19 years ago, Boney James stepped into the main spotlight and released his first CD as a headliner, Trust, and he’s never looked back.  Twelve albums (four of which went gold), three Grammy nominations, one Soul Train Music Award, and an NAACP Image Award nomination later, he’s still going strong and at the top of his game.  Smoothviews is thrilled that funky sax man Boney James has joined us for an interview to discuss his latest release, Contact, which released on March 29th.

Smoothviews (SV): I want to talk a little bit about the current state of the music.  It seems to be going through a transition period.  What do you see happening to this music?  Where do you think it’s headed?
Boney James (BJ): I don’t know that I can really even comment on it.  I just try to keep my head down, try and make great music, and go out and play as best I can.  I try not to think about it too much, seriously.

SV: That kind of answered my second question.  As things continue to evolve, how do you weather all the changes?  How do you stay relevant?
BJ: I listen to music and see what’s happening out there.  Really, it’s more about feeling relevant to myself, and just getting in touch with the music that pops in my head, in terms of arrangement and productions, and stuff like that.  I might be listening to otherpeople, but mainly it’s just about trying to write great songs.  I think that that’s never going to go out of fashion.  People like good music, so it’s all about trying to come up with ideas that feel fresh melodically, and then, to try to bring some passion, and maybe a little production, or modern sound, or something like that.  That might come into it for me.  That’s just to keep challenging myself and try new things that way, rather than try to stay valid in the marketplace, or any of that other stuff.  If you think about things like that, it’s going to hurt your music in the long run.

SV: This is true.  You don’t want to be viewed as trendy.
BJ: No, you just want to be real.  When I listen to my records, I hear a sincerity, which I like.  That’s what I’m going for, that it feels honest and natural, not forced.  That’s what I like to listen to, and I’m really just trying to make records that I know I like.  I can’t really tell what other people are into, what’s in other people’s heads, and, in terms of the business, radio, and all that other stuff, its best not to think about it.  I just try to make great records.  Luckily, I still seem to be able to find an audience.  I’m grateful.  I don’t know what’s happening, but people still seem to be hearing about the records.  I’m still selling some, and selling some tickets, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.

SV: Boney, you’re looking over my shoulder and reading my questions before I can ask them. (Laugh)  I was going to say that you have consistently been a favorite in this genre of music.  You don’t seem to have a problem filling venues, whereas other people may have fallen into traps and either can’t get booked, or, have trouble filling venues.  You seem to be able to do your own thing, and it appears to be working for you.
BJ: It is a business, and I do try to be smart about how I tour, and where I go.  I try to play at the right place at the right time.  I’ve just been really protective of it and try not to overplay, or underplay.  There is a little bit of a craft involved in having a long career.  It’s coming up on 20 years now, so I must be doing something right.  I just try and use my instincts. 

It’s the same thing with my music.  When I’m writing my music, I try and listen to my inner voice and see what the ‘right thing’ feels like.  It’s the same thing with touring and all that other stuff.  I do pay a lot of attention to detail.  I try to put on a great show that people want to keep seeing.

SV: And they do.  Now, I read that you have a history degree from UCLA?
BJ: Yes (laugh)

SV: If your music career had not panned out the way it did, somehow, I don’t see you as a history instructor.
BJ: No, I think I was probably thinking about law school, or something like that.  My Dad is a lawyer.  I think that is what I had in the back of my mind as a fallback position.  Luckily, after about three years of delivering pizza after I got out of college, I started making a little bit of a living as a musician playing as a sideman.

SV: You delivered pizzas?  Wow!  That’s very interesting!  So, you’ve gotten more and more into producing your own music.  Do you have any plans to extend that to other people’s music?
BJ: That’s an interesting question.  I guess I would like to.  I mean, I love making records, and I love being in the studio, but I really love playing live too.  It’s awfully time consuming writing my own music and then making my records and spending the next year, year and a half promoting it.  I suppose, if the right artist came along, and was interested in working with me, I would certainly try and make time for it, but I’m not out there [purposefully] looking for artists to produce.  But, if somebody called me and said, “I love what you do with your records,” I would surely consider it.

SV: As I was listening to Contact, it seemed to have a theme, like reflection; that’s kind of what I got from it.  Where did the inspiration come from for this album? 
BJ: I can’t ever really put my finger on where it comes from.  I can only look back after the record’s done and wonder if it has some sort of flavor.  They all seem to have that, and I don’t know why that is.  It’s kind of a different flavor.  Lyrically, there’s a lot of regret, yearning for connection, and all of that.  It just seems like such a good title for the record, Contact, because of that.  I don’t have a specific idea in my head.  I’m just trying to make songs that I like.

