Jeff Goldblum on Music, Movies, and Getting Ariana Grande to Sing on His Album
51:01 Share

This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there, hoping it all works out?

Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can get a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help find you options within your budget. Try it today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company & Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states. This is a mini meditation guided by Bombas. Repeat after me. I'm comfy. Comfy.

Comfy. I'm cozy. Cozy. I have zero blisters on my toes. Blisters. And that's because I wear Bombas, the softest socks, underwear, and t-shirts that give back. One purchased equals one donated. Now go to bombas.com slash listen and use code listen for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash listen and use code listen at checkout.

I'm Brian Hyatt. This is Rolling Stone Music Now. So Jeff Goldblum isn't only the great actor you've seen in everything from The Fly to Jurassic Park to Wicked. He's also a genuinely gifted jazz piano player who's begun a recording career in recent years. At age 72, he just released his fourth album, Still Blooming, with his band, the Mildred Snitcher Orchestra. This one has some serious star power in its guest singers.

His Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo show up, as does Scarlett Johansson. Here's my conversation with Jeff Goldblum. You've got that Little Richard poster behind you. How about that? Good golly, Miss Marlena, she sure likes to ball. Oh, that's good.

I like that. Ever play that stuff? Ever mess around with that kind of rock and roll piano playing? Yeah, sometimes I put my foot up on the piano and play like Jerry Lee Lewis, and I never light it on fire or anything. But I like a nice, yeah, rocky... There are things in the jazz, you know, way that can get funky and New Orleans-y and, you know...

you know, as you know, kind of funky. That's the beauty, not to go too deeply, too quickly, you know, but that's the beauty of jazz, as you know, and about music is that it's a melting pot.

and a mix and a hybrid of many different things. Yeah. Now, rather than starting with one of the biggest pop stars in the world being on your album, I think I'll start with track six, Baya, which is a song I know from a great Thelonious Monk album, Monk's Dream. Yes.

I think you pretty much do your version of his arrangement. Yeah. We always try to bring something new to the continuum. He, of course, is a master, and nobody can play like he does. What's great about him, one of the things that's great and deep, you've heard Wynton Marsalis, I'm sure, on podcasts and on talk about how deep

and amazing he was, and his writing is, and his contribution was. As you know, you just hear one or two notes played by Monk, and you know it's him. Isn't that amazing? Of course, he had style, didn't he?

I liked how he had his own way of dressing and his rings and his hats. I'm crazy about him. So yeah, we tried to do something surprising and unexpected with these things. A lot of our arrangements like that are done by Joe Bagg and Alex Frank. I love that song particularly. I like that it's got a funky A section, right? And then the bridge.

The B section is swinging, you know. So it's... You know how it goes. And then the bridge... Isn't that nice? I never fail to get a big, big kick out of that. And I like playing. You know, I play every day. You know, I do it in the morning. It's a tonic and it changes my day. Thank goodness my mom insisted on me...

doing this early on. And it's, I don't know if it's going to be that way with my kids, but we're giving them lessons and they, you know, they have a good teacher and who knows what part it'll play in their lives. But thank goodness my mom exposed us to that because it's changed my life. And anyway, every day it changes my life. I play and getting back to our point, I play our set list every day.

and it gets better and better, I must say. Our set list that we're going to, not only some of which is on the album, but some other things that we've had on other albums, that we're going to be playing on this upcoming so-called tour here and there. Wait a minute, you're in New York. Hey, we're going to be at the Carlisle Hotel like we've been before, where Bobby Short played, you know. I'll bet you know that room well. I do. I will...

have to be there. You have to be there every single night or, uh, in the front row or, or just one of those nights, but you have to tap us on the shoulder. Tap me on the shoulder. As soon as you get there, I want to, I want to show you my cologne. I want to hold my wrist up to your nose and see if you recognize my sense. So when you have to play a solo on a song made famous by Thelonious Monk, uh, does that give you any pause? Do you,

do you get scared, especially when it's for the album? I should be intimidated and scared and paused in all sorts of ways, but I don't know why. And, you know, I'm, I am, I know I have a responsibility and I have deep respect for and devotion to the sacred legacy that we have in our fleeting and sweaty hands right now. But, you know, however, I've wound up here with this rare opportunity. I

I seem to be able to enjoy myself and not get too frightened. You know, once I hear the other great musicians that I'm playing with, you know, get up to what they're doing. And your obligation, of course, is to have a real conversation in real time and be present and trust yourself that you have some honest, authentic something to say, in this case, musically, that for a solo, for instance, can in some way be developed from music.

spontaneously that you can invent right there and that can be an answer to what you've just heard. So there's no time or space in yourself, in myself at that point, to be

Uh-oh. Put on the brakes. Just go ahead. And that's what I think is the baton being handed to us. You know, nothing else. It's like, go ahead. Have a good time. Let's see what you can do. I think, right? The idea of listening and conversation is...

and moving outside of your own ego. It works in jazz. It also works, obviously, in the, you've spoken a little bit about this, you know, the school of acting you came from, the literal school with Meisner was all about listening and reacting. And it seems that there's a fascinating commonality there.

