Jazz Monthly.com Interview with kim fields

“Jazz Monthly Feature Interview” Kim Fields

Smitty: Joining me at JazzMonthly.com is an incredible actress, director, producer, writer with a long list of credits. You no doubt remember her from hit TV series like The Facts of Life and one my favorites, Living Single. She has made an amazing contribution to jazz, she’s a friend of the arts, and just an awesome person, and I’m just so happy to have her here to talk with me today at JazzMonthly.com. Please give a strong and warm welcome for the enchanting Ms. Kim Fields. Kim, how ya doin’, my friend?

Kim Fields (KF): Well, after that introduction, I am doing amazing, thank you.

Smitty: (Laughs.)

KF: You know, I think I’m just gonna cut and paste that introduction and just carry it around in my purse.

Smitty: (Laughs.) Well, you are so welcome and you deserve every bit of that and much more, let me tell ya.

KF: Thank you.

Smitty: Wow, well, it’s great to talk with you and you’ve got so many wonderful things going on. You have got to be one of the happiest people on earth.

KF: I’ll tell you what, man. God is so good. God has just blessed me and smiled on me, and I am grateful for it.

Smitty: Absolutely. And I’m just thinking, you just recently married, you just had a baby. Wow. Talk about that a little bit. I mean, the baby. I was so excited when I heard about that.

KF: Well, thank you. Well, my fiancé—well, now my husband—but at the time, my fiancé Chris [Morgan] and I, we had decided last year that we wanted to start our family and that we were certainly ready for that blessing, and so we started last summer planning and starting to try to start our family, and we were blessed to get pregnant, then we had Sebastian [Sebastian Alexander Morgan aka Sam] this past May, May 4th, and then Chris and I said “You know, the things that we wanted are in place and just for where we are, let’s go ahead and get married as well,” so we did that and had a very, very private, very private and an impromptu ceremony, if you will, and our dear family friend for over twenty years, Donny McClurkin, was kind enough to marry us on his day off, on Monday, and it’s been great.

Smitty: Well, that’s fantastic and congratulations on all of those terrific things happening in your life.

KF: Thank you, thank you.

Smitty: And that’s such a cool thing. You’ve been in film and movies and done so much in Hollywood over the years, and you’re still a young person and you’ve accomplished so much.

KF: Well, thank you very much. Let my doctors know it, though. If I want another child, I better hurry up. (Both laugh.) So how nice to hear somebody say that I’m still a young person. Thank you.

Smitty: Oh yeah.

KF: Because everyone tells me I certainly look the same, but at 38, listen, I’m very excited about my age and being in my thirties and all that’s in store for me, coming around at the end of my thirties and going into my forties, and I’m blessed to feel great and just hopefully just keep doing my thing.

Smitty: Yeah, and speaking of that, doing your thing, you’ve done it with such grace and style, with professionalism and with such elegance, and that says a lot these days about people like yourself, and I want to applaud you and commend you and congratulate you on such a marvelous and just such a stellar career.

KF: Thank you. Listen, I certainly could not have had any kind of career without the beautiful and seemingly never-ending support of the people who have supported my career since I was a kid. I mean, whenever I take the time to really stop and think about it—or as my husband would say, when I stop to take inventory—it’s really very mind blowing. I mean, in all honesty, and it’s not something that I ever get used to, which I guess is a good thing because then you don’t take it for granted.

Smitty: Yes, so true.

KF: But to have the fan base that I have and for it to continue to grow for people who have grown with me and still want to see what I’m doing in any area, whether it’s as a producer, as a director, as an actress, as a poet, I mean, it’s all these different things and so it’s a blessing, you know? It absolutely is, and to also be a woman and have all this happen and then a person of color, I mean, it’s like traditionally I would just already be starting out in the red, so to speak, let most people tell it.

Smitty: Yeah, I know what you mean.

