WEBVTT - Harry Connick Jr. 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:05.000 Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:08.240 Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan runt Dog, 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.719 But enough about me. My guest today is many things. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.600 A Grammy winning singer, an actor and Emmy Award winning 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:20.480 TV personality, and perhaps most famously, a piano virtuoso, though 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:22.520 if you call on that to his face, he'll charmingly 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.639 try to deny it. For over thirty five years, his 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:30.280 chart topping musical explorations of helped popularize jazz titans many 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.559 from his beloved hometown of New Orleans, and introduced the 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.760 Great American Songbook to a whole new generation. After decades 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.760 of dazzling millions with his skills on the keys, he's 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.360 here to let fans in on the fun of playing piano, 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:47.519 play being the operative word. On March twenty nine, he's 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.040 launching Piano Party, an online course designed to teach the 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:53.960 basics of piano through lessons he's learned over the course 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:58.160 of his legendary career. Consisting of nine on demand videos 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.880 plus two interactive live session the Piano Party courses are 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.959 meant for all ages and skill levels, so please don't 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.120 be intimidated by all the Grammys, all are welcome. The 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.560 only requirement is that you want to learn and you 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:12.680 want to have a good time. So if you've been 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.080 thinking about taking up the piano, now as your chance 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.480 to learn from one of the best. It's never too late. 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.760 Give it a shot. The Piano Party project is part 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.679 of his new metaverse platform he calls the Neutral Ground. 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.120 It's an online community designed to connect his fans and 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.320 sharing his passion for music, food, and family. We talked 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.200 about that, a little bit of New Orleans jazz, his 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.959 songwriting techniques, and his latest album, Alone with My Faith, 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:42.800 recorded completely solo during the Pandemic Lockdown. I'm so happy 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.839 to welcome Mr Harry Connick Jr. I hope you enjoy 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:53.240 our conversation. When I was first getting into music, I 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:55.680 really wanted to play jazz piano so badly. I mean 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.080 the Coal Porters stuff, Rogerson Heart, the Gershwins, and I 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.440 can play chords, mess around a little bit, but but 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:03.360 nothing flashy. And I'm so happy to talk to you 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.160 today because I feel like there's this conception out there, 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.720 a misconception. I should say that if you don't start 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.240 training for this when you're four or five years old, 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.680 like you and Mozart, it's too late for you. You're 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.640 never gonna wait a hold on a second, there's a 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.360 profound flaw in your conversation with me that we need 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.799 to address. You can't just lump me in with Mozart 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:25.960 right off the bat. I mean seriously, man, it's like 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.920 talk about high expectations. Well, you both started as what 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:33.360 like age four age five only similarity. But I really 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:37.239 appreciate that. Well, I mean it's something I feel like 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.160 a lot of people think that they don't start really 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.120 really early. It's too late for them. They're never gonna 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:42.760 get it, so why bother. And that's what I think 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.639 is so cool about this Piano Party project because it 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.600 really it's so inclusive and it's so for everybody. So 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.400 you're here to tell me that is a that misconception. Really, uh, 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:56.399 we should all put that aside. Yeah, it's really true. Um. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.799 I think that we all have some type of an 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:04.880 eight musical talent, and I think it's different for everyone. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:06.840 I mean, some people say I can never play because 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.600 I'm toned up, or I can never play because I 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.280 can't you know, make my hands work together at the 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.920 same time, or whatever the reasons that they think they 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.639 can't play. Yet at the same time, I think we're 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:23.320 all moved to um to music in some way. It's 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.359 almost like I would love to be a football player, 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.240 and I don't have the natural ability to ever be 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.760 a football player, and I'm too old to ever have 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.800 those dreams come true. But I like throwing a ball 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.880 around and that's really fun. So you know, the whole 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:42.040 idea behind Piano Party was, let's just find some some 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.200 easier ways to get this information to people that's not 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:50.480 quite as um intimidating, and and maybe try to try 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:54.800 to convey some things that like I never thought about this, 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.120 like when I look when I look at a piano keyboard, 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.320 I don't I don't see a D eight key. I 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.960 see these twelve keys that repeat, and that's so basic 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.280 and I don't think about it anymore. But a lot 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.480 of people say, oh, there's so many keys. So the 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.800 very first episode is there's really only twelve and they repeat, 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.000 and if you can just kind of learn those twelve, 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:20.119 which takes about thirty seconds, then you can, oh, that's 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.279 how the piano works. And it just I think it 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.599 makes it more accessible. Oh absolutely, I mean it's for 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.159 for listeners it's a series of nine videos that bring 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.720 the basics of piano to life. And I just think 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:33.400 it's such a cool way to get back to fans 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.240 and empower them because after years of listening to you 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.240 and getting all this joy from you and your music, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.000 it's kind of returning the favor and saying, you know what, 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:42.560 you can do this too. I think it's such a 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.680 cool way to put the power and listen those hands. 