You said a mouthful. We could talk for hours about that, but yes, you said it. I don't know if I can say it any better, but Sanford Meisner, yes, said, amongst other things, what you do is determined not by you necessarily, but in large part by what the other fella does.

are doing with you, right? So yes, that's right. That overlaps into the jazz approach. It has to. And that's a great thing. There's a lot more to do. There are many other pieces of the puzzle, but that's a big one. Put your attention on the other players or the other actor and see what that brings out in you. Today is never before. They've never been the same. They are infinitely different.

interesting, fascinating, mysterious, adorable, hilarious, and everything, and can hit surprising parts of you that you didn't even know were there. And something will come out that maybe surprises you and we'll be a little bit alive. That's what we're all hoping for. For

For something like Baia, which is just an instrumental, not just an instrumental, but there's no vocals on it. How many takes would you have done for this album? Golly, let me see. Wait a minute. I'm thinking back to, we have a nice system now. Scott Gilman, our saxophone player, we go to his studio in Highland Park in Los Angeles, California.

called The Hobby Shop, and we kind of all do it ourselves. Then he engineers it with Alex Frank, and so we have a good time there. It feels like a homey garage place to play. Let me see. I'm imagining myself there at the Yamaha Grand that we have there in my little cubicle sound

Little place, you know, I'll bet we work on that several times. I'll bet we do it a bunch of times, and then we go and listen to it, like everybody, and that's about it.

We don't over-exert ourselves, but I've prepared and I've tried to, you know, and then I'm always, I get a kick out of being there in the studio. I get a kick out of these live performances, but I like being in the laying down tracks and seeing what I can do. It's like movies. You can always do another take. So why not play and why not experiment and have a good time? That's what I do. And sometimes we get it pretty darn quick. Yeah, I mean, that feeling...

of actually, you know, if someone did something wrong, you just do another take is, has been lost in a lot of popular music besides jazz. Of course, now it's, it's everything is, is layered tracks and it's, it's very rare to have a live performance captured in the studio. Yeah.

Yeah, you know more about it than I do. But yeah, that's what I gather. I like the, I mean, I like all manner of technology. I like the Beatles, you know, when they started to fool around in the studio and come up with all kinds of different things. But I was a student of Robert Altman. You know, I was in that movie, Nashville. You ever see that? I'll bet. Yeah. And even though at the same time they were doing movies like

I think a star is born, Barbara Streisand and different things. And they were, and good people have done many post-production kind of, you know, sound, you know, things like Francis Coppola, I think in the Godfathers, there's a lot of ADR and Brando liked that.

I think, and put layered, you know, different sounds in there. And of course, I saw, believe it or not, I mean, I'm talking to you right now from Florence, Italy. I saw Federico Fellini shooting in Cinecittà, Italy.

Once, yes, he was shooting Ginger and Fred with Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Messina. And sure enough, like people have reported, he had music playing during the acting. And later on, you know, they'd lay in the dialogue. So a lot of people do it differently. But that was a side story.

meaning to say, make my main point, which was back when I was working with Altman, I really dug the way he liked to capture the sound right then authentically live. And that's what's in the movie and then get a kind of verite, you know, version of it. Yep. Yep. So at what point during the wicked experience, did you realize that you,

you were getting along with Ariana and Cynthia to the extent that, Hey, I can ask them to be on my next album. This will be fine. Well, well, you know, it happened by and by. Um, I was such a massive fan of that show and Stephen Schwartz's music. And I did brought me to tears 20 years before, and then I got a chance to be in it. And then I should have been, you know, intimidated somewhat by them, but,

masterful as they are and the whole experience and obligation. But I was well prepared. And once again, for one reason or another, I was having the time of my life and I got together with them on the set. John M. Chu, of course, trickle-down style, had a set that was humanistic and delightful and

generous and sweet and fun and playful. And so when we got together for our scenes, the three of us, there was a lot of singing. I was bushy-tailed, and I would think of every song that came up in my system from the American Songbook or Broadway shows, and they knew everything. And we would sing them all together, and then John M. Chu would bring us back to the...

