January 17, 2005
Interviewed by Mary Bentley

Marcus Johnson, a Washington DC area musician, released his first CD back in 1997 while attending law school. In addition to being a musician, he is the founder and CEO of Three Keys Music, a division of Marimelj Entertainment. Marcus recently released his 7th album, Just Doin’ What I Do (2004), while continuing to cultivate and promote other talented artists under the Three Keys label.  

Smoothviews (SV): Let’s talk about your latest CD, Just Doin’ What I Do. It’s a great CD. And about that MJ sound… do you feel you’ve gotten away from that?
Marcus Johnson (MJ): Thank you. Yes. Well, it was a thing where at a point, I [said] let me make music that would appeal to radio because everyone feels that radio is the main key to getting to the consumer, but what I’m noticing is with different artists that we’ve had on the label, that radio success no longer denotes sales in smooth jazz. And it’s because there is a part of the musician that has been taken out. It’s more of... let’s say no more of a direct connection between the consumer and the artist, except in a live setting. Now it’s the radio station trying to create a product to offer a certain advertiser that will get to a certain market they feel is their core market. I think what I try to do, on a couple of projects with Three Keys... and I’m not going to say so much myself, but definitely with the products we were putting out... was trying to make things that catered to radio and not to the people. With the new CD, Just Doin’ What I Do, people [say], “you know, you definitely have the groove back.” The new CD we’re working on now is going to have even much more of a groove. We’re going to get back to the urban groove sound. It will probably be out towards the end of the year.  I’m going back, trying to get as far behind the beat as I can, and just make it funky… keep it funky.

SV: I like the way you laid out Just Doin' What I Do and set it up with the vocal dialogues in between the songs. How did that come about?
MJ: Honestly, I believe that artists... in order to connect... it’s not just the music. The music has to tell a story, but people want to know who you are too.

SV: A lot of your songs I’ve noticed have local DC references to them: titles, references, places, that kind of thing. Do you feel that being from the DC area contributes to how your music sounds?
MJ: Of course. I mean, I am a straight up go-go guy, and you can hear it all through my stuff. When I’m playing with my niece or something like that – we’re making music together, and we’re on the beat. She’s singing, or whatever. It is that kind of groove. That’s what we grew up with here, from elementary school through junior high and high school. I first started playing professionally [in two bands], one was a wedding band, and then in the summer I played during the day in a go-go band.

SV: You make music with your niece? Do you come from a musical family?
MJ: Well, my Mom played piano, but not really. Just playing around, making them smile.

SV: When did you decide that music would be your profession, as opposed to being a hobby?
MJ: Honestly, probably when I was about nine and my Dad took me to that Earth, Wind, and Fire concert. I saw that and I knew I was going to do something with music. The actual hard turn into the music business though happened when I was about 23, and I was in law school. My mom sat me down and told me “Son, it’s time for you to stop chasing your dream. It’s time for you to start working towards it.”

SV: If you hadn’t become a musician, what would you have done with your law degree?
MJ: Flown airplanes. I would have gone into the Service probably. I wrote to the Air Force when I was 6 years old. I told them I was going to fly in 12 years. I wanted to go into the Air Force and fly planes. They sent me back a bunch of stuff. The reason I do a lot of stuff for the Armed Services is because I really believe in supporting [them]. I remember when 9/11 happened. I talked to one of my friends, and I [said] I’m thinking about joining up, at least the reserves, and he told me, “Look. I’m in the Reserves. You take care of my family if I have to go.” And that’s the deal we made. Everybody has their part. This is We the People, so I would have definitely flown airplanes. You may have been watching me in 20 years on Discovery Wings. (laughs)

SV: You do this stuff for the Armed Services. How important is that to you?  Do other community work as well?
MJ: Yes. It's the most important. I mean if you’re not a productive member of society, and the community, then what are you? These are the people who make you. Nobody’s perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, but I read this book, The Alchemist, that I got for Christmas. It says, everybody looking for their personal legend, which is their dream, their goal in life, is going to make mistakes, and is going to have what others would call failures, but you still have to give back to your community everyday the best way you can. That is helping to tutor, going back to [my] high school, helping women with breast cancer, going on and creating a team for the asthma walk, whatever you can do to make a difference in the community.

