Peter Smith, Molly Ringwald / Solo Artist / Musical Director

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how I notate that, it's really important.

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And like, I made a mistake once, you know, and it was not good.

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It was not good.

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Hello and welcome to the Keyboard Chronicles, a podcast for keyboard players.

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I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you and my brother
in arms, Mr.

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Paul Bindig is here with me.

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How are you, sir?

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I'm going really good, David, how are you going?

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Yeah, look, I'm a bit of a high after talking to Mr Peter Smith.

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Once again, we've had a wonderful guest with a very broad and diverse career.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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That whole being a real jazz guy, but then that move into being an assistant MD, associate
MD on singing competition TV shows, which is a pretty interesting world in itself.

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he's obviously played with some great artists and he's almost like a bit of a, I don't
know if he can sing or not, but he did give us a couple of Sinatra notes in there.

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So I wonder if he's a triple threat.

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He's an accomplished actor as well, David.

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Yeah, so think he can do all three lucky buggers.

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So I look forward to seeing him on Glee.

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Not the Glee, it doesn't exist anymore.

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So yeah, I think you'll enjoy this interview with Peter a lot.

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So we'll jump into it and then we'll talk to you after the show.

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Peter, thank you so much for joining us on this, well, what for you is a relatively wintry
Monday night?

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Much appreciated.

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Yes, thanks for having me guys.

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So I thought we'd kick off just with how your 2024 into 2025 has been.

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You're a busy, busy guy, but just tell us about what your last year's been like.

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Well, you're kind of looking at it.

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I am lucked into this amazing space in Pasadena, California, which is, you know, part of
Los Angeles.

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This is a sort of a 1000 square foot room in a church and it's my studio.

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I'm originally from New York and, you know, living in LA since 2005.

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I guess it was like the summer.

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of 2023, I was in New York, I was playing some shows and, you know, kind of, I always get
energized when I go to New York.

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And I came back and I thought to myself, oh my goodness, I have this space.

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Like, I've been recording and rehearsing and doing all sorts of things in here.

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But, you know, the church has endless folding chairs, I should do concerts.

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So I started this concert series and we're actually doing like volume 12 next Sunday.

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It's pretty much always on Sunday.

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And I kind of took a page out of, do you guys, are you familiar with this really great
young jazz pianist out in New York named Emmett Cohen?

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Yeah.

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So Emmett started this thing in the pandemic, know, live at Emmett's place and his tiny
Harlem apartment.

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So I kind of took a page out of his book, you know, and I thought, well, you know, I can
fit about 40 people folding chairs, you know, and why don't I see about like,

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mean, it's a studio, so I have all the microphones and I'll just set them all up and I'll
get a buddy to help me and then we'll stream it, know?

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So that's what we've been doing.

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And we've made a lot of mistakes, but now we're kind of dialed in.

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Brilliant.

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And how's the response been, Peter?

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It's been good response?

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It's been really good.

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mean, what's so interesting, I mean, you guys are music guys, like you'll go to a club,
right?

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And even if you're hearing acoustic music, whether it's folk or jazz or whatever, you're
like, you're hearing speakers, like even in these small spaces, you know, and, you know,

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sometimes if, if there's a really good sound person, if the equipment's good, it can be a
lovely experience.

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But, but I feel like we've lost a little bit.

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and I don't know, maybe this isn't true in

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you know, where you guys are, but you know, and the States for sure, like lost a little
bit of this sense of like, you know, what acoustic music really sounds like.

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And people don't, what I'm giving them here, cause there's no, I mean, there's a tiny
little bass amp.

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You can see it right there.

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So the upright player, you know, maybe, but some guys don't even plug in.

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If there's a vocalist, you know, I give her a microphone and a little help and their
microphone streaming, you know, everything, know, taking, capturing it.

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but otherwise it's an acoustic, so I think the intimacy of that for people.

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And also to get in here, you gotta like, it's fun, because it's like, there's all these
weird staircases and you gotta find, it feels like you need a secret password or

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something.

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So it kind of contributes to the whole experience.

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So people are really digging it, you know?

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Do you find, Peter, that the audience responds differently to the immediacy of that kind
of setup?

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Maybe it's almost visceral to them because you're feeling the actual vibrations of the
instruments in that setting.

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Yeah, think you're exactly right about that.

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And also the vibrations of actually the acoustic sounds, the fact that we can play so
quietly and be really bombastic too.

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And it's all, and they're just right there for all of it.

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And then also just the intimacy of the environment.

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While it is a large room, they're pretty close.

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It's like they're right up against us.

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And there are small jazz clubs that are like that.

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And I feel like the jazz clubs, the way things were set up,

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in the 50s and 60s, probably was similar to this.

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But gosh, I remember hearing Jackie McLean when he was still alive at the Village Vanguard
when I was still living in New York.

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And the Vanguard, know, just hallowed ground for jazz.

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I think it was like a quintet or sextet, and there's Jackie and trumpet player, and maybe
another tenor, maybe another, I think there was a tenor player too.

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And they're all like playing into microphones and coming through the speakers.

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at the Vanguard and their horn players.

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It was like, who made that decision?

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It doesn't make any sense.

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And so if that's happening, well, okay, then you gotta mic the piano and turn that up and
you gotta do it.

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It's like, it becomes this game of, and then suddenly I'm listening to a not very well
mixed recording almost.

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You know what I mean?

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It's weird.

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And how Peter, do you apply that?

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Obviously you've released a couple of albums as a solo artist in your own, right?

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I mean, how do you apply that sort of knowledge to the way you record and release your own
work?

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Well, I mean, the trio record that I did, I guess it came out a couple of years ago now.

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We did that all in one room in one of the great studios here in LA, United Studios.

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And it was kind of crazy because this engineer buddy of mine, Eric Goble and Karma Auger,
we did a Dolby Atmos recording.

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So it's like a piano trio record.

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But what they did was it was pretty innovative.

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There was actually an article written about it in Mix Magazine.

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So they set up 40 microphones, four zero for a piano trio.

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So what they did is, you know, they, they become sort of experts in the, what is it like
the Dolby Atmos space, you know, cause it's, it's, it's 360, right?

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So, um, so they tried to, to put microphones into all of those spots that are available to
them for mixing.

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And I think when they got into mixing, like, it didn't necessarily go the way they had
pre-thought when they were recording.

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They just made choices that were musical to them.

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But a lot of it, I think, was set up that way.

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So, yeah, so the idea of we're going to play better as a trio if we're all in one room.

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mean, if I'm, you know, I had headphones on when I was recording at United, but I was
feeling their energy and that was, I think I had, I might've had one year off and, you

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know,

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There's a lot of value from the mixing standpoint of recording an album with everybody
isolated.

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And I'm playing along with you, but the reason I'm able to do that is because I'm wearing
headphones, because I wouldn't be able to hear you in your booth over there.

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But I wonder, having done that many times, probably successfully sometimes, it's still
just, it's so unnatural.

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And it's so...

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I often come out of sessions like that wondering like, well, I mean, I guess it sounded
okay, but what could it have been if we had actually been playing and really with each

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other?

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You know what I mean?

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Yeah, I think that again it may be what you may lose in the ability to isolate every mic
and might leak and that sort of thing.

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You're gaining in the immediacy and the ability to bounce off each other and the snap,
crackle and pop and sizzle that you have when you're hot, know, when you're working well

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together.

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Just a question, Peter, and we'll come back to what equipment you used, but I'm interested
for that particular recording, what piano were you working with?

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it was a nine foot Steinway.

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in fact, it was was a Steinway from from the Los Angeles Motown studios that ended up at
United Point.

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Yeah.

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And it's funny, because somebody, I almost didn't check out United, because I checked out
Capitol and East West, which is the old Ocean Way studio.

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And someone had told me, don't bother, their piano's beat up, it's not good.

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And I went and checked it out and I was like, whoa, this is great.

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Actually, my friend Jordan Siegel, who's also a really great film composer, he had
recorded his album there and he said, luckily I talked to him before I made the decision.

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He's like, no man, check out United, you might like it.

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Yeah right.

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and then I did.

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And the room is just so, you know, it's, could be quite daunting or it could be inspiring.

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I was trying to feel it in an inspiring way, but you you go in the hallway and it's like
Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra and like, it's just walls of, you know, everybody's

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recorded there and, and, count Basie, you know, it's just like, but yeah, it was, was, and
then the, think it's, oh gosh, I want to say it's a focus, right?

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Board there?

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I mean, you can look it up on the internet, I'm sure.

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But an old one and like, you know, amazing.

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And the mic locker was just ridiculous.

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All the classic Neumanns, know, the 67s, 47s.

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There were old ribbons, were telefunctions, and know, just like, they, Kinkarma used all
of

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Yeah, see all 40 of them scattered around.

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Exactly.

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Every cool microphone in that place was up and running and capturing something.

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Yeah, it's amazing.

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And you must have really given you a sense of being, you know, you're etching your own
little piece of history amongst all those great artists who record in that studio.

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And speaking of history, we'd love to now rewind a little bit and go back to your
formative years as a musician.

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So as a very young person, us about your musical upbringing.

