Jazz Monthly.com Interview with project grand slam

“Jazz Monthly Feature Interview” Haim Cotton
Interview By Baldwin "Smitty" Smith

Jazz Monthly: I am so happy to welcome to JazzMonthly.com an incredible keyboard player. He represents a band that has no boundaries when it comes to making great music. The music of this cat is just amazing and if you’ve heard his release which is appropriately titled, 100% Cotton, you know what I’m talking about. The great band that he represents has a new record. It is called Play and it is a plethora of fantastic songs, a very eclectic mix of fusion, improvisational jazz that will just pique your ear. Please welcome the incredible and amazing, from the fantastic group Project Grand Slam, Haim Cotton. Haim, how you doing, my friend?

Haim Cotton (HC): Good. How are you? Oh my God, what an introduction of me. I’m blushing. (Both laugh.) Very kind of you. Appreciate it.

Jazz Monthly: Oh, you’re so welcome. But the music just evokes that kind of introduction because you cats have really put together a fantastic project, and I think it’s really starting to get recognized by the public because it’s moving up on the charts, the single out there, and I say to everyone that has heard the single “Captain of the Heart,” wait until you hear the rest of the project. (Both laugh.) So you gotta get this record because it’s fantastic. But now you’re no stranger to great music. You started out playing music at an early age, didn’t you?

HC: Yes. Although it was considered, when you start with classical music, I always felt like I started too late, being that I was always jealous of the kids that their parents got them started at four and five, so that was a little bit of frustration when I was 11 and started to play the piano, but it is considered early, I agree.

Jazz Monthly: Yes. What did you enjoy most in those early years of playing classical music?

HC: Mm-hmm, that’s a very good question because before I played the piano in general, once I discovered the great symphonies and great classical music, I just felt like I got lost in it every time I heard a piece. It would just move me from the inside to places I couldn’t describe. But things did change. It is a perceptive question since when I started playing the piano, I was viewing it from within, so what I enjoyed is really looking forward to playing. I constantly dreamt of playing the big pieces, and I remember really annoying my teachers because they would give me some little piano piece and I wouldn’t touch it and I would take like the big concertos or the big sonatas and study them on my own and then come to lesson and then the teacher said “I’m surprised somebody talented like you is not prepared” or something like that and they’d make comments. The style of teaching was a little bit different than today. And then a few weeks later I would say “But I learned this sonata” and they would get really upset. “How dare you! You can study it wrong or develop the bad habits.” So I think that’s what I kind of like enjoyed is really aiming for the big pieces.

Jazz Monthly: When you joined the band, did that change your approach to making music?

HC: Yes, it changed, absolutely, because now you’re not just a solo artist. I think there’s a difference between a solo project and a band project in a sense that in a solo project, that’s really featuring you, and in a band project you have to keep the band sound in general in your mind. So sometimes I would encounter, like even today, like the people who are close to me who know my playing will say “There’s not enough piano” or “You’re not stretching yourself out and playing the way we’re used to hearing you play. We need more piano.” And it’s hard to explain because everything you tell them will sound like an excuse, you know? But I feel like, especially in my forties now, I was in there listening to the overall picture and not just trying to stand out or do like a great solo or something like that. So I think, in that sense, yes, I agree the approach was different.

Jazz Monthly: Yes. Well, I can’t help but get into this record because when I listened to this latest project from you great cats, Play, it is overwhelmingly good.

HC: Oh my Gosh, that’s really beyond my expectations. Thank you, because that is a huge compliment coming from a veteran like yourself.

Jazz Monthly: Well, thank you. But the credit goes to all of you.

HC: Absolutely.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, because you as a band have such a synergy of creating music that is felt throughout this whole record, and one has to only sit down and listen and feel the synergy and the great appreciation of every note, every chord in this project.

HC: Wow.

Jazz Monthly: Because it’s so evident. It’s like a bright light when you hear the synergy and the energy of this great record.

