Spotlight op Bob Baldwin

De Afro-Amerikaan Bob Baldwin is een eigentijdse jazzmuzikant en producer, die geboren werd in New York op 9/12/1960. Tijdens zijn dertigjarige muzikale carrière won hij twee SESAC Music Awards, één Grammy nominatie en de Sony Innovators Award in 1989. Naar aanleiding van zijn nieuwste cd ‘Never Can Say Goodbye (A Tribute to Michael Jackson)’, en zijn aankomend optreden op het eerste International Conference & Smooth Contemporary Jazz Festival op 25 & 26/09 ek. in Hengelo (Nederland) had ik met hem een gesprek. Het verslag daarvan kan u hierna lezen:

I read that you were born op December 9, 1960. That makes you a Sagittarius, just like me. Do you posses some of the attributes typical for a Sagittarian? I mean a love for traveling, sportive or intellectual activities, honesty, optimistic and so on?

Well, I didn't write the book, but it seems that way. Not real interested in taking the path most traveled. Independent thinking is NORMAL.  I'm more concerned with developing equity in the business than sacrificing short term sales, which I think a lot of artists actually suffer long term when they don't think on that level.

How did you come to music?

Dad taught me how to play when I was 4. The music of his era was Miles, Coltrane, Dizzy, Oscar Peterson and Duke Ellington. I was singing ‘Night In Tunisia’ in 1st grade!  My sister had the funk and soul records: Aretha, Stevie, Marvin, etc. Then I learned about the Doobies, Quincy, Chicago, Toto, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire. That pretty much makes up the sound of Bob Baldwin.

Did you listen to music when you were young?

As a youngster, Chick, Herbie, Joe Sample, Grover, Norman Connors, and Quincy Jones when it comes down to arrangements. His own work as well as ‘Thriller’ (Michael Jackson) is unmatched.

Who inspired you? Soul or jazz musicians?

Stevie, George Duke, Eliane Elias, Djavan, Pat Metheny. Pretty much anyone that has a hot chord that strikes the nerve right down the middle and I'm a big fan. Dori Cayimmi is also fabulous.

I also read that you’ve released 14 albums. Can you give me a brief description of those, so our readers can acquaint themselves with your music?

Well, a lot of detail is found on www.bobbaldwin.com. I have managed to put out 9 discs in the past 10 years, so that's pretty good. ‘BobBaldwin.com’ (2000) is the first out-of -pocket record I produced in 2000 and struck a nerve with my audience.  In 2002 ‘Standing Tall’ and ‘The American Spirit’ seemed to speak well to the victims of 9/11, when I was in New York (20 miles upstate) at the time of the event. ‘Brazil Chill’ (2004) was recorded in Rio with Brazilian cats, which was a great experience. ‘All In a Day's Work’ (2005) probably didn't get the recognition it deserved because of the label I was on and they didn't push it properly, but that actually is my best sonically sounding record. I used this mastering cat that was out of this world!!! ‘The Sanctioned Bootleg’ (2007) featured an "APPROVED" live concert in the park that was properly recorded and was a great experience as well.  ‘NewUrbanJazz’ (2008) ushered in the radio program (now 2 years old). We now have 14 stations in 8 states in the US, but now we are loading up back shows so you can listen all the time.  ‘Looking Back’ (2009) is my greatest hits disc. ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ (2010) is my kudo album to Michael Jackson, a great artist.
Then, there's the all important records - (1998) ushered in ‘I've Got a Long Way To Go’, and that helped me win the Sony Innovators Award - selected by Roberta Flack. That allowed me to get signed at Atlantic Jazz, at that time had people like Roberta, Paul Jackson, Jr., Bobby Lyle and Gerald Albright at the time. I recorded ‘Rejoice’ in 1990 and ‘Reflections of Love’ (1992). On ‘Rejoice’, I had a record called ‘The Marvin Medley’, which was a great tribute to Marvin Gaye and should have been pushed far better than it did, but the label focused on this new group that was coming out on the scene. You may know them as Fourplay! and they had ‘After The Dance’ on their disc AND it was on another label, Warner Bros, but for some reason, Atlantic didn't push my MG tribute and the record died after that.
Don't forget ‘Cool Breeze’ in 1997, one of my favorite discs.  Lastly, there was a record that got caught out there between deals and never made it out. It is called ‘State of Mind’. You can get all the discs on my site via mp3, which is a very cool thing. Lots of music!!

