speaker 1: finding a place for those textures and those colors and

569
00:33:45,836 --> 00:33:49,476
Speaker 1: those sounds and rhythms and melodies and putting them in

570
00:33:49,516 --> 00:33:54,356
Speaker 1: a new context. It's endless. It's incredibly rewarding to be

571
00:33:54,396 --> 00:33:57,156
Speaker 1: able to do that, even if nobody hears it. A

572
00:33:57,356 --> 00:33:59,556
Speaker 1: song like I Need You, that being my first number

573
00:33:59,556 --> 00:34:04,276
Speaker 1: one radio song ever, you know, shocking. I was not

574
00:34:04,356 --> 00:34:07,636
Speaker 1: thinking about that when I was making that song. I

575
00:34:07,716 --> 00:34:10,596
Speaker 1: was not thinking about that song. Not only just seeing

576
00:34:10,636 --> 00:34:14,276
Speaker 1: the video the views a mind blowing for me, staggering

577
00:34:14,316 --> 00:34:18,036
Speaker 1: to see that, but to see folks make videos of

578
00:34:18,116 --> 00:34:23,836
Speaker 1: themselfs dancing, doing their own dance routines to the song

579
00:34:24,596 --> 00:34:27,756
Speaker 1: and sending it to me and posting it online. All

580
00:34:27,756 --> 00:34:31,636
Speaker 1: these things like that for what it represents mind blowing.

581
00:34:32,316 --> 00:34:34,676
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite video that someone is sent

582
00:34:34,756 --> 00:34:37,796
Speaker 1: in the favorite thing that I remember over the pandemic,

583
00:34:38,236 --> 00:34:42,396
Speaker 1: we did these dance parties. It's dance gatherings, really host

584
00:34:42,436 --> 00:34:45,356
Speaker 1: these things online and folks from all over the world

585
00:34:45,396 --> 00:34:47,276
Speaker 1: were tune in. Would go online. I would go on

586
00:34:47,396 --> 00:34:51,956
Speaker 1: live and I would dance with people playing the song,

587
00:34:52,156 --> 00:34:56,316
Speaker 1: playing other songs, just for hours at a time, two

588
00:34:56,316 --> 00:35:00,836
Speaker 1: to three hours, dancing on Sundays, and people would tune in.

589
00:35:00,876 --> 00:35:02,876
Speaker 1: I would add them to the screen and we would

590
00:35:02,956 --> 00:35:05,596
Speaker 1: dance together for a song. I remember there was a

591
00:35:05,636 --> 00:35:08,516
Speaker 1: moment that was somebody in Brazil. Then there was somebody

592
00:35:08,676 --> 00:35:12,476
Speaker 1: who would in Seattle or San Francisco, and then there

593
00:35:12,556 --> 00:35:15,956
Speaker 1: was somebody who was dancing in London or something, and

594
00:35:16,636 --> 00:35:20,556
Speaker 1: it was just incredible, just like there were like dancing

595
00:35:20,596 --> 00:35:23,716
Speaker 1: outside on the balcony it was nighttime, and then the

596
00:35:23,756 --> 00:35:26,116
Speaker 1: other people dancing outside in the car, They're like, oh,

597
00:35:26,156 --> 00:35:28,676
Speaker 1: he added us to the live and they stopped the

598
00:35:28,716 --> 00:35:31,236
Speaker 1: car on the side of the road, jumped out. Somebody's

599
00:35:31,276 --> 00:35:33,476
Speaker 1: holding the phone and they would taking turns. It's just

600
00:35:33,516 --> 00:35:38,316
Speaker 1: such a beautiful expression in a moment where all we

601
00:35:38,436 --> 00:35:41,516
Speaker 1: see is this kind of darkness and people are talking

602
00:35:41,556 --> 00:35:44,396
Speaker 1: about isolation, and we got to hold onto our humanity

603
00:35:44,396 --> 00:35:48,036
Speaker 1: and not let the emotions that can overwhelm us take

604
00:35:48,076 --> 00:35:51,556
Speaker 1: our humanity and strip it away. We'll be right back

605
00:35:51,556 --> 00:35:59,036
Speaker 1: with more from John Batiste. After a quick break, we're

606
00:35:59,076 --> 00:36:02,236
Speaker 1: back with the rest of Bruce Hedlum's conversation with John Batiste.

607
00:36:02,756 --> 00:36:05,356
Speaker 1: You were talking about trying to put together, you know,

608
00:36:05,476 --> 00:36:09,796
Speaker 1: that little bassline with different kinds of music. It makes

609
00:36:09,796 --> 00:36:13,076
Speaker 1: me think that, you know, the New Orleans piano player

610
00:36:13,476 --> 00:36:16,596
Speaker 1: that you remind me of a lot is James Booker.