the issue at hand and say, three, two, one, action. And then we would do our wicked stuff and then go back singing. And at some point, of course, by this time, you know, a couple of weeks in, Ariana maybe had, now that I'm thinking about it, reminded me that we had met once before. I did a Broadway show called The Pillow Man that you may have seen at the Booth Theater, close to where you are now. And she and her mom came when she was, what, like a

or something. And she showed me a picture of the, you know, out in the Shubert Alley that we had taken afterwards. And so we'd known each other for a while. So we'd started to feel very cozy, is my point. And, oh, I know what happened. So I'm, you know, I'm a kind of jukebox and I'm singing little snippets of this and that and they're singing. And then I start to sing for one reason or another. I don't know how it came up. That song, I don't know why I love you like I do. And

I don't know why I just do. She went, she went, what do you, wait a minute. Why, why are you singing that song? I said, I don't know. You know, I like that song. She said, Hey, my grandfather is saying that to me every day. I love that song. It's a very special song to me. I said, well, you know, we got this band and sometimes we have singers and I don't know if you'd want to ever, you know, hope against hope. It would be a miracle. But if you don't want to sing with us, it would be a dream come true. She said, yeah, I'll do that. So that's how that happened. I don't,

And I said, "Hey, Cynthia, you know, as long as she's singing, I don't know if you'd ever sing, but you're a grandmaster, of course, also." And she said, "Yeah." I started to talk to my bandmates and we said, "Well, wait a minute, Cynthia's from England.

hey, and you've been talking about movies and you talk about Stanley Kubrick's movie and that ending of that movie where they play, we'll meet again, don't know where, don't know where, with Vera Lynn singing over the atomic bomb ending the life on Earth. And so maybe let's suggest that to her. And we did. She said, yes, I know that song. I'd love to sing that song. That's how that happened. What do you think of that? We'll meet again, don't know.

And then Scarlett, now that I'm done, now I've told those two stories, Scarlett Johansson, I'd done those couple of Wes Anderson movies with, and at the premiere, believe it or not, of Asteroid City that I had a little part in, she and I, we got to talking and she said, Hey, you got this band and you're playing, you know, I sing. I said, I know you're fantastic. And she said, here's what I'd like to sing. Uh,

And she said, I'd like to do it in bossa nova style. She had the whole idea. I said, okay. Alex Frank and Joe Banks said, yep, we can arrange that. And we did. And I'm crazy about that track. The best is yet to come. Won't it be fine?

I've heard Scarlett sing before, but it's remarkable. You know, when I was listening to the album without looking at the track listing, it's remarkable the same way I can feel your personality and your piano playing. It's remarkable how much Scarlett sounds like Scarlett when she's singing, which is, you know, one of the things they tell you in vocal. Can you sound like yourself talking? She sounds so much like herself. It's fascinating. Isn't that fascinating? She's I sit at her feet and

And she's a great, I learned from her. That's a masterful element of what she does. You know, we were talking about Thelonious Monk and you just hear one or two notes and you know, it's him. I don't know how he does that. You know, it's just a finger and it's on the same piano that other people have played, but you know, it's him. Well, the human voice, now that we're talking about it, what an amazing, mysterious, marvelous, amazing, awesome, wondrous instrument that is. And yes, it's,

in the practice and, and, and execution of a real artist, they can sound like themselves. And we've each got some, the, at least the potential of being a, you know, snowflake in the, the, the meaning, the unique version of that in that we can be ourselves like nobody else. Yes, that's her. That's right. That's right. You know, her from that movie, her too, you know, where you don't even see her.

Oh, yeah. And of course, in that movie, we did Isle of Dogs. She's fantastic in voicing that dog. Yeah. Isn't that something? And she's so gifted and talented and brilliant and smart and sensitive. And, you know, she's just great.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way.

Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. This is a mini meditation guided by Bombas. Repeat after me. I'm comfy. Comfy.

Comfy. I'm cozy. Cozy. I have zero blisters on my toes. Blisters. And that's because I wear Bombas, the softest socks, underwear, and t-shirts that give back. One purchased equals one donated. Now go to bombas.com slash listen and use code listen for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash listen and use code listen at checkout.