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What got you interested in music and how did that look for you as you were growing up?

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Yeah, well, I was very fortunate to be born into a musical family.

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My mother was a brilliant singer, a guitarist.

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She played piano as well.

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In fact, she went to Wellesley and I was, my mom died like in 2020 and I was, it was her
birthday in December and I connected with her best friend who went to college with her in

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Wellesley.

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And she was recounting stories of

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you know, my mom used to play in the coffee houses in like 1959, 1960, you know, in that
area.

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And she apparently Joan Baez was also doing this.

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And my mom's said, Oh, your mom was much better than her.

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Like, seriously, like she said that, you know, as a kid, as the son of someone, you know,
it's like, wow, the things you find out about your parents, Joe Baez is pretty great.

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So I guess my mom was too.

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So anyway,

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Yeah, so I born into a musical family with parents who always encouraged me in the arts.

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you know, now having so many colleagues in the arts and hearing so many stories from their
upbringing of, you know, well, that's fine kid, but you know, you're going to do something

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real, right?

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You're going to get a real job at some point, you know, not, not encouraging.

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And my parents were like, no, this is, you know, this is a noble pursuit.

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Yeah.

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And they could have taught me little more about finances probably.

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That would have been helpful, but they were good along the artistic line.

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Yeah, so there was a piano in the house.

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I was playing it as a four-year-old.

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And so they were like, well, let's get him lessons.

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And I started with classical music.

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And I was never a good reader.

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I would trick my teacher into playing pieces for me.

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And then I would repeat it by ear.

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So I, you know, it's funny because I've had to play a lot of catch up as an adult with my
sight reading.

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Because you know, as a professional now I'm in sessions and stuff.

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I don't want to be sweating bullets if somebody throws something in front of me.

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yeah, so that was that was sort of my upbringing.

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And I took a brief pause in my piano lessons, like when I was 12 years old, because I got
into sports and stuff.

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And then I resumed it.

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at age 14 as I was entering high school because I wanted to play stuff that was on the
radio, like Billy Joel and that's where I was like, let me see if I can.

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So there was a teacher at the music school who would do that.

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And so I was studying with him and then every now and then he'd slip me like autumn leaves
or, know, and then I don't know, something happened.

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And I always grew up with jazz because my father plays vibes.

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So there was like a lot of modern jazz quartet and

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There's a Horace Silver record that we used to listen to a lot, Bill Evans.

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jazz was part of my upbringing.

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But then suddenly as a 16 year old, I no longer knew what was the most popular thing on
Top 40 and I was the complete jazz.

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Like I just went all in and I was buying CDs, you know, and kind of blossoming out of that
where, you know, I discovered Bill Evans and.

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then Bill Evans with Miles Davis.

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And then I was like, let me check out all these other bands.

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And then, you know, John Coltrane and Rick Garland, and then, and then you go later to
Herbie.

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And then I want to get Herbie Hancock's records.

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And then like it kind of, a lot of it grew out for me with Miles Davis, weirdly.

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He's like my kind of forwards and backwards tree of jazz, you know?

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And then, yeah.

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So, and then by college, I went to college in the city at Columbia, just cause I wanted to
stay in New York and I was able to get in.

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I could get in now.

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It's much harder.

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I got in and didn't really know, I would do music in some fashion, but wasn't really sure.

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And they didn't have much jazz.

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They had Phil Schaap at the Columbia radio station, brilliant jazz historian.

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And I joined the radio station, became a DJ, and I learned a lot from him.

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But I think they have a good jazz program now, but at the time there weren't really any
instructors.

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So I was, I continued my classical piano and then I discovered if

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A student wanted to study a certain kind of music performance and Columbia didn't have a
teacher for them, like on faculty.

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You could audition for the conductor of the symphony.

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And if he deemed you worthy, Columbia would pay for your lessons.

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00:15:53,004 --> 00:15:56,807
So I did that and he said, okay, yeah, you can play.

203
00:15:56,807 --> 00:16:04,074
And so I began a mentorship with Mike Ladon, who's a, I hope well-known jazz pianist.

204
00:16:04,074 --> 00:16:12,737
with Mill Jackson for like 14 years and some Rollins and Benny Gholson and you know,
dozens of records under his own name.

205
00:16:12,737 --> 00:16:16,379
So that's, that's where I really learned how to play was with Mike.

206
00:16:16,759 --> 00:16:24,812
I thought I could play and then I got with him and he was like, said you're gonna play
this one note and you're gonna make it swing and then we'll go from there, you know.

207
00:16:24,931 --> 00:16:25,676
Well.

208
00:16:25,676 --> 00:16:27,728
I that's what a good mentor does, right?

209
00:16:27,728 --> 00:16:32,711
They challenge you and take you to places you never thought you could go yourself or maybe
didn't even know existed.

210
00:16:32,711 --> 00:16:36,814
So that would have been amazing experience.

211
00:16:36,814 --> 00:16:45,439
So thinking about your work you've done later in life when it comes to TV work, which I
think would be its own unique sort of discipline.

212
00:16:46,340 --> 00:16:55,176
How did you get into that and what did you learn from your jazz upbringing and your
mentorship through college that allows you to deal with that environment, if anything?

213
00:16:55,510 --> 00:16:56,361
Right, right.

214
00:16:56,361 --> 00:17:03,296
Well, it's been an interesting road, know, I mean, life is so funny because it goes all
these unexpected places.

215
00:17:03,317 --> 00:17:11,363
So as I think you guys mentioned earlier, I've had these dueling careers, although I'm
really primarily a musician at this point.

216
00:17:11,363 --> 00:17:17,248
But for a long time, I was just as much pursuing my acting career as I was pursuing my
music career.

217
00:17:17,248 --> 00:17:21,252
And they would, you know, kind of I'd be involved with one and then something would end.

218
00:17:21,252 --> 00:17:24,494
then I, you know, my New York musician

219
00:17:24,781 --> 00:17:28,941
friends were always very confused when I would go do a play.

220
00:17:28,941 --> 00:17:30,561
Be like, what happened to you?

221
00:17:30,561 --> 00:17:37,141
Were you on the road or like, know, because I'd be calling them up like, hey, I need some
gigs now I'm done, you know.

222
00:17:37,141 --> 00:17:39,261
They're like, were in a play?

223
00:17:39,261 --> 00:17:40,501
You were playing in the pit?

224
00:17:40,501 --> 00:17:41,901
Like, what were you doing?

225
00:17:43,701 --> 00:17:53,961
So, but that said, like, I think the fact that I was involved in that world made me
attractive to some people when I moved to LA.

226
00:17:54,424 --> 00:17:59,808
just with a familiarity around that industry.

227
00:17:59,808 --> 00:18:06,122
there's someone in LA, brilliant musician and music director and just a great human.

228
00:18:06,122 --> 00:18:08,904
He's responsible for so much work here for so many.

229
00:18:08,904 --> 00:18:14,748
Ricky Minor, he was Whitney Houston's bassist and did American Idol and The Tonight Show
and all this.

230
00:18:14,988 --> 00:18:24,074
So I think Ricky saw in me, I mean, not only a certain musical competency, but just like,

231
00:18:24,152 --> 00:18:32,338
that I would be cool around celebrities and stuff and not, you know, was used to it
because I was in that world a bit.

232
00:18:32,338 --> 00:18:35,801
And a lot of that is that that's so important.

233
00:18:35,801 --> 00:18:41,916
But just generally speaking for musicians, you know, just how are you gonna be around
people?

234
00:18:41,916 --> 00:18:43,828
Like, okay, can you play great?

235
00:18:43,828 --> 00:18:45,279
Yeah, can you bring certain things?

236
00:18:45,279 --> 00:18:48,171
But like, what if I have to be on a tour bus with you for three weeks?

237
00:18:48,171 --> 00:18:49,362
Am I gonna lose my mind?

238
00:18:49,362 --> 00:18:54,386
Or what if I, you know, what if we've got this serious, like famous artist like

239
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,281
Are you gonna be weird around her?

240
00:18:56,281 --> 00:19:02,315
like, you know, that's a lot of, that's a big part of whether you get the work or not, you
know?

241
00:19:02,315 --> 00:19:15,892
So I think that helped me get in these situations where I was associate music director for
some of these television singing competition shows like Duets and The Four, and doing

242
00:19:15,892 --> 00:19:21,926
other things where I'm, you know, just on set doing musical coaching or.

243
00:19:22,060 --> 00:19:33,495
Yeah, and then separate from that, I've been very lucky to, and again, it's just
connections and luck, to have, gosh, like over two dozen of my songs placed in television

244
00:19:33,495 --> 00:19:34,075
shows.

245
00:19:34,075 --> 00:19:41,119
That's kind of one of few avenues remaining where musicians can make sort of real money.

246
00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:45,270
I mean, with Spotify and all that, you know, it's hard to make any money on albums
anymore.

247
00:19:45,270 --> 00:19:47,101
Satellite radio is still a thing.

248
00:19:47,101 --> 00:19:49,102
I don't know how it is in Australia.

249
00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:51,372
Yeah, not so much, sadly, yeah.