SV: It just kind of worked itself out.  I love the Caribbean dance hall flavor on “I’m Waiting.”  Heather [Headley] is Trinidadian, so she’s going back to her roots a little on that one.
BJ: That was sort of a coincidence, in a way.  I had written that song first, and then thought of her afterwards.  It was only after we had agreed to work together that I realized that she was originally from the islands.

SV: The Donnell Jones song, “Close to You,” is very heartfelt.  You can hear that he’s just pouring it all out in that song.  It’s very emotional.
BJ: It is.  That was one of the songs that really improved so much.  I had a demo singer sing it originally, and I loved it, but, when Donnell sang it, it was so much more emotional.  That’s the great thing about working with an artist.  It’s something special.

SV: I read the information about the CD on your website and you speak of how the impact of that horrific car accident influenced your live shows and the making of this album.  Can you elaborate a little bit on that for me?
BJ: I think when you go through something like that, you feel a new appreciation for life, generally.  That’s another thing that wasn’t really conscious, I just started to get a lot of feedback from people saying, “Wow, you just seemed so into it,” or “There’s all that passion in your playing now.” It felt like it was probably a response to the joy of just being alive.

SV: That was horrific, and I’m glad that you’re alright again.  That’s horrible.  Now, I was listening to the song, “Everything Matters,” and it seemed fitting that you chose that one for the closer.  It goes back to the whole reflection theme because everything really does matter, doesn’t it?
BJ:  It’s a philosophy I have.  It’s just part of my personality.  I’ve always felt that everything matters, or nothing does.  You’ve got to go pretty much to the everything does.

SV: You’re right; everything you say, everything you do, how you act, everything really does matter and make some kind of impression somewhere.
BJ: That’s what I was thinking.  It’s a very reflective song.  It was totally and automatically going to be the closing song.  That’s actually one of my favorite songs.  It’s not a groove thing, it’s not up-tempo, it’s just one that I can put on with the headphones and just enjoy the music even though it’s me playing.  I’m really proud of that one.

SV: It’s a great song; equally as moving is the song “Cry.”  Can you tell us a little bit about that one?
BJ: Those two songs are actually my two favorites in terms of sophistication and feeling like they had some growth to them in terms of my playing, or just the mood of the songs.  It’s not really fun, or funky, or whatever, but its’ cool sounding to me.  That was one I wrote with one of my regular keyboard players, Mark Stephens, and it has sort of a modern Stan Getz feel.  I felt really connected to that melody.  I was really happy with my sax performance and the sound of it.  I told a friend of mine, ‘If my horn could sound like this every day, I would be happy.’

SV: I’m listening to it right now.  It’s a great song.  I’ve been listening to the album for most of the week.  I think it satisfies many musical appetites; the dance tunes, the ballads, well thought out vocals, and the instrumentals are what we’ve come to expect from you musically.  I think it’s a complete and total, dare I say, experience. (Laugh)  Your legions of fans will love it, but I think you’re also going to get some new fans, if this is worked properly.
BJ: That would be really nice.  As I was writing these songs, they felt new and fresh.  It sounded like me, but also something new.  I am really happy with how it turned out, so I hope that what you said comes true.  And, just to work with all these other artists; hopefully their fans get a chance to hear it and maybe they’ll get introduced to the saxophone in a way that they might not have realized it could be.

SV: How do you like working with the other artists?  You do that a lot.
BJ: It’s really inspiring. To be with talented people is just a really fun thing.  For someone to take my song and take it up to another level that I could not have imagined is always really exciting.  I am really proud of this record.  I really thought it was one of my best records.  I hope that people get a chance to sit down and really listen to it all the way through and experience it.  This record has a lot of layers to it.  Each song has a lot of different things happening.  I love it, and I hope everyone else does too.  It’s seems like it’s doing pretty well.  It’s been number one for six weeks now.

SV: That’s great.
BJ: It doesn’t suck, as they say. (Laugh)

SV: I’m sorry we’re going to miss you (and everyone else) at Capital this year, but I’m sure we’ll catch up with you somewhere.
BJ: You guys need to come out.  I’ve got a couple of really cool new players in the band; a woman guitar player.  For the first time, I’ve got a girl in the band.  She’s singing the LaToya Luckett song (“When I Had the Chance”) in the show.  Her name is Angie Swan, and then, a great keyboard player, Eddie Brown, who also sings.  It’s been really fun.  And then Omari and Smitty are still playing drums and bass.

SV: Excellent.  Well, that takes care of all of my questions.  Thank you so much Boney.  You have a great night.
BJ: You too.