KF: And being able to have this kind of testimony and also the fact that, coming from a single parent home and coming from Harlem, and just all these different things that people would never say “Oh yeah, 30 years later she’ll still be going strong and being very successful and about to embark on another brand new wave of success.”

Smitty: Absolutely, and we are so excited for you.

KF: Thank you.

Smitty: Yeah. Now, you gotta tell me. How did you, in all of these beautiful things you’ve done in Hollywood, how did jazz come into the picture with you? Because I know you’re a great lover of jazz.

KF: Very much so.

Smitty: And I know you’re a friend of a friend of mine. We have a mutual friend in Najee.

KF: Yes.

Smitty: And I’m just curious. How did jazz come into your life?

KF: Well, I’ve always been a fan of the music, from straight ahead and smooth jazz and anything in between, jazz fusion…I’ve just always been a fan and am loving the music and loving a lot of the history of it, especially in some of the straight ahead. I mean, that history is just fantastic.

Smitty: Yes it is.

KF: And so how it began to, I guess, to come to be a part of my career, Paxton Baker over at BETJ, which used to be BET Jazz, I’m sure you know.

Smitty: Yep.

KF: They asked me to produce and direct a documentary on the findings that the Library of Congress found from the Monk and Coltrane performance at Carnegie Hall. And Blue Note, the wonderful people at Blue Note, they decided to work with Thelonious Monk—or T. S. Monk, rather—and Ravi [Coltrane] and their family and things, to be able to preserve and really bring those recordings to life, and so I did this documentary. So that was kind of my first foray into the marriage of my private love for jazz and music becoming a lot more professional. Prior to that I had directed one or two specials—again, for BETJ—down in the islands because they have all those different concerts down there.

Smitty: Yes, great concerts.

KF: And so I would do the preview show where I would go down and I’d either host it or I’d host it as well as produce and direct it, and so I’ve been doing a lot more of those. This fall I’ve got the Barbados special airing that I produced and directed, and in November we’re actually going to the island of Anguilla for that festival that I’m also producing and directing. And Chris, my husband, is hosting that one as he just did for Barbados. So I have to thank BETJ profusely because they really gave me this huge, huge entrée in opening those doors for me to be able to marry these worlds. I also did a black history month campaign with T. S. Monk for a piece that he performed in his show, a really dynamic piece called “Bid Em In,” and it’s a very moving poem about slave auctioning, and so we did kind of an artistic presentation of it in three kind of installments in February a couple of years ago. So they’ve been really receptive to me and the projects that I enjoy doing for them, and that’s really how it came about.

Smitty: Wow, well, that’s a very interesting way of doing it and you got in where it’s just beautiful working with that kind of material and to do it in sort of a research kind of format must have exposed you to so many wonderful things about the music.

KF: Oh, it did, absolutely. So many wonderful things, so many wonderful people, so many other wonderful jazz historians. Just meeting Ravi and T. S. Monk, I mean, meeting them and discovering their talent and discovering them as people and them as musicians and taking them on their own merit as opposed to “the son of,” you know what I mean?

Smitty: Right, yeah.

KF: So it’s been great to be able to meet certain people and then at these different festivals. I mean, oh my gosh. (Both laugh.) I mean, all the different artists that I’ve met that I’ve been fans of for such a long time.

Smitty: Very cool.

KF: I’m trying to even think back to when I—oh, I know when it was. It was the [Tom] Joyner Cruise that Najee and I really hit it off and started working together and made a pact that “Okay, we’re lifelong friends.” We ended up performing together on the cruise ship and then when I did my smooth jazz spoken word album, he was the first person to say “Yes, I’ll do a piece on there with you,” and it’s been great, and now I’m doing a thing with Kirk Whalum on his new CD (Roundtrip). I mean, it’s just, you know, wow!

Smitty: Yeah. Are you having fun or what?

KF: I’m having a ball, believe me, I am absolutely having a ball. I’m loving the ability to express myself in this way and marry two of my passions in different ways. I love that I’m able to marry my passion for directing and producing with my passion for music and especially jazz, and then to be able to marry my love for poetry and spoken word.