250
00:19:51,372 --> 00:20:01,603
Yeah, I think the main source of income is hitting the road or as you say, having your
work be licensed by a film or a TV show or something like that.

251
00:20:01,603 --> 00:20:03,214
Absolutely.

252
00:20:04,599 --> 00:20:07,310
I'm still holding out for that TV show theme.

253
00:20:07,310 --> 00:20:08,120
That would be great.

254
00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:12,182
But yeah, mean, I've been very lucky along those lines.

255
00:20:12,182 --> 00:20:20,305
But even so, I had a long run of that and I'm still seeing some of the benefits of those
TV placements.

256
00:20:20,305 --> 00:20:23,936
But in the last handful of years, it's been less so.

257
00:20:23,936 --> 00:20:29,248
it's like, the career of a musician is always like, okay, this is slowing down.

258
00:20:29,248 --> 00:20:31,739
So you wanna have like four things going at once.

259
00:20:31,739 --> 00:20:33,472
So if one goes.

260
00:20:33,472 --> 00:20:41,000
one lessons, you've got another thing you can kind of put the gas pedal on the other
thing, you know, and let it let it take off.

261
00:20:41,152 --> 00:20:44,925
Yeah, I just wanted to ask you one more question about the TV work.

262
00:20:44,925 --> 00:20:46,086
Yeah.

263
00:20:46,086 --> 00:20:49,308
I imagine the pace you're working at is hectic.

264
00:20:49,308 --> 00:20:51,542
I can imagine it's intense.

265
00:20:51,542 --> 00:20:57,494
So I'm really interested in your experience of that and how you dealt with that, if my
assumption is correct.

266
00:20:57,494 --> 00:20:57,996
Yeah.

267
00:20:57,996 --> 00:21:05,508
Yes, well, the, yeah, a couple of things, a couple of stories, I think, on that.

268
00:21:05,508 --> 00:21:08,929
So first, working on some of these singing competition shows.

269
00:21:08,929 --> 00:21:17,372
So the role that I've had in that world, and I've done a couple of them, associate these,
you know, when you're an associate music director, you're basically working with the

270
00:21:17,372 --> 00:21:21,633
contestants, and sometimes a vocal coach as well.

271
00:21:21,833 --> 00:21:26,286
And so it's like, okay, we're going to do, you know, the song has been

272
00:21:26,286 --> 00:21:33,266
chosen it's, it's, you know, goodbye yellow brick road by Elton John, you know, like,
okay, how are we going to do it?

273
00:21:33,266 --> 00:21:38,786
Are we going to, we have to cut the, cut the bridge and maybe only half of a verse.

274
00:21:38,786 --> 00:21:43,066
And then, you know, cause it's, can only be 90 seconds or two minutes tops.

275
00:21:43,286 --> 00:21:50,506
And so you come up with this arrangement and, then that contestant is with my MD, like I'm
the associate MD.

276
00:21:50,506 --> 00:21:55,076
like whether for duets, it was John Beasley for, um,

277
00:21:55,180 --> 00:21:58,132
the four it was Ricky Minor and then Adam Blackstone.

278
00:21:58,132 --> 00:22:09,570
So these contestants are going to be rehearsing with the full band sometimes that same day
or maybe like maybe they're with me like first thing in the morning the bands and there's

279
00:22:09,570 --> 00:22:15,063
some there's an arranger like writing the chart overnight, you know.

280
00:22:15,464 --> 00:22:22,549
So how I notate that our work, you know, it's really important.

281
00:22:22,549 --> 00:22:24,780
And like I made a mistake once.

282
00:22:24,780 --> 00:22:26,510
You know, and it was not good.

283
00:22:26,510 --> 00:22:28,293
It was not good.

284
00:22:28,293 --> 00:22:30,205
So, but you learn from mistakes, right?

285
00:22:30,205 --> 00:22:42,285
So yeah, to just be clear and like you want to in a situation like that, you want to
always be making the MD like look good and, and, and helping, helping his job easy.

286
00:22:42,426 --> 00:22:47,010
So you learn quickly, like a lot of lessons along those lines about how to do that.

287
00:22:47,010 --> 00:22:56,326
imagine too in those singing competition shows you're occasionally working with
contestants who might be quite inexperienced in dealing with these sort of situations, not

288
00:22:56,326 --> 00:23:00,308
being professional musicians themselves, which would be at its own level of challenge, I
think.

289
00:23:00,684 --> 00:23:01,925
Yes, that's correct.

290
00:23:01,925 --> 00:23:07,318
so trying to steer somebody to do, that reminds me of a story from my acting world.

291
00:23:07,318 --> 00:23:12,601
So one of my acting teachers always quoted Mike Nichols, the famous director.

292
00:23:12,601 --> 00:23:19,885
And Mike Nichols said, a good director enables an actor to want to do what he must do.

293
00:23:19,885 --> 00:23:28,547
So often in this situation you're describing, that's what I was like, how do I get this
contestant to want to do the...

294
00:23:28,642 --> 00:23:31,143
the better choice here.

295
00:23:31,584 --> 00:23:36,626
Like, I don't think you want to do that, you know.

296
00:23:37,067 --> 00:23:39,528
So that's, you know, a lot of it.

297
00:23:39,528 --> 00:23:42,319
And someone like Ricky Miner is brilliant at that.

298
00:23:42,319 --> 00:23:44,371
I've learned so much just watching him.

299
00:23:44,371 --> 00:23:51,134
I mean, Ricky will be in the center of a room with, you know, the musicians and the
producers and everything.

300
00:23:51,134 --> 00:23:58,670
And he's somehow keeping track of like what everybody needs and how to get the job done
through it all.

301
00:23:58,670 --> 00:24:00,112
You know what I mean?

302
00:24:00,112 --> 00:24:04,590
And it's a very specific and rare skill and so use.

303
00:24:04,590 --> 00:24:06,071
Absolutely.

304
00:24:07,872 --> 00:24:15,407
and and going from one extreme to the other, Peter from working with people that may be
less experienced through to someone that was incredibly experienced when you worked with

305
00:24:15,407 --> 00:24:17,358
her which was Natalie Cole.

306
00:24:17,538 --> 00:24:23,702
us about how that came about and again what you learned from from that relationship
playing with her.

307
00:24:24,056 --> 00:24:26,908
Well, I was, it was very, very short-lived.

308
00:24:26,908 --> 00:24:29,109
I really just had one gig with her.

309
00:24:29,159 --> 00:24:29,810
wow.

310
00:24:29,810 --> 00:24:31,811
I was the last pianist she hired.

311
00:24:31,811 --> 00:24:41,418
And I mean, it was almost like a tryout thing where I was flown to the Bay Area to play
sort of part of a gig with her.

312
00:24:41,458 --> 00:24:49,804
There was actually a colleague of mine, John, who had been a long time sub as a pianist in
the band.

313
00:24:49,804 --> 00:24:51,125
He was playing.

314
00:24:51,125 --> 00:24:53,464
I had been sort of hired.

315
00:24:53,464 --> 00:24:57,776
given that I didn't fall flat on my face in this experience.

316
00:24:57,996 --> 00:25:08,091
And so I did okay, and I remember going to her dressing room and she's like, Peter, you
sounded great.

317
00:25:08,091 --> 00:25:09,401
I've heard so many good things.

318
00:25:09,401 --> 00:25:11,442
I'm really excited to be working with you.

319
00:25:11,462 --> 00:25:16,624
This was like in September of whatever year, the year she died.

320
00:25:17,625 --> 00:25:19,226
Yeah, and then.

321
00:25:20,398 --> 00:25:31,378
And that week I had all these dates in my calendar, including playing with the San
Francisco Symphony, like a big holiday show over Christmas time.

322
00:25:31,518 --> 00:25:35,978
And then she just got sick and I never got to do any of it.

323
00:25:35,978 --> 00:25:37,378
But that was special.

324
00:25:37,378 --> 00:25:41,538
And I mean, it's just nice to be thought of in that world.

325
00:25:41,538 --> 00:25:46,178
My friend Josh Nelson, who's a wonderful pianist in LA, spent a lot of time working with
her.

326
00:25:46,178 --> 00:25:47,938
And I think it was Josh.

327
00:25:48,888 --> 00:25:50,879
think it was Josh who recommended me actually.

328
00:25:50,879 --> 00:25:54,241
It's really lovely how that works.

329
00:25:54,241 --> 00:25:57,983
And it's a little bit different, you know, because I've lived in the acting world as well.

330
00:25:57,983 --> 00:26:04,466
You know, the music world, like, we're really looking out for each other in a weird way.

331
00:26:04,546 --> 00:26:12,671
mean, there's, yeah, there's competition and, you know, sometimes you get a hint of like,
with somebody plays something really great and you see it, you're like, I wish I could,

332
00:26:12,671 --> 00:26:19,144
you know, but mainly it's like, we're out here kind of helping each other and support and
like, you know.

333
00:26:19,148 --> 00:26:21,071
I go hear Josh play and I love it.

334
00:26:21,071 --> 00:26:25,989
I want to support him and I think he feels the same way.

335
00:26:26,562 --> 00:26:27,873
Yeah, that's the way it should be.