HC: Oh, thank you. I’m really humbled to hear that, I have to say.

Jazz Monthly: And the other thing that I thought of when listening to this is this is a band that could easily go in so many directions with ease because you demonstrated that with every song. This is a great record in that not every song sounds the same and it’s almost like you selected something that would be hard for a lot of people and you made it look easy.

HC: Oh wow.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, it’s just that good. My hat’s off to the entire band, all of you.

HC: Thank you.

Jazz Monthly: And what you’ve created here. I tell you what, talk about the band. Can you just do a roll call of the band for me and just introduce them to the world right now on the record.

HC: Well, let’s start with Robert [Miller] because really the credit for starting the band first and foremost should go to him. You’re familiar with the fact that I was in the Robert Miller Band with him many years ago.

Jazz Monthly: Yes.

HC: We did Child’s Play and I think it was Prisoners of Love together. As a matter of fact, your colleague, Jonathan [Widran], actually wrote a review about Child’s Play.

Jazz Monthly: Yes he did. It’s a great review.

HC: Yes, yes, yes. The funny thing, he was referring to me as a speed demon, you know.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, I know. I saw that. (Both laugh.)

HC: I don’t think he’d be able to say that on this album. I think I’ve calmed down a lot. Either that or the Ritalin is working.

Jazz Monthly: (Laughs.) Well, and Jonathan has such a way with words. He’s just an inspiration to me.

HC: Oh, he’s inspiring.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, and I respect his work so much.

HC: Mm-hmm.

Jazz Monthly: And it’s one of the main reasons why he and I work together now because we have such a great respect for each other.

HC: Yeah. It’s so great that the two of you can work like that together.

Jazz Monthly: Yes.

HC: It’s beautiful. But Robert, really the credit goes to him because we kind of separated ways professionally but kind of kept in touch periodically and then at the end of 2006, he gave me a call out of the blue. He said “You know what? I really feel like playing again.” And I was happy to hear that because I thought he had a lot to offer and I thought that what we started back then had the seeds of something that did not materialize itself yet. He asked me to do two records, but it was his band, but there was some seed of collaboration that was never realized. So I would say that he was the initiator of this project and really pulled it through in many ways, you know, finding us Frank [Filipetti] and bringing Ron [Thaler] to the band, but the funny thing is once he started the ball rolling, things started progressing on their own.

So that leads me to Ron because Ron really came to the band as a result of an ad that Robert answered on Craigslist. Ron usually doesn’t do it. He travels a lot, he’s very busy, and he just put this random ad on Craigslist and Robert fixed on it, and Ron said “Yeah, let me jam with you.” It actually turned out that he knew us. He knew Robert Miller Band and was at our Blue Note performance when we did it many years ago in the nineties. I think he had just come to New York and for him it was like “Whoa, I can’t believe Robert is calling me.” So we got together in the studio and we jammed and I have to say that the energy in his playing reminded me of another great drummer I used to work a lot with, Tom Bergman, and I missed that because I felt like even though he was definitely a master of breaking rhythms and playing in a jazzy way, at the same time he had that drive and energy of like a rock drummer.

Although he always listens and he’s always dynamic, as you can hear on the album. So he really fired me up, so I have to say that Ron brings a lot of fire in the rhythm and the way he interprets the songs, the way he colors them, so that would be my introduction of Ron. Gilad [Ronen] is just an incredibly talented musician/poet and Gilad really is, I would say, absolutely limitless in terms of his talent and what he can play. He can make a saxophone sound like a Middle Eastern instrument and turn around and play like Paul Desmond or David Sanborn or Michael Brecker, but it’s always his own voice. And Gilad understands phrasing. I’ll tell you, after so many years of playing jazz and actually even teaching jazz, he gave me some insights about phrasing that I’ve never encountered before and my hat is off to this young musician.

