Jazz Monthly: Absolutely, yeah.
ML: There’s no song chorus. I mean, it’s genius, it really is. And then doing some more research that it really hasn’t been covered, it hasn’t been covered by a sax player, but I think the Foo Fighters did a version about 10 years ago and there was no sax on it, but besides that, it really hasn’t been covered. It’s almost like mind-boggling that that’s possible.
Jazz Monthly: Right. When I first listened to this track, that’s exactly what I said to myself: “I don’t think this has been covered very much at all and if it has, I haven’t heard about it.”
ML: Right.
Jazz Monthly: And I said “This is really cool” because it’s a classic song. Yeah, and so it was really cool to play it over and over, and speaking of that, I’d say all of these songs are what I call repeat songs because these are the songs that you hit repeat and you keep listening to them, you know? If you listen to “Baker Street,” you’re gonna hear it and you’ll want to hit it about four or five times and then you go on to the next song, you know?
ML: Right.
Jazz Monthly: And do the same thing. These are great songs. And I love this young singer.
ML: Oh, Keely [Hawkes]?
Jazz Monthly: Keely, wow.
ML: Yeah, it’s funny because she has her own whole deal. I mean, it’s kind of an interesting process, what happened with that song. Well, first of all, originally we wrote it as a vocal song and also the hook of the song was the sax, almost the same setup as “Baker Street” and she came in and sang the demo, but then we decided that we liked—actually, the song was an instrumental except the choruses, you know what I mean?
Jazz Monthly: Yeah, yeah.
ML: But the other thing we discovered is we really loved Keely’s unique voice and decided to use her for the album. She just came in to sing the demo to even see if the song would make it to the album and we just fell in love with her voice. And it’s funny; there was a whole thing we did originally just trying to demo the song that we ended up doing something different at the tracking session, and we all decided to go back more towards the original demo we had done because there was just something very sort of—it had a charm that was just impossible to mess with, you know what I mean?
Jazz Monthly: Yes.
ML: We were trying at all costs to try to keep that charm, and it’s an interesting, fun little track and you know what? If you don’t tap your toes, I gotta think you know how to, I mean, because that song will just—I don’t care who you are, it’ll make you tap your toes.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah. That’s so true.
ML: It’s one of those songs.
Jazz Monthly: It makes you move, man. You’re right, yeah. And Track 1, “You and I,” is the first single to radio?
ML: Right.
Jazz Monthly: And it was world premiered on The Wave in Los Angeles a couple of days ago?
ML: Correct. The Wave in Los Angeles has always been great and it just seemed like the perfect thing to do.
Jazz Monthly: Yes, and what a great way to do it, and that’s a beautiful song. What a way to open this album with that track because it really sets the tone. It’s a beautiful track.
ML: Well, thank you, thank you.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah. And tell me what it’s like working with Torcuato Mariano.
ML: Do you know Torcuato?
Jazz Monthly: Yeah, I love his music. Man, great cat.
ML: Yeah, this was another idea that actually came about through David Chackler. He said “Why don’t we bring up our friend Torcuato from Brazil? Have him be a part of the record.” And I said “You know what? That’s fun.” I always love to give some new elements to a project. “Let’s see what happens,” you know? Come up with new ideas. And Torcuato I’d never met, didn’t really know about him, and I knew he was a great guitar player so we said “Let’s fly him in and see what happens.” So he was here for about a week and we ended up becoming great friends and he’s a wonderful, wonderful human being and an amazing artist himself.
Jazz Monthly: Yes.
ML: Oh, that was just great.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah, I love his music, yeah, a great cat. And I gotta tell you, man, all of these tracks, we could talk for hours about these tracks because I love ‘em all: “Ocean Drive,” “Ladyland,” and I must tell you, Track 7, “That’s When You Save Me” featuring Aaron Neville, is just the slam dunk on this record. I mean, it’s just fantastic. Wow! It’s one thing to blend a voice with a saxophone, but when you hear Aaron Neville, it’s like the saxophone is just the perfect fit with his voice.
ML: Well, I mean, I almost will go as far as saying I think probably Aaron has the most recognizable voice of any artist. I mean, Aaron Neville is Aaron Neville and he’s a national treasure. And to have him on the album, it’s impossible to describe, but also there’s a funny little history that my very first single that I did with Bobby Caldwell was “Tell It Like It Is,” which was Aaron Neville’s first hit record back in the sixties, and Bobby and I did that in 1996, so it’s just one of those funny little ironies, I mean, it’s funny how things work.
Jazz Monthly: Yes. Did you guys get to talk about that at all?
ML: No because he recorded his vocals in New Orleans and I was mixing. I actually was gonna go to New Orleans and meet him and talk to him a little bit, but we had to finish mixing some other songs to continue meeting our deadline, so neither myself nor Keith Olsen, who was producing the track, was there, so we actually flew in the writer of the song to sort of handle that for us.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah, and there’s another name: Keith Olsen. Wow, I mean, this cat is legendary.
ML: You know what? He is, I’m finding out. I didn’t realize. Again, my great label guy David, his idea. He said “Well, why don’t we have Keith involved?” They have a long history together. Keith brought an act to David back in the seventies, which was Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and this was before the whole Fleetwood Mac thing, and they did that record together years and years ago, and so he mentioned “Why don’t you work with Keith?” And Keith really wanted to work on this kind of record and it just made sense, but every time it’s funny. Every time I mention his name, people go “THE Keith Olsen? Wow!” He was a part of some major, major records.
Jazz Monthly: Oh, man, yeah.
ML: I mean, you know?
Jazz Monthly: Well, I tell ya, when I think about the title of this project, it is so appropriately titled for so many reasons because when you think about all the cats you have on this record with yourself.
ML: Right.
Jazz Monthly: This is pure heat. And we haven’t even talked about Greg Phillinganes yet, who has just worked with everybody from Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson to Herbie Hancock.
ML: Right, exactly. Well, yeah, and, I mean, that’s just the beginning of that, you know?
