WEBVTT - Jeff Goldblum Gets Jazzy 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:28.276 Pushkin. I love Jeff Goldblum. Over a fifty year acting career, 0:00:28.476 --> 0:00:32.956 He's played unforgettable roles like the snarky scientist in Jurassic Park, 0:00:33.316 --> 0:00:35.436 he saved the world from an alien invasion with Will 0:00:35.516 --> 0:00:38.796 Smith in Independence Day, and most recently, he was Incredible 0:00:39.036 --> 0:00:42.396 and Thor Ragnarok. Next year he'll being the newest installment 0:00:42.396 --> 0:00:45.276 of Jurassic Park. And Jeff even has his own show 0:00:45.316 --> 0:00:48.156 on Disney Plus. But the one place I didn't expect 0:00:48.196 --> 0:00:51.636 him to show up was in jazz. Jeff Goldblum is 0:00:51.676 --> 0:00:55.716 a surprisingly dedicated jazz pianist. He played a weekly gig 0:00:55.756 --> 0:00:59.196 in La with his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra until 0:00:59.236 --> 0:01:17.916 the pandemic, and he still practices every morning. He's released 0:01:17.916 --> 0:01:21.036 two albums with this band. Their latest is I Shouldn't 0:01:21.116 --> 0:01:24.956 Be telling You This, featuring vocals from Gregory Porter, Fiona Apple, 0:01:25.236 --> 0:01:28.836 Miley Cyrus and Moore. And before you start thinking this 0:01:28.916 --> 0:01:32.476 is just a celebrity vanity project, it's not justin playing 0:01:32.516 --> 0:01:36.036 around for thirty years and clubs and bars. Broken record 0:01:36.036 --> 0:01:38.756 producer Leah Rose and I talked to Jeff on Zoom 0:01:38.796 --> 0:01:41.596 about his career as a musician. He told us about 0:01:41.636 --> 0:01:44.636 how we started playing piano in Pittsburgh. Cocktail lounges at 0:01:44.676 --> 0:01:48.956 fifteen about his morning practice routine, and he tells us 0:01:48.996 --> 0:01:53.316 about meeting two of his heroes, Stevie Wonder and Muhammad Ali. 0:01:57.756 --> 0:02:00.436 This is broken record liner notes for the Digital Age. 0:02:00.636 --> 0:02:08.516 I'm justin Richmondson. Here's Leah Rose and me in conversation 0:02:08.876 --> 0:02:13.316 with Jeff Goldblum. Hi Justin, Hey Hilia Rose, thanks for 0:02:13.396 --> 0:02:17.636 doing this. Oh my pleasure, your kidding. I'm honored and thrilled. Hey, 0:02:17.676 --> 0:02:19.556 I saw. I just was listening to a little bit 0:02:19.596 --> 0:02:24.236 of your podcast with Esperanza Spalding. Yeah, isn't she incredible? 0:02:24.716 --> 0:02:28.356 So incredible? And I met her. I was invited because 0:02:28.396 --> 0:02:31.876 I know a little bit Wayne Shorter and his wife, 0:02:31.916 --> 0:02:34.796 so I so I was invited to their house, to 0:02:34.956 --> 0:02:38.356 his house and saw a little bit of a presentation 0:02:38.436 --> 0:02:41.396 of what they're working on now that their opera. Yeah, 0:02:41.436 --> 0:02:45.036 their opera, and she it just it was great. Yeah. 0:02:45.036 --> 0:02:48.316 And she wears those life Force suits. She has like 0:02:48.436 --> 0:02:50.476 ten of them, and she wears it every single day. 0:02:50.676 --> 0:02:52.316 So she gets that out of the way. She doesn't 0:02:52.316 --> 0:02:54.956 have to worry about how she looks, what she puts on. 0:02:55.596 --> 0:02:58.356 Just like, I think Einstein did that, and my character 0:02:58.396 --> 0:03:01.156 in The Fly did that. I show Gina Davis my 0:03:01.236 --> 0:03:03.996 closet at some point I've got five herring bone jackets 0:03:03.996 --> 0:03:05.876 and I say, yeah, I don't want to have to 0:03:05.876 --> 0:03:08.076 think about what I'm putting on. Yeah, that's like the 0:03:08.116 --> 0:03:12.436 Steve Jobs thing too. Yeah, same thing. Well, oh you 0:03:12.516 --> 0:03:16.596 know all of us, Uh cookie, I'm not like that 0:03:16.676 --> 0:03:19.596 in real life. I'm just kind of a regular thencome 0:03:19.596 --> 0:03:21.916 phoop in real life. Oh come on. Well, I don't 0:03:21.916 --> 0:03:25.396 know about that. But I was at the Grove about 0:03:25.396 --> 0:03:27.476 twelve