Jazz Monthly.com Interview with Robin Mckelle

“Jazz Monthly Feature Interview” Robin McKelle

Smitty: I am so excited to introduce my next guest, a great singer. She’s just put together a project of great standards. It is called Introducing Robin McKelle. She has a voice to live for and, trust me, you will love this project. Please give a very warm welcome for the incomparable Ms. Robin McKelle. Robin, how are you?

Robin McKelle (RM): I’m doing great, I’m doing very, very well, very excited about the CD and what’s to come, so thanks.

Smitty: Yes, you should be because this is a wonderful project. When I first listened to it, I said “Oh, this is different” and I just love the accompaniment of the band, just a great mix of wonderful standards and the whole production is really nice, I loved it.

RM: Oh, well, thank you so much. A lot of thanks should go to my producer as well, a very good friend of mine, Willie Murillo, who put the band together for us and just did a great job.

Smitty: Yes, he did. He’s a wonderful talent himself.

RM: Yes, he is.

Smitty: So, now, you’ve had music in your family growing up too, did you not?

RM: Oh yes, my mother is a singer and she plays guitar and piano. When I was younger….I grew up in the Catholic church and she was the liturgical music coordinator, she did the music in church, so I had music in my family from a very young age.

Smitty: How did that impact your life as you were growing up? Was that something that was just a part of growing up and it influenced your decisions or was it just sort of subliminal but you were still taking it in?

RM: I think it was subliminal, but my mother never pushed music on me or anything. She wasn’t that kind of like stage mom at all. It really resonated with me and I have two sisters who are both extremely musically talented as well, but they chose different paths for careers but our whole family is very musical. It was something that I was just drawn to and music has always been a part of my life since I was very young.

Smitty: When did you start to think about doing this professionally?

RM: I never thought about anything else. I always just knew that it was what I was going to do. There was never any question about if I would or would not pursue music. It was such a huge part of my life, but that’s really kinda all I did. When you get to the point in high school when you decide what your path is going to be, your career and college choices, I never even thought twice about it. I just knew “Okay, I’m gonna find a school to go to for music,” you know? It was just something that I knew I was always going to do. I knew I was going to pursue it, yeah.

Smitty: The reason why I ask is because I’m always curious about decision-making at a young age, at high school age. There’s so many things that you could do other than music, and I often wonder how young people stick with there decisions because you have your own set of friends that may be choosing other paths and may be a little influential, saying “Hey, you should be a nurse or you should be this or choose a different career.” How do you stay the path with your decisions when your friends are perhaps choosing a different direction?

RM: Yeah, well, it’s funny because I had quite an eclectic mix of friends in high school, but most of my friends, like myself, were so involved in the music department at my school. We were all musicians, so we all kind of hung out together and we had the same dreams and aspirations, and when I wasn’t doing something with the high school music groups, I was always singing. I would sing on the weekends with this funk R&B band, and when I was 17 we would tour around and travel and I was singing R&B, Aretha Franklin stuff, and then I’d study my classical repertoire during the week and music theater. I was just completely surrounded by musicians. If it wasn’t in school, it was in a band on the outside, gigging. I don’t think you would be able to influence me to do anything else. This is all I know how to do. (Both laughing.) Although I’m very good at arts and crafts. If anything were to happen, I don’t know, Martha Stewart better watch out.

Smitty: (Laughs.)

RM: That’s the joke in my family. “Well, you know, if it doesn’t work out for you singing, you could always be the next Martha Stewart.”

Smitty: (Laughs.) That’s funny.

RM: Yeah.

Smitty: I think that’s very important to have the encouragement and influence of your peers as well as family members to help you pursue your dreams. I think that’s great and it seems like that’s what happened with you.

RM: Yeah, my family has been so supportive. My parents, my whole family, my sisters and my even my extended family….they come to every gig that they can come to. My dad will drive up from Rochester, New York if I’ve got a show in Boston. He’ll get in the car and drive up to come see the show and then drive the next day home. My family has been there from the beginning, from the start.

Smitty: Oh, that’s cool.

RM: They have been so supportive emotionally, and financially they’ve helped me to be able to do what I wanna do. I could not have finished this project without my parents.

Smitty: You must hug them well. (Laughs.)