611
00:36:17,116 --> 00:36:19,636
Speaker 1: Was he an influence on you, you know, because he

612
00:36:19,676 --> 00:36:22,756
Speaker 1: was a guy who brought in classical elements and when

613
00:36:22,796 --> 00:36:24,996
Speaker 1: he starts playing, you're never sure where it's gonna go.

614
00:36:25,036 --> 00:36:27,876
Speaker 1: And that's a bit the same with you. Well, James

615
00:36:27,876 --> 00:36:30,756
Speaker 1: Booker was somebody who was an unsung genius. He was

616
00:36:31,076 --> 00:36:34,036
Speaker 1: a pianist who played at the Maple Leaf where Troy

617
00:36:34,076 --> 00:36:36,276
Speaker 1: and I played when we were in high school. His

618
00:36:36,436 --> 00:36:39,036
Speaker 1: piano was in the corner at the maple Leaf. Is

619
00:36:39,596 --> 00:36:43,236
Speaker 1: presence was around even before I realized how big an

620
00:36:43,236 --> 00:36:45,836
Speaker 1: influence he would be. This Maple Leaf bar is where

621
00:36:45,876 --> 00:36:49,476
Speaker 1: he recorded some of his live albums. Spider on the Keys,

622
00:36:49,556 --> 00:36:51,676
Speaker 1: which was recorded at the Maple Leaf, was an album.

623
00:36:51,676 --> 00:36:53,756
Speaker 1: When I started playing at the Maple Leaf with Troy,

624
00:36:54,796 --> 00:36:57,556
Speaker 1: my dad gave me this record and Spider on the

625
00:36:57,636 --> 00:36:59,196
Speaker 1: Keys he played it for me. He's like, man, just

626
00:36:59,276 --> 00:37:01,716
Speaker 1: listen to this cat. And I started listening to it,

627
00:37:01,756 --> 00:37:03,596
Speaker 1: and I started kind of stealing things. You know, he

628
00:37:03,636 --> 00:37:20,196
Speaker 1: had this that kind of you know, that little little

629
00:37:20,276 --> 00:37:23,276
Speaker 1: love feeling to his plan. I started copying that and

630
00:37:23,316 --> 00:37:25,396
Speaker 1: all a lot of stuff I would cop just take

631
00:37:25,996 --> 00:37:30,196
Speaker 1: and and absorb. And then folks started telling me around

632
00:37:30,196 --> 00:37:33,156
Speaker 1: the town. You know the novels are different musicians who

633
00:37:33,436 --> 00:37:36,476
Speaker 1: I admired, looked up to, and uh, they knew Booker.

634
00:37:36,596 --> 00:37:38,996
Speaker 1: It would be like, man, you're like little Booker. I'm

635
00:37:39,076 --> 00:37:40,956
Speaker 1: fourteen fifteen at the time. They were like, man, you

636
00:37:41,356 --> 00:37:43,836
Speaker 1: got you got the hands like too. And then they're like, man,

637
00:37:43,876 --> 00:37:47,516
Speaker 1: you look like I had a few musicians over the

638
00:37:47,596 --> 00:37:53,876
Speaker 1: years that seems there's a magnetism from them being in

639
00:37:53,916 --> 00:37:56,076
Speaker 1: the world and not being here anymore, and then me

640
00:37:56,196 --> 00:37:58,716
Speaker 1: being here, and there's a magnetism to their art and

641
00:37:58,716 --> 00:38:01,876
Speaker 1: the things they left behind. The Loneus Monk was also

642
00:38:01,916 --> 00:38:03,996
Speaker 1: like that too. When I was nineteen, I listened to

643
00:38:04,036 --> 00:38:07,396
Speaker 1: him exclusively for almost a year and it was just something.

644
00:38:07,436 --> 00:38:10,036
Speaker 1: It was a magnetism to his music and his piano playing.

645
00:38:10,716 --> 00:38:13,036
Speaker 1: There's like a handful of musicians like that where it

646
00:38:13,076 --> 00:38:17,796
Speaker 1: feels like something is pulling me toward their work. Are

647
00:38:17,836 --> 00:38:21,036
Speaker 1: there a lot of New Orleans pianists in that list

648
00:38:21,076 --> 00:38:23,036
Speaker 1: for you? Like, are you the kind of guy that

649
00:38:23,076 --> 00:38:26,036
Speaker 1: we would hear like do we hear any Professor long

650
00:38:26,116 --> 00:38:28,956
Speaker 1: Hair in the way you play? Or do we hear

651
00:38:29,036 --> 00:38:32,556
Speaker 1: like Jack Dupree or any of these kind of guys. Yeah,

652
00:38:32,596 --> 00:38:36,156
Speaker 1: I think there's a natural bond to all of the

653
00:38:36,276 --> 00:38:39,716
Speaker 1: musicians who come from the community. You don't have to

654
00:38:39,756 --> 00:38:42,356
Speaker 1: study them to have that in your plane well book.