years ago. Um. It must have been right before 0:03:27.516 --> 0:03:29.476 Christmas time, because they were there was like there's a 0:03:29.516 --> 0:03:31.956 Christmas tree setting up, and I was there and I 0:03:31.996 --> 0:03:34.436 was like, wait a second, it is that Jeff Goldbom 0:03:34.436 --> 0:03:36.836 and you were rehearsing. I wasn't there for the big thing, 0:03:36.876 --> 0:03:38.956 but you were rehearsing earlier in that afternoon. I was like, 0:03:39.436 --> 0:03:43.036 holy shit, he plays Pia and you were like, really good. 0:03:43.236 --> 0:03:45.676 I'll be darned, that's the I know exactly what you're 0:03:45.716 --> 0:03:47.556 talking about. That's the only time we ever played the 0:03:47.676 --> 0:03:50.316 Grove like that, But we played something there and you 0:03:50.316 --> 0:03:53.516 know who else was on that bill? Was Bert backrack, Oh, 0:03:53.556 --> 0:03:56.876 I miss Bert, Yeah, man. They asked us to be 0:03:56.916 --> 0:03:59.996 part of this you know, tree lighting ceremony or Christmas 0:04:00.076 --> 0:04:01.596 eve thing or I don't know what it was where 0:04:01.636 --> 0:04:04.956 we played some Christmas song we just took came out 0:04:04.956 --> 0:04:08.116 with a Christmas song. Now you know you can you 0:04:08.156 --> 0:04:11.476 can law gone and get Winter Wonderland. We do a 0:04:11.556 --> 0:04:15.836 nice little version you know about za. I like that 0:04:15.916 --> 0:04:19.396 what we did? How about that? I later saw you 0:04:19.556 --> 0:04:22.476 at Rockwell, like when did you start performing again? Like 0:04:22.516 --> 0:04:24.836 when did you start getting out and putting a band 0:04:24.836 --> 0:04:28.596 together and playing? About thirty years ago? Now it's been 0:04:28.636 --> 0:04:31.436 three decades where my friend John Mastro and I here's 0:04:31.436 --> 0:04:34.676 what happened. Peter Weller said, hey, let's play out and about. 0:04:34.716 --> 0:04:36.876 We've been fooling around at my house. He plays trump 0:04:36.916 --> 0:04:40.516 a little bit and not nicely, very nicely, and we 0:04:40.636 --> 0:04:43.316 did that, and then he got the idea we should 0:04:43.316 --> 0:04:45.036 play out and about. So we had a there was 0:04:45.396 --> 0:04:48.036 a lovely guitar player that he knew and a place 0:04:48.116 --> 0:04:50.756 that he said they'd let us set our stuff up 0:04:51.036 --> 0:04:53.596 and play during brunch or something like that, and we 0:04:53.596 --> 0:04:56.716 started to play out and about and and then he's 0:04:56.756 --> 0:04:58.396 gone off and done other things, but we had this 0:04:58.516 --> 0:05:02.196 band that grew, and whenever I've not been working, I 0:05:02.356 --> 0:05:06.356 keep doing it. And now it's even before we did 0:05:06.396 --> 0:05:08.516 these records, it's sort of developed. We've been playing at 0:05:08.516 --> 0:05:10.676 this place rock Well where you saw us like for 0:05:10.676 --> 0:05:12.316 the last I don't know, six or seven or eight 0:05:12.396 --> 0:05:14.996 years or something, whenever I'm not working once a week, 0:05:15.436 --> 0:05:18.396 and so as much acting as I do, I've now 0:05:18.596 --> 0:05:21.476 clocked as many hours of so called performance, but it 0:05:21.476 --> 0:05:24.276 always just feels like a hanging out and playing and 0:05:24.316 --> 0:05:26.956 rehearsing publicly, and I just kind of adore it, you know, 0:05:27.036 --> 0:05:30.356 more than anything else. And now it's become a show, 0:05:30.476 --> 0:05:32.956 a show that we do in theaters, big theaters. We 0:05:32.996 --> 0:05:35.796 did the Glastonbury Festival, and go all over and it 0:05:35.876 --> 0:05:40.876 kind of translates itself wherever we go where we play 0:05:41.236 --> 0:05:44.436 stuff that now we kind of cook up and the 0:05:44.436 --> 0:05:48.516 band is really good. And then I do spontaneous games 0:05:48.556 --> 0:05:52.516 and talking and you know, gold bloom stuff with people. 