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Joyce Cooling Interview Page 4
Smitty: You said that you were sitting outside The Vanguard…
JC: Uh-huh.
Smitty: …and the bartender would let you sit on the steps but he wouldn’t let you in because you were underage.
JC: Right.
Smitty: But I remember you saying something about hearing everybody there while sitting on the front steps. I could just see you sitting there with your ear to the door or just listening, and I often wondered what did you hear? Talk about some of the things you heard from the steps.
JC: Oh, Smitty, I heard everybody. I heard literally Joe Henderson and I heard Woody Shaw, I heard Thelonious Monk, I heard….everybody came to The Vanguard, and in the summertime they’d leave the door open because it’s so hot down there. The Vanguard is down below the street. It’s down in the West Village, and it’s in New York and it’s down below the street and people would smoke and it’s a very small little place with no windows.
The only entrance to the outside world was that door at the bottom of the steps that would open up, and they would leave that open in the summer and plus the bartender knew how much I loved the music. He’d leave it open a crack so I could hear better and he was really cool. I don’t know who that was or I wouldn’t recognize them if I saw them on the street, but I owe them a lot. That was like school for me. It was a really exciting time. You know where else I used to go on my breaks from the little clubs where I was playing down in The Village was 7th Avenue South, which was the Brecker Brothers’ club.
Smitty: Wow.
JC: Brecker owned a club kinda diagonally across the street from The Vanguard, like a little further down 7th Avenue and then across the street, and theirs was the opposite situation where Eric Gale and all those guys used to play was upstairs, and they were so musician friendly that all the musicians on their breaks would come around the corner, whatever, and go in and just hang out on the steps. They’d let ‘em come up and listen and then we’d all have to watch our watches and when the break was over leave. That was years later, but New York was like that. And then Sweet Basil was more like you had to press your face up against the glass, 7th Avenue too, right across, really, from 7th Avenue South. They weren’t like The Vanguard….the guy at The Vanguard was special. That was really special because it could be snowing or raining or whatever and you could sit down in that little cubbyhole freezing your butt off sometimes, but that music, my God, I mean, everybody….we heard everybody.
Smitty: That’s so cool.
JC: It was so cool.
Smitty: You were just destined to play, you know?
JC: Yeah, I think I was. It was, yeah, yeah, I’ll agree with that.
Smitty: Yeah. It’s those kind of things that really start to shape your musicality, your musicianship, before you even knew it.
JC: Mm-hmm.
Smitty: Because those things, I think, tend to stay with us more than we know.
JC: Oh yeah, yeah. They become part of you. It’s so funny how we as people, a lotta times we always term things or we label things in terms of the physical, like when a child is growing or developing you talk about how they’re building strong bones 12 ways. Their cells are dividing, they’re growing taller or they’re this, they’re that, but at the same time your experiences, I think, are affecting you on a cellular level. I think that your experiences, they’re inside you, they are a part of you as much as your bones and skin and hair are.
Smitty: Yes. They become a permanent influence, I think.
JC: Permanent, permanent. They’re in your bones. It’s in your bone marrow now and it ain’t going anywhere.
Smitty: No, I think you’re right. Well, going back to the record, I just love this record so much, I just want to thank you for taking so much time to do this record the way you did. You and Jay both and everybody else that had anything to do with this record, I think you did it right, I think it sounds right, it’s fantastic, and…
JC: Thank you.
Smitty: You are so welcome. And I wanna thank everybody at Narada because I know that they had some interworkings with the record and all of that.
JC: Very much so.
Smitty: People like Jill Weindorf, Mario Martin, Anne Aufderheide…
JC: Rich Denhart.
Smitty: Yeah, Rich.
JC: Connie Gage, those guys were like, you know, side by side.
Smitty: Yes, and I wanna thank my good friends over at A-Train (Entertainment) too.
JC: Oh yeah, Al (Evers).
Smitty: Al and Dan.
JC: Oh yeah, all those guys.
Smitty: Yeah, because these records are a team effort. I know you guys are the nucleus, the main cog, but the support around a record is so much a part of it too, and I just wanted to not forget them for the beautiful work that they do.
JC: I could not agree with you more. No, hands down, any musician will tell you that you can’t do this alone. This is very much a vibrant team effort. So you’re absolutely right in saying that.
Smitty: Thank you. So now, we’ve got a tour coming?
JC: We do. Stuff is starting to bubble up there. In September we’re going to one of my favorite cities, I love it. We’re gonna kick off September going to Detroit.
Smitty: I knew you were gonna say that.
JC: I love Detroit. You know I do.
Smitty: Yeah.
JC: We’ve talked about this. I just have this thing. I don’t know what it is. I love the people, but it’s just, you know, there’s a special energy when we play there. It feels good. And we’re going….I’m really looking forward to this….going to Korea, to Seoul later on in September, and I have been to Southeast Asia before to play as a musician. Never, never have I been to Korea and certainly have not played there, so, man, that’s gonna be way cool. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to that.
Smitty: You’re gonna have to tell me about that one when you get back.
JC: Oh, you bet. I’m looking forward to it. What an opportunity, and especially, like we were saying with the way everything’s going down right now, to get an invitation to go, I felt really honored, really happy to be invited…and then we’re gonna come out to Texas.
Smitty: You know I will be there for that.
JC: Putting something together. I’m gonna try to make a little splash there. And each and every place we go, I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it there so much, we’re going to invite NAMI and try to do something with them…
Smitty: Oh great.
JC: …and raise awareness, so the concerts will kinda have a real soulful vibe to ‘em. It’ll be a good thing. So this is gonna be a different tour for us.
Smitty: Excellent. I like it.
JC: Yeah, it’s gonna be, I think, if I may crow, we’re one upping our previous situation. And I can’t take credit for it with the involvement of all these other people.
Smitty: Yes, and that’s so cool, I love that.
JC: Yeah, so I’m more excited than ever, really, to kick this one off.
Smitty: Well, I certainly look forward to it and…
JC: And I know I’ll be seeing you.
Smitty: Yes indeed. You certainly will. Well, Joyce, you know it’s always a pleasure and an honor to talk with you.
JC: Likewise.
Smitty: And it’s always great when you’ve got some new music coming out and I have just totally embraced this one and I highly recommend it for everyone’s collection.
JC: Great.
Smitty: It’s called Revolving Door and, Joyce, best of everything in 2006 and beyond with the record, with your career, and all the great things that you’re doing with NAMI. Much love to ya and you’re to be congratulated for all the things that you’re doing right now.
JC: Smitty, way deep in my heart, right back at ya. Truly, you know, just all the best and I can’t thank you enough for doing this.
Smitty: Oh, you’re so welcome.
JC: And with everybody. Really, you know, you just spend time to get the music out there and we don’t get to get the word out without you doing stuff like this, so a heartfelt right back at ya.
Smitty: Thank you so much. Well, we’ve been talking with the fantastic and lovely Ms. Joyce Cooling. She has a great new project out. It’s called Revolving Door. You’ve got to check this one out. The street date is September 12th. Get set for some great music, wonderful grooves, and it’s for a wonderful cause as well. Joyce, thanks again and much love to ya.
JC: Likewise. Thank you, Smitty.
Baldwin “Smitty” Smith
For More Information Visit www.joycecooling.com or www.naradajazz.com or www.nami.org
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