655
00:38:42,476 --> 00:38:46,156
Speaker 1: It was an added level. It was an added kindredness

656
00:38:46,316 --> 00:38:48,196
Speaker 1: that whether he was from New Orleans or I was

657
00:38:48,236 --> 00:38:50,756
Speaker 1: from New Orleans or not, whether he was from Omaha

658
00:38:50,796 --> 00:38:54,316
Speaker 1: and I was from Japan, there's a kindredness to his

659
00:38:54,356 --> 00:38:57,956
Speaker 1: approach to music that's more genetic, it's more innate. Nina

660
00:38:57,996 --> 00:39:01,316
Speaker 1: Simone is another one. It's incredible what happens when I

661
00:39:01,396 --> 00:39:03,956
Speaker 1: listen to them. It's almost like when I'm listening to

662
00:39:03,996 --> 00:39:06,636
Speaker 1: them on the rector, because I can become them, or

663
00:39:07,036 --> 00:39:10,636
Speaker 1: it I can be in them mind. It's a really

664
00:39:10,756 --> 00:39:12,996
Speaker 1: weird feeling that I don't know how to describe other

665
00:39:13,036 --> 00:39:17,036
Speaker 1: than that, But yeah, Professor long Hair was he I

666
00:39:17,036 --> 00:39:19,156
Speaker 1: wouldn't say, he's on that list for me in terms

667
00:39:19,156 --> 00:39:22,876
Speaker 1: of that feeling, But as far as influential figures, him

668
00:39:22,916 --> 00:39:27,036
Speaker 1: and Lewis Armstrong were probably the two most mythological figures

669
00:39:27,036 --> 00:39:30,756
Speaker 1: from hometown who I knew before I even knew. Yeah,

670
00:39:30,796 --> 00:39:34,516
Speaker 1: you know, you hear every Martyr. I remember vividly. It

671
00:39:34,556 --> 00:39:37,476
Speaker 1: was like a lightning ball struck me when I heard

672
00:39:37,916 --> 00:39:41,756
Speaker 1: the Marty gral Ad come on TV, and it was

673
00:39:41,876 --> 00:39:44,436
Speaker 1: every year they would play a Marty gar Ad for

674
00:39:44,436 --> 00:39:46,116
Speaker 1: a few years. When I was a kid of Big

675
00:39:46,196 --> 00:39:49,316
Speaker 1: Chief and that's a professor long hair standard and this

676
00:39:49,476 --> 00:39:58,676
Speaker 1: piano like the that when that kid, oh, and then

677
00:39:58,676 --> 00:40:04,556
Speaker 1: when he went like that moment, I was like, what

678
00:40:04,796 --> 00:40:07,076
Speaker 1: is that? And I wasn't even really thinking about a

679
00:40:07,156 --> 00:40:10,116
Speaker 1: musician perspective for myself. I wasn't thinking to myself as

680
00:40:10,156 --> 00:40:12,436
Speaker 1: a musician at the time at all. I wasn't trying

681
00:40:12,436 --> 00:40:15,196
Speaker 1: to be a musician. It was just something about that

682
00:40:15,196 --> 00:40:19,796
Speaker 1: that was just so communicative. It sounded like a party

683
00:40:19,796 --> 00:40:22,796
Speaker 1: in second line in Marty Row and Walls. It sounded

684
00:40:22,876 --> 00:40:25,836
Speaker 1: like so much without having any words attached to it,

685
00:40:25,916 --> 00:40:28,596
Speaker 1: just that liberal Lanklin or I just knew exactly what

686
00:40:28,676 --> 00:40:33,476
Speaker 1: he meant, what did you hear in Nina Simone's playing

687
00:40:33,916 --> 00:40:36,596
Speaker 1: that grabbed you? Are there parts of her technique and

688
00:40:36,676 --> 00:40:42,476
Speaker 1: what you do well, Her approach to music, her wanted

689
00:40:42,516 --> 00:40:45,356
Speaker 1: to be a classical pianist and not being able to

690
00:40:45,396 --> 00:40:49,916
Speaker 1: really achieve that dream. But her synthesis of classical and

691
00:40:49,956 --> 00:40:54,196
Speaker 1: blues and soul and gospel and jazz, all of these

692
00:40:54,236 --> 00:40:57,476
Speaker 1: different things she's connected the dots with and her plan

693
00:40:58,076 --> 00:41:01,556
Speaker 1: really connected with me and my approach naturally, just based

694
00:41:01,636 --> 00:41:03,836
Speaker 1: upon how I think about music and how I play.