0:05:53.276 --> 0:05:57.396 And why the piano, why is that your instrument of choice? Well, 0:05:58.076 --> 0:05:59.916 I'm not one of those guys who've ever had much 0:05:59.956 --> 0:06:04.996 of a facility for anything else. I like to drum 0:06:05.036 --> 0:06:07.356 on things and I like the piano, and you know, 0:06:07.476 --> 0:06:09.836 to the extent that it's percussive, you know, so I 0:06:09.876 --> 0:06:12.036 like to I like tap dance, and I was always 0:06:12.036 --> 0:06:16.156 interested in making making rhythms, but the piano was just 0:06:16.196 --> 0:06:18.356 something that was around our house. I grew up in 0:06:18.396 --> 0:06:22.036 Pittsburgh and we had a piano there, and then they 0:06:22.116 --> 0:06:25.316 gave us lessons. You know. My mom was dutifully, you know, 0:06:25.556 --> 0:06:29.356 good about exposing us to things that might interest us, 0:06:29.396 --> 0:06:31.556 and she gave us all lessons. My brother had a 0:06:31.596 --> 0:06:34.596 clarinet for a little bit, but we had a piano, 0:06:34.716 --> 0:06:38.236 and I had some facility for it, but we didn't 0:06:38.276 --> 0:06:41.236 know the joys of discipline yet would dread the lessons. 0:06:41.316 --> 0:06:44.156 And Tommy Emil coming over and I hadn't practiced, and 0:06:44.236 --> 0:06:46.076 da da da dadada. But then he gave me a 0:06:46.076 --> 0:06:50.316 piece of music, an arrangement that I learned because I'd 0:06:50.396 --> 0:06:53.036 learned how to read music of Alley Cat and I 0:06:53.196 --> 0:06:59.236 first sort of became aware of syncopation and day that 0:06:59.316 --> 0:07:00.996 kind of thing and just killed me. And I was 0:07:01.036 --> 0:07:03.756 just I'm going to sit here and play and I'm 0:07:03.796 --> 0:07:07.196 going to practice now until I can do this. I 0:07:07.276 --> 0:07:09.756 just love it so much. And then I think Stairway 0:07:09.796 --> 0:07:13.316 to the Stars and Deep Purple were the next two 0:07:13.356 --> 0:07:15.836 things that and that they were chords. You know. I 0:07:15.876 --> 0:07:18.516 had been playing Cherney and you know, just some you know, 0:07:18.796 --> 0:07:22.956 scales things, and uh, but something about those chords just 0:07:23.036 --> 0:07:25.316 got me and I just started to get better and play. 0:07:25.316 --> 0:07:27.956 And then we had fake books around and uh. And 0:07:27.996 --> 0:07:30.596 then I got with his teacher, Frank con Amando in 0:07:30.836 --> 0:07:33.116 Pittsburgh that people may know, and he was great. I 0:07:33.236 --> 0:07:35.036 used to go over to his house. My parents were 0:07:35.356 --> 0:07:38.796 good that way, and he taught me about composition and 0:07:38.836 --> 0:07:42.676 harmony and different voicings and different modes and how to 0:07:42.956 --> 0:07:47.676 possibly improvise to you know, what was going on, and 0:07:47.716 --> 0:07:50.276 I just fell in love with it. Met around fifteen 0:07:50.356 --> 0:07:53.076 years old. I thought I was I'd already set my 0:07:53.116 --> 0:07:55.956 heart on a career in acting, but I, just like 0:07:55.996 --> 0:08:00.076 I do now, had this side parallel passion for piano 0:08:00.116 --> 0:08:03.636 and music and got the talent the Yellow Pages and 0:08:03.676 --> 0:08:07.076 started to go through them, uh cocktail lounges and started 0:08:07.116 --> 0:08:10.476 to call cold call people and say, hey, I understand 0:08:10.476 --> 0:08:12.716 that you you're interested in a pianist, and most of 0:08:12.716 --> 0:08:14.316 them would say, no, we don't have a I don't 0:08:14.316 --> 0:08:16.796 know who this is kid. Well you're you're you're misinformed. 