>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. [ Silence ] >> Hello everyone. My name is Larry Appelbaum from the Library of Congress. It's with great pleasure that I sit here and share the stage with Jose James who will be performing tonight, but now we have a time to have a little chat, talk a bit about music and especially his music. So please help me welcome Jose James. [Applause] >> Thank you. Pleasure. >> Tell me first of all what we can expect tonight for the concert, who is performing with you, and what kind of repertoire you're going to deal with. >> Well, I just signed a Blue Note Records four days ago. So, the album is done and I'm featuring some of it, about half of the album, the new album. >> Did you produce the record? >> I did. I produced the album and Pino Palladino, great bassist, who is the co-producer and Brian Bender who is an amazing engineer in Brooklyn is another co-producer. >> How did you and Pino start working? >> That's a great question. I mean, what happened? >> You knew his work all along. >> Oh, of course. >> Everybody knows it. >> I mean he's like the top bass player in the world, you know. So you know, Voodoo, I mean every '90s album that's soulful that I own and loved, he's on. You know what I mean, Common, and Badu and D'Angelo. So, I met him in London. I was living in London, Mark De Clive-Lowe was a piano player and producer who was living in London and moved to L.A. has a relationship with Red Bull Music Academy and they were doing some recording and their friends. And Pino, he is just a cool guy. He said, "Hey, who's around? Who's in London? Who should I jam with?" He always wants to jam, you know. He's a real musician. >> He's got an identifiable sound and a style as a player. Do you think he's got an identifiable sound as a producer? >> I think he does, you know, and as a writer, we also-- that's how we got together, we started writing a song. So that was really like the catalyst for him to get involved and I think, you know, when we say producer, it can mean a lot of things in this day and age especially. His main contribution was bringing together a lot of people who I wouldn't have necessarily thought of for a lot of interesting songs. I mean, the first session we did was in New York City with Russell "The Dragon" Elevado, engineering, Robert Glasper on Rhodes, and Chris "Daddy" Dave on drums, and it was just fantastic. I mean to me, that's like the-- if you're talking about kind of a jazz and R&B; contemporary thing, that's like the most progressive rhythmic trio and that was the first time they've ever played together as a trio and it's just fantastic. So he really helped bring in kind of all the elements, you know, what I mean? And once we had done that session, we really had a good template of like what the album was going to sound like. We also did a session at his house. He's got a private studio in London with Grant Windsor, a great pianist living in London and Richard Spaven who I've worked with since 2008 on drums and this writer Fink who is Irish who writes of John Legend a lot and he's kind of like an Indie folk pop guy and he came and played guitar and they just jammed. We all just jammed for like 6 hours and we just recorded everything. And from that session, I think about three of the songs came out of that from the album. So it's very organic, you know, process. >> Well, talk about that process a little bit. How do you get from 6 hours of material down to three songs? What's your critical sort of process for evaluating? What works and what doesn't? >> I think you know, we all kind of-- you get in-- you find something and everyone gets excited and they stay on that so you kind of remember that. You say, oh man, go to the part that you know, where the funk was you know, you just find the funk you know. Go, where is the funk, you know? There, oh man. And then, you know, we had some ideas. Fink came in with some really cool ideas and we kind of transformed all that stuff. I sung on it in kind of like a Marvin Gaye way like I didn't record the vocal 'cause I wanted just the room, you know what I mean? But you know, just wordless kind of vibing stuff. And so, right away, I kind of knew in my body like what felt good. You know, what I mean? And Fink took it, he chopped up a lot of things and kind of made it more cohesive then he sent me that and so then I could write to it, you know what I mean and then I could pull things apart as well. Yeah. >> You said, you just got signed to Blue Note with all the changes in the record business and the music business for that matter. What does that mean to be signing for Blue Note? >> Well-- >> As an artist? >> I mean it means-- it means a lot, you know. It means-- I think it means three things for myself, for my career, as a fan and a lover of music. I mean, when I was in high school discovering jazz, you know, when I-- I did it really like in a chronological order from like Louis Armstrong up. And by the time I got to Blue Note, it was like, "Oh man, your heart is over." [Inaudible] You know, it was like this whole treasure throve of composition and the sound and the cover art. I mean everything was so right and I wanted that, you know. I didn't even know what it meant but I saw what