695
00:41:04,116 --> 00:41:06,796
Speaker 1: But what really connected me most with her as her voice.

696
00:41:07,356 --> 00:41:09,676
Speaker 1: When I started to really sing and hear her voice

697
00:41:09,676 --> 00:41:12,316
Speaker 1: in my voice, there would be moments where it would

698
00:41:12,356 --> 00:41:15,676
Speaker 1: sound like the same person in her essence. Watching her

699
00:41:15,716 --> 00:41:19,276
Speaker 1: perform I remember I watched some of her live performances

700
00:41:19,956 --> 00:41:22,836
Speaker 1: when I was in college. I was about to do

701
00:41:23,076 --> 00:41:26,276
Speaker 1: some performances in Central Park I think it was maybe

702
00:41:26,316 --> 00:41:31,396
Speaker 1: a Mount Morris Park, and there was some footage that's

703
00:41:31,436 --> 00:41:34,276
Speaker 1: now actually been made into a documentary. There was a

704
00:41:34,276 --> 00:41:36,276
Speaker 1: friend of mine who had these archives or tapes. I

705
00:41:36,276 --> 00:41:37,916
Speaker 1: don't even know how he got him, but he showed

706
00:41:37,916 --> 00:41:40,196
Speaker 1: me that performance that just struck me. I was like,

707
00:41:40,196 --> 00:41:44,796
Speaker 1: oh wow, in her voice, her tone, and there's a

708
00:41:44,836 --> 00:41:47,636
Speaker 1: relationship in her tone, in the way she plays the piano,

709
00:41:47,716 --> 00:41:51,156
Speaker 1: in her essence that really is connected to how I

710
00:41:51,156 --> 00:41:54,396
Speaker 1: feel about music. I've heard you say that your piano

711
00:41:54,396 --> 00:41:58,556
Speaker 1: playing was influenced a lot by Hendrix. Is that true? Yeah?

712
00:41:58,636 --> 00:42:01,436
Speaker 1: How do you translate kind of what he did to

713
00:42:01,796 --> 00:42:05,196
Speaker 1: the piano? That fascinates me if you listen to him.

714
00:42:05,236 --> 00:42:08,156
Speaker 1: He was really a blues musician if you want to

715
00:42:08,196 --> 00:42:10,516
Speaker 1: put him in any genre, which he's not really possible

716
00:42:10,516 --> 00:42:12,276
Speaker 1: to put him in a genre. He was more of

717
00:42:12,316 --> 00:42:16,516
Speaker 1: a blues musician and a rock and roller. And when

718
00:42:16,556 --> 00:42:19,396
Speaker 1: I think about blues and R and B, that's really

719
00:42:19,436 --> 00:42:26,676
Speaker 1: what rock and roll actually was. Chuck Berry, little Richard Fast, Domino,

720
00:42:27,236 --> 00:42:32,036
Speaker 1: these black guys from the South created this rock and

721
00:42:32,156 --> 00:42:36,396
Speaker 1: roll genre that you know, people who are now thinking

722
00:42:36,436 --> 00:42:39,796
Speaker 1: about rock and roll, it is not always connected to that.

723
00:42:39,956 --> 00:42:46,436
Speaker 1: And Jimmy was really the most clear connector of those

724
00:42:46,516 --> 00:42:51,316
Speaker 1: two errors. And it influences me because I come from

725
00:42:51,436 --> 00:42:55,236
Speaker 1: these sounds that are just rooted in the same stuff,

726
00:42:55,396 --> 00:42:57,916
Speaker 1: rooted in the dirt. It's rooted in the blues and

727
00:42:58,116 --> 00:43:01,156
Speaker 1: gospel and R and being sold. And how do you

728
00:43:01,236 --> 00:43:07,916
Speaker 1: make that into a very contemporary modern expression through your instrument,

729
00:43:07,996 --> 00:43:09,956
Speaker 1: not through the style of music you make, the type

730
00:43:09,956 --> 00:43:12,516
Speaker 1: of album you make, but just through your plan. How

731
00:43:12,516 --> 00:43:15,076
Speaker 1: do you express that? And one of his great quotes

732
00:43:15,116 --> 00:43:17,276
Speaker 1: he was talking about I don't play the guitar. I

733
00:43:17,316 --> 00:43:20,756
Speaker 1: played to amplify it, or to amplify it was an invention.