Smitty: Yes.

KF: Smooth jazz and with straight ahead jazz, then like I said, I’m loving living in the moment.

Smitty: Yes. Did you ever play an instrument when you were young? I mean, much younger? (Both laugh.)

KF: Bless your heart, bless your heart. I’ve tried. I don’t have, unfortunately, the patience to practice.

Smitty: Yeah.

KF: And I know that’s part of why I have such reverence for musicians and athletes because there’s a certain discipline that comes with that, you know?

Smitty: Yes, I know.

KF: I’m one of those people where I want to know how to do it right away.

Smitty: I totally understand that.

KF: So I’ve taken piano lessons, I’ve taken guitar lessons, I’ve taken drum lessons, and I can’t play anything, which is why I was so excited when the computer companies started making software where you can arrange and produce music without ever picking up an instrument.

Smitty: Yeah.

KF: Oh, baby, that is my thing.

Smitty: (Laughs.)

KF: I am loving that because I’m able to arrange—because I do have a bit of an ear and I can arrange, but I don’t play.

Smitty: Yeah, but that love and appreciation, like you said, is there because sometimes as a fan you truly enjoy the music but you really don’t fully grasp what incredible musicians these guys and girls are until you try to do it yourself.

KF: Absolutely. That’s right, that’s right.

Smitty: I can’t sing. I’ve tried to sing some of Luther’s songs and it’s like forget it! (Both laugh.) You know?

KF: Uh-huh, I do.

Smitty: I can truly appreciate that, yeah. So what about music videos? Ever thought about doing one of those any time in the future?

KF: Absolutely. I mean, doing the piece, the short bit with T. S. for the black history month campaign, I mean, that was exciting. Of course, we all know that the marketplace isn’t really there for jazz and smooth jazz music videos. Like they were, let’s say, in the eighties or something like that. Najee and I have talked a couple of times and thought “Oh, this would be a great video. We can do this, that and the other,” and then it’s like either there’s no budget for it or there’s no outlet for it.

Smitty: Right.

KF: So, again, I think the work that I end up doing on a network like BETJ, I’m able to do some of that when I was directing the concerts where the artists are performing. Najee and I did do a lot of that kind of music video stuff with the South Africa project that I created with him. We plan on releasing “Najee: Sax in South Africa”. We plan on releasing that eventually as a DVD and doing it as a series, so the next time he goes out of the country to some place that would be very interesting from a visual standpoint and a travel standpoint, not solely in terms of Najee, his concert live, that kind of thing. We plan on doing a series of those.

Smitty: Yeah, he’s an incredible player. And you also did something that I talked to Najee about. It was his liner notes on his latest CD.

KF: (Laughs.) Well, actually, the last three, but yes.

Smitty: Talk about how you two got into doing that.

KF: Well, basically he and Fareed, his brother, who’s also his manager, we would pow- wow quite a bit about just expanding a lot of what he does into more of taking advantage of the multimedia opportunities because nowadays, and especially for cats like me and Najee and some people that have been in the game for a long time, you’ve gotta know how to reinvent yourself.

Smitty: Absolutely, thank you.

KF: You absolutely have to reinvent yourself and part of that is not just about your look or your sound and the projects but also the outlets that you choose to keep putting yourself in and discovering new outlets.

Smitty: Yes.

KF: And so that being said, they kept saying “Kim, we have a great respect for you with what you do in television” and the little bit that I’ve started to do on the Internet, DVD’s, you know, I thought it was almost blasphemous that here you had an artist like Najee who had not had a DVD.

Smitty: Thank you.

KF: Twenty years in the business. Are you kidding me? I thought I’d hit the roof when I found that out, you know?

Smitty: (Laughs.)

