February 7, 2005
Interview by Susan Johnson

Is there anything better to do on a Monday night, or any night for that matter, than to catch up with Grammy award-winner Norman Brown? The effervescent guitarist who bubbles up pure joy on stage won a Grammy in 2003 for Just Chillin’. His newest CD, West Coast Coolin’ has hit the charts and is staying there. We caught up with Norman at the studio as he was headed out to another show.

Smooth Views (SV): Your new CD, West Coast Coolin’, takes a different path than your Grammy-winning, Just Chillin with quite a bit more vocals from you! Your single, “Up ‘N At ‘Em,” is currently #2 on the charts and “I Might” also received radio play on both smooth jazz and Urban Adult Contemporary stations. How do you feel about the success of this CD in comparison to your instrumental CD’s?
Norman Brown (NB): Well, you know what? I feel really good about it and I kind of think I took the same direction as the last record. The difference is that I did the singing myself. The last record, I featured Michael McDonald, Chante Moore, Miki Howard, and Debbie Nova. There's like four great singers on that album. And, you know, my fans really liked that. They had been asking me, "When are you going to sing more or maybe put a couple more vocals on your records?" I thought it was time. I’ve been working on my chops. I found some songs that I felt like fit me and were really nice. So I kind of ventured out on this record. I did! I sang some background sounds on the last one, so I’m out there now! (Since I sing at my live shows), fans were saying, "Man, why don't you put something on the record! Put something on the record!" But for me, I wanted to find the right song and I wanted my vocals to be able to stand up next to the guitar playing! You know!

(SV): Your interest in guitar started when your family moved to Kansas City when you were just a child. I think your principal in High School was Tom Rhone, right? I worked with him at the Kauffman Foundation. He’s told me that he knew way back then that you were going to be a star. Did you have influences in high school that led you to where you are today?
(NB): I was eight years old and heard Jimi Hendrix playing and thought, "Man, what was that?" It just blew my mind. My brother actually played guitar so I watched him and my cousins playing and it was over. As soon as he would leave, I would go sneak in and get his guitar and play it all the time. That's really how it got started. We were a very musical family. I had seven sisters, my brother… and I was next-to-the-last in that (line)! So, I always heard music in my house all the time. They’d sit around the stereo with the records out. And my mom and dad loved music. Dad was into Wes Montgomery and all that jazz stuff and she liked gospel and blues. The house was just full of music! My brother played and my father played a little bit. He played the juice harp. He played harmonica and he sang a little bit. And a guy came to me and said, "You gotta learn how to play the truth." 'Cause I was a young guy and I was playing in these young bands doing all the popular Kool and the Gang stuff and the old cats came to me and said, "You’re a great player. You really need to learn how to play the truth!" I was like, "Play the truth?" "Yeah, you gotta learn the truth." They were talking about straight-ahead jazz. I was like, "Okay then. Teach me some truth!" I used to go to the Charlie Parker Foundation and these were the old musicians who hung out there. It was like these old veteran guys. They would have jam sessions on Sunday. My teacher took me there and I would just sit in with those guys and play. It was so cool! One cat would be missing an arm and another guy was missing some fingers and these cats were still there playin'!" It was so inspirational for me. (Mr.) Rhone used to always tell me that I was going to be a star! He really did! I didn't know his first name! It was Mr. Rhone to me! I had some great teachers there in Kansas City. I did! Bishop Cunningham starting in junior high school and Norman Daniels taught me a lot. And Leon Brady. Leon Brady had a music store over there on Minnesota. He was so helpful. He gave me an opportunity in many ways. I worked in his summer camp helping kids and if I needed a lesson here or there, he would hook me up. At the summer camp that Leon would offer for kids, I worked along with whatever music department he had from the local high schools… Wyandotte (local high school) or one of those schools. So, I got to teach just helping the kids and learn some music there for about two weeks in the summertime after I graduated from high school. I played in every school band. I was in marching band. I was drum major in the marching band. I played saxophone in symphonic events and upright bass in symphonic orchestra. I played in both jazz bands, guitar in one and bass in the other. Anything musical, I was trying to be involved. Those guys were great! Martin Dunlap from high school. They were really huge influences for me because all these guys really believed in me and saw something in me and they kept… it was like that had to make it a point to tell me that to make sure I knew! So, yeah… Kansas City was great for me!

(SV): Do you play other instruments? I read in one of your interviews that you said you might be a triple threat and put out an album playing saxophone!
(NB): Wow!!! They misquoted that! I played saxophone for a long time. I did! I played saxophone through junior high and high school and I graduated and used to double playing guitar and saxophone in Kansas City at the local clubs. I said I was going to go back to playing saxophone and you might hear a little bit on one of the shows.