RM: I do, I do, and they’re so excited now with what’s happening. They’re just like….it’s the best gift you could give because it’s out there to finally, and seeing that things are starting to really come together and everybody’s very excited.

Smitty: Speaking of things happening and coming together, I can see why they are excited and why you are excited as well. You did an interview with NPR and things really just took off from there.

RM: It did. It was amazing. The interview….they did a piece on the CD, the project. They interviewed me and after it aired my CD was available for preorder on Amazon.com it went up to No. 5, which was very exciting and unexpected, and my record label was scrambling around going “Oh my God, I hope we made enough CD’s.”

Smitty: (Laughs.)

RM: So it was cute. It was really fun to kinda go through it all, all of us together and Joe, one of the guys at the record label, one of the co-owners, is also a very, very good friend of mine. We worked on my first little jazz trio CD when we were in school together at Berklee, so we have a big, a long history there as well.

Smitty: Oh, great.

RM: It’s been really nice to work with them as well because it’s exciting for all of us. It’s like a little family.

Smitty: Yeah, very cool. And your CD debuted at No. 9 at Billboard Magazine. How ‘bout that, huh?

RM: I know, it’s amazing. I can’t believe it.

Smitty: Wow.

RM: It’s just been great. We’re very excited.

Smitty: So you’re just having a lot of fun with this, I can tell.

RM: Yeah, now we’re just trying to figure out how we can take it on the road. (Both laughing.)

Smitty: Well, I’m sure you will work that out because a lot of fans can’t wait to see you perform live.

RM: Aw, well, I’m so honored. The fans have been so great. I get e-mails every day from somebody, and they’re so appreciative and they just love the music, and it really resonates in my soul because, I’ll tell you, I have done a lotta gigs where I don’t think anybody even realizes that I’m even in the room. (Laughs.) So this feels very nice that people are listening to the music and they love it, so I can’t wait to get out there and do some more concerts and add to the dates we already have.

Smitty: Yes, and let’s say a really big thank you to Susan Stamberg at NPR. She did a magnificent job with the interview.

RM: Oh yes, she was amazing. She was just so amazing and spent a lotta time with me and just a beautiful person and I know she really loves the project and I’m just so thankful to her and everyone over at NPR. They really helped me out a lot and it was just great.

Smitty: Yes indeed. What I like about this record, it has that great retro feel to it and there’s a lot of really cool elements that I can feel, some Latin in there and just a lot of great elements, and the band, they’re so tight and they have so much going on. It’s almost like you’re listening to a retro swing kind of thing going on.

RM: Yeah, we went through a lot of different ideas, Willie and I, and that kinda was his idea to stay with more of that 30’s and 40’s kind of a vibe, and at first I was like “I don’t know” because I have a very broad range of what my musical influences are. So to stick with this one style was a challenge for me, but I think when everything came together and the whole package was done, and I trust him immensely with ideas and things like that, and it really came together as a very cool thing. I think what happens is that when you put the CD on, it takes you back to a time that’s vintage and retro sounding, and I think that’s one of the really charming things about the project.

Smitty: Yeah, do you like that era of time? Is that something that you were able to capture and feel as you were putting this project together?

RM: Yeah, I mean, everything from especially the arrangements, are very 30’s, they sound like they’re from the 30’s. But some of the arrangements are actually the versions like Sinatra did and were just adapted for me because we went back and forth. I love listening to Sinatra and the old Ella stuff with the big band, and they’re very popular arrangements and the thing is we kinda were like “Well, you know, we love listening to that. Let’s do something similar to that because I know a ton of people even from my age up to my parents’ age who love listening to that particular sound, the big band sound with, the old vintage and retro sound. So we just kinda decided to give it a shot and like I said, I’m very excited about how it came out and we’re really looking forward to kind of getting into the next CD, which we don’t know what it’s gonna be like yet, but we’re kinda starting to brainstorm on that.

Smitty: Yeah, isn’t that cool?

RM: Yes.

Smitty: When you get that one behind you and it’s locked in and everybody’s loving it, and then it’s like “Where do we go from here? Let’s do some more,” you know? I like that.

RM: Yeah.

Smitty: Yeah, that’s very cool. And I think it really piques your creative juices when you’ve got some exciting things happening, then you get in the studio while you’re excited and while you’re very creative. It’s a peak time to do a record.