KF: That he had not done a live recording anywhere. I’m like “Dude, just do live from your garage.” So the three of us were pow-wowing about, “Okay, in the name of reinventing ourselves, how do we service the fans that we’re blessed to have, keep getting the new fans, take advantage of the different mediums that are out there,” and so that’s how the working relationship came about. That’s how his South Africa project came up. My doing his art direction on the last few album covers is because I said “Listen, you always give your audience something new and wonderful with your sound, but now take that and expand that concept to your image, to the concept of your visual image.”

Smitty: Yes.

KF: “So that it’s not just about when you’re performing in concert but also the visual.” So the whole idea of being able to take that concept of how do I not only reinvent myself but keep it fresh, keep it interesting, because he has that, like any artist does in regards to whatever they’re known for. For him it’s his sound and his music, and for people it might be their movies, for some people it may be their writing and their books, but the main thing is “Okay, let’s go ahead and make that happen.”

Smitty: And I think you both together accomplished that with this project.

KF: Thank you. I love how all of this came about (this interview) because you were looking at the liner notes on Najee’s new CD and saw my name and went “Nah.”

Smitty: I know. (Both laugh.) I said “Nah, it can’t be.”

KF: Mm-hmm, exactly, and thank you for approving of my choice to shoot his whole artistic vibe for this new CD in black and white.

Smitty: It’s so cool.

KF: Thank you for giving that concept the okay.

Smitty: You are so welcome. I was so captivated by it. I thought that was a wonderful concept.

KF: Thank you very much. I was excited when he said yes to it and the whole idea of giving him a little bit of an edge, and sometimes with smooth jazz we get so used to feeling more like, kinda soft. I wanted to be able to give him a little bit of an edge and because he was doing some different things, again, with his sound that I think the fans are gonna really, really enjoy it.

Smitty: I think so too.

KF: And wanting to keep it fresh so I’m excited that you grasped that. Thank you.

Smitty: Oh, you’re so welcome. It’s fantastic! In fact, I remember telling him, I said “You know, Najee, I don’t get to say this often, but I love every song on the project, all of ‘em.”

KF: That’s great.

Smitty: You know how sometimes you listen to a record and you pick out four or five and say “Okay, these I love.”

KF: Right.

Smitty: But this one, it’s like you can just hit random and let it play.

KF: Absolutely, absolutely. We’re all really excited about this new one.

Smitty: Yeah and, once again, the artistic work of the liner notes and all of that, it so well complements—I told him that. I said it just so well complements what’s inside.

KF: Good. That’s what we wanted.

Smitty: So when you’re doing things like film or movies or documentaries, or anything in the media like videos or that kind of thing, how important is it to you to have the right music, be it jazz or whatever, to really round out that project?

KF: Oh, it’s very important. Music is such an integral part of any project, especially if you’re talking about things like movies and television projects, because it hopefully enhance, not take away from, and certainly not distract from, but that it is able to enhance what it is you are trying to convey to the audience without manipulating the audience with the music. So I think it’s very important, which is why when I’m doing projects I find it important to bring on whomever is composing the project early on. I have a piece that I asked George Duke actually to be a part of for that very reason. Of course, Najee and I wanted to work together on certain film projects. So it’s very important.

Smitty: Yeah, absolutely, and I like what you said; that it doesn’t take away from it, or that it doesn’t distract from the project.

KF: Well, those are the goals. Now, not everybody is successful with that, so sometimes you do have a project where the music is taking away from what’s going on, or the music is trying to manipulate and make you feel a certain way.

Smitty: Oh yeah.

KF: Or the use of the music, when it comes in, how it comes in, the instruments that are used. I mean, there are so many different things that come into play when you’re considering all of that, but it is definitely a major part of storytelling.

Smitty: Oh, absolutely, you’re good. Can you talk about your book, tell me the title.

KF: “When Bad Women Happen to Good Men.”

Smitty: Very captivating title. (Both laugh.)

KF: Thank you.

Smitty: So is the book out now or when’s it coming out?

