Smitty: And I love that about him too. He has an incredible way of leaving the door open for improvisation, which I think is beautiful.
GJ: Yes. Yeah, exactly.
Smitty: Let’s talk about this record because I’ve heard you play live many times and we all know, and for those that do not know, you have been Norman Brown’s music director for many years, but Norman, I love you like a brother, but move out of the way because Gail’s coming up front to do her thing because this record is such a fabulous compilation of great songs and you’ve got terrific players, and what I really love about this is we get to hear you do some incredible solos to really showcase your talent as a keyboard player and I think that’s just wonderful.
GJ: Yep, I was trying not to get too “solo-y” but also I think I really just want to play, and if it’s really about jazz, you really just want to express yourself, you want to express your heart, you express what you’re feeling, so that’s definitely what I intended to do and I’m glad it’s coming across like that. And Norman Brown, he said he’s happy for me and so we’ll see if maybe I can come on one of these Summer Storms and be one of the opening acts for him.
Smitty: There you go! I like that.
GJ: Mm-hmm.
Smitty: Well, let’s call him out on that, all right?
GJ: Personally I had a lot of fun working on this record. Actually, I’d written about 25 songs. I really couldn’t decide. I was trying to paint a picture, I was trying to tell a story, and it just kept pouring, so with me when I write, it just kinda comes all out at once and then there’s a lull, but I don’t worry because I know I can go back and work those songs and see how they develop and then until another inspirational burst comes along, so that was what was going on until I finally made the whole compilation and I said “Okay, these are my pearls, these are my favorite ones.” And like I said, I got some help from some fantastic people like James Lloyd. I called him up and I was like “Can you write something for me?” (Both laugh.) And he did. He was so gracious and just sent this stuff over. He said “Gail, check this out. See if you dig it,” you know? That’s his language.
Smitty: Yeah.
GJ: I said “I dig it” and so we reworked it back and forth. You know, today we’ve got the Internet now. We can just fly files across the country in the matter of an hour, you know?
Smitty: Yeah, true.
GJ: So I was able to work his songs to the way they would really come to a compromise between the two of us. I mean, he didn’t fight me on anything, but he said “Yeah, I like that. Maybe you can work on this or maybe you can do that better.” So he was really, really gracious and so was Nelson Braxton. He flew down and we had lunch and we sat in the studio all day and I played all the songs that I wrote and he liked that one, “Pacific Breeze.” I think that was called “Song No. 52” or something like that because I didn’t have titles for them yet. “Pacific Breeze” was because he’s up north in San Francisco and I’m down here in Los Angeles and I said “Okay, the breeze is flowing from south to north and north to south,” and it turned out to be a really, really nice song.
Smitty: Well, I’ve already told you this. You know that’s my favorite track on this record.
GJ: We wanted that to be the single too.
Smitty: Yeah, I was looking for that one to be the first single to radio, but since I’m not calling the shots (laughs), we’ll go with that.
GJ: It’ll be the second single for radio, that’s for sure.
Smitty: Yeah, but it’s a beautiful song and I love the mixing and mastering, the work that Paul Brown did too with the songs.
GJ: Yeah, Paul Brown lives five minutes from my house. I had no idea this Grammy award winning, I mean, superstar hit maker, mixer guy is two minutes from my house, and he was so cool. He’s got a real cool studio, but he was really nice. He just said “Okay, Gail, come on over. I’ve got some down time. Let’s see what you got.” And in fact, he took one of the tracks, “Silky Slide,” and he played his guitar on top of that. He said “I like that song.”
Smitty: (Laughs.) Yeah, you have a way with the Brown cats.
GJ: (Laughs.) In fact, I had a gang of initials “NB” all over the place. Actually, it was really when I first got started with the Keep the Music Playing CD. I had nothing but Johnson people helping me. First Kevin Johnson, my guy that was helping me with my graphic and Internet stuff was Michael Johnson, my keyboard player in Philly was Mark Johnson…it was just all these Johnsons all over the place. And then with this record, all the Browns came along.
Smitty: Well, I guess next time it’ll be either the Smiths or the Joneses. (Both laugh.)
GJ: Yup, yup, yup, perhaps so. When my first husband—well, my only husband—his name was Jones, so I used to be a Jones.
Smitty: How ‘bout that, huh? Well, you know what? Gail, when you first told me you were working on this project, I remember back when you were telling me about it and I knew it was going to be fantastic but I had no idea it was going to be this good. I mean, it is just amazingly good, I mean, crazy good.
GJ: Yeah, I’m really, really happy with it. I’m just so excited, I really am. There’s one other cut on there, “Miles Away,” that I worked with Travis Miller from New York.
Smitty: Yeah.
GJ: Oh yeah, he worked with—in fact, he just came back from the funeral with Sean LeVert, so he works with those guys. You know, LeVert, he played with them for years. Gerald Alston and Will Downing. So he brought a different flavor with “Miles Away” and I was really excited about that one too.
Smitty: Yeah.
GJ: All of them, excited about all of them. I’m telling you, I can just go on and on.
Smitty: I know.
GJ: The track that I dedicated to the soldiers, I think it’s Track No. 2, “My Soldier.”
Smitty: Yeah.
GJ: It had a haunting feeling and had a lonely feeling to it, and I wanted to dedicate something to those guys that are over there in 129-degree weather every day. You know, I feel their pain sometimes and I think that song expresses that.
Smitty: Yes, it does.
GJ: Mm-hmm.
Smitty: Great track. You need to get that track to them.
GJ: Uh-huh, yeah. Yep, that would be nice for them to hear. Well, actually, Oprah got my CD. I gave it to her as a gift, so I hope she’s enjoying it as well.
Smitty: Oh, well, Oprah, sound off if you hear this, girl!
GJ: Yeah, we put it in a little gift bag for her. She always does so much for everybody else, you know?
Smitty: Yeah.
GJ: “So how about you getting a gift sometimes?”
Smitty: Absolutely.
GJ: The gift of music.