RM: Yeah, it’s great because now it’s like, we have so much more support than we had before and when we started this project, it was like literally….we started this project with my money, my parents’ money, and Willie was just doing it because he loves me. (Both laughing.) He and I met at a wedding in Los Angeles on a gig and he was like “Oh my goodness, I have to produce a CD for you” and I was like “Ahh! I’m not a jazz singer, come on, I’m not, I’m not” and at the time I was trying to do this R&B thing and I had a lot of soul searching to do. And he never stopped calling me, for three years he called me like “When are we gonna do the record? When are we gonna do the record?” (Both laughing.) And I think it’s such a great story because I finally called him back and said “Okay, let’s do the CD. Let’s do it” and then he was like within a month he had the whole band, he had all the arrangements. He was like ready to go.

Smitty: Wow.

RM: It went really fast. We decided to do it in August and we recorded everything between September and October.

Smitty: Wow. He was prepared.

RM: He was probably getting the songs together for the past three years. (Both laughing.)

Smitty: But I think that’s very cool and one of my favorite songs is “Yes My Darling Daughter.” That is a sweet song and you did such a great job with that.

RM: Thank you.

Smitty: Talk about why you chose that song as part of this project.

RM: Well, it’s kinda funny because you’re not the first person who has said that they love that song and I think as an artist we all know what we like as favorites. I have my favorites and then I have my like “Yeah, they’re okay,” you know.

Smitty: (Laughs.)

RM: But we needed a certain sound, we needed a certain tempo for it, you know, to make it really flow and there were a couple ideas and Willie had suggested that tune and so I went and listened to it and I was like “That tune’s kinda silly. I don’t know.”

Smitty: (Laughs.)

RM: And I think I listened to the Eddie Reed Big Band do it or something and I was like “Oh, no.” And it was kinda cute and I said “Well, all right. I think we could spice it up a little bit,” and then it just ended up being really fun because they have the call and response thing with the band at the end and I have put a lot of trust in Willie for this project because we went back and forth quite a bit on song selection. And of course, I wanted to sing a whole album of ballads because that’s my favorite and he was like “Robin, come on, we need this, we need that and da-da-da,” and being an artist I get very distracted and sidetracked. So I said “Okay, I’m gonna trust you. These are the songs I have to sing on the CD, these are the ones and then the rest of ‘em, let’s narrow it down to what you think.” Because I think he really has a gift for putting it together and obviously it’s made an impact and a lot of the song selections were his idea.

Smitty: Yeah.

RM: And although many of them were mine as well, it was kind of equal but, again, I had to put a lot of faith and trust into him because he really knows what he’s doing and I need to be reined in sometimes because I can get on a tangent musically (both laughing), from one song to the next, kinda like how I’m talking right now, just bantering. I’ll stop talking now. (Both laughing.)

Smitty: No, I think it’s cool, I think it’s really cool. I think, in terms of your trust of him….I think you have to have that kind of trust when you’re working together because, the visions are all for the right reasons and I think when you have that kind of trust, it seems to flow and make everything work the way you really intended it to become, because what you’re really after is the right songs and the right outcome.

RM: Exactly.

Smitty: Yeah, and I think you both captured that here very well.

RM: Well, thank you.

Smitty: Yes, and I love “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”

RM: Oh yeah.

Smitty: Oh, that’s a cool song.

RM: Yeah, what I love about some of them….and some people have actually commented and said ….“Oh, wow, there’s a lotta long introductions on these CD’s, or on some of the songs,” but I think the thing is is that it’s just as much about the band on this project as it is me. I mean, just look on the list of people that are playing on it. I never thought I would be able to be recording with some of these guys who have been on so many great projects, I mean, you have guys like Wayne Bergeron and Gary Graham playing lead trumpet and they’ve played on everything from Michael Jackson’s CD’s to the big band and all the L.A. stuff. I just feel so blessed to be working with this level of musicianship and so it’s just as much about the band and I think it doesn’t always have to be, “Oh, the singer, it’s all about the singer,” it’s about the music and it needs to stay true to that, and that’s really why we left those arrangements like that because it’s just good.

Smitty: Yes.

RM: It sets the whole vibe, I think.