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:46.680 It's such a great I think it's neat man, and 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.680 I appreciate that. And you know that I've spent time 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:51.839 talking to people, like, for example, when I talked to 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.040 my kids and I explained to them just the most 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.360 basic stuff. It changes the way they listen to music 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.880 and it opens up a whole different world. And I think, 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.880 you know, scientifically, we know that you know music and 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.400 exposure to music and understanding music can it's good for you. 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.280 It's just good for your brains. So you know, if 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.400 I can help um, you know, expose people to that 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:14.200 that that's really what this is all about. It's not 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.000 about you know, people need to know. This isn't me 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.200 like playing some real complicated New Orleans piano and showing 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.040 you how to do it maybe at some point this 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.720 is about you know, what are these black and white keys? 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:28.360 And how did they function? And it's a it's a 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.800 very basic course that also includes stuff about my personal history, 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.919 and I show off a bunch of my keyboards that 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.560 I have. So it's it's really fun. Yeah, I mean 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.440 that's I feel like fun is the operative word here. 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:41.600 I mean, it's sharing the joy of music. I mean, 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.719 I feel like there's such a prevalent thought of weal 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.600 if you can't, you know, get paid to go do 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.200 it up on stage, and why bother? And well, it's fun, 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.680 it's fun. It's it's it is and you know what 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.520 else Jordan's is um this this is the first thing 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.760 I've ever seen that really exists in the metaverse. And 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:00.960 a lot of people get peaked out by the term 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.520 metaverse because they're thinking univirtual reality goggles or augmented reality, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.720 but really the metaverse is just about being immersive on 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.479 a different level. So every tenth episode of Piano Party 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.920 is people who buy the premium package can get together 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.120 and we hang out and and it's like it's like 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:21.960 I have a bunch of students and we're all getting 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:24.600 together and talking about what we learned, and it's it's 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.320 it's just a way of connecting in a different way 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.000 that I haven't seen before. Oh, I was gonna say 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:31.799 that is one of the coolest parts to me because 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.159 I feel like, you know, you can sit in your 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:35.680 room and you can learn the notes and you can 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.880 you can get the song down, but actually playing with 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.280 other people is a whole other ball game. And you know, 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.520 I played in bands and things. I practice alone in 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:44.720 my room and then as soon as you get into 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.320 a room with the other people, it can be tough 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.279 to jel And I feel like in in lessons and tutorials, 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.440 that's a part that's really absent in the teaching process 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.720 of learning how to listen to other people and engage 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.400 with the musically. So I love that there's this engaging 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:02.080 part of it right there too. I'm glad I'm because 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.800 that's that's really fun for me. And again, it's you know, 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.880 this isn't some uh, you know, really high level you know, 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:15.360 competitive pianistic uh series. It's it's it's really about having 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.720 a good time. And you know, just a I had 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.040 to think, like, like if I want to study painting, 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.320 like I don't even know, like the bit like what 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.520 what way? What do you mean there's a difference between 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:30.800 acrylics and or like you know, like I mean, I 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.000 go way back to the beginning. And it's actually good 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:35.800 for me too, because I'm talking about things I haven't 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.040 thought about in a while, and I just want to help, 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.120 you know, maybe bring people together through music, which is 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.960 I think ultimately going to be a good thing. Oh. Absolutely, 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.120 I think it's an incredible project now. I it made 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.200 me think about my early days learning music too, and 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.600 I just think everybody when they're starting out on an instrument, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.680 has that first song that they learned where they impressed 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:58.000 themselves in a way. It goes from doing scales and 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.040 exercises to oh my god, this is fun. I can 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.880 express myself. Do you remember that moment? Do you remember 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.640 the first piece of music that you learned that you 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:07.520 were really proud of that got you going When the 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:09.640 Saints go marching in That was a big one for me. 