Over the years, I know your name because I’m specialized in smooth & contemporary jazz. And of course you’re a member of www.smoothjazz.eu (the other website that I write for). But other than that, did you ever got any attention out of Europe, or is this your first introduction?

Not much attention in Europe YET, although to date, I've gotten love from the UK and Germany as far as Europe goes.  Europe is an underdeveloped market to date and needs to be visited far more often than I've been to date. I HOPE THAT EUROPE WILL HAVE ME BACK, but coming here with Chieli Minucci and Tom Braxton is an honor. Those guys are great.

I read that you were behind two shows for Haiti, and that you produced the ‘Jazz for Haiti’. Are you a humanitarian or do you have a special connection with Haiti?

It's more the humanitarian side. I thought Haiti was a big event and STILL needs the attention of the world to deal with the issues there. Just because there's been corruption in the country's government infrastructure doesn't take away the fact that innocent people are suffering terribly from government greed. Haiti needs to be helped, and done so often.  No one should get up in the morning and have an empty stomach or without a bed to sleep in, especially children. That is a travesty.

Your 2008 release, ‘NewUrbanJazz.com’ features Jocelyn Brown, Phil Perry, Freddie Jackson, Marion Meadows, Najee, Frank McComb, and Atlanta stars Joey Sommerville and Toni Redd. Wasn’t it difficult to contact all those artists and ask them for their collaboration?

A little bit, but not as difficult as one would think.  Funds were limited so I was able to get a few favors.  That album was recorded in LA, Florida, New York, Atlanta, and the UK (Jocelyn Brown). If music is going to be a chore with people - money or not - then I won't work with them. Music is supposed to heal the spirit and if the spirit of love is not in the process, it has to be re-visited quickly and adjustments must be made otherwise the original source is not PURE and that's why the music affects people the way it does.

Your 2010 release ‘Never Can Say Goodbye (A Tribute to Michael Jackson)’ which I reviewed for  www.smoothjazz.eu received the blessing from the Jackson family as the first jazz record ever to pay homage to MJ. How did you get that permission?

I was pushed up the list and was approved quickly. As you see, that's one of my only covers without my picture on it because the focus was on MJ.  That showed some humility and then you add that I had music for them to hear when I made my pitch. I submitted ‘Bad’ and another track and they gave it the blessing pretty quickly, thus making this record the first jazz release that received the permission of the estate to release, which is huge.

Do you think that smooth jazz is over the edge because some radio stations in the US are dropping the genre?  And what should we do here in Europe to put smooth jazz more on the map?

I think music in general needs diversion, deeper airplay on albums (not singles), more attention paid to the genre's history, more unsigned artists (that deserved to be heard). It's about feeding your audience. If you go to www.newurbanjazz.com, it can be explained better over there.  Every artist must roll their sleeves up to save the genre of contemporary jazz. Also, I think Europe needs to be bringing more artists from the US over to there. There are a lot of legitimately great players in that genre and you really have see them live, not just on a record, which may not be the artist's full interpretation of who they really are.  Also, it's important to note in the US that someone turns 50 here every 8 seconds, so the audience is wiser, smarter and wants to be challenged intellectually. They want to be fed, so radio ON ALL GENRES needs to do better. Bring back the talking DJ. It's time to re-visit terrestrial radio because if they don't, the internet will continue to take away audience share. I have over 30,000 people a week listening to my show - only 2 hours a week but people are listening and I'm feeding them good stuff!!!
I thank Inge (Wenzel) for taking a chance, so for all other promoters that didn't do what she did, they will regret later. Inge is a visionary and incredible person who believes in the music and I must take my hat off to her. It's an honor to be a part of her event and I thank her from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for your time Bob, have a great time in the Netherlands (I’ll be there too), and all the best with your career.

Bob zal samen met Chieli Minucci en Tom Braxton optreden op de eerste International Conference and Smooth & Contemporary Jazz Festival in Hengelo op 25 & 26/9 ek. Kijk op www.smoothjazz.eu .

Meer info over Bob Baldwin vindt u op www.bobbaldwin.com.

Patrick Van de Wiele