Smitty: I totally agree because when I’m listening to this record, you hit it spot on because I hear you singing, which is great, and then this band, it’s such a perfect blend hearing both equally and it is so tight. There’s this great chemistry….This combination of a really killer band and this great voice, and the production is unbelievable. This is magnificent stuff.

RM: Well, thank you.

Smitty: You’re so welcome. When I listened to the record, I said “Now I know why she went to No. 5 after the NPR interview.”

RM: Oh, wow.

Smitty: I think if anyone listened to this record and really get into the musicianship here and the songs and the lyrics and the voice, you can’t help but embrace it. Yeah, I love it.

RM: Well, thank you.

Smitty: You’re putting together a tour, of course?

RM: Yup.

Smitty: You’re gonna be getting out there and people can come out and see you and get the record and all of that good stuff, so how’s that going? How’s the tour arrangements going?

RM: We’re going slowly but surely. We are getting there. We had such a response from the CD. I didn’t have at the time any management or agent or anything. I still don’t have an agent, so we’re really trying to nail a couple of those key things down so we can really put the next part of it into action. Right now everyone’s playing catch-up with all the stuff that’s been happening. Like I said, my label, they pressed about 2,000 CD’s and our distributor was like….we had over 30,000 orders for CD’s, so they were scrambling around to fill orders and we’re just trying to get caught up, so we are just pleasantly overwhelmed and surprised. So we thank everybody for there support. But were coming!

Smitty: Well, you know, Robin, this is the kind of thing that happens with a new star. It’s like “What do we do?” That’s what happens when something this good comes out. It can be overwhelming, so it’s a good thing.

RM: It’s a great thing, it really is. I mean, I’ve been at it for so long. I’ve been doing this and singing for so long, you name it and the response has just been so heartening. Like I said, I’m just so excited about what’s to come.

Smitty: Yes. Please give me your Web site address so the fans can go there and check out your site and what you’re doing over there.

RM: Yes, it’s www.robinmckelle.com.

Smitty: Okay, and I’ve been to your site. It’s cool. You’ve got some nice photos on there and some history about your career and the music’s there, of course.

RM: Yes.

Smitty: It’s a cool site, very interactive, easy to navigate, and that’s always a cool thing, yeah.

RM: Yes, we’ve tried to keep it all easy to navigate.

Smitty: Yeah, absolutely. Talk about what happens from here.

RM: Well, we’re booking dates in order to get out there and do some concerts for everybody and working out what I’m gonna do for my next project because right now I’m currently not signed to any other label, so we’re working on that. I’m planning on moving. Right now I live on the East Coast; I’m planning on moving to the West Coast, so that’s coming up in the next couple months. I make my home in Boston right now where I was teaching on the faculty at Berklee College of Music for three years.

I just took a leave to kinda pursue the rest of this CD career here, and they’ve been very supportive and very great, but I also work. I’m singing all the time around Boston right now with another project that I work on, which is an original project. I write a lot of music and compose a lot. I have a steady kind of a band that I work with in the Boston area right now as well. The next couple of months we’re gonna be putting the band together for the jazz tour and keep getting a nice band rehearsed and getting out there, really.

Smitty: Oh, cool.

RM: Yeah.

Smitty: Well, that’s very cool. I certainly look forward to seeing you out there on the road, and I certainly plan on catching a show myself and I’m really looking forward to it.

RM: Well, great.

Smitty: Yes.

RM: Well, thank you so much.

Smitty: You are so welcome. And thank you for this great record. I think I speak for thousands when I say that.

RM: My goodness. Well, thank you so much for the interview and listening. Just thank you for listening to it. That’s really nice.

Smitty: Oh yes.

RM: Nice to know.

Smitty: I’ll hang onto this one. And my compliments to everybody there at Cheap Lullaby Records, they did a great job. All right, we’ve been talking with the lovely Ms. Robin McKelle. She has a wonderful new project out that is introducing her. It’s called Introducing Robin McKelle. Some wonderful standards, great music, you’ve gotta listen to this one, the band is tight, it is one that you certainly want to add to your collection and give a listen to on your CD changer. Robin, thank you so much. Keep your flava strong, and I will see you on the road.

RM: Oh, thank you so much.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.robinmckelle.com or www.myspace.com/robinmckelle or www.cheaplullaby.com