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.160 I was a kid. But you said something that's really interesting. 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.280 When people learn how to play their first song. Everybody 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:17.960 learns how to play a song. And what I want 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.920 to try to do is if you understand a few 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.400 of the basic fundamentals, you'll be able to play whatever 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.480 you want. Going back to the painting analogy, if somebody 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.800 teaches you how to draw a face, you'll draw that 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.680 face a hundred times. You just keep drawing faces. But 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.160 if somebody teaches you how to draw, you can draw 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:38.120 whatever you want. And I want to teach people the 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.080 basic fundamentals of music so they can pick songs out 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.280 on their own. And because not everybody wants to play 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:45.880 the same thing. I mean, you might want to play 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.760 an Adele song, somebody might want to play a Cold 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.600 Porter song, whatever it is. If you learn just some 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:57.360 really basic fundamentals, literally, anyone can in time start to 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.080 figure out things on their own. And that's that's what 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.120 I think is good for your brain, is you know, 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.679 the eye hand coordination, the stimulation from these sounds, and 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:08.520 learning how to play chords. So yeah, I'll show you 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:10.280 how to play some songs, but it's it's a lot 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.360 more than that. And you're you're passing on all this 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.079 knowledge to all these people who were some of your teachers. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:20.400 You've had some incredible names, I mean James Booker among them, 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:21.840 I mean just so many. Who are some of the 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.520 people that either personally or either just even just listening 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:28.280 to their music made you want to pursue music. Well, 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.120 a guy like James Booker, I mean he was a 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.880 teacher in a in an extremely unorthodox way. I mean, 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.400 he wasn't James Booker for your for your listeners and 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.000 viewers who may not know, was probably the greatest piano 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:40.920 player to ever come out of New Orleans. But he 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.520 he was a unique player, like nobody ever played like him. 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.079 So if you wanted to play like him, you had 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.160 to ask him. And I don't know how many people 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:52.679 asked him. I you know, maybe I don't know anyone 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:54.920 who asked him, but I did when I was younger, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:56.640 and he showed me how to play some things. But 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.600 he wasn't a teacher in the way that say Ellis 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.520 marsa Alice was, who was another teacher of mine, who was, 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.640 you know, a real intellectual or real academic and and 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.560 was great at sort of breaking things down. But these 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.960 are like super high level teachers. So the things that 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.600 I'm doing in Piano Party are not those things yet 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.840 they're they're they're very very basic things. But like if 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.120 you listen to Errol Garner play the piano, if you 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.520 don't want to go sit at the piano and you know, 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.320 or tap your feet after hearing that. I mean, it's 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:31.080 just incredible. But then I listened to Freddie Mercury played 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.840 the Introduction to Death on two Legs, and I just 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.440 I love I love that. You know, it's not that's 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:42.240 not hard. You listen to Billy Joel or Elton John 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:46.120 and those people, or or Stevie or Ray Charles, and 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.040 it's just these are all people that you know, make 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.040 me smile when I hear different ways of playing the piano, 0:10:52.200 --> 0:11:06.240 different keyboards, your career from New Orleans. There are so 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.360 many incredible people when you mentioned them, and you've got 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.040 Jelly Roal Martin, Professor long Hair, I mean, such an 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:16.520 incredible convergence of influences. I'm always fascinated by what makes 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.880 someone go from being a performer who plays other people's 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.280 music to making the jump into being a writer. I 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.360 mean me as an example, but I'm sure a lot 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.640 of people that are gonna be learning on your on 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.240 your piano party courses. Um, they'll learn the basics and 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:32.800 at some point some of them will want to make 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:36.240 the jump into writing their own music. Um, I've never 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.000 done that yet I've never felt able to use music 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.520 to communicate. But I want to ask you how did 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:46.480 you make the jump from performer to writer? But that's you. Listen, 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.400 by the time we finished talking, you're gonna be inspired 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:53.800 to go start writing, because it's man, I've tried, no, no, no, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.440 dig this. A lot of people think of writing as 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.679 I want to go write a song, or I want 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:01.920 to write a novel, or I want to go, you know, 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.600 write a screenplay, And I always tell them, don't, don't 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:10.280 think about any of that. Just start putting ideas down 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.640 and eventually the form of whatever you're trying to write 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:15.880 is gonna sort of start to assemble itself. You have 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.520 