October 2004
Interview by Bonnie Schendell

Nick Colionne appears to be an overnight success, but this guitarist has been around for quite some time. Even with three CDs to his credit, it has been his latest and 4th CD, Just Come On In, that has garnered the most notoriety and put this man into a spin.

I truthfully had not heard much of Nick before seeing him perform at the Bahamas Jazz Festival back in January 2004. I was completely floored by the sheer energy he puts into every performance and every song. I was able to catch up with Nick in October to talk about his growth this year, and his life outside performing and recording.

SmoothViews (SV): I am here today speaking with guitarist and Three Keys recording artist, Nick Colionne. Nick, welcome to SmoothViews. How are you?
Nick Colionne (NC): I’m doin’ fine.

SV: I am so glad you are here talking with me today and taking time out of your busy schedule, which I know has been pretty crazy over the last year.
NC: Yeah, it’s been pretty wild, but I’m enjoying it.

SV: You have had just a whirlwind of a year. You have played some small venues, festivals and opened for some pretty big names. What can you tell us about the experience?
NC: It’s been really good. I’ve been opening up for a lot of guys and getting on some of the major festivals which have been giving me some exposure out there. Been having a lot of fun, meeting all the other smooth jazz artists. Lotta great people out there playing and plus they’re really great guys when you meet them, so I’m really happy about all of that. And I hope that I continue to be able to play some good music and keep working! (laughing)

SV: How do these experiences compare to the first time you played in front of an audience? Can you remember that? NC: Yes, it’s, well…I spent most of my career doing backup work, and it’s a lot different playing these really big arenas, being the front person. You know, that’s another thing. You can’t hide behind nobody! (laughs)

SV: That brings me to another question. It appears to everyone that you are an overnight success, even though you have been in the business for years and have three other CDs to your credit. Prior to this success as a front man, you played with some pretty famous people as a sideman. Can you tell us about some of the people you’ve played with?
NC: I did some stuff with Natalie Cole, with the Staple Singers. As a kid I played with the Impressions and the Chi-lites, other artists that came out of Chicago. That’s about it. There’s been more, but I just can’t remember them now!

SV: What have you learned about music, performing and the business in general from these people?
NC: I learned a lot of great lessons from when I worked with the Staple Singers and one thing was to always be fair to other musicians, especially the ones who work for me or with me. I like to say, always treat them right. They’re not second-class citizens just because they are not the one in the front, you know. Because I feel like every guy that’s in the front is only as good as the ones backing him up.

SV: What a great lesson. And I’ll tell you from what I see out there, you and a lot of other artists really do treat people that way, and it is evident that you all appreciate each other.
NC: You know there is a mutual respect that musicians have for each other. And music is the universal language, so musicians always seem to be able to talk about something. (both laughing) These guys, although I’m just meeting a lot of them…they know that I’m not some overnight success. They know that I’ve been out here scratching and clawing for a long time to get to this point, and, hopefully, by the grace of God, this is where He wants me to stay.

SV: Let’s talk a bit about the latest CD you have, Just Come On In. It’s produced two outstanding singles receiving a whole lot of airplay. We all know that this is a really tough industry, so to what do you attribute the success of those singles, “High Flyin” and “It’s Been Too Long”?
NC: Well, I’m a pretty spiritual person, and I attribute it to God and a whole lotta other good men down here who wanted to take a chance on Nick Colionne, even though I was relatively new out there. And they heard what I was hearing when they listened to the record, and they opened doors for me, especially guys… programmers like Bob Kaake of Chicago, and Carl Anderson up in (Washington) D.C.