734
00:43:21,116 --> 00:43:25,356
Speaker 1: It was a technological advancement of the time. And you

735
00:43:25,396 --> 00:43:29,156
Speaker 1: know a lot of people play loud and it's brash

736
00:43:29,236 --> 00:43:30,996
Speaker 1: and it's harsh on the ears, and it's just to

737
00:43:31,076 --> 00:43:36,116
Speaker 1: be loud. But he said he would play loud to

738
00:43:36,236 --> 00:43:41,556
Speaker 1: go deeply into the souls of people. And there was

739
00:43:41,596 --> 00:43:44,476
Speaker 1: just a philosophical way he looked at music in his

740
00:43:44,556 --> 00:43:49,556
Speaker 1: instrument and looked at how to make it contemporary while

741
00:43:49,636 --> 00:43:52,436
Speaker 1: still being rooted in all the things that he organically

742
00:43:52,476 --> 00:43:55,516
Speaker 1: came from. That is an influence for me in a

743
00:43:55,596 --> 00:43:57,476
Speaker 1: way that I approached the piano and the way that

744
00:43:57,556 --> 00:44:02,036
Speaker 1: I approach the piano in my songwriting and in my performance.

745
00:44:03,356 --> 00:44:06,156
Speaker 1: I mean, I know what you mean philosophically, but how

746
00:44:06,156 --> 00:44:09,556
Speaker 1: do you he says, he's playing the amplifier. When you

747
00:44:09,556 --> 00:44:12,276
Speaker 1: sit down at the keyboard, are you playing the action?

748
00:44:12,356 --> 00:44:14,996
Speaker 1: Are you thinking of it in a different way? My

749
00:44:15,116 --> 00:44:19,396
Speaker 1: playing fits in all different contexts, which is a rare thing.

750
00:44:20,676 --> 00:44:25,036
Speaker 1: Finding a way to be fully the same as you

751
00:44:25,076 --> 00:44:28,436
Speaker 1: always are in every context is the first step of

752
00:44:28,476 --> 00:44:32,916
Speaker 1: what I've done and still continue to develop with my style.

753
00:44:33,596 --> 00:44:36,476
Speaker 1: And that's something that is not as obvious as you know.

754
00:44:36,676 --> 00:44:40,916
Speaker 1: And I'm playing now through an amplifier, but takes a

755
00:44:40,956 --> 00:44:43,796
Speaker 1: lot of thought and ingenuity to really come up with

756
00:44:44,076 --> 00:44:48,316
Speaker 1: a style that doesn't sound like you're changing hats or

757
00:44:48,836 --> 00:44:52,436
Speaker 1: you're becoming another musician every time you play in another context.

758
00:44:52,916 --> 00:44:57,276
Speaker 1: And that was the first real tangible innovation. If you

759
00:44:57,356 --> 00:44:59,916
Speaker 1: listen to my records, if you listen to my performances,

760
00:44:59,916 --> 00:45:02,796
Speaker 1: like go listen to me playing with my late friend,

761
00:45:03,796 --> 00:45:06,916
Speaker 1: the incredible Mac Miller on his last television performance on

762
00:45:06,916 --> 00:45:10,596
Speaker 1: The Late Show when we did his song Ladders. You know,

763
00:45:10,676 --> 00:45:12,676
Speaker 1: listen to me there, and then listen to me playing

764
00:45:12,676 --> 00:45:15,916
Speaker 1: with Willie Nelson, and then listen to me playing just

765
00:45:16,516 --> 00:45:19,156
Speaker 1: it's a good study, you know. I always trying to

766
00:45:19,196 --> 00:45:23,596
Speaker 1: do this with my friends, my fellow bandmates. Try to

767
00:45:23,636 --> 00:45:26,436
Speaker 1: give them a blindfold test and ask them who's that

768
00:45:26,516 --> 00:45:28,916
Speaker 1: on piano, and they always figure it out. And that

769
00:45:28,956 --> 00:45:30,756
Speaker 1: gives me great joy because I've spent a lot of

770
00:45:30,796 --> 00:45:35,076
Speaker 1: time to find that sound. Right now, that's very interesting.

771
00:45:36,076 --> 00:45:38,796
Speaker 1: There's a lot of Curtis Mayfield on this record. I think,

772
00:45:39,076 --> 00:45:40,396
Speaker 1: you know, I can hear it in to tell the

773
00:45:40,436 --> 00:45:44,796
Speaker 1: truth and adulthood and show me the way particularly were

774
00:45:44,836 --> 00:45:49,236
Speaker 1: you always a fan? Well, that's interesting. I think that

775
00:45:49,316 --> 00:45:54,116
Speaker 1: the combination of singing in the falsetto register and singing

776
00:45:54,276 --> 00:46:00,316
Speaker 1: socially conscious music is something that connects to Curtis because

777
00:46:00,356 --> 00:46:06,076
Speaker 1: he's really one of the most prominent proponents of that approach.