Returning to the idea of your personality and your piano playing, you know, I've heard people say, it's interesting, I think, without thinking, I've heard people use the word charm to refer to

your piano playing that it has a charm to it and has your charm. Kids say you have Riz. If you search your name on TikTok, the first suggestion is Jeff Goldblum Riz, which, you know, of course is charisma. They could just say that, but it's charm, charisma, and the idea that you could, whatever ineffable thing you may have, that that could come out in your piano playing, that people would use a similar adjective is kind of fascinating to me.

Yeah, to me too. It's very flattering. Who knows if that's at all true, but I'll tell you this. I'm a humble student of craft in one way or another. And one thing my acting teacher said is, yes, you shouldn't copy anybody finally, and you should find what you can do uniquely and individually. And, you know, maybe it could be called, it winds up being charismatic or interesting perhaps, but...

You're really alive, potentially, he would say, if you're interested in something outside of you. And if there's any joyfulness in me in the music and my particular brand of music,

of joyfulness it comes from perhaps now that we're talking about it um my real you know letting go of myself not trying to make an impression of any kind or create an effect but really being enthralled at the moment that i'm making this music with the music with the story and the meanings and the humanity and the soul in the music you know what i mean

Yeah, because I see my kids, and they're fascinating. Of course, they're fascinating to me, my particular kids, but kids are fascinating, and kittens are fascinating, and dogs, and they don't care about themselves so much. They're just playing with their Legos and really involved in life, in the mystery of the fascinating things that fascinate them. Music fascinates me and whatever fascinates them, and when they're involved in that, they're fascinating to me.

So that's the idea, I guess. I saw a clip of you randomly from the 80s talking about acting. It looked like it was around the time of The Fly, probably. And you said that what drew you to acting...

is that it felt like a lively thing to do, that it had life to it and that it would be a lively way to spend your time. It was interesting to see that from you as a younger man and to draw the parallel with the sort of liveliness of all the stuff you're doing now, that spirit that you're carrying into everything now. It strikes me that that was kind of an essential point you were making of something that you're seeking in your existence. Yep.

Yep, I probably was. I don't remember exactly what that was. But while you were talking and asking that question, I was thinking that, yes, when I was a kid, I was longing for something. And I remember, I know the opposite of being alive. I know that there are moments in life, and even in my young life, when I felt stultified maybe or repressed,

or constrained by myself. Maybe I, you know, associated it with, hey, they're making me sit down or, you know, this is what's required or something. But when I discovered, you know, acting or music or these things, these disciplines or opportunities or creative outlets that

Demand that you be alive and make use of what's in you, that there's something in you that needs to get out.

that may want to get out. That turned me on. I was very stimulated by that. And yeah, I guess I've devoted my life to that. And thank goodness I came upon teachers and was exposed to wisdom of one kind or another that said, yeah, that's a worthwhile thing to do. That's not just fooling around, but you can devote your life and spend your life in the serious business of play.

and live up to the gift that is the cherished gift that is this rare and lucky and fleeting opportunity. And you may be able to contribute to others that way. You may be okay to be around for the time that you're here and leave something behind.

or spread something around that's okay, that's not a bother. So yeah, all of that struck me, and that still animates me, and I'm still blooming in that direction, I think.

It's been I mean, I think that's a it's not a at least for me, not an unhealthy compass. And it's and the way that it's shown me and where it's led me has led me to this stage of blooming that feels right at this point. And I feel enormously grateful for.

I'm interested in the interplay of your multiple talents here is I think what planted even the acting seed in you was that you were going to a music day camp and that's where you took an acting class maybe in that. So the two things kind of were intertwined for you.

That's exactly right. You know, I've talked too much about this. I bored my own self about it. But yes, you got that story. That's right. But that's true. My dad said, yeah, if you find something you love to do, that may be a guide to a vocational choice. And then...

I love this camp. I was in a school that was a little bit of a fish out of water, but I found my family, my creative family, my cultural family somehow at this camp called Shadow Music Day Camp. And I was good at things. I was good at softball and tennis and badminton and arts and crafts and mosaics and kiln making.

And music appreciation, there was piano there. I'd already been taking piano, and I did a couple of things piano-wise, but there was this acting class, and I'd never done that before.

And they cast me at the end of the six weeks in this Gilbert and Sullivan takeoff. Maybe that the guy had written. I don't know. I don't know how it came about. It was called the Bell of the Balkans. But they cast me as Cohen, the tourist in the Balkans. And I had I met a local girl, I guess. Bell maybe was her name or she was the Bell of the Balkans. And an arm in arm, we strolled during one scene. And I think I sat.

sang to her possibly. And I had shorts on and a camera around my neck and a straw kind of hat.