it was and it was like I wanted access to that world. And I also feel really privileged to have grown up in a time where you could buy like a Thelonious Monk CD, you know, or the Vinyl, whatever. And you spend a lot of that time with that object, you know, it's like a fetish, you know. Because it's like-- it's a real thing that somebody made and I think it's just different now when you think about an album that is just intangible. You don't understand that, you know, it took somebody 5 years and they did all the studio stuff and all the producers. You don't even read liner notes. I mean, we don't know how many people are involved in things anymore, in a way, you know what I mean? >> Yeah, people don't have this kind of tactile relationship with an MP3. >> Right. >> It's just a file. And so, I like that about the fetish. >> Yeah. >> Hope you fetishize the physical object. >> [Laughs] It's true, I mean out-- you know, I cherish my Vinyl. I cherish the art of it. It's art. You know, I used to buy records 'cause the cover was cool. I didn't even care. It was like, "oh man, that looks great." So, it means a lot to me coming from a dream, you know, being a young man, you know, wanting access to this world and now I'm making a statement on that label. I mean I think it means a lot to me historically as an artist too. It's like Blue Note has always been the place, I mean what, the slogan is what, the finest in jazz since 1939, right? And, I feel like it's coming back to that. You know, Wayne Shorter resigned, Lionel Loueke's on there, Robert Glasper's on there, Terence Blanchard who's just resigned. You know, there's a new Van Morrison album. There's a new Neville-- Aaron Neville with Keith Richards on guitar-- I mean Don Was, you know, kind of skipping around but Don Was really is bringing in a lot of vision and it's contemporary but it's also bringing it back to where Alfred Lion started. It's like we want to record great musicians doing what they want to do and I feel really honored to be a part of that process. >> You mentioned Don Was. He's the head of Blue Note at this point. Did he give you any guidance for what he had in mind or did he leave it totally up to you, what your statement would be? >> Well, when I finally met with Don, I think it was last fall in New York. I had already recorded probably two-thirds of the album so I had a real clear idea. Everything was written. Basically, I just needed more time, you know, because Pino is like, you know, he's on tour with Herbie Hancock, he's on tour with The Who, he's on tour with D'Angelo, I mean he's a busy man, you know, so I was literally, whenever we could make it work, we made it work. And you know much respect to him for doing that as well. So I really knew what kind of album it was going to be and when I first sat down with Don within 5 minutes and not prompted by me, we were talking about Brainfeeder. We're talking about Flying Lotus. We're talking about Thundercat. He's, you know, he's on L.A. He loves that whole scene which I love, you know, and I'm coming from that. So I was like, man, this is like the coolest day in our meeting I've ever had in my life. Totally, you know, different from, you know, it was just like talking to a musician and he said-- >> He's a musician. >> Yeah, he's a musician. You know what I mean and a great producer so it was like we sat down and he said, "Hey, do you want to sign a Blue Note?" I was like, "Yeah. He said, "All right. Now that that's over with, let's talk about music." So it's really like that. You know what I mean? So he didn't say, "I really think you need to do this." You know, Trouble, I had already released as a single of myself and there was an Oh No Remix. So, it was already kind of there was a buzz and he just said, "Yeah, I love this. Do what you do." So I just continued to produce the album myself and you know, I was pretty sure that I was going to sign it to Blue Note but I was really focused on the work. And I just want to kind of say to anybody listening and everybody here tonight, it's really important I think to like focus on what you do and not the outcome because it's taken me two years to make this album and I'd paid for you know, every session. All the musicians are hired, you know, and all the food and all the cabs and you know, it's every drop of the journey is with my own sweat and blood and you feel it. You know, when you listen to the music, it's really different from anything I've ever done. I don't think I was mature enough to make that kind of statement until now but I'm really happy that, you know, I'm able to have this opportunity. So I just literally turned in the album. He heard it about a month ago at Electric Lady Studios and he said, "Don't touch a thing." Yeah. >> Nice. You mentioned something interesting that you had a clear concept already of what it is you wanted to do. Do you have this-- does this concept extend to your career? Do you have an idea beyond this record where you want to go, say, in the next 5 years or the next 5 records? >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Talk a little bit about that. >> Well, astrologically, I'm on the cusp of Capricorn and Aquarius and that it's very true in my life, you know, the traditionalist, the