Jazz Monthly.com Interview with michael lington

“Jazz Monthly Feature Interview” Michael Lington

Smitty: Well, I am welcoming back to Jazz Monthly.Com once again, one of my great friends in the business. He’s a fantastic sax player and I must say, he is bringing the heat with his great new record that is appropriately titled Heat, and it has a plethora of great tracks, explosive musicians throughout this record, great producers, and I gotta tell ya, this cat is no stranger to the groove and case in point is this great new record. Please welcome once again the fabulous and amazing saxophonist, NuGroove recording artist Mr. Michael Lington. Mike, how ya doin’, my friend?

Michael Lington (ML): Hey, I’m good. It almost felt like an introduction at a live show. I got up and started walking up on stage, it felt like. (Both laugh.)

Smitty: Maybe I missed my calling and I should be an emcee somewhere, huh?

ML: Yeah, exactly. They ask me right before “What would you like us to say?” I say “Just say your thing” and what you just said sounded like I was just getting ready to walk out on stage.

Smitty: (Laughs.) I haven’t heard that one. That’s a good one, Michael. Thank you. I take that as a great compliment.

ML: Yeah, well, that’s good.

Smitty: Yeah, so, wow, man, you are bringing the heat. Wow!

ML: Well, we’re definitely trying, I could tell you that.

Smitty: Yeah, well, is this a requested heat or a recommended heat?

ML: It’s a necessary heat. (Both laugh.)

Smitty: I love it! Great answer, man. I like that, wow. Well, you have been some kind of busy. I mean, in spite of the record itself, you have been some kind of busy, man. I’m seeing you showing up on American Idol and all these great shows and you’re keeping some fantastic company and you’ve done some seriously cool events too, I mean, high profile stuff.

ML: Right.

Smitty: How are you keeping up, my friend?

ML: Oh, you know, I mean, it always seems more when you’re on the outside. I mean, we’re just having fun and, in the meantime, trying to make great music and validate the game a little bit, you know?

Smitty: Yeah, absolutely, man and in all of that activity you recently became a U.S. citizen.

ML: Right, true.

Smitty: That’s gotta be kinda cool, yeah. What’s it like? Because being a citizen, we don’t get to experience that, you know? Is that sort of a momentous kind of thing or what is it like?

ML: Well, I mean, it kinda made sense for me because I had been here for 18 years and I just felt that this is where I was living, this is where my life was at, I had started establishing a family and my friends are here. It was a natural progression to become a citizen. It was pretty surreal because suddenly what you have wanted for so many years was possible and there you are with a passport, an American passport. It’s a real experience, it really is. I gotta tell you, the way they did the ceremony was actually really cool. Even though they had a lotta folks there, about six, seven thousand people were there, but it still felt very patriotic and there was a nice video message from George Bush and they talked a little bit about what it meant to be an American citizen and also what some of the duties are, and I gotta be honest here, I was proud. I was really proud to be an American. I mean, I love my native land, native country, Denmark, but this is sort of the second phase of my life after I moved and I always felt at home here, so it was a natural progression for me.

Smitty: Yeah, very cool. Well, speaking of things happening like that and abroad, you have performed for the Crown Prince Frederik, the future king of Fredensborg Castle. That had to be quite an event.

ML: Yeah, that was pretty amazing. The best way to describe that is like a movie set on a Walt Disney fairytale movie. It literally was, I think, 400 VIP guests from, of course, around the world that were either kings and queens and ambassadors and all those kind of folks, and they were all wearing uniforms and it really looked like a movie set, quite frankly, with their official uniforms and medallions and hats and swords and, I mean, all this stuff. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Smitty: Wow, man. Man, you’re living the life, you know that?

ML: Well, it’s fun to see something like that because it’s really hard to get to see unless you’re invited to an event like that. It’s pretty spectacular, which I was very honored to be a part of.

Smitty: Yeah, absolutely. What’s it like to sit there and be in the audience for American Idol? Not all of us get to experience that.