And my mother and I had rehearsed it, so-called. We'd worked it up. And so I was prepared for it. It was a beautiful theater in the Chapel Theater. And sure enough, my parents were there. And it was full. It was a gorgeous theater. There was a backstage and sandbags and a curtain. And my cue came on. I had to leap on stage, which I did. And I had a very great time. I was exhilarated.

by it. And at the end of it, it came down. My parents afterwards, I remember this right now and the smell of it. My parents were walking me back to the car and they said, well, how'd you like that? Did you have a good time? And I went, yeah.

Yeah, I did. And I kept it secret how good a time I had. And that was the planting of the seed of this idea that, yep, I was going to be an actor. And it just stuck. It just sucked until now. I still may change any day, but I don't think so. I'm still hanging on to that. Have you?

devoted equal time really to training and practicing music and acting when you consider all the daily practice with piano and then the 30 or 40 years of gigging? Well, I'll tell you, that's a good question. Sometimes I think about that because, you know, I've spent a lot of time on this, you know, I'm not like a prof...

I haven't been a professional musician like the people I play with who do gigs every night and spend all day every day and go to school for it and then all day every day practicing and then spend their life like that. I've done that with acting. I've been on the set many days and hours and months and years. That's how

I've learned and I went to school for it and had great teachers and taught it for a couple of decades when I wasn't working and have worked on the craft of it and learned everything I could about it and seen everything. I've done that music.

I was a bad boy with not practicing for my lessons early on. Then I got interested in jazz. Then I played a lot and got gigs and snuck it in movies and this and that. But since, from the last 30 years now, that we have had this band that's kind of developed...

And we've had gigs. So I found myself hours in front of an audience playing. And then because of that, you know, preparing to be there. And that's a little different. Like, like I told you, I do every day now for this upcoming tour, I play seriously and try to develop and I play with terrific people.

people and now still I'm sort of getting tips from them. Hey, what should I listen to? What have I missed that I should not miss out on? I'm going to school a little bit, you know, and months go by when I don't have an acting job because I don't choose to do every old thing. I want to do special things here and there. Yeah, they must start to be equal in time. Yeah.

You know, a little bit. They've always been on different tracks, but they're overlapping each other in spirit in one way or another, and they inform each other. And I'll bet hours, you know, if you count the hours, they're starting to, you know, get a little similar. Yeah.

In the 90s, you had a band with Peter Weller. That's when it started. It's Peter Weller and I did that movie Buckaroo Banzai. Yeah. And he played the horn. We found out on the set of that that he loved jazz, and he played this horn. And I told him about my piano. And so he would come over to my house, and we'd get the real books and go through tunes. And after a while...

He said, "You know, I ran into this friend of mine that I was working with and he said we should have a regular gig and you get better that way and you have fun. And I know this guitar player could play with us. The three of us could go out and I know this guy who has a restaurant. Man, on Sundays we could set up during brunch and play." And I said, "Yeah, let's do that." And that's how it started. And then, you know, we developed, we were together for a while and the band kind of grew around us. And he has since, I've stayed in touch with him.

a wonderful fella doing many great things and uh but um you know and i've kind of gotten this took over this have it's have to have this band but he's he started it that's right if you're shopping while working eating or even listening to this podcast then you know and love the thrill of the hunt but are you getting the thrill of the best deals wrap

Rakuten shoppers do. They get the brands they love with the most savings and cash back. And you can get it too. Start getting cash back at your favorite stores and even stack sales on top of cash back. It's easy to use and you get your cash back through PayPal or Check.

The idea is simple. Stores pay Rakuten for sending them shoppers, and Rakuten shares the money with you as cash back. Download the free Rakuten app and never miss a deal. Or go to Rakuten.com to start getting the most bang for your buck. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N.

Welcome to AutoZone. What are you working on today? My car is making this noise. Sometimes it's like, and sometimes it's like. Do you have a dash light on? Oh, yeah. And we don't have to listen for clues. With the free FixFinder service, we can read a check engine, ABS, or maintenance light to find the likely fix and even recommend a local shop if you need one. So you don't need to hear the... Not with FixFinder. Everything you need, nothing you don't.

Get in the zone, AutoZone. Restrictions apply. 30 years ago, 40 years ago, when you pictured yourself in your 70s, did you imagine yourself with a new recording career and young children and the darling of Gen Z making new fan bases? First with the Marvel stuff, now with Wicked, there's a whole new set of kids apparently who hadn't seen the Marvel stuff but are now discovering you. Is this how you could ever have imagined where you'd be at this point in your life?