(SV): Did you play at local clubs with a band before you moved to LA to go to the famed Musicians Institute?
(NB): I did. I played at a lot of Missouri clubs. There weren’t many clubs on the Kansas side. I was playing jazz in the Bishop Cunningham Quartet and we played over there in Westport area and we played some down on the Plaza. We also played some places off Paseo and Prospect in the little clubs there having live jazz on the weekends.

(SV): Kansas City is home to many jazz greats. Did living there inspire you to get into smooth jazz?
(NB): I came back to the 18th & Vine area when they were in the middle of redevelopment to play at a festival they had there. I could see the changes that were happening! I haven’t played in my hometown since, wow… BWB… we played there three years ago. The smooth jazz part of me came alive after I moved to California. Remember, I had to play "the truth" when I was there (Kansas City). (laughs) Actually, it was the last few years in the quartet I was talking about. We played a lot of Grover and George Benson and Ronnie Laws, so yeah… we did a lot of early smooth jazz music in that band. Then I moved to LA and went to Musicians Institute, graduated and got a job teaching there. That led to a record deal and touring.

(SV): With the many changes affecting the smooth jazz world, what possibilities do you see for smooth jazz musicians?
(NB): It’s getting tough for us! It's already hard enough being an instrumentalist, you know. What I complain about is that those stations play too much oldie vocal music! They take up our play list with that. That's hurting our format, I think. That, in itself, is making all the interest turn away from us in terms of support from labels. Labels don't want to invest in us. And I saw that because they stopped making videos, they gradually stopped supporting us. I saw this coming and where it's going to end up, I don’t know. A few guys are starting their own labels. Maybe it's opening a door for that. We need the consumers to step up. They're the ones who buy our stuff. Then the record companies take notice. That's the bottom line with these people.

(SV): When you’re recording a new album, what determines whether you use studio musicians or programming on a song?
(NB): Ooooh, the song! That’s a great question. The song always does to me! Some songs… well, most of them now start off programmed because of our little pre-production studios we all have. So we use the computers to program it. But for me, the music takes life when there’s a real drummer and a real bass player on it. So, even if it’s programmed a lot of times I want to put a real bass player on it and have a drummer play some cymbals or some percussion things around the programming because it just gives it more of a killin’ feel to me.

(SV): How do you spend your down time?
(NB): I don't have a lot of that, I guess. I have six children. I'm always trying to be in their lives. Between that and my life, man there's not much time for down time! When I'm with my family, I carpool… driving to the school to see them do their thing. They all are so busy now. It’s constantly going to see them sing or play here or doing something. Everybody’s into music!

(SV): What’s in store for your fans in 2005? Who are you touring with?
(NB): I’m putting together a summer tour. I think you’re going to be the first to debut this information! This has not been public yet! I think it's time. I've put together a summer tour that I've called, “Norman Brown’s Summer Storm” starring Brenda Russell, Everett Harp and Peabo Bryson. We're going to be coming to all the local markets we can get to, bringing a nice mixture of R&B and smooth jazz. It's exciting! So far we have 13 cities!

(SV): When can we look forward to another CD?
(NB): I'm going to work this one for awhile. We're getting ready to release another single, "West Coast Coolin'" and then we're going to do "Angel" for Urban AC. I have a Top 20 solo over there. "I Might" went up to #16! The label is into it, so they’re going to come with another single at both formats. So fans, look forward to that if you haven't heard them yet it might be more incentive to go get the record! So basically, this year I'm going to be on the road coming to your local city to see you (all fans)!

(SV): Any final thoughts for your fans, Norman?
(NB): Fans tell me they don't get to get that close to us. I just did the Smooth Jazz Cruise, Warren Hill's cruise, and it was seven days of… we're all on the same boat, eating at the same place, doing all the same stuff… those fans really got a kick out of that. You just walked around, sat down and they sat right next to you and talked. They got to see that we're just regular people like them, too! I thought that was really cool for the fans! I haven't been invited yet on any other (cruises) but I think I might be doing Tom Joiner's cruise this year in June. Of course, the fans take a thousand pictures, but how can they not ask you that? You know. The way I look at it, "Yeah, no problem. Let’s do it!" I love you guys! I'm glad you like the music and I work really hard to make it so that you'll like it, so I just thank you for all your love!

For more on Norman Brown visit Norman's website: www.normanbrown.com.

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