0:08:16.796 --> 0:08:18.476 But a couple of them said, who's this. Yeah, we 0:08:18.556 --> 0:08:20.716 got a piano here nobody's playing. Would come down and 0:08:20.716 --> 0:08:22.476 play it. And I got a couple of gigs that 0:08:22.596 --> 0:08:25.436 way and so amazing. Yeah, I know, just for the 0:08:25.476 --> 0:08:27.516 fun of it. What were you playing? Oh? You know? Well, 0:08:27.556 --> 0:08:29.876 I would bring the fake book with me, like I 0:08:29.996 --> 0:08:33.036 used to do up until recently, really until we really 0:08:33.276 --> 0:08:35.676 kind of honed our repertoire and had something to kind 0:08:35.676 --> 0:08:38.276 of present. And I had a show that which I do, 0:08:38.436 --> 0:08:41.116 which has games and things and it's kind of a 0:08:41.276 --> 0:08:44.436 neat hour three hours actually for me. But at that 0:08:44.556 --> 0:08:47.396 time I just brought a you know, my fake books 0:08:47.436 --> 0:08:50.876 and would just go through them. You know. My dad's 0:08:50.876 --> 0:08:53.596 song favorite song was Misty. You know, he loved Errol 0:08:53.676 --> 0:08:57.036 Garner and exposed me to it early on. I'm still 0:08:57.356 --> 0:09:00.236 crazy about him, you know, and he brought home that album. 0:09:00.276 --> 0:09:02.756 You know, Errol Garner plays Misty, and i'd listen to that, 0:09:02.796 --> 0:09:05.476 so anyway, i'd play that and other things. I think 0:09:05.476 --> 0:09:08.476 I played as you know, Sat and Doll you know, 0:09:08.596 --> 0:09:12.196 probably you're all from Meet Panima, probably you know, anything else, 0:09:12.236 --> 0:09:13.876 And then I would take request, I'd say, you know, 0:09:14.076 --> 0:09:15.396 what do you want me to play? And then I'd 0:09:15.396 --> 0:09:16.956 look it up. I'd see if I have it because 0:09:16.996 --> 0:09:19.916 I could kind of you know, cold rita rita lead sheet, 0:09:19.956 --> 0:09:22.276 you know like that. Were people receptive in these bars? 0:09:22.276 --> 0:09:25.076 I don't imagine Pittsburgh as being like a big jazz town, 0:09:25.076 --> 0:09:26.636 even though I found out a bunch of jazz like 0:09:26.836 --> 0:09:28.916 Are Blak and Arrol are from there. But were they 0:09:28.956 --> 0:09:32.316 receptive when you're playing a mad Jamal, they're different people. Well, 0:09:32.356 --> 0:09:35.236 I don't think the places that I went were serious jazz. 0:09:35.276 --> 0:09:38.356 I don't think they were going expecting to see, you know, 0:09:38.556 --> 0:09:41.996 a mad Jamal or Errol Garner there. But from what 0:09:42.116 --> 0:09:44.076 I gathered, there were places that I should have been 0:09:44.116 --> 0:09:47.076 going to that were serious there. You in Pittsburgh is 0:09:47.116 --> 0:09:50.196 a hot bit of talent, But I didn't know the 0:09:50.436 --> 0:09:52.996 places I went, Like the guys that I got on 0:09:52.996 --> 0:09:54.516 on the other end of the phone, I think they 0:09:54.556 --> 0:09:56.996 were just cocktail lounges and they said, yeah, I come down. 0:09:56.996 --> 0:10:00.436 And so I just saw the people there wanting drinks 0:10:00.476 --> 0:10:04.676 and stuff, and they were receptive plenty. They were receptive enough. 0:10:04.716 --> 0:10:07.316 You know what I thought I was doing? You weren't 0:10:07.356 --> 0:10:11.036 getting you, weren't getting booed. People were appreciative at least listening. 0:10:11.036 --> 0:10:15.156 They seem tickled in some way. You know, at that point, 0:10:15.156 --> 0:10:16.876 did you act at all? Had you done any like 0:10:16.956 --> 0:10:20.876 just little plays around it? Well, around that time I 0:10:21.396 --> 0:10:25.556 had my heart set on acting, because I'd gone to 0:10:25.596 --> 0:10:28.636 Carnegie Mellon University in the between ninth and tenth and 0:10:28.676 --> 0:10:32.156 tenth and eleventh grades for these six weeks summer sessions 0:10:32.436 --> 0:10:35.596 that they had the serious professors of that good school 0:10:35.636 --> 0:10:37.956 and that good program teach these kids do from all 0:10:37.956 --> 0:10:42.476 over the country, and I just felt like I was 0:10:42.596 --> 0:10:45.716 home and had felt and had found my family somehow, 0:10:45.756 --> 0:10:49.276 and was very excited and would write on the steamy 0:10:49.316 --> 0:10:52.236 shower door every morning as I took a shower before school, 0:10:52.436 --> 0:10:55.556 Please God let me be an actor. And then I 0:10:55.916 --> 0:10:58.516 kept it secret. I would wipe it away so nobody 0:10:58.516 --> 0:11:00.596 saw it, because it was just a secret of mine, 0:11:00.636 --> 0:11:03.276 but I would. I was sort of baying at the 0:11:03.316 --> 0:11:05.716 moon about the whole thing. But I hadn't really done 0:11:05.716 --> 0:11:09.516 anything because even the kind of cheesy a thing in 0:11:09.516 --> 0:11:11.916 the high school that I went to, which was sort 0:11:11.956 --> 0:11:15.236 of provincial in some ways, you know, they did Oklahoma 0:11:15.316 --> 0:11:18.316 or something like that, but I kind of didn't participate. 0:11:18.356 --> 0:11:21.676 I was stupidly not, you know, kind of thought I 0:11:21.836 --> 0:11:25.116 was had other other notions and this and that, and 0:11:25.716 --> 0:11:28.116 as soon as I could get out at seventeen, I graduated, 0:11:28.396 --> 0:11:31.116 went to New York somehow and got to the Neighborhood 0:11:31.156 --> 0:11:33.756 Playhouse where Sandy Meisner, a great acting teacher, was teaching, 0:11:33.916 --> 0:11:36.076 and that's when I started to do it, but still 0:11:36.116 --> 0:11:39.716 hadn't really done anything studied that year, and then in 0:11:39.716 --> 0:11:43.876 between the first and second year, I fell into, by 0:11:43.916 --> 0:11:46.796 a fluke, a production of my first job, and the 0:11:46.836 --> 0:11:49.196 first thing I didn't even go up for. They called 0:11:49.236 --> 0:11:51.156 the school, in fact, said did you have anybody tall? 0:11:51.676 --> 0:11:53.716 It could be a guard in this thing. We're doing 0:11:53.756 --> 0:11:56.716 this musical version of Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Galt McDermott, 0:11:56.716 --> 0:12:00.956 who wrote Hair along with Jerome Ragney, wrote the music 0:12:00.956 --> 0:12:03.956 to it, is doing the music to it, and John 0:12:04.036 --> 0:12:07.316 Guare's a great playwright, is adapting to Shakespeare and rel 0:12:07.476 --> 0:12:10.036 Julie was in it, and then added I got the part, 0:12:10.076 --> 0:12:11.836 and I joined that, it was in the it was 0:12:11.876 --> 0:12:14.436 in the chorus, and this and that and played in 0:12:14.476 --> 0:12:16.756 the pit. I used to go down play piano. When 0:12:16.796 --> 0:12:20.636 I was down there and in the pit was Thad Jones. Wow, 0:12:20.956 --> 0:12:22.716 would be in the pit. You know, all these guys 0:12:22.716 --> 0:12:26.316 take a little stints and in Broadway or orchestra pitch sometimes. 0:12:26.396 --> 0:12:28.596 And I had seen him because my dad the jazz fan. 0:12:28.836 --> 0:12:31.796 We'd gone to Atlantic City from Pittsburgh. We'd driven to 0:12:31.876 --> 0:12:35.556 Atlantic City like we used to do several years, and 0:12:36.236 --> 0:12:38.156 like on the steel pier or something, there was some 0:12:38.396 --> 0:12:40.796 he said, I, Hey, I see that Thad Jones mill 0:12:40.916 --> 0:12:42.836 Lewis are playing. We got to go see them. So 0:12:42.876 --> 0:12:45.396 I saw them and they're big band live. I can 0:12:45.436 --> 0:12:47.756 still remember it. Anyway. Then I saw him. I was like, hey, 0:12:47.796 --> 0:12:49.236 I saw you and did I did? I play a 0:12:49.236 --> 0:12:51.556 little And so I was playing with these guys, you know, 0:12:51.636 --> 0:12:54.316 with a lot of moxie. Was Gald McDermot down in 0:12:54.316 --> 0:12:57.196 the pit two Gold McDermot. Do you know? No, he would? 