No, no, it certainly is not. I've never been particularly strategic or had a plan or would have been very good at that. I have a bad sense of direction anyway, just getting around geographically, getting around the city, always taking a wrong turn. No, I've just gone kind of one thing at a time and worked hard and had a passion about it.

uh, had this adventure and had good, I have a good manager, you know, and we've tried to make good decisions and this and that. And I've tried to keep myself healthy, but no, a lot of it is luck. And I, I know I wouldn't have imagined, no, the idea of 72 when I was what, Oh my gosh, when I was, you know, 12 or 15 or 17 or 25, uh, you know, I, I, as we all do, I must've thought, uh,

of 30 years old or 40 years old or 50 as something else. Well, here's the question that my friend and I sometimes have asked each other. How old was my grandmother when I first met her?

remember meeting her? And probably, I don't know exactly the answer, but probably it's like, you know, 42 or something like that, right? So that was grandma. So I don't know what I would have... And a lot of people, well, I'll tell you, not to be macabre, if I'm pronouncing that correctly...

But, you know, I think I've now outlived all the male members of my immediate family. You know, we've had heart problems here and there. My dad, you know, there's been heart attacks. And so I'm on golden time now. But my doctor says I'm like 22. I just had my stress test and I should live till 90 and I'm doing just fine. And thank goodness I'm injury. As you see me now, I'm injury free. I'm playing tennis and working out every day and

and having as robust a life and as creatively a good, free, and height-of-my-powers time acting-wise and getting opportunities as delicious as ever, and musically thrilled about it and playing better every day. This record, I think, that we're coming out with now, thank goodness for Tom Lewis and Decca. Hail to them, and viva Decca and Verve for giving us this chance. I think this is going to be better than ever. I'm excited about it.

Can you imagine the people I'm working with, you know, who are singing with us, all that stuff? Yeah, it's absolutely thrilling, unexpected, uncommon, and miraculous. And I thank my lucky stars. As you alluded to, still blooming...

the title of this album is an allusion to you, to where you feel yourself in life right now. Yeah, I think so. I feel like I'm still blooming. Who knows how long I'll bloom and how the weather will change. And it's all fleeting anyway. And one day the flower will wilt and we'll have a dried flower that we can put in a book or something. But for now I feel like I'm blossoming and things smell good. I feel like I have a nice scent to me and, uh,

you know, I'm happy as a clam. For the vocalists on this album, were they part of the live process? Were they there with the band? Uh,

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no. We did it remotely. We did our stuff. And then Scarlett did it. Although Alex Frank, our band member, went to where she was and worked with her and, you know, had her made sure that all went well. But Cynthia Erivo came to the hobby shop, I'll be darned. And we played and I was there. And what a thrill that was. Boy, I saw her. Yeah.

take over that microphone. That's the cream of the crop. You can't get better than that. Ariana and Scarlett and Maya Sykes, we've played with her on our so-called residency in Los Angeles many, many times. She can do everything. She can do anything. We scat

When she scats in the middle of Stella by Starlight on that cut, and I play in unison with her, we're paying a little homage to a George Benson solo. Oh, wow. For those who will recognize it, yeah. Sha-ba-da-ba-da.

So we had fun with that, yeah. Yeah, Cynthia, I mean, all the vocals are great, but man, does she just melt the microphone on that track. It's incredible. You're telling me, and my heart and my tear ducts, every time she just opens her mouth, it takes your breath away. Oh, oh, and then, look, I'm getting goosebumps right now. So please say hello.

Amazing. And Ariana, oh my gosh, what she did in Wicked was so amazing. She acts as well as anybody could act. She's a comedy genius. And to sing like that, for both of them to act like that as deeply and subtly and sing like that, geez, that's incomparable.

It's one of those parts where that version of the wizard for the movie, I really couldn't imagine anyone else cast in it. It was just too perfect. Was there anything hard about it or was it just so in your wheelhouse that it was very natural? Well, you're so nice to say that. Thanks. It was, well, you know, yeah.

I like that part. I've always had a very big feeling about the movie with Frank Morgan, you know, and then when I saw it on stage, you know, I told you I loved it and I did. And Joel Grey, I've always had a big feeling about who originated that part on Broadway and many other people have played it. My friend Ben Vereen, I saw on YouTube play it. I wish I'd seen him live. Well, I'll tell you. Yeah.