He’s 28 or 29 or something like that. And he’s so deep with what he does and so sincere and honest, so I’m really privileged because I feel each one of the people in the band brings something else into the mix and somehow we manage to harmonize. Usually there’s a discord, you know, “Oh, he should be more straightahead and we’re not thinking alike,” so in many ways, yes, we were not thinking alike but we managed somehow in a way that is beyond my understanding to find this place that harmonizes the differences and created that record.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, and I call that fruitful thinking. Even when there’s discord, there’s fruitful thinking that brings everything together in the end, and that’s the ultimate goal of a group, is to find ways to bring all of those great thoughts together. Just because there’s discord doesn’t mean that everyone doesn’t have great thoughts.

HC: Oh yeah, no, absolutely.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, and I think when that happens—and I know what you were driving at—and that’s so important, to have that strong fruitful thinking and then having that all important mechanism—the mechanism is the common goal and when that common goal takes over all of that fruitful thinking, you have the results of what we are listening to today in this great album, Play.

HC: Wow, I love how you said that, serve the mechanism, and I love that, it’s really great.

Jazz Monthly: Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. (Laughs.)

HC: No, no, no, no, no, no, I love it. Your comment is definitely enlightening and correct.

Jazz Monthly: So now you’ve got this great hit, “Captain of the Heart,” and you have an instrumental version which I love dearly.

HC: Oh, thank you.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, and I love the great voice of Judie [Tzuke].

HC: Oh, Judie is amazing. Do you know that she sent us the track from England?

Jazz Monthly: Wow.

HC: We were never in the same place doing it.

Jazz Monthly: That’s amazing.

HC: I know.

Jazz Monthly: Talk about the band’s reaction to first hearing her voice on this track.

HC: Let me tell you, blown away, blown away. As soon as we got it and I matched it, I put it on my computer and I started the preproduction here. That’s the one track that was not produced by Frank Filipetti. It was produced by myself and our visionary and incredible manager Jan Roeg. And she brought her talent into the mix, she recommended her, and Jan has the talent of knowing what ingredient to bring to mix to take it to a really unique place, and she has helped all throughout in terms of the logos, the Web site, the pictures, everything. She’s an extremely insightful and knowledgeable and passionate music business person.

I’m very, very lucky that we have her. I can’t even say enough. It’s rare to find an amazing manager and she’s way beyond a manager. And so she brought her to the mix, so really the credit goes to Jan, but Judie just fit right in. She immediately felt what she would need to do as if we were right there in the studio playing it or rehearsing, which was amazing to me. The way she complemented the melody, how she improvises at the end, it was just amazing to me how that all happened, how could she do better than we would ever tell her or expect? It was pretty amazing. So yeah, people, they were blown away. Everybody who ever heard her voice on the track immediately was blown away. Engineers, their mouths dropped.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, I can just imagine because when I heard it, I sat up in the chair immediately. I mean, it immediately grabbed my attention. Because we’ve all heard this song in the past, it’s a song some of us grew up with, and so to hear her distinct voicings, it was just—

HC: Did you know her work before?

Jazz Monthly: Yes, somewhat but not a whole lot, but wow, I do now after listening to that and going online and looking up more, and oh, she’s rich.

HC: She is, absolutely.

Jazz Monthly: She’s rich in music.

HC: That’s a good way to put it, yes.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, and I just love her vibe.

HC: Amazing, I know. I’m blessed.

Jazz Monthly: So now you’ve got this great hit out there and I said this in the beginning to everyone that has heard the track that’s out there on radio and online, the rest of this project is equally amazing because when I listened to “Studio One,” that is just an incredible track to open this great project. It’s almost like someone doing a three or four-minute introduction of the band when they hear this first track and it’s almost giving them a synopsis of what they’re going to hear as they continue to listen to the project, and it’s just an incredible track and it doesn’t stop there. Sometimes you hear some projects, the first track, they put it out there because they know that’s one that they want everyone to hear, but when you get beyond that, you’re so involved in the next track “Because She Said So”. That it’s not that you forgot that one, but you’re so involved in this one, you’ll have to go back to “Studio One” to hear it again to get involved in it. You become a part of the song, I guess you might say.