778
00:46:06,916 --> 00:46:09,316
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking of Curtis when I was making in

779
00:46:09,356 --> 00:46:13,036
Speaker 1: the album, although the comparison is the highest honor that

780
00:46:13,076 --> 00:46:16,516
Speaker 1: I could ever hear, because knowing what he represented in

781
00:46:16,556 --> 00:46:19,756
Speaker 1: his time and being a fan of his just generally

782
00:46:19,956 --> 00:46:22,916
Speaker 1: as a fan of music, I really do take that

783
00:46:22,956 --> 00:46:26,116
Speaker 1: as a high compliment and full transparency. I wasn't trying

784
00:46:26,116 --> 00:46:30,836
Speaker 1: to do that. I was more again trying to explore

785
00:46:31,476 --> 00:46:36,116
Speaker 1: my voice and figure out what the best way to

786
00:46:36,276 --> 00:46:41,876
Speaker 1: deliver the messages honestly of each song would be. And

787
00:46:42,516 --> 00:46:46,356
Speaker 1: I think that that's a really cool thing that it

788
00:46:46,436 --> 00:46:49,396
Speaker 1: resonates with you in the space that Curtis resonates with you,

789
00:46:49,836 --> 00:46:53,476
Speaker 1: because in a sense, that's what I was trying to do,

790
00:46:53,916 --> 00:46:57,836
Speaker 1: although not as directly. We haven't even mentioned that you

791
00:46:57,836 --> 00:47:01,436
Speaker 1: want an oscar for the soundtrack to Soul. And part

792
00:47:01,436 --> 00:47:03,996
Speaker 1: of that soundtrack was you did a great cover of

793
00:47:04,196 --> 00:47:07,036
Speaker 1: It's all Right, his great song with the impressions. What

794
00:47:07,116 --> 00:47:11,076
Speaker 1: was that like doing that song? Man? And I loved it.

795
00:47:11,116 --> 00:47:13,516
Speaker 1: I was crying. I was in tears. I was in

796
00:47:14,076 --> 00:47:17,236
Speaker 1: tears because it was just such a heavy time and

797
00:47:17,316 --> 00:47:20,876
Speaker 1: every time I listened to the playback, it really brought

798
00:47:20,916 --> 00:47:23,516
Speaker 1: me tears of joy. I don't know why. I still

799
00:47:23,556 --> 00:47:26,236
Speaker 1: don't know why. And I had the same experience. You know,

800
00:47:26,436 --> 00:47:30,676
Speaker 1: my collaborator on the film creative the movie Soul, and

801
00:47:30,876 --> 00:47:34,076
Speaker 1: the genius behind a lot of Pixar films, Pete Doctor,

802
00:47:34,956 --> 00:47:36,516
Speaker 1: he called me one day and he said he had

803
00:47:36,556 --> 00:47:39,076
Speaker 1: the same experience listening to the work tape. He was

804
00:47:39,116 --> 00:47:40,836
Speaker 1: crying and didn't know why. He was in tears, and

805
00:47:40,876 --> 00:47:43,156
Speaker 1: I was just so moves because and I didn't tell

806
00:47:43,196 --> 00:47:45,716
Speaker 1: him this at the time, but I revealed to you

807
00:47:45,796 --> 00:47:48,556
Speaker 1: that I was. I had the same experience with the recording.

808
00:47:48,596 --> 00:47:51,236
Speaker 1: I don't usually have that emotional connection like that to

809
00:47:51,316 --> 00:47:54,556
Speaker 1: my recordings, but it was something about the you know,

810
00:47:54,636 --> 00:47:58,116
Speaker 1: finishing the record during the pandemic and Curtis's song and

811
00:47:58,236 --> 00:48:01,796
Speaker 1: just what he's sang in the song. When you wake

812
00:48:01,916 --> 00:48:04,836
Speaker 1: up early in the morning feeling sad, like so many

813
00:48:04,876 --> 00:48:07,836
Speaker 1: of us do, just hum a little soul and make

814
00:48:07,996 --> 00:48:12,756
Speaker 1: life your goal, and surely something's got to come to you. See.

815
00:48:12,836 --> 00:48:25,556
Speaker 1: It's all right that that part with those chords, this

816
00:48:25,876 --> 00:48:32,236
Speaker 1: is harblin soul. Make life your goal and join us up.

817
00:48:32,436 --> 00:48:36,836
Speaker 1: That's got to come to you, see it. It's all right,

818
00:48:38,116 --> 00:48:43,876
Speaker 1: you know that what it just it hits you. Man.

