Nick Colionne Interview Page 2

Smitty:  I can feel that, yes I love that.  Now, you’ve got a new label and that’s such a beautiful time when you’ve got a new record, you’ve got a new label, and things are blending very well. You know, talk about what this experience has been like the past few months now that you have the new label and the new record.

NC:  Well, having a new label is, it’s exciting and it’s scary, you know, it can be scary.  This time for me it wasn’t a scary thing, because right from the beginning I saw that these people believed in Nick Colionne and what Nick Colionne was doing, and felt that I was capable of doing a really good or great project. They were behind it from day one and they’re still behind it.  And they’re excited about the record and that’s what makes it really great, when you have a label as excited about a project as you are. Because if they’re excited about it, and they’re going all out to promote it and you’re going all out to promote it, you’ve got a win-win situation.

Smitty:  No doubt, and I love the vibe at Narada Jazz.  They’ve got some great artists there and they’ve done some quality work with their artists and you gotta love that whole mix over there; some great people over there at Narada.

NC:  Everybody over there is great. They’ve been treating me real well, bought me some bags of candy and stuff, some chocolates so, you know, I love ‘em all!

Smitty:  (Laughing)

NC:  They know I’ve got a chocolate habit, and they gave me like these four bags of chocolate and I’m gonna have to tell them that those are gone, I’m gonna need more.

Smitty:  (Both laughing) Oh, chocolates.  Well, I’ll have to have a talk with them about that.  I never got chocolates!

NC:  Well, they’re still waiting for your project.

NC:  Well, I’m…I hate to say it but I’m kind of a romantic at heart, you know.  I’m into romantic stuff and, you know….I like girls. (Both Laughing)  I kind of…I try to do a song that touches people in the heart for some reason. That’s why all my titles are like “From Me to You” and stuff like that…. things that guys might want to say to women or women might want to say to men, you know.  And when I come up with a title, then I try to express the lyrics instrumentally. Smitty:  Yeah. That’s a cool thing and I’m glad to know you like girls.  NC:  Oh, thank you. (Both laughing) Smitty:  Speaking of reaching people, now, I know you work with young kids in the schools and that kind of thing with your music, and tutoring and mentoring.  How important is that to you because I know that it can be a lot of work, but it’s a satisfying work, talk about how important that part of your life is, working with kids and seeing them grow and progress as musicians or future musicians.

NC:  That is one of the most important things to me, because it keeps the music going. It keeps a fresh new batch of people coming along playing this stuff. As a matter of fact, I’ve got two of them here right now from this school. One who’s now in college as a music major in college and playing jazz in college, and his little brother’s with him, and plays proms. I mentored them. They still come by and see me. They’re over here today to get some pointers. I’m thinking they wanna try to steal my gig (laughing). Plus he worked with me last summer, a roadie for me, so it’s important for me to have contact with the kids and show them what I know and tell them how to get the information about what they should listen to and to learn more about playing jazz…..and to have somebody that they know that they can come and talk with. Not only about the music, but about anything, you know.

Smitty:  Yes, I love it.

NC:  So I’m there for them for whatever, not just musically, if they need some help with something or want to talk about something, I’m there for them.  That’s important to me because, thankfully I had two great parents. Rather three, I had a stepfather too who was always there for me.

Smitty:  Yes, that’s important, it’s very important. You’re able to help them to discover jazz, the history of jazz, and that’s a great foundation for them musically to progress as future musicians.

NC:  Right. I enjoy listening to them. Gets a little scary sometimes, you know, “Whoa, he’s kinda good, maybe I gotta practice too,” you know? (Laughing)

Smitty:  Oh yeah. Well, now, you were on this…on another note, you were on this fantastic All Star Smooth Jazz Cruise. And I must say that I had such a great time and it was such a wealth of fantastic music; the shows were great, a lot of wonderful people from around the world. Talk about what that experience was like for you because I know you and I talked about this before the cruise, and what we anticipated happening. Just talk a little bit about some of the highlights of this cruise for you.

NC:  Well, one of the biggest highlights for me was getting to meet a lot of the entertainers who I hadn’t met before, and some who I’ve seen, and some I’ve seen before and met but never had a chance to really sit down and talk to them because you know how it is.  Every time you’re on a festival or concerts, everybody’s flying off to the next one right after the gig. But even greater than that was to have that close of a relationship with the fans; to be able to sit and fans coming up and talking to you while you’re walking around and you’re talking to them and finding out what they do, getting into them, telling you how much they dig the music, and that was great! You’re getting to know people, just getting to know them because they don’t get to know us because we’re on stage, then we’re off the stage and we’re gone.

Smitty: Yes, I know what you mean.

NC:  On the cruise it was like you couldn’t go nowhere unless you were gonna dive off in the ocean and swim off. (both laughing)  So I got a lotta kick out of just hanging out with fans, and hopefully I made a lot of new fans because not everybody knew me.  I was kind of a new guy.

Smitty:  Well, you’re not anymore!

NC:  I met a lot of Peter White fans, a lot of Rick Braun fans, who hopefully are also fans mine.

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