HC: Wow.

Jazz Monthly: And that’s how engaging these tracks are and I hope everyone gets to hear this entire project because they’re so engaging.

HC: Thank you so much.

Jazz Monthly: Oh, you’re so welcome. Now, the other song—and I could easily talk about every one of these songs because they’re all so good.

HC: Thank you so much.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, but the great Robert Miller composed song, “Heat.”

HC: Oh my Gosh. Yeah, he actually recorded it on Prisoners of Love also.

Jazz Monthly: Yes. Talk about that song because for some listeners they’re gonna reminisce, but for some it will be their first introduction to this song. But talk a little bit about that song and what it does for you when you play this song.

HC: It’s funny because we played it so differently from Prisoners of Love. I think we really just—we felt like we’re gonna rip the lid off of this one. Like if it was worth doing it, then it was worth doing it in a different way. And if you listen to the original version, it’s jazzier, it’s more delicate, it’s more careful, and this one just, I don’t know, it seems like almost like fire was ripping through us and we went from beginning to end, and I think that’s the one track when we did that Frank was like “Yes, you don’t need to go in and do it again.” (Both laugh.)

Jazz Monthly: Another one of those great first takes.

HC: I think that’s what happened. I think it has to do with maturity because a lot of time passed since the first time we played it and we were already familiar with it, at least myself and Robert, and Ron brought all this amazing energy to it, and even though Gilad just plays the melody, it’s such a simple melody but the way he presents it is so cool. That’s what I thought.

Jazz Monthly: But this record, this whole project, is one that you could play in so many different settings, anything from just sitting around with friends to a major event, and that’s what I love about the vibe, that it has such a great mix that so many people would just be so captivated by it just listening in any setting. It could be a romantic setting, it could be a working setting, and it all fits so well that it’s just unbelievable.

HC: Oh, thank you so much. That’s the hope of a real musician is that of course it’s your livelihood and everything, but more than anything you hope that what you’re doing will really touch people in a special way, and so that means a lot to me.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, and you mentioned Jan earlier. Please pass along my congratulations to her and thanks for such a great design of the record, the liner notes, the cover art is just amazing. Tell her I love that lipstick approach. (Both laugh.)

HC: Definitely her concept, definitely.

Jazz Monthly: Very, very cool. So now how can people get the record?

HC: Well, the record itself, the CD itself, is available on CD Baby. We’re working on getting it to other retailers. It’s not an easy process when you’re an independent. But it is available on iTunes—I know it’s a favorite site for people to download music—Amazon.com., and that’s the major places where you can get it online. I believe there are a few more, but those are the major ones, Amazon and I think maybe Rhapsody and Napster, but mainly iTunes and Amazon, and at this point the CD itself is available on CD Baby.

Jazz Monthly: Very cool. Well, I want to congratulate everyone involved with this project, from yourself, Robert, the entire band, Jan and Frank, everyone, because it was just a monumental effort by a lot of people and this is not something that just happens by chance.

HC: No.

Jazz Monthly: There’s a lot of effort and a lot of heart and commitment that goes into making something this beautiful, and my congratulations to each and every one of you and I wish you the best with it.

HC: Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure talking to you and to hear your perspective on what we’ve done. It means a lot to me.

Jazz Monthly: You’re so welcome. And you can check out this record and I know you will not be sorry when you hear the great music on this record. We’ve been talking with Haim Cotton from the great band Project Grand Slam. Their great new record is called Play and you must hear it because it is a fantastic collection of music. Haim, once again, thank you so much. All my best to everyone in connection with this record and yourself in 2009 and beyond, my friend.

HC: Thank you, Smitty.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.projectgrandslam.com and www.myspace.com/projectgrandslam