KF: It is out now. I did a limited edition that’s available currently on my Web site, which is www.kimfieldsentertainment.com.

Smitty: All right, very cool.

KF: Thank you. So the book is available and where it even came from was I have a lot of male friends and people who are just genuinely good people, good guys.

Smitty: Yeah, we are.

KF: Not that anybody is perfect.

Smitty: Right.

KF: But guys who, you know, they’re not out to dog anybody, they’re not out to choke anybody, they’re not out to degrade a woman, but be a good friend, be a good lover, be a good provider, just things that just cover the basics, which after a while this could be kind of a lost art, you know what I mean?

Smitty: Indeed I do.

KF: And so I was getting really frustrated with hearing these horror stories that these men were encountering from women, and I got so tired, honestly, of women being able to have their say either in songs and movies and books and articles and plays about how they’ve been wronged and how they’ve been dogged, and don’t act like you haven’t done anything to provoke somebody.

Smitty: Thank you, girl! (Both laugh.)

KF: And my definition of a bad woman, so to speak, are those, it’s an extreme, the women who are the gold diggers, women who from out the gate they’ve got malice in their heart, women who use children as if they’re pieces in a chess game in a divorce, women who will out and out lie and steal, and it makes it difficult for good women.

Smitty: I’ve got to read this book!

KF: Because if a man is burned so much, it’s hard. I mean, it’s hard for anybody to get up after they’ve been knocked down.

Smitty: Absolutely, yeah. Well, I can’t wait to read the book.

KF: Oh, thank you. It’s a collection of short stories. It has some humor in it, it has some sadness to it, and it has some edge to it. One of the stories is not even a male/female interpersonal relationship—traditional it’s a personal relationship, but a mother and son—so there’s different ways that women can affect the man or a man.

Smitty: Right. I like it, yeah.

KF: Thank you, thank you. It was bittersweet writing it because even though I had a good time writing it and just getting so much off my chest, it was still painful because there are so many people—there are so many men who’ve experienced certain things that are in the book. None of it is based on any one person. I might hear of a horror story here and there and then my mind, just starts playing the “What if?” game. After all, it is fiction, not a self-help by any means. I hope people find it creative, humorous and real all at the same time.

Smitty: Right.

KF: So hopefully some man somewhere may read it and start to feel a little bit closer to the healing process if necessary. Some woman might recognize herself and maybe want to take a step towards change and healing herself from being that kind of person.

Smitty: Oh yeah, I love it. And by the way, I love your Web site.

KF: Oh, thank you.

Smitty: Yeah, very colorful.

KF: Thank you very much. It’s a place that I hope that people will visit again and again. The reason why I call it Kim Fields Entertainment is because I will eventually be streaming video on it and wanting to basically create almost like an online network, an entertainment network.

Smitty: Oh, cool.

KF: Where basically people can come and see inspirational projects, they can see concerts, they can see original comedies, dramas, short films. A lot of times very, very talented people and wonderful projects just don’t get the outlets.

Smitty: You said a mouthful.

KF: (Laughs.) So this is hopefully going to evolve into that kind of a place where, for a very small subscriber’s fee, a monthly subscription fee, that people can come and enjoy some really good entertainment in different genres of entertainment.

Smitty: Oh, very cool. Well, you have my full support and endorsement.

KF: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And we’ll create a link from us to you as well.

Smitty: Oh yeah.

KF: Because I love what you’re doing, absolutely.

Smitty: Thank you very much. By all means, because I just love it when people have a passion like yourself and you’re doing something about it.

KF: Thank you.

Smitty: And I think that’s the important thing. It’s easy for us to save the world verbally.

KF: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Smitty: But at some point we have to stand up, and I applaud you for what you’re doing.

KF: Well, thank you. To whom much is given, much is required.

Smitty: True that.

KF: So much is given, much is required, which also means that you will come under attack a lot more. (Laughs.)

Smitty: Yes indeed.