SV: Tell me about the Breast Cancer Project.
MJ: We’re working right now on It Takes A Village – Vol. 2, which is men in action against breast cancer. It’s a CD. We have a track from Marcus Miller, Bobby Lyle, Jaared, the Three Keys stable, of course, [and] David Dyson. The CD is kind of multimedia in that it has information for those who don’t have either a CD player or a computer. For those that only have a CD player, it has a narrative. Really, this is different. It has music, but it also has in-between, the interludes of men that I invited to the studio. It was five men affiliated with breast cancer survivors or those who fell to breast cancer. We just talked for about three hours, and we recorded it and portions of what we were talking about, the main point of life after breast cancer, coping with it, the fact that [with] one of the guys, his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 26.

SV: Is that CD available now?
MJ: No. It won’t be available yet. We were trying to get it out for Cancer Awareness Month in April, but it looks like it’s going to be October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

SV: You’re a musician, you’re a producer, and a CEO. Did I leave anything out?
MJ: Umm… not really… a mentor?

SV: That goes along with the community service. How do you do all of that? That’s a lot of hats to wear.
MJ: It’s hard, but at the same time I just think I’m crazy. You can really see it at night when I’m tossing and turning, trying to figure out the next thing for the next day. But, I get up rollin’ and as long as I can get to my Starbucks cup of coffee, I’m straight. (laughs) But really, it’s planning. It’s having a good team. And now, I have a great core of people. I mean, 2004 is a year I’m glad is gone. It’s some great times, and just from the beginning, it was like, "Wow, this year’s going to be like this?" And we made it through.

SV: The rough side of the mountain, huh?
MJ: Yeah! Definitely, but you [have to] get through the rough side to get to the good side. My team that’s with me now – I’m excited about the milestones that we keep setting. We found out even today that Janine Coveney at Launch.com listed Bobby Lyle’s Straight and Smooth CD as one of her best, top ten records of the year. It was the first record ever to be listed on the contemporary jazz, and traditional jazz charts on Billboard at the same time. But you can’t do that without your team - great friends and great family, planning again, and then, just execution – just doing it. I think most of the people spend their days doing nothing, wasting their time. I think they waste their time because most people don’t do what they love to do. And what they do is something that makes them money that covers some bills. I do what I love to do everyday, so it’s not really work. It’s difficult because you have to deal with a lot of angry people who try to put obstacles in your way. They don’t want us to be successful, or your success means that they haven’t reached their level, and what does that mean to them. A lot of people have their own hang-ups out here, but you gotta use the ones that are on your side, and that lift you up when you’re down, when you don’t know which way you’re going. Last, but not least, and probably the most important is my faith, and the fact that I’m doing stuff some days that I’ve never done before, and I don’t know how to do. Sometimes that means picking up the phone and calling somebody. Sometimes it just means trailblazing something new, and you have to do it essentially with your eyes open, but closed, with the faith that, hey, it’s just a direction. If you mess up, you can always go back.

SV: Let me just switch gears for a minute. How did you come about hooking up with Robert Johnson?
MJ: You know it’s funny about faith. You set some directions. I was at a jazz festival that BET Jazz was sponsoring, and he introduced me. He came in, actually, beforehand. He said “Marcus?” I turned around and was like, "Oh my God! Bob Johnson!" Duh! "I know who you are. You set an example for us. I’m so proud of you, if I may." He said, “No problem.” So we talked a little bit. At that jazz festival, I had all of the different people whose product we had put out from Jaared to David. Alyson Williams was there as well. It was the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival. I told him how we had been able to secure some financing from the local government in Montgomery Co. [MD], which raised his eyebrows, because trust me, it was like pulling teeth. Doug [Montgomery County executive] is cool, but most of the people who run the programs are straight bankers. They don’t understand intellectual property versus real property. It was up to us to articulate the similarities, and why you could use intellectual property, and this new distribution deal we had gotten at the time as leverage, so he was excited about that. And then, at the end, I just said, "Can I take you to lunch?" He laughed, and said “Of course.” So, I figured out a way to get into the 6th floor of BET, which is like Fort Knox, and I was able to get in front of his assistant. I said, "By the way, Mr. Johnson said we could set up a lunch." She said “Okay. I’ll check on that for you.” I got a call back later that day and I went in for lunch. He actually ended up inviting me and grilled me for 2½ hours on the music industry. When he figured out that I had an inkling of what I wanted to do, he put down the idea of what will it take to work together? To me, that was a huge honor. I finished my business plan, took it back to him, and he said we’re going to fund this. That was in 2002.