0:12:57.196 --> 0:12:58.716 You know? Like that was a Broadway show. Was the 0:12:58.716 --> 0:13:01.596 biggest hit of Shakespeare Festival that ever had and because 0:13:01.676 --> 0:13:04.316 a big story that summer at the Delacourt outside and 0:13:04.356 --> 0:13:06.316 then we went to the Saint James Theater. I was 0:13:06.356 --> 0:13:08.756 there for a year, understayed one of the bigger parts, 0:13:08.756 --> 0:13:11.956 and no, the composer of it. I think they check 0:13:12.036 --> 0:13:14.956 in on it probably, sure, you know, even unbeknownst to 0:13:15.036 --> 0:13:21.396 us sometimes. But no, No, my friend Tom Pearson was conducting, 0:13:21.516 --> 0:13:24.476 and oh do you know who else was in that 0:13:24.516 --> 0:13:28.756 pit for a while who played drums? Bernard Party? Do 0:13:28.796 --> 0:13:31.236 you know Bernard Party? We were supposed to interview him 0:13:31.276 --> 0:13:35.236 for this, Well, this is nineteen seventy one, and he was, 0:13:36.356 --> 0:13:39.916 you know, in his full flush of his of his 0:13:40.076 --> 0:13:44.076 brilliant tendencies, having played for Aretha Franklin with Aretha Jeez, 0:13:44.276 --> 0:13:47.636 Bernard Party, how about that? So did you talk to 0:13:47.676 --> 0:13:50.316 these guys and sort of asked them like lean advice 0:13:50.516 --> 0:13:53.516 or you know? I was stupid, like I've always been 0:13:53.596 --> 0:13:56.076 kind of stupid. I kind of am like zelling in 0:13:56.116 --> 0:13:57.796 some way. I kind of would show up and just 0:13:57.876 --> 0:14:00.956 had a lucky, you know, intersection with some of these types. 0:14:00.996 --> 0:14:05.836 But unlike now where I wouldn't get really hip. I 0:14:05.956 --> 0:14:09.316 was sort of just sort of stupid. And now go 0:14:09.356 --> 0:14:11.716 on IMDb, you can use you know, Wikipedia. Before I 0:14:11.756 --> 0:14:15.556 have meetings, I go and work with people. I go, She's, 0:14:15.556 --> 0:14:18.956 oh right, I know them. But there are all sorts 0:14:18.996 --> 0:14:20.676 of stories that I can tell you about actors that 0:14:20.716 --> 0:14:23.596 I've worked with, and including that Jones and Bernard Purty, 0:14:23.636 --> 0:14:27.996 who I barely realized how lucky I was, you know, 0:14:28.236 --> 0:14:31.156 likewise with many actors. But now that's why I kind 0:14:31.156 --> 0:14:35.516 of go, I hope it's not a violation of protocol. 0:14:35.596 --> 0:14:39.356 But I I find out about you do some research. Yeah, 0:14:39.396 --> 0:14:42.116 I do my research, and I say, oh, and I'm 0:14:42.116 --> 0:14:45.756 then I asked them my question. It's so cool so 0:14:45.756 --> 0:14:48.956 early on, So those early performances at like Pittsburgh Bars, 0:14:48.956 --> 0:14:52.996 those are your first public performances ever, Yeah, you could 0:14:52.996 --> 0:14:56.116 say that. I guess. I guess. So that's right. It's 0:14:56.156 --> 0:14:58.436 so strange. It's so funny that that was your you. 0:14:58.436 --> 0:15:00.516 You know, you go on to act, and acting was 0:15:00.556 --> 0:15:02.796 really your main the main thing you were after. But 0:15:02.836 --> 0:15:06.556 then the earliest public display of Jeff Goldblum is is 0:15:06.676 --> 0:15:09.916 playing piano. Yeah, that's right. As first. That's why it 0:15:09.956 --> 0:15:12.356 feels natural now. And it was always just for fun. 0:15:12.396 --> 0:15:15.956 I never had any kind of identity investment in it, 0:15:15.996 --> 0:15:19.596 like or career ism about it. I was just like, hey, 0:15:19.756 --> 0:15:21.596 I just want to do this, this is fun. And 0:15:21.676 --> 0:15:24.676 still that's kind of how this whole thing has happened 0:15:24.796 --> 0:15:28.396 now and it just changes my days in my life. 0:15:28.876 --> 0:15:31.356 Every day, like this morning, I get up and play 0:15:31.356 --> 0:15:33.316 for about an hour. It's one of the first things 0:15:33.316 --> 0:15:35.116 I do before the kids get up. And around five 0:15:35.476 --> 0:15:38.436 am or six am, I work out here and I 0:15:38.476 --> 0:15:41.076 play piano and I work on my lines for Jurassic World. 0:15:41.076 --> 0:15:43.396 At this point I got a part to work on, 0:15:43.436 --> 0:15:45.476 so I get all my homework done them very now. 0:15:45.476 --> 0:15:47.956 I know what it's like to be disciplined and how 0:15:47.996 --> 0:15:51.076 that can bear fruit, and so I just play and 0:15:51.116 --> 0:15:53.756 it changes my day. It's music is as much a 0:15:54.276 --> 0:15:58.316 meditation and a tonic for me as anything that I do, 0:15:58.476 --> 0:16:00.756 and I just adore it. And then playing out and 0:16:00.796 --> 0:16:03.716 about which is kind of developed now and making these 0:16:03.756 --> 0:16:07.516 records is just as sweet a thing as you know. 0:16:07.516 --> 0:16:09.316 It could have happened to a fellow here on Earth. 