336
00:26:27,873 --> 00:26:33,822
Peter, thankfully a much longer relationship musically has been with Molly Ringwald.

337
00:26:33,822 --> 00:26:35,562
tell us how that came about.

338
00:26:35,562 --> 00:26:39,516
And I mean, that's been going for 10 plus years, just how that's developed over time.

339
00:26:39,516 --> 00:26:41,818
And again, what you get out of that.

340
00:26:42,008 --> 00:26:44,439
Well, I got two trips to Australia.

341
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:45,580
Great.

342
00:26:46,221 --> 00:26:47,242
Which was amazing.

343
00:26:47,242 --> 00:27:00,332
Now, Bollie's really a close friend and she's been very busy acting the last, what, four
or five years and hasn't been as active musically.

344
00:27:00,332 --> 00:27:02,914
But yeah, we met actually as actors.

345
00:27:02,914 --> 00:27:05,235
You know, I was in a play with her.

346
00:27:05,355 --> 00:27:07,437
She had no idea I was a jazz pianist.

347
00:27:07,437 --> 00:27:09,100
Her father was...

348
00:27:09,100 --> 00:27:12,491
this amazing sort of traditional jazz pianist.

349
00:27:12,852 --> 00:27:15,193
was blind, really a remarkable guy.

350
00:27:15,193 --> 00:27:18,504
So she grew up, in fact, she thought she was gonna be a jazz singer.

351
00:27:18,504 --> 00:27:20,935
Like as a little girl, she was working with her dad.

352
00:27:20,935 --> 00:27:24,576
She thought she was headed towards that as a career as a little girl.

353
00:27:24,576 --> 00:27:33,920
Got involved with some acting as a teenager and like kind of got lucky with the facts of
life and then all the movies and then suddenly she's Molly Ringwald, know, and she's,

354
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:35,781
okay, this is what you're doing, I guess.

355
00:27:35,781 --> 00:27:38,646
But yeah, so there was a cast party.

356
00:27:38,646 --> 00:27:40,837
at this, for this play that we were both in.

357
00:27:40,837 --> 00:27:45,148
And there was a piano, and Molly didn't even know I played.

358
00:27:45,148 --> 00:27:48,319
But like some other people in the cast did, and they were like, Peter, go play, you know?

359
00:27:48,319 --> 00:27:58,161
And I started playing, and then Molly, and we'd been friendly, you know, the way you are,
but like, we weren't close or anything, and I was, I was sort of respectful of her space,

360
00:27:58,161 --> 00:28:01,552
because, you know, she's a celebrity and all that.

361
00:28:01,552 --> 00:28:06,414
But when I played the piano, she was like, she's like, where have you been?

362
00:28:06,414 --> 00:28:07,614
You know, like.

363
00:28:07,726 --> 00:28:09,746
How did I not know this about you?

364
00:28:10,926 --> 00:28:19,006
And we sort of quickly started developing plans of working together.

365
00:28:19,006 --> 00:28:26,746
And then I moved to Los Angeles and she was actually sort of upset about that because she
was still in New York and she's like, you're supposed to be my piano player, you can't

366
00:28:26,746 --> 00:28:27,546
move.

367
00:28:28,166 --> 00:28:33,350
But then she followed a couple of years later, she got a TV show and...

368
00:28:33,580 --> 00:28:38,494
It was perfect because she was working maybe like one day a week on this show.

369
00:28:38,494 --> 00:28:41,376
She was sort of the mom of the main character.

370
00:28:41,677 --> 00:28:43,368
So she had a fair amount of time.

371
00:28:43,368 --> 00:28:45,179
So she was over my house.

372
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:46,671
We were working out arrangements.

373
00:28:46,671 --> 00:28:48,382
Like we got it all going.

374
00:28:48,382 --> 00:28:58,540
And then finally in 2013, the album released and we toured heavily for like five years,
five or six years and played all kinds of places.

375
00:28:58,540 --> 00:29:03,116
And in fact, there's a live album that's pretty much all finished.

376
00:29:03,116 --> 00:29:09,735
live at Birdland from our, we did a week at Birdland and she sounds great on it.

377
00:29:09,735 --> 00:29:12,518
And I don't know, hopefully people get to hear it one

378
00:29:12,620 --> 00:29:15,682
Yes, I knew that was going to ask you about when that was coming out.

379
00:29:15,682 --> 00:29:18,633
So yeah, I look forward to seeing that whenever it does.

380
00:29:18,633 --> 00:29:21,355
I mean, think you saying you toured heavily is an understatement.

381
00:29:21,355 --> 00:29:24,617
I think it was something like what 250 shows in seven countries.

382
00:29:24,617 --> 00:29:27,074
That's a big, that's a big amount of touring.

383
00:29:27,074 --> 00:29:27,644
That's good.

384
00:29:27,644 --> 00:29:28,818
I should remember that.

385
00:29:28,818 --> 00:29:30,037
I should write that down somewhere.

386
00:29:30,037 --> 00:29:31,883
I had no idea that's what it was.

387
00:29:32,558 --> 00:29:34,618
Yes, I know that that is amazing.

388
00:29:34,618 --> 00:29:37,218
so I mean, just describe for us Molly's voice.

389
00:29:37,218 --> 00:29:40,838
So obviously, like most people, I'm aware of Molly's an actress.

390
00:29:40,858 --> 00:29:46,238
When I've obviously listened to her album now a couple of times and she has a beautiful
voice.

391
00:29:46,238 --> 00:29:52,778
It's a it's a different voice like most people if you're used to hearing the speaking
voice when you the singing voice, go, wow, that's different.

392
00:29:52,778 --> 00:29:55,718
What do you think it is that's special about her voice?

393
00:29:55,850 --> 00:29:58,970
There's an intimacy to her voice that I love.

394
00:29:58,970 --> 00:30:06,510
And it's interesting because she has, I feel like she doesn't have just one voice, you
know, because she's done Broadway and stuff.

395
00:30:06,510 --> 00:30:14,530
And that voice, I mean, it's the same tone, you know, she's the same woman, you know, but
it's like, but that's a different voice, you know, it fits that style better.

396
00:30:14,530 --> 00:30:18,570
It has a different kind of power.

397
00:30:18,630 --> 00:30:24,510
And I think, I think what she, what she knew as a young girl, as a jazz singer and what
she.

398
00:30:24,546 --> 00:30:29,906
really honed in the studio and then live was just how intimate it could be.

399
00:30:29,906 --> 00:30:36,012
I mean, there's something wonderful about being a jazz singer and having some gorgeous
microphone like right here.

400
00:30:36,052 --> 00:30:42,016
And you can just, you you hardly have to do anything and it captures every little bit, you
know?

401
00:30:42,016 --> 00:30:47,669
And I think she, because she's very clever and talented and gets things quickly.

402
00:30:47,669 --> 00:30:48,900
She got that very quickly.

403
00:30:48,900 --> 00:30:51,031
Yeah, I think it's intimacy.

404
00:30:51,031 --> 00:30:53,812
Of course the tone, she's a beautiful tone.

405
00:30:54,100 --> 00:31:01,355
And, but also, and the storytelling, you know, what she brings as an actor, like the story
of a song is very important to her.

406
00:31:01,355 --> 00:31:09,521
The title track of the album, except sometimes, you I get along without you very well,
except sometimes the story of that song is very meaningful to her.

407
00:31:10,362 --> 00:31:13,804
We did, it would be on the Birdland record if it comes out.

408
00:31:13,804 --> 00:31:19,148
We have an arrangement of Don't Explain, the Billie Holiday classic that's like very
personal to her.

409
00:31:19,148 --> 00:31:22,790
So yeah, I mean, that's what I, I guess that's what I like about it.

410
00:31:22,994 --> 00:31:33,574
feel like as you just said Peter, I if you're a really good actor, acting as a
performative discipline as is playing music, I think you can really imbue songs with

411
00:31:33,574 --> 00:31:42,034
meaning and emotion because I guess that's something that's required in both disciplines
and as we mentioned before and you've alluded to a couple of times, you've got some pretty

412
00:31:42,034 --> 00:31:44,522
serious acting credits behind you yourselves.

413
00:31:44,522 --> 00:31:54,199
acting on on broadway but also in shows that are genuine household names listeners and
viewers so shows like CSI and Law and Order and this sort of thing so I'm really

414
00:31:54,199 --> 00:32:04,627
interested in your perspective on so I gave that example but how else do you think there's
some sort of cross-pollination between the skills that someone who can do acting can bring

415
00:32:04,627 --> 00:32:06,398
to a music performance as well?

416
00:32:06,550 --> 00:32:07,390
Yeah.

417
00:32:07,390 --> 00:32:08,691
Well, two things come to mind.

418
00:32:08,691 --> 00:32:17,393
First of all, what you're describing with acting and the connection with music, I think
was really what was so great about Sinatra.

419
00:32:17,553 --> 00:32:20,774
And people who emulate him sometimes miss that.

420
00:32:20,774 --> 00:32:31,357
What they emulate is the, hey, you know, that kind of like the crooner-y kind of guy, you
know, and like, be a lady tonight, you know, that a certain attitude.