Yeah, I think I'm kind of right for that in some ways, to do a particular version, if you like it, that I can. But I try it seriously, and it's a potentially complicated character, you know, and knowing where he's coming from and what he's thinking and feeling and what his ideas are and his relationship with Madame Marble, the great Michelle Yeoh, and da-da-da-da. That's all something to chew on that you can, you know, aspire to do

And the music I took seriously, and Alex Frank, speaking of whom, who's our arranger and band leader and great bass player, has coached me on vocal performances before where we've recorded on the records, you know, Little Man, You're Crying, I Know Why You're Blue, that and some other things, worked with me on that.

very seriously. And for as long as we had from the time I knew I was going to do it until we did it. And then he came over to London and we stayed in the Sopwell house outside the, so we could go hop, skip and a jump to the Elstree and sky studios. And he was there every day. And, uh,

And we did that very thoughtfully, as simple as it may seem, and hopefully as easy as it seems. I worked on it. So, there we go. And there's more to come, hopefully, if they don't cut me out of the second movie, which I'm looking forward to.

And we'll be on an international publicity blitz for that. So I'll tell you, once again, we had a responsibility. And it has fans, of course, and a legacy and the original Frank Baum material, for heaven's sakes. But I had a good time. I had a good time.

It's interesting. Wicked fans have a lot of opinions about everything. And I learned that I've seen this more than once, that a sentimental man is not their favorite song from the show. In fact, some don't like it. A lot of people feel that you brought a life to it where they liked it much better than before. I am a sentimental man who always longed to be. That's so sweet to hear. Who?

Who knows if everybody thinks that, but yeah, I've had a lot of positive anecdotal response like that. But I'll tell you, not only Alex Frank helped me and I helped myself, I worked on it and tried to make it good, but Stephen Schwartz was there too.

very helpful and Stephen Arimus and Ben Holder the piano player and the sound people and then John Powell who scored this movie and and the orchestration that they did underneath all those songs I heard it without and then with it and the editing and Myron Kirstein how he made that work and of course John M Chu who's the genius behind I think bringing that whole stage um

musical to the screen. I needed all the help I can get. And that was first-class top-notch help.

So I think we did okay. I think we did okay. And then Wonderful, this song that's coming up, I shouldn't spoil anything, but I hope it's in the second movie. And it's been altered a little bit, and I have high hopes for that. And I think John Chu had great ideas, and Chris Scott, the choreographer, there's a lot of moving around in that, as there was in Sentimental Man. So yeah, it was enough for me to do, and I had a good time doing it.

Your vocal turn on this album is every time we say goodbye. Every single time.

I really enjoy hearing you sing. You don't over-dominate these albums with your singing, but it's always a pleasure to hear you sing. Are you comfortable, confident in your singing voice? Thank you, Brian. You know, I like this idea. I like singing, but I've studied it. You know, when I went to Carnegie Mellon University, I think Baker Salisbury wrote on my phone,

Final assessment note. And he's got some vocal challenges. And he should take that seriously. You know, he's talented in this way and this way. But vocally, he's got whatever he said. And I remember when I was in public school in third grade or fourth grade, they sent me home and they said, Jeffrey has some kind of lisp.

low voice or something, and his range is a little bit challenged in the upper when we ask him to go something like that. There might have been something like that, and maybe I'm vaguely remembering it. And then I took seriously, along with my dance classes and acting classes, all of which I enjoyed, I also took singing lessons from Sue Seaton, Don Lightacre,

early on, and then Seth Riggs in California, and Joan Lader, who I'll bet you know, who does a lot of Broadway people there, and I've done a la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, and studied, and then Joel Ewing out here, who had many books about the cricothyroids and how the mechanism works and pictures and da-da-da-da, and

And then somebody who said, oh, don't think about it. Just try to make this. And finally, I over prepared in many, even when I was just acting or going on stage in a play, I would do my vocal exercises and maybe too much of them and left some of it in the dressing room and had, and, and, you know, learned, learned what my voice was.

over the course of several decades, and I'm a late bloomer, as this refers to also, and I am. And then I came somewhat recently, in the last decade or so, to feel that, hey, here's what I want to do daily. And daily what I do is a kind of an exercise, a little slide on all the vowels, and I don't overdo it, and I see what's there, and then I try to solve the problem

that I have in front of me with whatever voice I have that day, which always changes. And I enjoy that. However it comes out, it doesn't come out like Mario Lanza or like anybody else, but that's okay these days, I think, like what we were talking about before. And I just use my voice in the way that I can. And we know that singing is always storytelling anyway. You know, and I may wish that I had...