SV: Carl, who used to be with WNUA in Chicago…
NC: Right, and they thought I had something, and they were the first people to jump on in, and the ball started rolling. And thankfully other people heard the same thing they heard and added them, and I am grateful to all of them. Like I said, I just want to continue to be able to do that. I was really shocked, you know, when “High Flyin’” came out. It just started flying up the place, and I was like “Whoa.” And then “It’s Been Too Long” came, and at first it was a little slow, but everyone was still playing “High Flyin’”, and I was thinking it was time for “High Flyin’” to land. (laughs)

SV: You are on the Three Keys Music label, a pretty small label out of Silver Spring, Maryland. How did you hook up with Marcus Johnson, who is a great musician in his own right, and the CEO of Three Keys?
NC: Well, I sent him my stuff…I sent my stuff out to a lot of people. I sent that album out because it was recorded, you know. I really didn’t have a budget except for what I was making…myself and my manager. I was thinking that I better get a record deal or I was gonna have to sell my house! But Marcus heard it, and he got right on the phone and called me, and everything was just kind of a whirlwind after that. The next thing I knew I was in D.C., signed, and listening to myself on the radio.

SV: That’s outstanding. Well, Marcus is a great businessman, as well as a musician. I have had the pleasure of seeing both of you play in the Bahamas, and just recently at the Silver Spring Jazz Festival. That was an outstanding event with a really good crowd for something that was a free festival. Marcus did a great job putting that together, and it was great exposure for everyone. So, how does Just Come On In compare with your earlier CDs?
NC: Well, my first CDs, well, they did okay. My first CD, when that came out, it was received pretty well. It didn’t go as high as “High Flyin’”, but it did make the top 20 on R&R. But I think the difference is that I kind of went back to what I was doing in the beginning. My second and third CD didn’t get as much accolades as I thought, but I kind of listened to a lot of other people, you know. Everybody was telling me, well you should do this and you should do that. Like my Dad said, you’re looking for advice outside of yourself, but you gotta go with your heart. If nobody ever buys this CD, or if nobody ever picks it up, it’s gonna be something that I like.

SV: So you feel that in this one, you put more of your true self into it?
NC: Right. And I wanted songs that kind of more said what I wanted to say. That was the whole title of the CD, Just Come On In, and get to know Nick Colionne. And that’s kind of what I wanted to do with it so that people could come in, and hear what I am about.

SV: It definitely lets everybody get to know you, and we can’t wait to hear what’s coming up in the future. I can’t imagine topping this one.
NC: You know that’s a scary thought! (laughs)

SV: You’ve seen what’s been happening with the major labels lately, with regards to their jazz departments and jazz artists. What are your feelings on that, and what do you see as the fallout from that – both negative and positive?
NC: It’s a positive for the smaller labels, which gives them a better chance of getting into the marketplace. The major labels, I don’t know. Everything is based on what they think they’re selling. But I think it was a mistake to drop their jazz departments, because I think that jazz is going to come back really strong, and then they’ll come back to it. As for the smaller labels, it’s probably a good thing for them, because there is only so much space in the stores, and the big labels have the power to get their stuff in there. The smaller labels have to fight for every inch of shelf space they can get.

SV: Now we are seeing other artists putting out their music on their own labels or through their own websites, such as Rick Braun has recently done.
NC: Well, you know the internet is a great thing for musicians. I mean, everybody can’t get a record deal, but everybody wants to get their music exposed. I think the internet was a great thing because you can sell your stuff on the internet or get it played on the internet, and it opens up an avenue for you to deal directly with the consumer without having to have a big conglomerate in front of you handling all of your stuff.

SV: Let’s talk about your life outside of music. You are very active with keeping music in the lives of kids through teaching and counseling. Can you tell us more about that?
NC: I’ve been mentoring for about the last 10 years. I started at a school called St. Lawrence, which is in Elgin, a suburb of Chicago. I’ve been mentoring those kids, showing them how to use the computers, how to write music using computers. I give a lot of kids guitar lessons, outside of the lessons that their parents get for them, at the school. They get to go over the stuff with me. I counsel kids who might have a few problems here and there. Last year I took on another school called Florence B. Price School, which is inside of Chicago and things are going good there. I try to get the kids to do things like putting on shows and write their own graduation songs and stuff like that. I have a lot of fun being with the kids, and do a lot of chaperoning for…like… field trips and stuff like that.