421
00:32:31,357 --> 00:32:34,764
But what was great about Sinatra was he was

422
00:32:34,764 --> 00:32:40,659
He sang every line the way you would say it if you were an actor and it was a line given
to you.

423
00:32:40,659 --> 00:32:42,881
That's where his greatness was.

424
00:32:42,881 --> 00:32:48,185
And his tone, of course, you know, but doing that on pitch and with his voice.

425
00:32:48,345 --> 00:32:59,955
So when he does that, what naturally happens, because you're emphasizing certain things
and, you know, if you had a line, I really don't feel well today, you know, you wouldn't

426
00:32:59,955 --> 00:33:03,662
say, I really don't feel well.

427
00:33:03,662 --> 00:33:07,724
today, you know, there would be you would emphasize certain words, right?

428
00:33:07,724 --> 00:33:19,271
And when you do that, when you sing, you get this natural, it becomes a little irregular
and swinging because you're hitting sometimes on the beat and sometimes off the beat.

429
00:33:19,571 --> 00:33:27,215
But Sinatra is not thinking that he's just saying that like you would say it, you know, so
that's so that's great.

430
00:33:27,215 --> 00:33:32,138
Because if you embrace that part of Sinatra the way he did, then you're

431
00:33:32,234 --> 00:33:38,479
you're acting the song, you're telling the story of the song and you're swinging without
having to think about like, did I just hit a downbeat?

432
00:33:38,479 --> 00:33:41,600
Okay, let me hit an offbeat now or like, you know, whatever.

433
00:33:41,621 --> 00:33:48,696
And then the other thing I think that comes even for instrumentalists, know, the best,
best solos tell a story, right?

434
00:33:48,696 --> 00:33:58,633
So they, you know, if you, you come out blazing from the top, like, you know, you've
stated the melody and then you come out blazing, like that better be part of a story,

435
00:33:58,633 --> 00:33:59,454
right?

436
00:33:59,454 --> 00:34:00,046
Cause

437
00:34:00,046 --> 00:34:10,273
Because the thing we're most used to understanding in any kind of like artistic context
is, you know, I guess like Aristotle, right?

438
00:34:10,273 --> 00:34:12,795
You know, there's a beginning, a middle, an end.

439
00:34:12,795 --> 00:34:18,458
It's the beginning, there's the end of the beginning, beginning in the middle, the end of
the middle, beginning in the end.

440
00:34:21,401 --> 00:34:25,394
And so a solo kind of takes you through that.

441
00:34:25,394 --> 00:34:29,126
So if you can understand the...

442
00:34:29,590 --> 00:34:31,161
And dynamics do that too.

443
00:34:31,161 --> 00:34:33,493
Dynamics can really tell a story.

444
00:34:33,734 --> 00:34:40,179
Where if you could bring something down and, know, dynamics are almost like the way an
actor might use stillness.

445
00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:47,110
Like if an actor has been moving and then they're suddenly still, you and the audience go
like, what is it?

446
00:34:47,110 --> 00:34:47,986
You know what mean?

447
00:34:47,986 --> 00:34:57,994
And so if we can, as music, if we can suddenly, you know, pull it in and come, and they
come to us and then, you know, and then take them somewhere else, you know?

448
00:34:58,230 --> 00:35:05,870
So yeah, think it's to think narratively in music is a real, is really beneficial if you
can do that.

449
00:35:05,870 --> 00:35:06,540
Yeah.

450
00:35:06,540 --> 00:35:11,152
links well, Peter, one of the masters of light and shade in music was Bill Evans.

451
00:35:11,152 --> 00:35:20,036
Now, you've mentioned that you've got a little screenplay sitting there that you're hoping
that sees the light of day on his time with Miles Davis.

452
00:35:20,036 --> 00:35:22,857
Just tell us a little bit about the inspiration for that.

453
00:35:22,877 --> 00:35:26,218
And yeah, what made you get into that?

454
00:35:26,242 --> 00:35:32,224
Yeah, so this was a marriage between my acting life and music life as a young man.

455
00:35:32,224 --> 00:35:41,806
So in the 90s, I attended, I got a master's degree in acting actually in a program down in
San Diego connected with the Old Globe Theater.

456
00:35:41,806 --> 00:35:47,268
And that program had a thesis requirement and it was 20 minutes by yourself on stage.

457
00:35:47,268 --> 00:35:53,610
And, you know, technically I think we could have compiled monologues or something, but
everybody writes something for themselves to do.

458
00:35:53,610 --> 00:35:54,978
And it's a great thing.

459
00:35:54,978 --> 00:35:56,909
because you learn all these lessons doing that.

460
00:35:56,909 --> 00:36:02,480
So I knew I wanted to do something with music and I also knew I didn't want to offend
people with makeup.

461
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:11,803
So I started looking at white pianists and seeing what might, you know, what might be
there, you know, what's, you know, it's not just the music, it has to be dramatic and

462
00:36:11,803 --> 00:36:17,124
like, what could I do that would be, that would make a good little 20 minute one man show.

463
00:36:17,124 --> 00:36:22,446
And so what I came across, and of course I was so familiar with music, but what I came
across was,

464
00:36:22,708 --> 00:36:33,987
know, Bill Evans during his time with Miles Davis is so interesting and dramatic and so
sort of the story of him coming of age as an artist under Miles's wing.

465
00:36:33,987 --> 00:36:38,691
So the one man show imagined him the night before the Kind of Blue recording session.

466
00:36:38,931 --> 00:36:43,135
He's sort of pulling his hair out, trying to figure out what Miles expects of him.

467
00:36:43,135 --> 00:36:44,696
Miles has given him this assignment.

468
00:36:44,696 --> 00:36:47,698
Okay, G minor six, A augmented seven.

469
00:36:47,818 --> 00:36:50,000
What would you do with those two chords?

470
00:36:50,641 --> 00:36:52,440
You know, and of course we know Bill.

471
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:58,954
comes back and he writes blue and green and it ends up on Kind of Blue, which is the
greatest Aeroling jazz record of all time.

472
00:36:58,954 --> 00:37:09,920
So my one man show, it's like, he's going through those demons that we all have, not just
artists, know, of like, what's my authentic expression versus what do I think people

473
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:20,906
expect me to do and like, and how do I get through my own inner obstacles and demons to
kind of triumph and create this thing that's ultimately, you know.

474
00:37:21,218 --> 00:37:24,161
the most beautiful thing on that record, arguably, you know?

475
00:37:24,161 --> 00:37:32,288
So I did that, and then my sister, who knows about these things, she was like, yeah,
that's like the climax of a third act of a screenplay.

476
00:37:32,749 --> 00:37:34,301
And I kind of filed that away.

477
00:37:34,301 --> 00:37:40,236
And then a few years later, it was 9-11, and like, everything shut down, I had no work.

478
00:37:40,317 --> 00:37:44,221
I'm living in New York, and I thought, okay, maybe I'll give it a go, you know?

479
00:37:44,221 --> 00:37:46,242
And I was interviewing.

480
00:37:46,316 --> 00:37:56,315
I had interviewed all these people for the one main show and then I interviewed others
including his African American living girlfriend at the time, Perry Cousins, who died not

481
00:37:56,315 --> 00:37:57,727
long after I interviewed her.

482
00:37:57,727 --> 00:38:03,882
I was really, it's not good that she died, but I was very fortunate to catch her while I
could, you know?

483
00:38:04,123 --> 00:38:05,904
And Paul Motion, the drummer.

484
00:38:05,904 --> 00:38:08,226
So anyway, fast forward, I be,

485
00:38:08,226 --> 00:38:11,227
managed to get the script in the hands of an agent at William Morris.

486
00:38:11,227 --> 00:38:12,828
I became a William Morris client.

487
00:38:12,828 --> 00:38:22,231
He is now, his name is Alan Gassmer and he's just produced the Bob Dylan biopic, The
Chalamet and is producing my script.

488
00:38:22,231 --> 00:38:25,452
There's a French director involved named Francois Velle.

489
00:38:25,452 --> 00:38:33,064
There's, we're finally, what, 25 years later, maybe on the brink of actually making this
thing.

490
00:38:33,432 --> 00:38:34,545
That's amazing.

491
00:38:34,545 --> 00:38:42,834
And I have to ask, Peter, I assume there's going to be, I know it's too early to say, but
there be some sort of live shoot of the Village Vanguard, that's all I'll say.

492
00:38:42,834 --> 00:38:44,725
yeah, yeah, there's there's stuff in the Vanguard.

493
00:38:44,725 --> 00:38:46,936
Don't worry.

494
00:38:46,936 --> 00:38:47,005
19.

495
00:38:47,005 --> 00:38:50,594
It's basically like 1955 to 1960.

496
00:38:51,318 --> 00:38:54,299
So, you know, it's taking a page.

497
00:38:54,299 --> 00:39:06,884
There's a there's a wonderful movie called Capote that Philip Seymour Hoffman star and
it's it focuses on the time that Capote wrote one of his greatest novels in cold blood.

498
00:39:06,884 --> 00:39:11,026
And by focusing on that time, you get the sense of the whole life.

499
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:15,971
And so similarly, I mean, there's a lot of stuff in Bill's life that's just not in my
movie.