keeper of the flame and, you know, the idealist rule breaker. I'm like, I'm born right in the middle and you know, growing up, everybody says, "How did you get into jazz?" And I always say, Tribe Called Quest. You know I would see samples. You know, that's what got me into loving jazz 'cause Q-Tip said jazz is cool. [Inaudible] said jazz is cool. Cypress Hill and Ice Cube sampled [inaudible]. They all sampled jazz and [inaudible]. I was like man, what is this? This is-- it's that whole New York hip hop, East Coast, 90s phenomenon got me into it. And then I went back and discovered what the music was and began this journey. So for me, it's about a fundamental thing. I mean when I started out, all I wanted to do was sing like John Coltrane, you know, that that's it, or Billie Holiday. Those remain my idols, you know. Then I discovered soul and this is all, I'm like 14, 15, you know, and this is-- and Charlie Parker, then I got into you know, Al Green and Marvin Gaye and it was like, oh man, you know, all these really complex harmony and there's emotion too, you know, when you put it with words. So I always loved all this stuff and hip hop was always kind of the constant thing. Well, I just think there was a special moment in the '90s where everybody kind of liked everything. You know, you go to see Pulp Fiction and there's Al Green and I was like, oh man, this is-- it just felt-- it felt part of contemporary life. It didn't feel old to me. >> Is that the chaptalization of culture? >> I think so. I think so. >> That's the way people experience music now. It's not regimented in boundaries. You only listen to jazz. You only listen to pop or rock or hip hop. >> Absolutely. Yeah. So, yeah, when I made The Dreamer, my first album, I knew it was going to be, I was coming from total jazz, I mean I was wearing suits and like the whole thing. And I got signed to this, you know, Gilles Peterson, the legendary DJ in London and he's like, yeah, you know what? You can wear suits when you're 60, man. He was like dress how you dress, you know what I mean? He was like dress how you dress, do what you do. I'm going to give you the freedom to be who you want to be. And I took it and we made The Dreamer and it was a great success for me and because of his association, I was often the only band on a festival. It would be like electronic music fest. All the DJs and a band like myself or a band like Little Dragon. And that was great to me. You know, it was like a thousand people standing up in the club, you know, at 2 in the morning. That was like wow. It felt fresh and it made me feel like I'm a contemporary artist doing what I love. You know, I could do equinox. I could do a 20-minute version of equinox in a club like that and people were like, wow. So it was really-- it was really mind-blowing for me. So that kind of set the tone as a performing artist for me. Jazz still remains very-- you know what I mean, it's my roots, you know, I mean. We were talking earlier, it's like I have the pleasure working with Chico Hamilton who founded a new school. A lot of people don't know that. Junior Mance was the first teacher they hired, you now, at the new school. They were my mentors, you know, they looked out for me. They said, "Hey, man, I'm doing a record today. We love to get you on", you know, and I'm terrified in going there. And, "Hey, you sound good," you know, and hang out and tell stories. They really gave me the confidence to do what I'm doing now which is just speak in my own voice. And what I find with the older masters of jazz, and I'll include McCoy Tyner in that, they don't think about music in the same way that critics and teachers and schools do. They're so open-minded. I mean, they don't like everything. You know, I couldn't play Ludacris for McCoy Tyner. He wouldn't like it but do you know what I mean? But they never tried to say, "Man, you should to do it like Joe Williams did it", you know what I mean. You know Junior Mance played with Dinah Washington, you know, Joe Williams, Johnny Hartman, you know, he never once said, you know, "Joe, used to do." None of that stuff. He's like, "Man, do it-- do it your way and I'll back you up. I'm just the piano player." >> My guess is they have people who did the same thing for them. >> Absolutely. >> At some point in their career, and I imagine you all do that for somebody 10, 20 years down the road. >> I hope so. >> I hope so. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I'm curious, are you much of a collector? >> Like a record collector? >> Yeah. >> You know I used to be, I'm not anymore. You know, I moved around a lot, and I got to a point where I just sold-- actually, this is a kind of whole another tangent but I got to a point where I was like, I don't think music is going to work out for me. And I was moving and I sold my entire record collection, I sold my piano, I sold my Gibson, I sold everything. It was like-- >> Is this moving from Minneapolis to Seattle or-- >> This was moving from Brooklyn to Minneapolis, I think. Yeah. I've been in Brooklyn for a few years and I said, you know, I want to go back and see some family. And, you know, New York is tough, it's really tough, it's really tough. And if you want to do jazz, it's even harder. And