SV: Wow, I don’t know how you do it all.
NC: It’s hard sometimes. When you go into these schools, and you go up and down the stairs, like all day, you start thinking, man, as a kid I used to do this, and I didn’t breath hard when I was doing this! (both laughing)

SV: Have any of the kids you mentor taken a real interest in a music career?
NC: Well, I’ve got a few kids that are really playing guitar. I’ve got one kid I mentor; his name is Chris Jones, from Elgin. He’s got his little jazz band going, and he’s in high school now playing first chair guitar in high school in Elgin. He’s really going and really getting good. I’m looking at him going, hey, you know, maybe I can retire, and you can take care of me! (laughs)

SV: So, what do you tell these kids about the life of a musician?
NC: You know, I tell them it’s hard, it’s fun, but it’s hard again. I had expected to be rich and famous by the time I was eighteen, but it didn’t happen! It’s a lot of heartache, but you gotta love what you’re doing. You gotta love the music. It’s gotta be about the music first. It can’t be about the money. It can’t be about anything else. It’s got to be about the music. You’ve got to love the music, and when it keeps kicking you down, you just gotta get up, dust yourself off, and go back out there and play some more, you know? I get paid because it’s a business, but I would play…actually people just pay me to bring my equipment. That’s what they’re paying me for. They don’t pay me to play, because I play for free.

SV: That’s an attitude that you don’t hear very often.
NC: They’re just paying me to haul all this equipment that I got.

SV: Okay…you know I have to ask about the clothes. You have got to be the snappiest dresser in the business. I personally will never forget the blue shoes you wore at the Bahamas Jazz Festival. And the signature hats! How did that style come about?
NC: Well, the hats came about kind of like a fluke, because I was playing a lot of outside concerts the last couple of years, and it would be hot, and the sun would be burning my eyes. I started wearing a hat all the time, and people would start asking, hey, where’s your hat at? So, I just went out and got a bunch of them, but the clothes and the shoes, well, I’m just kind of into that! Marcus (Johnson) teases me about that. He says, “What? You have a pair of shoes to match every thing you have!”

SV: I remember him teasing you mercilessly at the Bahamas Jazz Festival about the entire blue outfit!
NC: Oh, yeah…he’s always on me.

SV: Now all the fans have come to expect that and can’t wait to see what the outfit is going to be the next time they see you!
NC: Well, that’s funny. I told my manager I guess I better buy some more clothes because I am running short! I’m always wearing the same stuff! You know, a lot of guys buy a lot of stuff with their money. I’m a clothes fanatic. I buy clothes so much. I bet I have clothes from two years ago that still have tags on them! I just love clothing. It’s always been my philosophy that if someone pays money to see me, they don’t want to see me dressing like a bum! They pay their hard earned money to walk in that door; I should look like I deserve the four or five dollars they spent to get in!

SV: So, what’s coming down the road for you? A new CD coming up?
NC: Well, I’m working a new project now. As a matter of fact, I am always writing. I just keep writing. Me and my co-writer, we’re getting down to the elimination stage right now. It’s like, is this song as good as we thought it was? Nope, throw it out!

SV: Do you have any idea when a new CD might be hitting the streets?
NC: We’re looking at either the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter.

SV: That’s terrific. Something I know everyone will definitely be looking forward to. We want to let everyone know where they can find out information about you, tour schedule, etc. You have a website.
NC: www.nickcolionne.com

SV: I want to thank you for all of your time. I hope that this is as enjoyable for everyone else as it was for me to talk to you. Can’t wait to see the next project and the next outfit!
NC: Okay, thank you so much for having me as a part of your new site. I hope it grows really big, and I hope to see you real soon. I’ll try to have an outfit that will surprise you!

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