500
00:39:16,371 --> 00:39:20,493
But, you know, it's like Bill's life is like four five, six movies.

501
00:39:20,493 --> 00:39:21,433
I don't know.

502
00:39:21,433 --> 00:39:26,774
You know, so it's by focusing on this time, I think where you get, okay.

503
00:39:26,914 --> 00:39:31,396
Now at the end of the mile, now he's the Bill that we're all going to know.

504
00:39:31,396 --> 00:39:33,576
And, you know, he's come into himself.

505
00:39:34,136 --> 00:39:40,158
So it really ends with this formation of the great hero with the Scala for our own pole
motion.

506
00:39:40,750 --> 00:39:51,379
I often feel like as an audience member, I love it when a biopic just focuses on that
certain time, a certain place, because it allows you to go so deep.

507
00:39:51,379 --> 00:40:00,486
And as you said, I think the understanding that you can draw out of that real person is
much, much greatly enriched rather than having like a cradle to grave thing, which is

508
00:40:00,486 --> 00:40:03,378
limited by time and that sort of thing.

509
00:40:03,378 --> 00:40:05,038
that sounds very, very cool.

510
00:40:05,038 --> 00:40:06,066
I'm eating.

511
00:40:06,188 --> 00:40:07,672
Yeah, well, we're excited.

512
00:40:07,672 --> 00:40:11,683
I'm sure you're more excited, but we're very excited to see if that comes out and sees the
light of day.

513
00:40:11,683 --> 00:40:13,986
But it sounds like you're making great progress there, Peter.

514
00:40:13,986 --> 00:40:15,286
Well, thank you.

515
00:40:15,347 --> 00:40:20,089
It's funny, because this thing has had so many fits and starts over the years.

516
00:40:20,089 --> 00:40:27,253
And Alan, back when he was my agent, mean, still my manager, I guess, technically, but
he's a producer now.

517
00:40:27,253 --> 00:40:29,886
He can be a producer on film and all of this.

518
00:40:29,915 --> 00:40:37,138
But when we first started working together, said, because he worked on Ray, he said,
Peter, Ray took 20 years to make.

519
00:40:37,319 --> 00:40:40,800
He's like, when your movie gets made, I might be an old man.

520
00:40:40,941 --> 00:40:42,221
You might be an old man, too.

521
00:40:42,221 --> 00:40:43,704
So it takes a while.

522
00:40:43,704 --> 00:40:54,141
But yeah, know, fingers crossed it's actually, and I think what I'm really excited about
is I just feel like it would be really good for the music.

523
00:40:54,542 --> 00:41:06,961
Because the characters in this screenplay, you know, the next to Bill, the next biggest
characters, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Kennebal Adderley, George Russell, Paul Motions,

524
00:41:06,961 --> 00:41:09,894
it's all these people are gonna learn about our heroes, right?

525
00:41:09,894 --> 00:41:10,222
You know?

526
00:41:10,222 --> 00:41:14,362
the soundtrack will be amazing and as you say it'll bring that music to so many.

527
00:41:14,362 --> 00:41:17,862
It's such a new audience who would appreciate it which would be cool.

528
00:41:19,022 --> 00:41:24,562
And look and there's something to be said for the delayed gratification too so when it
happens you'll be a happy man.

529
00:41:24,562 --> 00:41:29,242
I was talking before about going deep and now I'm going to go a bit tangential.

530
00:41:29,242 --> 00:41:34,478
Can I go deep to the of your studio there and can you please tell me what is that piano
that's sitting in the back?

531
00:41:34,478 --> 00:41:36,718
yes, that's a seven foot Baldwin.

532
00:41:36,718 --> 00:41:38,198
It's a Baldwin F.

533
00:41:38,198 --> 00:41:38,718
I that one.

534
00:41:38,718 --> 00:41:41,518
It's from 1970 and I love it.

535
00:41:41,518 --> 00:41:43,238
Yeah, sorry, there's a sheet on it.

536
00:41:43,238 --> 00:41:45,398
That's like my dust cover.

537
00:41:45,838 --> 00:41:47,858
Tell us about the character of the piano, Peter.

538
00:41:47,858 --> 00:41:49,354
What do you think about it?

539
00:41:49,354 --> 00:42:01,439
It's really, well, first of all, my favorite piano, if I can get a good one, you know, to
play at venues and halls and such, is a Steinway B, the seven foot Steinway.

540
00:42:01,499 --> 00:42:09,222
A really good seven foot Steinway, I almost prefer to the nine foot for jazz, just because
a nine foot can be so reverberant.

541
00:42:09,222 --> 00:42:14,254
And when you're articulating a bebop line, sometimes it's, the note is still hanging in
the air.

542
00:42:14,254 --> 00:42:18,206
And you're like, wait, I'm on to the next, you know, and it's not.

543
00:42:18,410 --> 00:42:19,921
list, you know, it's different.

544
00:42:19,921 --> 00:42:32,118
So this Baldwin has that dryness and crispness, I feel like of a Steinway B and it's, I
mean, it is, you know, it's Baldwin's, it's Baldwin Steinway B, it's a seven foot and the

545
00:42:32,118 --> 00:42:34,359
action is the Renner action.

546
00:42:34,359 --> 00:42:36,780
So it's the same action that's in Steinway.

547
00:42:37,621 --> 00:42:40,402
And the bass is really robust.

548
00:42:40,623 --> 00:42:47,022
It's like, you know, you hit some of those notes in the lower octave and they're just, you
know,

549
00:42:47,022 --> 00:42:48,683
just go for days, it's great.

550
00:42:48,683 --> 00:43:00,241
And that's been a revelation too of, you know, as a piano player, you play, you know, like
when I was on the road with Molly, for example, your, you know, whatever instrument is

551
00:43:00,241 --> 00:43:01,532
there, that's what you're playing.

552
00:43:01,532 --> 00:43:08,477
And you know, we, we would send a rider asking for certain instruments and usually the
venues had them, but sometimes they didn't.

553
00:43:08,477 --> 00:43:16,984
And sometimes even if they did, they, maybe they weren't in good shape or, know, and
trying to spend that time in soundcheck like,

554
00:43:16,984 --> 00:43:29,233
figuring out what this instrument does and can I do what I need to do and now that I'm
doing concerts and recording on my piano, it's like, my gosh, you know, if I can't sound

555
00:43:29,233 --> 00:43:34,454
good here, I'm in trouble, you know, because like, I know what this piano does, you know.

556
00:43:35,527 --> 00:43:42,451
Exactly, you know, hey, the song was in my eyes, you know.

557
00:43:42,772 --> 00:43:46,024
Yeah, so that's been really great to do these concerts and

558
00:43:46,272 --> 00:43:49,927
Well, and actually my last record that's coming out in two months, we recorded here.

559
00:43:49,927 --> 00:43:51,228
It's a quintet record.

560
00:43:51,228 --> 00:43:52,970
We just did it all in one room.

561
00:43:53,106 --> 00:44:03,649
like you might even become less tolerant of pianos you get to use on tour now that you've
had so much enjoyable time with your own one and the pleasure it's bringing you.

562
00:44:03,649 --> 00:44:08,586
We asked a question of all our guests, Peter, and it relates to live performance.

563
00:44:08,586 --> 00:44:12,450
We'd love it if you could share a train wreck story for us.

564
00:44:13,082 --> 00:44:14,002
man.

565
00:44:14,003 --> 00:44:18,244
So speaking of television, I was doing a gig.

566
00:44:18,244 --> 00:44:23,246
My good friend, Ryan Cross, a bass player who's very dialed into the TV world.

567
00:44:23,387 --> 00:44:24,887
said, Peter, I need you to do this thing.

568
00:44:24,887 --> 00:44:26,888
It's for one of the networks.

569
00:44:26,888 --> 00:44:29,109
I forget which one they had done.

570
00:44:29,109 --> 00:44:32,690
there was a television production of rent, the musical.

571
00:44:32,971 --> 00:44:37,603
And it was like 2019 and it was very well regarded and it was up for awards.

572
00:44:37,603 --> 00:44:39,473
And this is one of those things.

573
00:44:39,473 --> 00:44:41,002
You see these around award.

574
00:44:41,002 --> 00:44:44,864
season in LA, it's FYC, For Your Consideration, you know.

575
00:44:44,864 --> 00:44:57,975
So there was like a For Your Consideration concert of this really amazing singer, huge
Broadway talent and television actor, Brandon Victor Dixon is his name.

576
00:44:58,175 --> 00:45:02,479
And it was just me and him playing a song from Ren.

577
00:45:02,479 --> 00:45:07,542
And like, I can do the Broadway thing, you know, and my reading is now pretty good.

578
00:45:07,768 --> 00:45:10,079
But it's not like playing all the things you are.

579
00:45:10,079 --> 00:45:16,454
So I have the music on an iPad and we're playing and I've played through it, but like
don't have it memorized.

580
00:45:16,454 --> 00:45:19,066
And I'm not, there might've been chords.

581
00:45:19,066 --> 00:45:20,036
I don't think there were chords.

582
00:45:20,036 --> 00:45:21,397
I think it was all just notation.