819
00:48:43,996 --> 00:48:46,476
Speaker 1: You know, I could go on and on about that song,

820
00:48:46,556 --> 00:48:49,716
Speaker 1: but yeah, man, Now in that context, I was definitely

821
00:48:49,796 --> 00:48:54,916
Speaker 1: thinking about Curtis and trying to uphold the essence of

822
00:48:55,076 --> 00:48:57,636
Speaker 1: that song and the ethos of what he created, but

823
00:48:57,836 --> 00:49:00,156
Speaker 1: make it my own and make it match the film

824
00:49:00,196 --> 00:49:03,196
Speaker 1: and all that. So it was truly a special experience

825
00:49:03,236 --> 00:49:07,916
Speaker 1: finding that balance. M Now, when you play these songs live,

826
00:49:08,476 --> 00:49:11,716
Speaker 1: this is a more our pop oriented album and it's

827
00:49:12,076 --> 00:49:14,436
Speaker 1: more produced in a way than some of your other work.

828
00:49:15,356 --> 00:49:18,036
Speaker 1: And I guess I'm interested in how you balance your

829
00:49:18,156 --> 00:49:22,396
Speaker 1: love of jazz improvisation or improvisation in general. That you

830
00:49:22,476 --> 00:49:26,116
Speaker 1: came through jazz with this idea of kind of more

831
00:49:26,276 --> 00:49:30,076
Speaker 1: formal compositions. How do you think about it? When you're

832
00:49:30,076 --> 00:49:34,636
Speaker 1: playing these songs live, you supersede the expectations and you

833
00:49:34,756 --> 00:49:40,236
Speaker 1: crush them with brilliance. You make that sound easy. Yeah,

834
00:49:40,236 --> 00:49:44,316
Speaker 1: it's not easy. I mean I've almost fainted on stage

835
00:49:44,356 --> 00:49:46,356
Speaker 1: just given them my all. We've done shows over the

836
00:49:46,436 --> 00:49:49,516
Speaker 1: last year, you know, playing Austin City Limits. We did

837
00:49:49,556 --> 00:49:54,036
Speaker 1: an incredible show. We did three hours long show that

838
00:49:54,156 --> 00:49:56,796
Speaker 1: was broadcasting Austins litson. We did the festival that we did,

839
00:49:56,796 --> 00:50:01,396
Speaker 1: all a lot of performances, less to do, two performances

840
00:50:01,396 --> 00:50:06,876
Speaker 1: in Central Park, sixty thousand people performing these songs, performing

841
00:50:07,516 --> 00:50:11,596
Speaker 1: the songs in different parts of the world, through the pandemic,

842
00:50:11,676 --> 00:50:16,676
Speaker 1: somehow still making it happen. And man, every show, I'm

843
00:50:16,716 --> 00:50:20,436
Speaker 1: just giving so much. I got the wardrobe change. Like

844
00:50:20,596 --> 00:50:22,956
Speaker 1: in the tradition of James Brown as one of my

845
00:50:22,996 --> 00:50:26,596
Speaker 1: patron saints of the live show, live experience, where it's

846
00:50:26,596 --> 00:50:31,716
Speaker 1: just a revival. It feels like you're connected to something

847
00:50:32,316 --> 00:50:35,676
Speaker 1: greater than yourself and you're in the audience and it's

848
00:50:35,716 --> 00:50:39,196
Speaker 1: not about me. It's about that feeling prevailing. It's just

849
00:50:39,236 --> 00:50:43,236
Speaker 1: about capturing the people, putting them in this space together

850
00:50:43,716 --> 00:50:48,636
Speaker 1: and experiencing this vibration that is just transcended and if

851
00:50:48,676 --> 00:50:50,596
Speaker 1: if you do that, they're not gonna be worry if

852
00:50:50,596 --> 00:50:53,636
Speaker 1: you didn't do it exactly like the record, I'm interested

853
00:50:53,956 --> 00:50:58,716
Speaker 1: in what you learned about tapping into that frequency, into

854
00:50:58,796 --> 00:51:01,516
Speaker 1: getting that concert experience. Have you learned how to do

855
00:51:01,556 --> 00:51:04,556
Speaker 1: that and how do you approach that well. You talk

856
00:51:04,596 --> 00:51:08,036
Speaker 1: about this being my first kind of very produced pop album,

857
00:51:08,076 --> 00:51:10,116
Speaker 1: and it really is. I say it's my first album

858
00:51:10,236 --> 00:51:15,596
Speaker 1: many senses because my extensive history up to this point

859
00:51:15,636 --> 00:51:19,036
Speaker 1: of doing completely independent album since the album I maybe

860
00:51:19,036 --> 00:51:22,316
Speaker 1: when I was seventeen, and I love that because it

861
00:51:22,356 --> 00:51:24,996
Speaker 1: allowed me to have fifteen years of being a live

862
00:51:25,116 --> 00:51:29,396
Speaker 1: musician as a bandleader, and also the time before that

863
00:51:29,436 --> 00:51:31,916
Speaker 1: when I was a kid in New Orleans playing in bands.