0:16:10.156 --> 0:16:12.676 We'll be back with more from Jeff Goldbloom. After a 0:16:12.756 --> 0:16:20.196 quick break. We're back with more from Jeff Goldbloom, who's 0:16:20.236 --> 0:16:23.756 talking about his skilled band mates in the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. 0:16:24.876 --> 0:16:26.716 How is it playing with those guys because you didn't 0:16:26.716 --> 0:16:29.116 go to I mean a lot of your band like Berkeley, 0:16:29.196 --> 0:16:31.596 and you know they played another great players they all 0:16:31.636 --> 0:16:34.116 went there. They're all to all those places and their 0:16:34.356 --> 0:16:37.876 their masters and they teach and they're they're great for me. 0:16:38.356 --> 0:16:41.076 Uh No, it's just a great playing with all those guys, 0:16:41.116 --> 0:16:43.476 you know. And now what I do every morning actually 0:16:43.836 --> 0:16:45.836 is from the last album, which is what we're gonna 0:16:45.916 --> 0:16:48.636 be playing when we do it, I hope live again 0:16:48.916 --> 0:16:51.516 soon is we're gonna be doing a lot of that stuff. 0:16:51.556 --> 0:16:54.796 So I put on the album and play along with 0:16:55.636 --> 0:16:58.556 the songs plus several other things that we're cooking up 0:16:58.596 --> 0:17:01.916 that we that are currently in our back burner. But 0:17:01.956 --> 0:17:04.276 I play all of it every day. I go through 0:17:04.316 --> 0:17:05.636 that whole album and play all of it. You go 0:17:05.636 --> 0:17:08.156 through your most recent record and play along yep, wow, 0:17:08.236 --> 0:17:11.316 yep yep. Every day with Miley Cyrus and Creona Apple 0:17:11.396 --> 0:17:14.836 and Sharon van Etton and Anna Calvia everybody and aar 0:17:14.956 --> 0:17:18.116 George and a great reporter. Every single day I play, 0:17:18.556 --> 0:17:20.756 you know, at least once in the morning. You know, 0:17:20.916 --> 0:17:23.956 makes some unhappy. I'm getting better, I tell you. Do 0:17:23.956 --> 0:17:25.796 You almost wish you could rerecord the album. Do you 0:17:25.836 --> 0:17:28.276 feel like you're getting it under your fingers better? Oh? Yeah. 0:17:28.316 --> 0:17:30.036 At the time we did the album, you know, we 0:17:30.076 --> 0:17:32.636 had just come up with these arrangements. And the first 0:17:32.636 --> 0:17:34.836 album with something Else, we did this kind of you know, 0:17:35.036 --> 0:17:38.996 effects simile of our rockwell date and was very spontaneous 0:17:38.996 --> 0:17:41.036 in the songs we played. You know. We had maybe 0:17:41.036 --> 0:17:44.156 a couple of takes, but we was whatever came out, 0:17:44.196 --> 0:17:46.156 you know, And so I was kind of it was 0:17:46.196 --> 0:17:49.276 however we did it. But we arranged these a little 0:17:49.316 --> 0:17:53.276 more complicatedly and sophisticatedly, and I had something to learn 0:17:53.356 --> 0:17:56.516 on them, and I was just getting my sea legs 0:17:56.596 --> 0:18:00.196 on most of them as we recorded them and kind 0:18:00.236 --> 0:18:04.236 of reading and turning pages and getting them done. But 0:18:04.356 --> 0:18:07.396 now I know all of them. I keep investigating them 0:18:07.436 --> 0:18:10.036 every day and do different things every day with them. 0:18:10.076 --> 0:18:12.516 But oh yeah, they're more under my fingers for sure. 0:18:12.876 --> 0:18:14.876 How do you go about choosing the vocalists that you 0:18:14.916 --> 0:18:16.956 work with. Is there a type of voice that you 0:18:16.996 --> 0:18:20.956 feel especially drawn to. Well, we had a wish list, 0:18:20.956 --> 0:18:24.196 and we have many people I do and the band did. 0:18:24.356 --> 0:18:29.156 I started defer sometimes to them. They know who they 0:18:29.236 --> 0:18:33.356 like and I love