SV: That’s great! I’m looking at the liner notes from your CD. You wrote or co-wrote most of the songs here. When it’s time to write, what inspires you? How do you find your muse?
MJ: From anything. Sometimes, it’s just that I need to write a song and get it done, or, I need to come up with elements that are happy, sad, love, etc. At other times, I mean, if you listen to that CD, and you look at the song selection, and you look at a song like “Love,” you know that I’m speaking pretty directly to somebody in a situation. It’s that thing that allows you to escape and say in song what you might not be able to say through your lips. That song is therapeutic to a lot of people. I think that’s one of the reasons we’re here. My music isn’t for me. That’s why I get pissed off with artists who have kind of like this attitude like "this is my music." This isn’t your music. Your music is made up of your experiences and if you claim that you have control over your experiences, then I must kneel down to you, 'cause it’s everybody’s music. The experience – it’s your life’s music, not yours. So you put it out there for other people who might not be able to say it. I want somebody to be able to take this CD and say, "I did not know how to say it, but this song sums it up."

SV: You say that the keyboard is your voice? What does that mean?
MJ: If you see me play and you see me breathe, I play in phrases that I breathe.  I didn’t notice it until on my DVD, and watching myself live, and I’m actually singing. Now I knew I used to moan... well, I do moan now, but I didn’t know that my phrasing was actually in. If I was playing a sax and I had to take a break, I play like that as a pianist. When I’m on stage, I’m trying to tell a story. I had a good day today. This song is supposed to make you feel this way. This song is supposed to make you feel that way. I think for every musician, I think their act, their instrument, is their voice. And you know when you’re communicating because you have 1,000 people or 10,000 people whose necks are moving the same way. And I’ve been there. I’ve been to a place where people were just quiet... just the necks moving back and forth – the neck factor!

SV: Like in the Bahamas. We saw the Three Keys line-up at the Bahamas Jazz Festival. You guys tore it up that night. That was great. Everybody was on point.
MJ: Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

SV: Your first single from Just Doin’ What I Do, “18th & M," has been on the smooth jazz stations, but has it been picked up by any of the other genres – urban contemporary, or anything?
MJ: “18th & M” is one of those tunes that can go across board, but generally if the smooth jazz stations play it the HUR’s of the world [WHUR – Howard University radio station. An adult R&B format.] aren’t going to play it. But HUR played “Love.” Magic [Magic 102 – R&B] played “RJ’s Groove."

SV: Are those two more singles that have been released?
MJ: Not actually released, but David loved the song. When he heard “Love," he loved it and said it was going on the air. Then when Cathy heard “RJ’s Groove,” she loved this. I think she liked “Love” too, but she wouldn’t play it after HUR played it. (laughs)

SV: You see that’s the thing. They need to, when I say they, I mean the radio stations in general, should pick up on other tracks, rather then just wait for a single to come out.
MJ: It used to be that way, but somebody in corporate wants to make the decisions. Every book in management tells you that the people you need to listen to are: #1 – your consumers and, #2 – the lowest man on the totem pole that interacts with consumers. Like at a distribution company. The most important is the Field Rep if you ask me because they’re going to tell you what the people want because they’re interacting with your consumers, the retail outlet. And it’s the same thing for a radio station. The DJ’s are out everywhere. They see what gets the club poppin’, and what doesn’t. So, for you to tell somebody, "Nah, we’re not going to play that. We’re going to play this 90,000 times a day until it’s dead." And when you settle for the least common denominator – the easiest way out, what are you saying this whole thing is about? And if it were all about money, then we could take our money with us when we die. It’s not all about money. And, if you really think about it it’s that’s the kind of mentality that’s backing this country up against the wall right now - the “me-my” syndrome.

SV: You see what’s going on with the record labels. They’re all cutting their jazz departments out or down. What are your feelings on that?
MJ: I think it’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Again, if you look at the statistics, they say that the largest growing consumer market is that of age 35-54, the baby boomers. If you add in 54-64, you’ve got even more. It’s like 30-40% of the consumer market. They also say that those consumers that are that age spend 3:1 as it relates to dollars, versus teenagers.