864
00:51:32,516 --> 00:51:35,076
Speaker 1: So when it comes to a live show, I feel

865
00:51:35,116 --> 00:51:37,956
Speaker 1: like I have multiple degrees in how to put on

866
00:51:37,996 --> 00:51:41,196
Speaker 1: a live show. I also have a time in my

867
00:51:41,276 --> 00:51:44,116
Speaker 1: life that I'm blessed to be on TV, which is

868
00:51:44,156 --> 00:51:48,036
Speaker 1: incredible with the genius of Stephen Colbert. But that's also

869
00:51:48,036 --> 00:51:51,516
Speaker 1: putting in perspective. For the last seven years, I haven't

870
00:51:51,516 --> 00:51:55,436
Speaker 1: been able to tour, so when I'm ready to tour,

871
00:51:55,796 --> 00:51:58,996
Speaker 1: and when I'm done with the show, I'm about to

872
00:51:59,036 --> 00:52:01,476
Speaker 1: knock people's socks. So I'm about to blow their lights out.

873
00:52:02,356 --> 00:52:05,356
Speaker 1: You have not seen the fullness of what it is

874
00:52:05,356 --> 00:52:08,276
Speaker 1: that I'm about to bring to the stage. I am

875
00:52:08,396 --> 00:52:10,956
Speaker 1: not worried about that part at all. That's the part

876
00:52:10,996 --> 00:52:13,156
Speaker 1: that I feel like. It's like the that's the one

877
00:52:13,196 --> 00:52:17,676
Speaker 1: two punch, like that's the second punch. That's the like bam,

878
00:52:18,436 --> 00:52:23,556
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, we are ready. I am fully fully ready. Okay, Well,

879
00:52:23,636 --> 00:52:26,476
Speaker 1: this album is. It's a great jab So thank you

880
00:52:26,556 --> 00:52:29,716
Speaker 1: so much for talking. It's been just great. Let's get it.

881
00:52:29,836 --> 00:52:35,156
Speaker 1: Thank you again, yeah baby. Thanks the John Patis for

882
00:52:35,196 --> 00:52:37,596
Speaker 1: talking to us about making his new album. We Are

883
00:52:37,996 --> 00:52:41,276
Speaker 1: and we hope he wins all eleven Grammys that he's

884
00:52:41,356 --> 00:52:43,556
Speaker 1: up for. You can check out a playlist with all

885
00:52:43,596 --> 00:52:47,396
Speaker 1: of our favorite Jompatis songs at broken Record podcast dot com.

886
00:52:47,556 --> 00:52:50,076
Speaker 1: Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube

887
00:52:50,076 --> 00:52:53,196
Speaker 1: dot com slash broken Record Podcast, where we can find

888
00:52:53,276 --> 00:52:55,876
Speaker 1: all of our new episodes. You can follow us on

889
00:52:55,916 --> 00:52:59,196
Speaker 1: Twitter at broken Record. Broken Record is produced with help

890
00:52:59,236 --> 00:53:03,516
Speaker 1: from Leah Rose, Jason Gambrel, Ben Taliday, Eric Sandler, and

891
00:53:03,636 --> 00:53:07,636
Speaker 1: Jennifer Sanchez, with engineering help from Nick Chaffey. Our executive

892
00:53:07,636 --> 00:53:10,636
Speaker 1: producer is Miila Bell Broken Record. It's a production of

893
00:53:10,716 --> 00:53:14,156
Speaker 1: Pushkin Industries. If you love this show and others some Pushkin,

894
00:53:14,316 --> 00:53:18,436
Speaker 1: consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast

895
00:53:18,476 --> 00:53:22,556
Speaker 1: subscription service that offers bonus content an uninterrupted, ad free

896
00:53:22,596 --> 00:53:25,716
Speaker 1: listening for four ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin

897
00:53:25,756 --> 00:53:29,356
Speaker 1: Plus on Apple Podcasts subscriptions, and please remember to share, rate,

898
00:53:29,356 --> 00:53:31,676
Speaker 1: and review us on your podcast. That a theme music's

899
00:53:31,676 --> 00:53:34,156
Speaker 1: by the Great Kenny Beats. I'm justin Richmond.