ML: Well, I’ll tell ya, it’s fun. When you’re there, it’s like any other television show that you sit there and watch, but I realized how big of an impact American Idol had had on the American audience. When I got home, it was one of those things, as I had turned off my phone, right? And I’d turned off my computer while I was gone. When I got back home, it was one of those “You have 171 new e-mails. You have 79 new voice messages. You have 73 new text messages.” I mean, and I swear to you, I was on there for 10 seconds, 15 seconds, maybe 20 seconds, I don’t even know, but it just seemed not even long enough to make a difference and it sure did. I never saw it. I still haven’t seen it to this day, so I don’t even know.

Smitty: (Laughs.) Well, I didn’t have that many messages, but I got quite a few saying that they had seen you there.

ML: Right, I mean, it was really interesting, but that’s when you realize what—and you can imagine being one of those contestants and being there week after week with basically something like 25 million viewers per episode. I mean, yeah, it’s something different.

Smitty: Yeah, that’s a cool experience, though, wow.

ML: Yeah, it’s great and tying into that, actually, it’s really, really kind of a funny little coincidence, but the season I went was when my friend Ace Young was one of the contestants and he is now on my new album.

Smitty: Yeah, how cool is that.

ML: So I actually remember seeing him there and remembered I liked him, and then when we were looking for somebody to sing the only cover we did on this album, which is…

Smitty: “Baker Street.”

ML: Yeah, “Baker Street,” yeah, the Gerry Rafferty classic “Baker Street,” and we were looking for somebody to sing and our A&R guy, Pete Gattenbarg, who basically does most of the A&R for the whole American Idol/Clive Davis thing, he is working on David Cook’s album right now, and he did Daughtry and I guess Ace Young wrote a song on Daughtry’s album and that’s how they all met, and he suggested that Ace should sing this track and, boy, was he right about that. Ace, he kills it. It’s great.

Smitty: Yeah, he nailed that track on this new record, man, and it blends so well with the sax too. I mean, it’s a great composition. It’s just a beautiful track. Wow.

ML: I wish I could take credit for coming up with the idea of doing that song. I always loved the song, but it was my label guy David Chackler that said “You know, you gotta do that song,” and then after I started listening to it, I realized that the hook of the song, the chorus of the song, is actually the saxophone.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: And do the same thing. These are great songs. And I love this young singer.

ML: Oh, Keely [Hawkes]?

Smitty: 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?

Smitty: 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?

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: Yeah. That’s so true.

ML: It’s one of those songs.

Smitty: It makes you move, man. You’re right, yeah. And Track 1, “You and I,” is the first single to radio?

ML: Right.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: Yeah. And tell me what it’s like working with Torcuato Mariano.

ML: Do you know Torcuato?

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: Yes.

ML: Oh, that was just great.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: Oh, man, yeah.

ML: I mean, you know?

Smitty: 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.

Smitty: 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?

Smitty: Yeah. And it’s just great, and then the great Nathan East.

ML: I know, yeah. You know what? All I can tell you is that it is very, very nice to have very talented friends. (Laughs.)

Smitty: Yes, I feel ya.

ML: Because the music industry is challenged at times and the budgets are definitely being contained in order to survive, and so it’s important that we all look out for each other and I tell you, they all made it possible because I couldn’t pay them what they possibly deserved, but you know what? They didn’t care and they were just so graceful to me that they just came and did it. So it’s just a pleasure having such great friends, it really is. I’m almost speechless because it’s like what I asked them to do was just so way beyond their call of duty and they did it because everybody was in and they wanted still to make great music, and the fact that I went into the studio and recorded things live with great musicians, and everybody sits and records their albums at their house now. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to sort of continue elevating and I think that they realized and saw that, but I’ll tell you what did help is having Greg Phillinganes attached to the project certainly helped.

Smitty: Oh, he’s a master, yeah. Well, Michael, going back to something that I kept thinking about over and over as I listened to this new record is your writing and the way you demonstrated that, it’s poetic when I hear you play, and each artist featured or each song is a different poem that I think just rolls off so cool that I just know the audience, the fans, are gonna just love this record.