583
00:45:21,397 --> 00:45:22,688
I think it was just reading music.

584
00:45:22,688 --> 00:45:26,691
And I go to turn the page on the iPad and nothing happens.

585
00:45:26,691 --> 00:45:32,354
And it was one of those things where it was like, like in the movie where it's like, whoa.

586
00:45:32,455 --> 00:45:35,527
You know, it's like, it just goes in like slow motion.

587
00:45:35,527 --> 00:45:37,458
know what I mean?

588
00:45:37,742 --> 00:45:42,862
So there's this program, you guys probably know it, it's called Four Score, it's for
reading music on the iPad.

589
00:45:42,862 --> 00:45:47,342
So if you tap it too much, it thinks you're trying to edit it.

590
00:45:47,902 --> 00:45:51,722
Like that my finger is trying to write something on the music or something.

591
00:45:51,722 --> 00:45:53,522
So I guess that's what I had done.

592
00:45:53,862 --> 00:45:58,182
And so I started frantically tapping it, and somehow I got out of that.

593
00:45:58,882 --> 00:46:06,162
my left hand, because I wasn't telling it what to do, but my left hand was kind of just
doing something that kept rhythm.

594
00:46:06,644 --> 00:46:13,347
And eventually the page turned and Ryan was in the audience and he knew something was
going on.

595
00:46:13,347 --> 00:46:14,349
You know what mean?

596
00:46:14,349 --> 00:46:16,913
But I don't think anybody else did, thank goodness.

597
00:46:17,074 --> 00:46:19,426
But that was just, know, yeah.

598
00:46:19,426 --> 00:46:20,836
That's an original one, Peter.

599
00:46:20,836 --> 00:46:21,898
I haven't heard that one before.

600
00:46:21,898 --> 00:46:22,899
thank you for that.

601
00:46:22,899 --> 00:46:24,890
That's something different.

602
00:46:25,251 --> 00:46:29,324
Another traditional question we ask Peter is for our guests to tag another keyboard
player.

603
00:46:29,324 --> 00:46:35,180
So is there someone out there that you would mile or who I've worked with that you'd love
to hear more about their story?

604
00:46:35,180 --> 00:46:39,513
Well, there's a jazz pianist named Sullivan Fortner.

605
00:46:39,513 --> 00:46:40,510
Well, I don't know.

606
00:46:40,510 --> 00:46:43,495
I believe he's, I mean, I'm not sure if they're married or whatever.

607
00:46:43,495 --> 00:46:44,405
They're certainly together.

608
00:46:44,405 --> 00:46:48,217
The vocalist, Cecile McLaren Savant.

609
00:46:50,939 --> 00:46:54,121
Sullivan is, I'm pretty sure he's a genius.

610
00:46:54,121 --> 00:46:59,904
Everything I hear from him, and it's funny, because, you know, it's not like I almost
experience him.

611
00:47:00,224 --> 00:47:03,790
I really like to go to dance performances or art museums.

612
00:47:03,790 --> 00:47:05,851
because I really don't know anything about it.

613
00:47:05,851 --> 00:47:06,541
You know I mean?

614
00:47:06,541 --> 00:47:09,691
And I can just kind of like, look at the pretty colors.

615
00:47:09,691 --> 00:47:15,575
I couldn't have an erudite conversation about art or dance.

616
00:47:16,096 --> 00:47:26,320
And it's funny because the way Sullivan plays, I almost have a little bit of that because
it's so profound and so like, it's not really how I play.

617
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:29,442
mean, I suppose I wish I could play because he's so good, you know?

618
00:47:29,442 --> 00:47:30,582
But, but.

619
00:47:31,512 --> 00:47:34,624
But it's just, he's like on another level.

620
00:47:35,926 --> 00:47:38,638
And I think a lot of people feel that way about him.

621
00:47:38,638 --> 00:47:48,057
I think people feel that way, the way they do about him, the way that a lot of people felt
about Mulgrew Miller when he kind of came on in the 90s.

622
00:47:48,057 --> 00:47:51,759
Mulgrew had this nickname, they called him the state of the art.

623
00:47:52,240 --> 00:47:54,322
I don't know if you, do you know that idiom in Australia?

624
00:47:54,322 --> 00:47:54,873
Do you have that?

625
00:47:54,873 --> 00:47:56,314
Yeah, yeah.

626
00:47:56,314 --> 00:47:57,284
So yeah.

627
00:47:58,995 --> 00:48:01,849
and Sullivan's kind of that way too.

628
00:48:02,052 --> 00:48:04,238
Great pick noted well and truly.

629
00:48:04,238 --> 00:48:05,362
Thank you, Peter

630
00:48:05,362 --> 00:48:09,346
There's, if you can check it out, let me just shout out the, there's a video.

631
00:48:09,346 --> 00:48:12,128
He gets a request because he also sings.

632
00:48:12,128 --> 00:48:13,309
It's like a great singer.

633
00:48:13,309 --> 00:48:16,071
He's playing a gig in Paris and it's around Christmas time.

634
00:48:16,071 --> 00:48:17,902
And he has a microphone just to announce songs.

635
00:48:17,902 --> 00:48:19,304
So no boom stand or anything.

636
00:48:19,304 --> 00:48:20,094
It's just there.

637
00:48:20,094 --> 00:48:21,896
And someone's like, sing, sing, sing.

638
00:48:21,896 --> 00:48:23,477
We love the way you sing, you know?

639
00:48:23,477 --> 00:48:29,062
And he does have yourself a merry little Christmas holding the microphone in his right
hand and just with his left hand.

640
00:48:29,062 --> 00:48:34,145
And it's like, and it goes through like five or six keys.

641
00:48:34,766 --> 00:48:38,486
And it's just, it's like it's mind blowing.

642
00:48:38,746 --> 00:48:39,626
know?

643
00:48:39,886 --> 00:48:42,306
So check that out if you can.

644
00:48:42,618 --> 00:48:43,429
I love it.

645
00:48:43,429 --> 00:48:44,800
Thank you for that suggestion Peter.

646
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:46,078
That's amazing.

647
00:48:46,078 --> 00:48:49,042
And then we have the dreaded Desert Island Discs question.

648
00:48:49,042 --> 00:48:54,838
So if you can, Peter, five albums, if you have to choose them, what would they be?

649
00:48:54,838 --> 00:48:56,689
Okay, Wynton Kelly, Kelly at Midnight.

650
00:48:56,689 --> 00:48:59,680
Stevie Wonder, Fulfilling this First Finale.

651
00:49:01,701 --> 00:49:04,982
Bill Evans, Trio Explorations.

652
00:49:04,982 --> 00:49:10,303
Miles Davis, Live at Carnegie Hall, The My Funny Valentine with George Coleman and B.

653
00:49:10,904 --> 00:49:12,384
How many am I at?

654
00:49:13,105 --> 00:49:17,576
Yeah, I think it would have to be the Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson record.

655
00:49:17,733 --> 00:49:18,024
yes.

656
00:49:18,024 --> 00:49:24,278
Great picks and for someone that hadn't had a chance to think about them that's incredibly
impressive so well done.

657
00:49:24,278 --> 00:49:26,099
Very well there, Peter.

658
00:49:27,461 --> 00:49:31,404
It's always hard to pick only five, of course, when you have such a great love.

659
00:49:32,266 --> 00:49:33,586
Yeah, of course.

660
00:49:33,678 --> 00:49:35,649
People usually feel bad for the ones they leave out.

661
00:49:35,649 --> 00:49:38,110
That's normally what happens when we do that.

662
00:49:39,172 --> 00:49:45,738
So, Peter, we'd love to include our podcast with a series of questions we call the Quick
Fire 10.

663
00:49:45,738 --> 00:49:50,274
And what this is, David and I will rapid fire 10.

664
00:49:50,274 --> 00:49:59,630
questions at you and we'll just ask for 10 answers back the first thing that comes into
your head as we go along and I will start with a very tricky one which is what is the

665
00:49:59,630 --> 00:50:02,038
first album you ever heard?

666
00:50:02,038 --> 00:50:03,499
I by Bette Midler.

667
00:50:04,221 --> 00:50:12,810
There was a Bette Midler record that apparently as a little boy I loved and I would just
trash the record player like picking it out and putting it on there.

668
00:50:12,898 --> 00:50:15,623
That's not the Beaches soundtrack, Peter, that's acceptable.

669
00:50:15,623 --> 00:50:16,625
I don't know.

670
00:50:16,625 --> 00:50:21,843
Peter, what's your most important pre-gig ritual before you play a show?

671
00:50:21,843 --> 00:50:24,610
What you need to have sort of to feel settled?

672
00:50:24,610 --> 00:50:27,321
I think I just try to check in with my breath.

673
00:50:27,321 --> 00:50:35,695
Especially lately with these concerts, there's a lot going on beforehand, because I'm also
sort of the host.

674
00:50:35,695 --> 00:50:37,855
Everybody's asking me tons of questions.

675
00:50:37,855 --> 00:50:39,896
And then at some point I'm like, I got to play.

676
00:50:39,896 --> 00:50:43,938
All right, let me just separate for a second and just.