SV: Well, they’re the ones with the disposable income.
MJ: Exactly. So to tell me that – it’s like the reasoning that they use – we have to cut it because we’re not selling records, okay. But the first day of statistics class, the first thing they teach you are that stats only tell which questions to ask. These people are not asking the proper questions. The proper questions are – why aren’t these CD’s selling anymore? Well, if you keep putting the same music out over and over and not let people play. Even back in the day when you put out, say, bebop. You can put out the same tune by the same artist 30 different ways, but he had a different feeling every time he played it, so it could sell. But when you start to try and homogenize everything – it has to fit the format. That’s like having everybody everyday walking around in a uniform. It’s boring. Boring, boring, boring! It all sounds the same. Same groove. Maybe it’s a little bit faster than the other one, but it’s the same suit. Know what I mean? So, it’s like, okay, now what are we going to do? And I think what’s happened is the record industry got a little complacent when they were selling records, by just putting anything out. Then Boney James comes, and starts selling a million records like Kenny G. And then we’re going to get this one producer to produce everything for everybody. After awhile, I don’t care how good you are, it’s going to sound the same. There’s going to be some diminishing returns. That’s not saying... look at somebody like Quincy Jones, who’s been able to find other people to keep his sound going for just about 80 years. That’s what it is with these people, if you ask me. We’re lazy. And we’re going to point the finger at the jazz department. That’s the real problem. We’re not going to make any more music for those people, which mean you become more and more dependent on one type of music. When you start putting all of your eggs in one basket... well, I’ve never seen that in a book where that’s a great marketing strategy.

SV: Do you see any positive coming out of that? Of what’s been happening?
MJ: For the independent record company? For me? Oh yes! Cause we will make the content. And, oh yes, we do understand intellectual property. And, you never know, one day you may have that one hit and then they say, "Oh my God! We missed out on the boat!" It’s like anything else.

SV: Kind of like the big movie studios versus Miramax, or some of the smaller studios.
MJ: How many people are pissed off that they passed on “Passion of the Christ”?  “Fahrenheit 911”?  And all these other independent films? There is a fear of losing control. Of losing control of something that you don’t have control over anyway. These people walking around with the idea that "I can control this market." No, you can’t. The only thing you can do is put some good product out there and hope that you’re lucky.

SV: What’s Three Keys doing to weather the storm from the record label fallout?
MJ: To weather the storm? We have our moccasins on. We’re jumping in the puddle with a big smile on our face.

SV: (Laughs) 2005 is going to be a good year for you and Three Keys?
MJ: It definitely is looking that way. We’re holding on. Good-bye 2004.

SV: Are you playing any of the big festivals this year?
MJ: Yes. We’re working on a lot. I’m going back out to Seattle again. I’m going to do some things in LA with Roland and the Marina Yacht Club. We’re playing for his promotions group at the LA Athletic Club on February 12th for Valentine’s Day. We’re doing Jazzmatazz [An annual fundraising event in Washington, DC, which raises money for Children’s Hospital]. Of course, we’ll end up doing the BBQ Battle this year, hopefully. [Another annual Washington DC event] That was fun last year.

SV: What kinds of things do you like to do when you’re not working and wearing all of those hats?
MJ: I like to read. Like I said, the latest book called The Alchemist. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, and I passed that along to my stepmom who’s reading it right now. She said she loves it. I like to play golf. And I like to go places and breathe, because I run a lot. I’m running around a lot, and I just like to go and chill with my girl and just lay back.

SV: You said earlier that if you weren’t going to be a musician, you’d be a pilot. Now that surprised me. What else about you would surprise people?
MJ: Some days I just don’t like to do anything. That I can actually not answer my cell phone, and turn it off.

SV: Something tells me you don’t have many of those days.
MJ: But you have to make them… I also want to adopt.

SV : What do you want people to get from your music?
MJ: I want them to leave with the feeling that that wasn’t Marcus’s music. That was an interaction between something spiritual, Marcus, and us.

SV: All right. Thanks Marcus.
MJ: You’re quite welcome.

top of page