ML: Well, what can I tell you? I appreciate that very much coming from you. I just write, you know? And I know what I like and I know when I like something that I did and I wrote a lot more songs for this album than for any other album I’ve ever done. I probably wrote 25, 30 songs and I think eight of my songs ended up on the album. So I feel that I kinda narrowed it down to the songs that really blend well together and also each song has something to say, I think, you know?

Smitty: Yeah, absolutely.

ML: And if you look at them as poems, I’m just happy. It makes me feel that I did my job.

Smitty: Absolutely, man. It has such a great feel, and I’ve said this so many times, but when you can feel the music in connection to hearing it, then you know it’s a great song and you know that it’s a song with substance and it’s something that you truly enjoy opposed to just listening to a song, because we all can do that, but it goes to another level when you feel the song and it moves you and it makes you think and it makes you ponder and it makes you smile, all of those things.

ML: Right.

Smitty: And all of those elements are here with this great record.

ML: One of the directions that I was giving when we were recording this album was I told the musicians, I said “This is gonna be an album where we’re all just gonna let loose, obviously in a controlled way, but there’s gonna be no restrictions musically. I want everybody to do what they do best,” and the same thing with me. I almost treated this recording process as if I were on stage and performing for a live audience. So I tried not to think of any restrictions because just to think of that experience that people have when they hear something that moves them. And that’s kind of the approach I took and also the approach that I told everybody.

I said “You know, I don’t want to make an album for just musicians. I want to make an album that everybody understands but I want these songs to have substance, musicianship, and even people that aren’t technically inclined, that they still can feel that there is something there. That the musician has fun doing this.” They did what they did. They weren’t being contained. They were just doing what they were good at. That was the whole approach with the album. That’s why we recorded the whole album live in the studio.

Smitty: Yeah, man, and you can feel that synergy and the fun that everyone had doing it. It was sort of like a reunion kind of thing.

ML: Yeah.

Smitty: This is a strong record, Michael, I’m telling ya.

ML: Oh, thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Smitty: Yes indeed, and I tell ya, brace yourself for some wonderful reviews with this record because I think this is your best work to date.

ML: Oh, wow, thank you.

Smitty: Yes, and it really puts a stamp on you as a world class performer, really. I’m totally digging this one, man. And I’ve always enjoyed your records. You know that.

ML: Right, I do, but when you make these records it’s hard to—you’re in it in a different way, you know? All I could tell is this whole thing has felt really good and now that the record is finished and it’s in the process of being sort of premiered and set up and all of that stuff, I can feel a lot of interesting things going on. Like every day, some new developments and it just feels like—it’s hard to explain, but there’s a buzz, there really is. It feels that way.

Smitty: Yeah, nice vibe. Yeah, man. That’s when you know you’ve really hit it and you know you nailed it the way you really intended to. The vision is being realized. So what’s the release date? September 2nd?

ML: Yeah, September 2nd, yeah.

Smitty: Wow, man, that’ll be here before we know it.

ML: Yeah, exactly. And we’ll have a really great opportunity that just came about or actually it was just confirmed yesterday and on September 1st Ace Young and myself are going to perform “Baker Street” on the Jerry Lewis Telethon, which is a huge bonanza basically.

Smitty: Wow!

ML: And the day before the release, I mean, again, it was just the timing is the thing that just really came together well. It’s aired worldwide so that’s a big deal for us.

Smitty: That’s exciting. Yeah, wow.

ML: Yeah.

Smitty: That is really cool. Will you be sporting a cigar any time soon? Talk to me a little bit about, you know, when I first heard about this—and we’ve talked about this, I think, the last time when you were just launching the whole cigar venture and I said we would talk about it again next time we talked—where has it gone so far? How’s it doing?

ML: You know, starting a new business is never easy and there’s a lot of figuring out to do, and what I really enjoy the most, to be honest with you, is the creative part of the process, like coming up with new blends and new flavors and a new design for the boxes and labels, you know? (Both laugh.) Go figure. I’ve never cared so much about the business part of things. I like the creative part of things.