to give yourself something to edit. But a lot a 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:22.960 lot of people get sort of daunted by the notion 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.280 of writing a song because when you think of a song, 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.959 whatever that song form is. If you're if you're co porter, 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:30.640 you're probably writing a A B A song. If you're 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.520 a pop writer, you might write in you know, verse, verse, 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.360 pre chorus, chorus or whatever the that that can that 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.560 can really turn people off. But if if you and 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:42.440 I are talking and you think I want to write 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:49.280 a song about conversation, okay, conversation, hanging out talking. You know, 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.319 before you know it, something will start to emerge to 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.200 which you can then edit. So I don't know specifically 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.280 when that process happened for me. I guess I was 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.120 pretty young, like nine or two when I did kind 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.160 of putting ideas down. But whether it's lyrics or melodies 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:09.560 or a painting, just start, just start. Good buddy of 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:12.480 mine for fifteen years that I want to write a 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.400 mystery novel, and he's never done it because he's trying 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:19.200 to write a novel as opposed to express himself, you know, 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.800 with a sentence here or a word there, an idea there. 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.320 And I'm telling you, if you're passionate enough to want 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.000 to do it, it's just a matter of giving yourself 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.080 something to edit. That is a great message. I mean, 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.200 that was I mean a lot of people are intimidated 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.360 to start the piano. As you mentioned earlier, eight keys. 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.080 That's a lot of keys. But you're approaching it in 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.680 this really accessible, logical way to break it down and 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.160 demystify it and make it something it's more accessible. And 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.720 then the next step from learning to play is learning 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.520 to express yourself with your own ideas. And I think 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.800 that's such a cool And and also if yeah, you're right, 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:57.280 and I'm going on Instagram and and search for piano. 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.640 The level of virtuosity that exists up there right now, 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.960 you talk about intimidating to somebody who's just starting out. 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:09.800 There's there's kids, like literally children that are playing so much, 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.440 so fast. You know, there are one video I saw this, 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.880 this young woman sitting in the closet playing John Coltrane 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:22.160 solos and octaves like upside down like insane amounts of virtuosity. 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.760 That's not what this is. This, This isn't a competition, 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.720 This isn't about you know, I look how much I 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:32.120 know this is. Hey, hold my hand. Let's start at 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.800 step one and let's look at what's going on in 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.600 the world right now. This is a crazy, very sad 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:45.040 and turbulent, confusing time. This is designed to give us 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:49.400 some peace, to bring us together. Um, when we have 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.120 some control over that. We we don't have control over everything, 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.880 but we do have control over how we're gonna spend 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.680 our time. And you know, ten fifteen minutes, you know, 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.320 watching this, learning a little bit, sharing story, reason and 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.040 then at the end, seeing a bunch of people I 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:05.600 did a on this platform, I have neutral ground on 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.640 which the Piano Party exists. We did our first UM 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:13.440 discord meeting and the person that was running it did 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.040 a a zoom link and all of a sudden, I'm 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.920 talking to you know, fifty people and it just you know, 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.240 it brings us together. And I think that's what we 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.400 need right now. Oh absolutely could say that again. I 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.800 mean I noticed that that play seems to be the 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.160 operative word. I know your your most recent tour was 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.440 Time to Play, and this is Piano Party. It's it 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.600 seems to be focusing on. You know, what we need 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.360 right now is something joyful. I mean, it's it's to me, 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.120 it's that basic. I mean again, it is such a 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.960 confusing time and we're going to our third year of COVID. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.360 I mean, I think everybody could agree we're you know, 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.280 hopefully nearing the end and it's definitely not as as 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.360 acute as it was. But you know, it seems like 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:55.720 just as we're going through that, we're hearing all of 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.880 this nightmares news come out of Ukraine, and you know, 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.760 it's just a sad time, you know, And and I 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.440 would like to try to create something where we could 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.440 get a respite from that we could we can enjoy 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:15.640 one another, learn from one another. UM, celebrate our common humanity, 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:21.040 but UM also celebrate our diversity at the same time, UM, 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:25.360 and realize that we're human beings. We all love each other, 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:30.360 and you know, let's let's try to you know, get 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.960 get through this crazy life together. And as well said I, 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.320 the last two years has been transformative for all of 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.760 us for in so many ways. Uh, maybe some good, 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.400 mostly bad. But UM, has it changed your relationship