if you want to, you know, do real jazz, it's even smaller. It mean it's just like-- >> Because of the competition? >> Because of opportunities, you know, I mean it's like, you really-- if you take a step back from it, which I did when I was living in London, you realize, you know, you have some of the most talented young artists all competing to play a 50-dollar gig, you know. And it's like, "Man." Actually, you know, you get so caught up in the art of it that you don't even think about your career and kind of longevity of what you do. And it doesn't, you know, it doesn't always translate for some people that they get to play, you know, bigger festivals and all that kind of that stuff. You can find yourself caught in a smaller world which maybe you didn't intend to go into, you know what I mean? So, yeah, it was deep, you know. And I said if music is going to come back into my life, it's going to be from a higher place, you know what I mean? And it did. And I'm happy that it did. And from that moment on, I've just followed my spirit. You know, not everybody has liked everything I've done. You know, I know when I've worked with Flying Lotus on my second album with Alice Coltrane's nephew, a lot of jazz people were like, "Nah, that's not-- I can't go with you there. And on the other side-- so that was the Aquarian album and then the Capricorn album was For All We Know which is my Verve/Impulse! debut which was totally-- >> Just voice and piano. >> Just voice and piano, and I loved it. And all of those people hated it 'cause they wanted me to keep doing beats and you know what I mean? So, you know, you can't please everybody but this album is going to please everybody because it's a complete statement, you know. I call it my first complete statement as an artist, you know, outside of genres. >> You mentioned beats. As a vocalist and especially in the choices you have when it comes to phrasing. Do you phrase differently with electronic beats versus acoustic? >> That's a really interesting point. Yes and no. I'm from the school of Billie Holiday for jazz like all day. It was, I mean when we made The Dreamer, you know, how they-- we solo out, you know, like one thing to get a mix and I was in the studio and they soloed out the vocal and it was just the voice. It was the first time I'd heard myself just singing with the band, with what I do rhythmically and I was like-- it was so behind the beat, it was so like Billie Holiday. I was like, "Wow," you know it's-- even in my stuff that's there. So, Flying Lotus and all those guys, they do this like behind the beat thing and J Dilla, you know, from there. It's very like laid back and it's very swung, you know, it comes from jazz rhythmically. So, it's not as different as people would think, you know what I mean. It definitely sounds different just because of the samples and I think it's less rhythmically different. It's more sonically different and harmonically different. I mean, the main challenge for me with Flying Lotus, he sent me like 20 beats, you know, and it was like, it's on the same key. You know, I'm a jazz artist and a musician, it's like it's all G minor, you know what I mean? So, how can you be creative melodically, you know what I mean? 'Cause rappers don't, you know, they don't think in terms of a key, they don't have to, like their voice is just-- they sound good over anything. But the moment that you put a note to the word, it's in a key, it's-- it has some harmonic relationship to the music. So that was really the challenge, and it was a welcome challenge for where I was 'cause I love dubstep, I love beats, I love Madlib, I love instrumental music, classical or hip hop or anything, I really love that kind of freedom away from words. You know, I think it opens your mind in a different way because as soon as you say "love", as soon as you say "fear", as soon as you say "I want you", it makes you think of something. But when you just hear a note, you know, then it can open up to anything. >> When you listen to music, what are you really listening for? >> A response, you know, an emotional response, you know. There's a lot of music that to me sounds beautiful and I don't feel it and I can't listen to it, you know what I mean? But something that elicits an emotional response, that's something that-- I mean, to me that's what art is about. You know what I mean? Any kind of art, painting or dance, it should make you-- I mean, I'd rather have somebody hate my stuff than be like indifferent. I'd rather see somebody walk out of my show than to sit there and be bored, you know what I mean? >> Has anybody walked out of your shows? >> Now, no. [laughs] But-- >> Did they at one point? >> When I did the For All We Know tour with Jef Neve which was my first tour in the United States, it was a total disaster, you know, just because I had already put out two albums on Brownswood in London that weren't released in the United States physically and I haven't toured those outside of L.A. or New York. So people really wanted me-- you know, this is now my third album. People wanted me to do stuff from The Dreamer, you know. And for me, that's really old, you know. And I'm sitting here, you know, with a jazz piano player who doesn't even swing. You