Smitty: The fun stuff.

ML: Yeah, well, it depends who you are. Some people love the business end much more and you associate yourself with people that do what they do best, but it’s doing really cool. There are some very interesting things that have happened. We have now created a second line. The first line was called Classic and the new line is called Connoisseur and it’s a whole ‘nother cigar. The first one was a milder, lighter cigar. The second one is like a medium. It’s a dark cigar and it’s basically a Cuban seed tobacco that is grown in Ecuador and manufactured in Ecuador, so it’s basically in so many ways a legal Cuban, and it’s not terribly strong, but it’s a medium strength and it’s just doing really, really well and it’s getting really good reviews. And an interesting thing that happened, last year I performed at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and after our show we were invited to a little event where actually I was really taken by this, but the admiral and the general of the base had flown a flag, American flag, on top of their headquarters that morning and they folded it and put it into a beautiful case and presented me with this flag that had flown over Guantanamo Bay on that day in a little ceremony that night, and then so after that we shared a couple of cigars and I happened to bring some of my cigars and we sat smoking and they said “We gotta have your cigars here.”

Smitty: (Laughs.)

ML: They said “What we have is not really up to snuff.” I said “Well, what do you mean? You’re on Cuban soil? What are you talking about?” They said “Yeah, but we can’t for obvious reasons have Cubans here, so we don’t really have great cigars.” So the next thing I know, they’d called and I got an e-mail saying “We’re removing every existing stock we have in all officer bars and lounges and we’re stocking every single humidor with Michael Lington Cigars” and they are ordering boxes and the only cigar being smoked on Guantanamo Bay is Michael Lington Cigars.

Smitty: Whoa!

ML: I mean, that is pretty, pretty cool stuff.

Smitty: Yeah, man, wow. So that means you really did your homework and what you’ve produced once again is something that people love. So Michael, I think you’ve hit on something, man.

ML: Well, it’s just fun when stuff like this happens because as you can imagine, two years ago it wasn’t even a thought and then all of a sudden we got a cigar company and people—I hold events and you sit there and watch 125 people smoke your cigars and we’re walking around—I mean, it’s just hilarious. You gotta be careful what you dream for because you just may—

Smitty: It might happen.

ML: You just might get it, you know?

Smitty: Well, Michael, you’ve been successful on so many levels and I applaud you for all the wonderful things you’ve done. I mean, you’ve given back to the community, you’ve done some things for abandoned kids, kids with HIV in South Africa, you’ve done the thing with Mr. Holland’s Opus, just some wonderful things that you’ve done. You’ve not rested on your laurels, you have not taken anything for granted, and I think on every level you’ve always put your heart in everything you do, and when people do that, great things happen. So I just want to congratulate you on just really doing everything on a top shelf level.

ML: Well, thank you. I am always very involved and active in things that I believe in, and talking about the abandoned kids, actually, they’re called Forever Homes in South Africa and Jonathan Butler turned me onto this organization and I did some work with them raising some money, and that was a pleasure to be a part of. You’ve got these kids that have either been abandoned by their parents either because that they can’t afford to take care of them anymore or because that their parents were either very ill or had died of AIDS. So they built these homes where they have sort of a main person in each home and they raise these kids and take them through school and actually give these kids a real chance at life, and things like that are important.

I do this on a local level. I work with an organization called Create Now! that gets kids referred from the social system, young kids anywhere from, say, 10, 11 to 15, 16, that are adolescents that have dropped out of school and start getting involved in gangs and for some reason have gotten arrested and are in juvenile facilities. Once they get the shock in there about the kind of path that they are starting, all of a sudden they realize that perhaps this is not the right way and a lot of these kids find music or God, but in my case they find music as sort of their savior.

I work with an organization that where these kids basically surrendered saying “You know what? We don’t want this life for ourselves but I love playing the trumpet” or “I love playing the saxophone” and I get together with these kids and sort of just tell them that “You don’t have to do these things in order to feel that—you don’t have to belong to a gang in order to feel like you have a family, you don’t have to steal in order to feel that you get things,” and these kinds of things, it’s really something that I love doing. I get just as much out of it as those kids do.