KF: And the day we found out that we were having a son when we looked at the ultrasound. I called my mom while I was still on the table and they still had the little wand on my belly and full of tears and joy and oh my gosh, and Mom said “You know, honey, it’s a very different and unique responsibility being a vessel for a son right now,” and I take that very seriously. And I feel that same way in all these other areas of my life. I think right now is just such a time of people being vessels. You are an amazing vessel for what you are birthing and bringing forth every month.

Smitty: Oh, well, thank you. I never quite looked at it that way, but thank you. (Laughs.)

KF: Absolutely, absolutely.

Smitty: Wow. I’m taking that to heart and will not forget it. It’s a pleasure and part of my fuel for doing that is meeting people like yourself because it gives me that other charge of energy to keep doing what I’m doing and recognizing that it is worthwhile and it’s something that is making a difference and people enjoy.

KF: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Smitty: Thank you, again for those wise and kind words. So tell me now, you’ve been a part of so many beautiful projects and you’re doing so many wonderful things at the present, you’ve got a series coming up, can you say anything about that?

KF: Absolutely. It’s a series called Jade Hicks and it’s gonna be a one-hour drama, which I’m excited about, working in a new genre for me right now in my career, and Jade Hicks is a very passionate and intense documentary filmmaker. It would be as if Michael Moore and the guy who did the McDonald’s Super Size thing— Morgan Spurlock and Sydney Bristow from Alias….If the three of them had a threesome, my character would be their love child.

Smitty: Wow! (Both laugh.) Oh my goodness!

KF: She’s not passive and she doesn’t do fluff. Her documentaries are just one step away from being Oscar nominated, her documentaries are the kind of documentaries that speak to everyone, she’s globetrotting with getting to the story and getting to information. So even if you’re not into documentaries but love a good story and following good stories as they unfold, you’ll enjoy this story very much.

Smitty: Yeah. I like that.

KF: What she goes through to get whatever the story is and to be able to tell it. She’s not a journalist, she’s a filmmaker.

Smitty: Wow. I can’t wait for this!

KF: Thank you. I’m excited about it. And again, it came out of my love for documentaries and when I finally did my first documentary, again, the piece on Monk and Coltrane, just realizing I was still making a film and still telling a story but the information gathering is different and I’m dealing with facts and not fiction.

Smitty: Right.

KF: All these different elements, and I thought I would love to be able to play this kind of character at this stage in my career.

Smitty: That’s gonna be something else! You have peaked my anticipation!

KF: Oh, thank you so much.

Smitty: Wow. Well, you please stay in touch and let us know when it’s appropriate and we will definitely have you back and follow up.

KF: Absolutely, absolutely, because you know somewhere in there I have to have some jazz music to underscore some of the scenes every time, every episode.

Smitty: That’s what I’m talking about! (Both laugh.)

KF: Absolutely.

Smitty: Oh, that’s very cool. Well, Kim, you are just a brilliant person and I just love what you do and love your vibe.

KF: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

Smitty: And I just want to say congratulations on so many wonderful things that you’ve been a part of and the things that you’ve created yourself, and we are behind you, girl.

KF: Oh, thank you. That means so much, truly. Truly it does.

Smitty: Yes indeed, and all the best in 2007 and beyond with all the many wonderful things that you’re doing, and once again congratulations on your beautiful family life.

KF: Thank you. As we got halfway through the interview, I had to prep a bottle and now I’m feeding Sebastian.

Smitty: (Laughs.) Very cool.

KF: It doesn’t get any better than this, I’ll tell you, doing an interview and feeding my son. (Both laugh.)

Smitty: Well, I’m so happy to be a part of it. That’s cool. All right, we have been talking with the amazing Ms. Kim Fields. Kim, thank you so much and we certainly look forward to seeing you and following up on some of the extraordinary projects that you’re working on. All the very best and keep your flava strong.

KF: Well, thank you very much, Smitty.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.kimfieldsentertainment.com