know what I mean? Like, he is coming from a very classical-- he's a classical pianist, you know what I mean? And he's great and he's also actually-- he's the pianist in The Artist. He did all the piano for the movie, The Artist, so they got Jef. And, you know, it's just-- that project just rubbed everybody the wrong way 'cause jazz people want stuff to swing, a lot of traditional people and be more soulful and bluesy and I just thought it was a great pairing of this kind of very European palate with my kind of soulful voice on it. So it was tough. So Yoshi's San Francisco, I'll never forget, man, there was like a row of three dudes, fitted caps on, you know, Nikes, temps [phonetic], they were sitting there in the front row, I come out in a suit and start doing Lush Life and they were like out. They just looked at each other and we're like, "I'm out." And I was like, "Okay." And-- but, you know, I've made that choice and it's cool because for me, it's all music and, you know, I admire artists like Miles Davis and [inaudible] cello, people who-- and Marvin Gaye, you know, who they've loved what they love. And it's not about, can you sing that song? It's about capturing the artist at that moment 'cause they're giving you the best of where their mind is at, you know what I mean, at that time. So, you know, nobody walks out anymore, you know what I mean. But, you know, I was also experimenting too, kind of going on a tangent but, you know, now it's really all coming together musically. So anybody who was there, you know, thank you for letting me evolve, you know. >> Every city has its own vibe, right? I mean you've lived in a number of cities. What's the vibe of DC? >> Well, [inaudible] city, man. I mean, you know, it's deep 'cause I actually lived here for like four months. And-- >> Where did you live? What part of the city? >> South-- it's been a while. >> Southeast. >> Yeah, it was southeast. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, which was cool, it was cool. And, you know, I used to hang out on U Street and, you know, I tried to get into it. I feel like, you know, DC has always had that kind of like southern cosmopolitan blend which I think is so fascinating, you know what I mean. Even just getting off the train today, you know, people are like, "How are you doing", you know? I was like oh, like nobody talks to anybody in New York, you know what I mean. They don't care how you're doing. They don't want to know. They're always-- people were like always looking me in the eye and kind of like-- it felt positive, you know, and it was nice. You know, for me it's just nice to be around black people, period, you know. And especially being in, you know, coming from Minneapolis which is a very segregated city, extremely. It's changed now. You know, now it's very mixed and there's a lot of like Somali and-- but when I was growing up, it was like the lines were drawn and it was really-- it was a pretty brutal place to grow up in a lot of ways culturally. So I always kind of feel, you know, the cultural temperature of a place, that's kind of what hits me first and how people interact with each other, how they talk, how they treat one another. And I feel like DC is always showing me so much love and respect, you know what I mean. From everybody that I've, you know, including, you know, just today we came soundcheck and everybody has been fantastic. So it's always a pleasure for me to be, you know, in DC especially with Obama [laughs]. >> Do you ever get with the go-go here? >> Oh, yeah. I mean, there's actually-- well, Chris Dave-- is he from DC? Does anybody know? I don't know if he's from DC but he's got a lot of that-- to me, I hear lot of like go-go and stuff in what he does. And there's a track that we're going to do tonight. It's called "It's All Over Your Body". And I was like, what is he doing? How do they, you know, him and Pino just got into this groove and I realized a couple months later, man, that's-- it's actually go-go but it's not straight, you know what I mean. They played it in the different way but that's-- it's that kind of beat, you know what I mean. >> There's a New York go-go and there's a DC go-go. DC is a bit more round, you know, you can move with it. You know Ben Williams, the bassist? >> Yeah, we played last night in New York. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay, he is busted wide open. Your father was a musician? >> Yup, still is. >> What does he play? >> He plays-- he's one of those like total, you know, genius guys who can play anything. I mean his main instrument is tenor saxophone. He plays flute, he plays soprano sax. He plays a lot of percussion also like the congas, timbales, bongos. Those are his main instruments and then he also sings and he plays guitar and bass. You know, one time I went over to his house and he had like one of those huge frame drums like the Irish drum. >> Yeah, Bodhran, I think. >> Yeah, and he had just bought it, you know, and he was like I got a gig with this tomorrow and he literally like went and bought one and taught himself how to play for the gig. It was like-- I don't have that gift, you know, I can't play. I can write but I don't have that like sit-down-and-play-anything gift, you know, which I actually