Smitty: That’s very cool. You’ve got a heart of gold, my friend, and I tell you what, you’re appreciated more than you will ever know because it’s hard to quantify the appreciation when people reach out to the capacity that you have.

ML: Oh, thank you. But again, as I said, I get a lot out of it myself. It’s really an eye-opening experience. I happen to be considered a lucky one because I was brought up in a different country where the system sort of took care of you and I had instruments to play when I wanted to play one, but I also realize without those opportunities, I may not have been able to do the things I’ve done in life, so to give kids an opportunity, that’s someone that just needed opportunity.

Smitty: Yeah, exactly.

ML: So that stuff is really—that’s a no brainer for me. I love doing that.

Smitty: Very cool, man. Well, once again, man, congratulations on just being a cool person and just really doing your thing on such a classy level. Now, we’ve talked about The Chackster, David Chackler, quite a bit.

ML: I think I’ve mentioned him three times.

Smitty: (Laughs.) Okay, we’ve given him his three props, huh?

ML: Right.

Smitty: Oh, man. Well, let’s give him one more. Man, you’re on a new label.

ML: Well, I’m on a new old label. We do have a history. He was the guy that actually signed me to my first deal and we did my first album together and it was just kinda interesting how things over the years have developed. We always kept in touch and have always been friends, we even worked together in some capacity, and when I sort of became a free agent again, if you will, I had a few options but I gotta tell you, the kind of energy that David brought to the table I realized that that would be the right fit, and I think I was proven right. I think it is a perfect fit and I’m so impressed with his ideas, his energy, his dedication. I mean, you only know about two percent of the stuff that is actually going on, you know what I mean?

Smitty: Yeah, exactly.

ML: The things that he is doing and things that are happening every day, and it really is great, and both my manager and myself, we’re shaking our heads going “Wow, wow, this is kinda nice,” you know? “This is really nice when you’ve got such a team behind you and this kind of dedication.”

Smitty: Yeah, and those are the elements that are so important with a label, to have that kind of support and feeling that you have that and knowing that you’ve got someone behind you that is really going to give you what you really need to further your career. Yeah, it’s great.

ML: But, I mean, with that being said, I’ve been very fortunate to have been on great labels along the way, made many friends, and so you know what? It’s all a part of the bigger picture, you know what I mean?

Smitty: Oh yeah.

ML: I feel very fortunate. I mean, I’m making a living off what I love to do. And just by that alone, I feel very fortunate.

Smitty: Yes, and rightly so. Well, I tell ya, Michael, once again, just going back to the record, congratulations on just doing a marvelous job with this record, and I know it’s a lotta work, I know what it takes to put out a record like this, and I know that the hard work will pay off with this record in so many ways, so feel good about it like you do and just ride with it and have fun with it, my friend, because you have really created something special.

ML: Oh, thank you. That means a lot. It means a lot to me, especially coming from you.

Smitty: Absolutely, and I hope to see you real soon out on the road, my friend, and see some real live stuff out there and you’re doing your thing and get to hang a little bit and really sort of catch up on a few things, you know? When I hear you’re doing a new record that makes me feel good and know that you’re still out there doing your thing.

ML: Right, right. Thank you so much for your time and it’s great talking to you.

Smitty: Oh, it’s always a pleasure, my friend, and you know you have a standing welcome here, you know that.

ML: I appreciate that, thanks.

Smitty: Yes indeed. We’ve been talking with the incredible Mr. Michael Lington. His great new record is called Heat. It is 10 fantastic tracks with just a phenomenal list of A-List players on this record that I know you truly will enjoy. I highly recommend it. Michael, thanks again, my friend, and all the best in 2008 and beyond, my friend.

ML: Thank you. Looking forward to seeing you again soon, Smitty.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.michaellington.com and www.thenugroove.com and www.myspace.com/michaellington