their taste. But I was crazy 0:18:33.396 --> 0:18:36.156 about all these people that we worked with. Greg Reporter, 0:18:36.676 --> 0:18:39.116 you know, I is kind of the way we got 0:18:39.116 --> 0:18:43.156 hooked up with Decca. I was promoting for that movie 0:18:43.156 --> 0:18:46.076 a few years ago and I did the Graham Norton 0:18:46.116 --> 0:18:50.636 Show in London and Greg Reporter was the musical guest, 0:18:51.356 --> 0:18:54.836 and he was promoting that Nat King Cole album and 0:18:54.916 --> 0:18:58.276 he wanted to sing Mona Lisa and he had done 0:18:58.276 --> 0:18:59.996 it with just a piano player, and said, hey, do 0:19:00.076 --> 0:19:03.356 you want to accompany me on the show? And we 0:19:03.476 --> 0:19:07.516 ran through it backstage once and I did. And it 0:19:07.596 --> 0:19:11.716 was because Decca, Tom Lewis, Rebecca Allen saw the show 0:19:11.756 --> 0:19:13.716 and said, hey, maybe we should do something with Jeff 0:19:13.716 --> 0:19:16.316 that that whole thing came about. So anyway, I was 0:19:16.316 --> 0:19:18.676 thrilled that he was on the album and I love 0:19:18.796 --> 0:19:21.716 his voice and we were thinking, gee if he was 0:19:21.756 --> 0:19:23.996 even before he agreed to do it, that I had 0:19:23.996 --> 0:19:27.156 proposed it to him that we said what would he sing? 0:19:27.196 --> 0:19:31.236 What could he sing? Everything he sings? But we like 0:19:31.316 --> 0:19:34.836 this song make someone happy, and it's we can do 0:19:34.876 --> 0:19:36.916 it so slowly that he you know, it could be 0:19:36.996 --> 0:19:40.036 right in his sweet spot. I'm sure enough. I'm just 0:19:40.076 --> 0:19:42.156 crazy about what he did with us. And then the 0:19:42.196 --> 0:19:44.956 other singers you know we were looking for. I think 0:19:44.956 --> 0:19:48.516 we were looking for singers who weren't ordinarily in the 0:19:48.836 --> 0:19:56.436 jazz veins right, and thought that they're brilliant, unique, you know, 0:19:56.876 --> 0:20:00.356 artistry could mash up with us in a way that 0:20:00.396 --> 0:20:03.236 would be unexpected, surprising, And on a lot of those songs, 0:20:03.476 --> 0:20:05.636 as you see, as you know, we mashed up a 0:20:05.636 --> 0:20:08.716 couple of different tunes, you know, jazz tunes to stand 0:20:08.796 --> 0:20:13.396 jazz standards with you know pop tunes. Yeah, the Sidewinder 0:20:13.476 --> 0:20:17.396 with the Beat Goes On. I've listened to the Sidewinder 0:20:17.636 --> 0:20:19.436 so many times. I've listened to Beat Goes On a 0:20:19.476 --> 0:20:21.476 bunch of times and they fit together so well, and 0:20:21.596 --> 0:20:24.116 never it never occurred to me until I listened to 0:20:24.196 --> 0:20:26.996 the record. It's so incredible. Yeah, the guys from the band, 0:20:27.036 --> 0:20:29.676 they all, they all did that. You know, that was 0:20:29.796 --> 0:20:34.836 the same harmonic composition, and you know, I love that. Yeah, 0:20:34.876 --> 0:20:37.316 the Beat goes On with Sidewinder, that at all. We 0:20:37.516 --> 0:20:40.476 played that at gigs before that was in our you 0:20:40.516 --> 0:20:43.236 know sometimes repertoire, and it always drove me crazy. I 0:20:43.316 --> 0:20:46.076 love love that song. It just drives me wild. But 0:20:46.196 --> 0:20:49.916 how about the thrill is Gun that Miley does with 0:20:49.916 --> 0:20:52.716 with Django my brother. One of the records that had 0:20:52.756 --> 0:20:56.036 big influence on me was the modern jazz quartet, the 0:20:56.076 --> 0:21:00.036 records that he would bring home and John Lewis and Django, 0:21:00.156 --> 0:21:03.076 so they knew about that. They they sort of some 0:21:03.196 --> 0:21:06.796 of the band Um Joe Bag and John Story and 0:21:06.836 --> 0:21:09.516 Alex Frank kind of figured out that Jang would be 0:21:09.516 --> 0:21:11.916 good with the thrill is gun. I love that. But 0:21:11.956 --> 0:21:15.076 how about four on six with Broken English? How did that? 0:21:15.116 --> 0:21:18.836