Pavarotti's voice or Ray Charles' voice, but I've got my voice. And I learn more about what I can do with that and the sounds that I can make that might be right for the meanings of the notes that I'm trying to hit and the stories that I'm trying to tell. So you can tell I'm just kind of riffing around about it, but

That's how I feel about my voice. It's an ongoing learning process. I'm a humble student of it, but I love it. And I like making music and I work on it.

We're running out of time. I'll ask a dual question to speed it up and try to finish. Two things. I mean, have you thought about writing a book? Because I think the world would be interested to hear from you that way. And is there any thought of any kind of retirement or do you kind of just want to push it till you can't push it anymore with everything? Well, you're so interesting. Thanks, Brian. Well, who knows if anybody would be interested in a book, but I guess I, yes, I have been approached by,

to write a book here and there. That doesn't interest me so much. I'm trying to use my time and my energies such as they are carefully and discriminatingly. So, you know, I don't know that that turns me on so much.

I like to share with you. I like to talk, you know, answer the questions that you've got and talk to students and tell them how I can help and all that and share my life, you know, and whatever I have in my life. But, you know...

No. I feel like I'd take it seriously. I'm a good boy, and I would work. I would want to make it good. And I'll bet it would take a lot of effort and a lot of thought. I'm sure I would get something out of it. I'm sure I'd learn something about myself. I'd remember things about myself in articulating. It's always fun. I like to go to my therapist and trying to articulate things.

what's how I feel, what's happened to me, what's going on, what the truth is. Let's get to something authentic and honest. It's helpful. I always discover something, and it's a process that thrills me. So I'm sure I would get something out of it, but it's not something right now that I'm eager to take on for one reason or another. Now, and the other question, oh, yes, retirement. Well, you know, like I say, I'm in the lucky position now of...

I'm in the lucky position now of a couple of things. Not only do I not feel I need to exercise myself and push myself, which I have felt in years past at some other time, I've got to act more. I've got to act every day to really get the most, find out where my limits are and find out, you know, what I can do and develop this thing as much as I can. Yes, I still want to develop and I'm eager to develop, but I,

I don't have to work every day like that. And I've got a family and this musical life. So I like this balancing exercise. So I'm trying to be discriminating in particular about what I take. And I have the beautiful luxury of doing that right now. And I see people sometimes and I go, oh, boy.

You should not be presenting yourself. You should stop. I like, you know what, I'm an NFL football fan, and I like who was it, Jim Brown or Barry Sanders or the people who do wonderful work and go, you know what, at this point it might be diminishing returns, and I may have done as well as I can, and goodbye.

That's enough for me and Greta Garbo or whoever it is. I think that's all fine and dandy. But, you know, I like George Burns, too, you know, who says, you know, I'll just keep doing. You know, it's a case by case basis. We'll see how I feel every day. For now, my appetite is strong. My body is robust. I'm full of vitamin A. And, you know, I have this lucky chance to do a little of this, a little of that. And we'll see what happens. Yeah.

You know, I meant to say, Igby goes down, extremely underrated performance from you. I love the menacing edge you brought to that, which is, you know, a rarer thing from you. Thank you so much with the great Kieran Culkin. Yeah, I beat him up, I think, at one point. That's right. I didn't hurt him. One of the moments where I really felt your height on screen, which we don't always get across. Oh, I rose to my full height. It's a little over 6'4". That's right. I'm like a parade float.

That's correct. And then Susan Sarandon was my lover in that. And who was the great Bill Pullman was in that Claire Danes. Oh boy. Yeah. I like that movie. Jeff Goldblum. The album is still blooming. Thank you so much. A pleasure to talk with you. I can't thank you enough. The gratitude is all on my side, Brian. You're a very great, great man. Thank you, Brian Hyatt. I've stayed at your hotel many times.

And that's our show. We'll be back next week. In the meantime, subscribe to Rolling Stone Music Now wherever you get your podcasts. And please leave us five stars and a nice review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify because that's always appreciated. But as always, thanks so much for listening and we will see you next week. This is a mini meditation guided by Bombas.

Repeat after me. I'm comfy. I'm cozy. I have zero blisters on my toes. And that's because I wear Bombas. The softest socks, underwear, and t-shirts that give back. One purchased equals one donated. Now go to bombas.com slash listen and use code listen for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash listen and use code listen at checkout.

Oh.

Give them Lala. It is nothing but honesty. You guys know. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Panoply.