to 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:51.240 music in any way? It has? Um? In uh in 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:55.240 the sense that like the way I record has changed 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.920 because you know, especially right at the very beginning of 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.160 the pandemic, you know, you couldn't go out of your 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:02.960 house at least, you know, I was one of the 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.080 fortunate ones who was able to stay at home. When 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:07.520 I think about all of the men and women who 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.560 were out there on the front lines, you know, providing 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.399 as much semblance of normalcy for the rest of us 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.600 as they could, I feel very fortunate to have been 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.480 one of the ones who was able to kind of 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.960 stay home. UM. And you know I was, there was 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.399 nobody here. You know, it's not you have a recording 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.840 engineer or another musician. So you know, I started doing 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.920 a lot more recording by myself, which I've always done, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.720 but this was like a lot and you know it's 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:38.920 and like you were saying before, like you know, playing 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.840 by yourself is a lot differ than playing with other people. 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:45.200 And when you're when you're by yourself, you you you 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.320 have no distractions, so it sort of forces you too 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.080 if you feel like it, you know, work on the 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:52.920 things that you need to work on. So yeah, if 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.600 it affected me musically, I think, I mean the songs 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:58.360 and the sessions you're talking about along with my faith 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.240 or into a Grammy nomination our Best Roots Gospel Album. Uh. 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:06.440 And you quite literally played everything on your own engineer 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.920 to yourself, producing yourself. Were you did you intentionally set 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:11.639 out to make a record when you were doing that 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.160 or was that purely he like healing for you? Yeah, 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.399 it was healing for me because this this may be 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:23.760 hard to understand, but music, I just it's just what 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.320 I do. It's all, it's all I do. It's like breathing, 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.919 So I never really think about it. Like if I 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.560 go fishing, I go fishing because it's fun to relax. 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.840 Like I never like really sit around at home and 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.440 like play for my own enjoyment. It's just it's just 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.120 so much a part of me that I don't ever 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.919 think of it like that. But I found myself thinking 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.920 about my faith a lot, and to be quite honest, 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.360 sometimes my faith was really, really, really strong during especially 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:54.919 the first few months of the pandemic, and sometimes I 0:18:55.040 --> 0:19:00.280 questioned things, and I found myself thinking about gospel mut music, 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.200 and you know, I would sit down and play Amazing 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:05.600 Grace because it made me feel good. I've never done 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.120 that before. I would play Amazing Grace to make other 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.399 people feel good, and I felt good as a result 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.440 of it. But I was actually functionally playing this music 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.320 to help me cope with things over which I had 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.359 no control. And then I would play another song. Before 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:21.679 I knew it, I'm like, well, let me write a 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:24.520 song about how I'm feeling. And then I had I'm like, 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.159 let me just press record, and you know, I recorded 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.600 the whole album. I played, you know, all these keyboards 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.880 and trumpets and trombones and basses and everything else, and 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.520 it took about eight months, but it was highly therapeutic. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:42.800 It was really a fun process. I don't know the 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.680 answer to this question, but I. I am so fascinated 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.120 by by the healing properties of music. I mean, it's 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:51.800 something that's able to bring comfort and solace to so many, 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:54.359 including ourselves when we make it, and I can't for 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:56.280 the life and they figure out why, what is it 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.560 about music that makes it such an effective conduit of 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.760 of emotion and healing. I'd love to hear your thoughts 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.600 and insights on what is it about music that that 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.800 makes it just makes it filled with such a motion 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.120 that can really just touch us in so many deep ways. Yeah, yeah, 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:16.000 it's it's it really is incredible. And and my sister 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:18.200 is a psychiatrist, and I asked her once, I said, 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:22.719 do you find yourself like in social contexts, like analyzing 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:25.960 people without even realizing? And she goes, no, not, not really, 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.359 And she goes, do you find yourself analyzing music, you know, 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:34.560 and at a restaurant? And and I don't. And and 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.160 for somebody like me, you know, who's so deeply immersed 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:44.240 in the technical part of music, it's equally as thereft 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:48.760 of technique and complete emotion as it is super technical. 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.680 So I can start crying when I hear a piece 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.720 of music. Doesn't matter if it's good or bad, whatever 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.080 it's like. And your question is why, why, why does 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:01.439 that affect you? And I don't know, man, It's just 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:05.280 it's like, you know, art takes over where any kind 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:11.320