677
00:50:44,448 --> 00:50:51,294
Okay, if you had not been a musician, what do you think your career choice would have been
and you're not allowed to say actor?

678
00:50:53,296 --> 00:50:55,959
Well, when I was little, I always wanted to be an architect.

679
00:50:55,959 --> 00:50:58,962
It's funny because I have terrible visual.

680
00:50:58,983 --> 00:51:02,747
I can barely address myself, but I don't know.

681
00:51:02,747 --> 00:51:05,730
think I like the idea of spaces.

682
00:51:06,030 --> 00:51:08,954
Sounds like the architecture profession dodged a bullet.

683
00:51:08,954 --> 00:51:13,248
If favourite tour you've ever done, Peter.

684
00:51:13,806 --> 00:51:16,506
Oh, Australia.

685
00:51:21,146 --> 00:51:22,732
Yes, indeed.

686
00:51:22,732 --> 00:51:24,962
What about the favourite gig you've ever done?

687
00:51:24,962 --> 00:51:25,243
Wow.

688
00:51:25,243 --> 00:51:26,504
That's hard.

689
00:51:26,965 --> 00:51:28,648
gosh, why is that so hard?

690
00:51:28,648 --> 00:51:32,273
Well, I did play at Melbourne Recital Hall with Molly.

691
00:51:32,582 --> 00:51:36,341
I remember that piano being extra special.

692
00:51:36,341 --> 00:51:38,805
I think that's one of the best pianos I've ever played.

693
00:51:38,805 --> 00:51:39,470
Wow.

694
00:51:39,470 --> 00:51:44,693
I'm gonna put the pressure on now, Peter, and you can't use an Australian city, favourite
city you've ever played.

695
00:51:45,193 --> 00:51:46,626
Can I say New York?

696
00:51:46,626 --> 00:51:48,139
Yeah, absolutely.

697
00:51:49,580 --> 00:51:58,008
Yeah, there's nothing like New York and also the energy that it gives you to play, you
know, something like, okay, here I am.

698
00:51:58,008 --> 00:51:59,201
Very valid.

699
00:52:04,942 --> 00:52:06,409
There's a song about that.

700
00:52:14,968 --> 00:52:16,019
Take five.

701
00:52:16,061 --> 00:52:18,208
If I never play that again, that'll be fine.

702
00:52:18,208 --> 00:52:21,398
Sorry, I'll edit this out, obviously, no, that was great.

703
00:52:21,398 --> 00:52:25,932
And then we have, favorite music documentary or movie, Peter?

704
00:52:25,932 --> 00:52:28,372
Well, there's one on bill that's really good.

705
00:52:28,372 --> 00:52:29,818
It's on Amazon.

706
00:52:29,818 --> 00:52:31,585
I think it's called time remembered.

707
00:52:31,585 --> 00:52:32,415
Yeah.

708
00:52:36,686 --> 00:52:41,486
Yeah, it's 2016 maybe.

709
00:52:54,936 --> 00:53:05,449
Yeah, mean, some kind of, I guess what we were talking about earlier, some kind of thing
where you walk into a hall and you have a certain expectation from the instrument that a

710
00:53:05,449 --> 00:53:07,210
little more uniformity.

711
00:53:07,230 --> 00:53:11,471
I hesitate to say that because I don't want to take the soul out of great instruments.

712
00:53:11,471 --> 00:53:15,593
I don't want to dumb down the brilliant ones.

713
00:53:15,973 --> 00:53:19,342
But if we could just make them all brilliant, that would be good.

714
00:53:19,342 --> 00:53:20,105
I love it.

715
00:53:20,105 --> 00:53:26,186
And last but not least, Peter, your favourite non-musical activity or hobby, what keeps
you sane outside of music?

716
00:53:26,412 --> 00:53:34,807
Ooh, yeah, I mean, I just like moving my body, whether it's going for a little run or a
hike or a walk, you know.

717
00:53:35,608 --> 00:53:36,359
It's really great.

718
00:53:36,359 --> 00:53:38,710
I do my best thinking those times.

719
00:53:38,784 --> 00:53:40,015
Yeah, understood.

720
00:53:40,015 --> 00:53:42,306
Peter, I can't thank you enough for spending time with us.

721
00:53:42,306 --> 00:53:48,449
I'm really excited to see what's happening for you over the coming years as well,
including the release of that amazing movie.

722
00:53:48,449 --> 00:53:49,980
I can't wait to see that.

723
00:53:49,980 --> 00:53:54,382
And obviously if maybe see you down under at some stage, you get in the future as well.

724
00:53:54,382 --> 00:53:55,082
That would be great.

725
00:53:55,082 --> 00:53:59,665
Yeah, I should say look out for my album, which is coming out April 11th.

726
00:53:59,806 --> 00:54:08,592
It's all soul jazz tunes, things like in the style of Lee Morgan's cornbread or Una Mas,
straight grooves.

727
00:54:08,592 --> 00:54:14,066
Features Roy McCurdy, the famous drummer who's 87 years old, if you want.

728
00:54:14,066 --> 00:54:14,857
Still plays great.

729
00:54:14,857 --> 00:54:17,438
Anyway, it's called Smitty Straightens Out.

730
00:54:17,896 --> 00:54:18,529
it.

731
00:54:18,529 --> 00:54:21,115
We'll definitely be linking to that too.

732
00:54:21,961 --> 00:54:23,704
Peter, that's amazing.

733
00:54:33,390 --> 00:54:40,626
There we have it, another quality guest Paul with a lot of interesting insights across
both the music and acting spectrum.

734
00:55:10,050 --> 00:55:13,160
just want a thousand square foot studio in a church.

735
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:14,304
But that's just me.

736
00:55:14,304 --> 00:55:15,197
not just me.

737
00:55:15,197 --> 00:55:16,629
Peter's got, yeah.

738
00:55:34,190 --> 00:55:35,071
Absolutely.

739
00:55:35,071 --> 00:55:39,274
So now a big huge thank you to Peter and a huge thank you to you all out there for
listening.

740
00:55:39,274 --> 00:55:43,178
Particular call out as always to our gold and silver supporters, Mr.

741
00:55:43,178 --> 00:55:46,530
Dewey Evans from the sunny land of Wales.

742
00:55:46,530 --> 00:55:49,562
Probably not super sunny in February, but still.

743
00:55:50,544 --> 00:55:53,456
And then the lovely Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Studio.

744
00:55:53,456 --> 00:55:56,248
Thank you, Tammy, for your ongoing support.

745
00:55:56,248 --> 00:56:03,244
The wonderful Edith Elk Electronic Synth Repair Guru, particularly for those of you
listening from Australia.

746
00:56:03,454 --> 00:56:06,007
If you need a synth repaired, is the man.

747
00:56:06,007 --> 00:56:11,182
And last but definitely not least, Dave and the team from the musicplayer.com forums.

748
00:56:11,182 --> 00:56:18,750
been lots of great discussions on there just in the last couple of weeks, including the
Viscount Legend 1 has quite the thread going.

749
00:56:18,750 --> 00:56:26,137
I can report, I know we talked briefly in the live stream, there is an overwhelming
consensus that that damn keyboard is brilliant.

750
00:56:40,778 --> 00:56:43,201
get a damn one into Australia.

751
00:56:43,201 --> 00:56:46,996
would nearly buy one myself, but they're in short supply at the moment.

752
00:57:19,582 --> 00:57:28,353
Number one is United States, two is UK and then I think Germany and Canada are right up
there and then Australia, New Zealand.

753
00:57:32,686 --> 00:57:35,266
It's about 14.2 million.

754
00:57:37,666 --> 00:57:47,777
You know, it numbers, I mean, it's a long and complicated story, but roughly on any
average episode, we end up with about 12,000 listeners.

755
00:57:47,777 --> 00:57:51,251
So that's individuals listening around the world across both audio and video.

756
00:57:51,251 --> 00:57:55,555
But there are some variances in that and I could bore people to death for hours, but
that's basically it.

757
00:57:55,555 --> 00:57:56,456
Yeah.

758
00:58:25,356 --> 00:58:30,440
No, we work with all our sponsors and we love to capture them via Patreon.

759
00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:34,804
And basically you become a sponsor on Patreon, then you get the shout outs on the podcast.

760
00:58:34,804 --> 00:58:44,913
We have a three or four time a year newsletter that goes out sort of with a bit of
keyboard news and talking about the podcast that goes out to a large audience as well.

761
00:58:44,913 --> 00:58:46,354
So yeah, there are some benefits to that.

762
00:58:46,354 --> 00:58:48,726
So yeah, do consider and thank you.

763
00:58:54,486 --> 00:58:55,257
No, that's fine.

764
00:58:55,257 --> 00:58:57,288
We're to pay for this jet somehow.

765
00:58:57,408 --> 00:58:58,149
Yeah.

766
00:58:58,149 --> 00:58:58,589
Yeah.

767
00:58:58,589 --> 00:58:59,139
All good.

768
00:58:59,139 --> 00:59:00,731
So now thank you all out there for listening.

769
00:59:00,731 --> 00:59:05,073
We'll be back again in a couple of weeks and in the meantime, keep on playing.