Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion – you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.
I played piano as a kid; I still play a little bit.
Inviting audiences to open up and hear things differently is an important part of what I do. But I still love to sing songs with words, too.
I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful.
Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn’t there to entertain; he was all about the music. I kind of do that.
But, if there’s any aspect of my career that needs attention, it’s writing.
Music is so powerful, it needs to be used for some kind of redeeming work. To lift peoples spirits, to lift their souls.
I have a lot of albums yet to do.
I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.
I’d actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.
Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time.
I like a very dark house, just black. I sit there and just think. Once I’m still and quiet inside, I’ll begin. It’s very personal; it has to be. One song may be Bach, the next blues, a song from TV, or a nursery rhyme or jazz piece.
If I can bring joy into the world, then I’ll be successful.
I couldn’t do anything without faith. I couldn’t open up my eyes, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t sing.
It’s not that I don’t love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.
I prepared five songs, I sang them, and he hired me. I started working about a month later at the piano bar.
When I’m on stage by myself, I don’t have to think about anything. I don’t have to worry about anything because I’m not responsible for anything except just opening my mouth and making sure music comes out.
Well, I started conducting kind of by accident. I wanted to give myself a special birthday present for my fortieth birthday, and I was living in San Francisco at the time and I started attending some of the concerts and then simply dropping hints.
I did the one concert, and I was not bitten by the conducting bug, and I thought I was done, but then the phone started to ring, and gradually, over time, I started conducting more and more. Now a third of my performances are with orchestras.
Don’t Worry! Be Happy!