I like because I feel like it focuses me on what I'm good at, you know. >> Which is what? What do you think you're good at? >> I feel like I'm a bridge, you know, I'm good at curating. You know, bringing a lot of different kind of artist on the same stage, I'm good at creating a space that I like to welcome people into. I think my voice is the way that people get into it but what I'm interested in is the rest of what's around my voice. I spend a lot of time on stage listening to the band, you know what I mean. I'm good at, you know, putting words, I think, to atmospheres, you know, in a poetic sense, you know what I mean. I don't know if I'd even call myself a jazz singer when we think of like Ella Fitzgerald or, you know, Billie Holiday or Nat King Cole. I think it's different now because people are writing their own stuff, you know, what I mean? To me that's the-- the repertoire that's like the main question if you're talking about jazz singers today. It's repertoire. It's do you go on stage and do you sing Summertime with the arrangement and all, or do you sing something that you wrote. That's what's changing, you know, Gretchen Parlato. Someone like Becca Stevens who they don't consider a jazz singer but she is, you know, in terms of theory and technique she's way more advanced than I am in what we think of as jazz harmony and stuff. So, you know, my generation and under, really, we don't think about these things. I mean I was talking to Ben Williams about it last night, it's like it's just music. You know, I mean, his record he is doing Michael Jackson songs because that's what he love. So it's like if you're going to cover something, you kind of cover what you-- and that's the thing, too, it's like it's called a cover. It's not like-- here's a perfect example of how things have changed. When I did Freestyle Fellowship's Park Bench People on the Dreamer which is based on Red Clay-- >> Right. >> -- as you know, a lot of hip-hop people didn't like that. And for me I was like, I'm a jazz singer who's from a hip-hop generation. This is a standard for me. This is-- I'm pulling this into my repertoire as a new standard. I'm putting it up there with Summertime or For All We Know. They look at it as in the pop world, you call it a cover or in hip-hop you call it biting. >> It's like stealing? >> Exactly. >> Yeah. >> So they're like, man, you just, you're biting Freestyle Fellowship. Because in hip-hop you don't ever rub somebody else's stuff unless it's like they passed away and you want to throw a couple bars and it's like a celebration. >> Homage. >> Yeah, so people got really-- there's still people who are really upset that I covered that song. Freestyle Fellowship is not upset 'cause I asked them about it before I did it and Jamm Messenger Divine is not upset. Are you upset about it [laughs]? Well, people got, you know, they got upset about it. So, you know, I thought that was just really interesting, you know. >> So it's the repertoire that's really changed, the essential connecting with an audience and putting your ideas across. That doesn't change. That's-- it's always been the case, right? >> Absolutely, absolutely. >> So, music, and it's often been said, music is a language, right? And you're writing these stories when you write your lyrics. What are these stories about to you? >> Well, again, I'm very influenced by, I guess, we call it modern jazz. So, especially the later '50s until the early '60s, Eric Dolphy, we're talking about earlier, John Coltrane, those guys or in that, those guys who took all that language and started like speaking in a different way before it got really free. I really love that kind of moment where, you know, you get a track like Equinox that's so melodic but harmonically sophisticated. So, I started out as a lyricist writing to John Coltrane's solos. That's where I came from. You know, King Pleasure, Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks, I love that whole thing. >> The vocalese. >> The vocalese, yeah, tradition. And, there was all these space 'cause hardly anybody had written Coltrane stuff. I think Jon Hendricks has written a few solos. But so, I just went in there just for fun and that's kind of where the basis came from. And with Coltrane, for me, the best approach was to make it personal but make it super abstract at the same time. So the meaning is open for interpretation. I know what it means for me, but if you listen to it, you don't necessarily know. And I don't necessarily want you to know because I want you to have your own experience. I want you to say, "Well, it could be that," you know. So when I write lyrics, I mean, I don't sit down and think, "Well, today, I'm going to write about this." I mean it just comes out. I'm inspired by the music that I create. But there are moments that, you know, I put in feelings about love, feelings about relationships. I mean most of it is about, I think that's the most of-- our human life is about relationships, you know, with, you know, our past, with our parents, with our loved ones, with friends, family, with God, you know, with ourselves. I mean, it's-- that's what it's all about for me. So, you know, track like Desire, you know, "She appeared in a distance like a prayer I had uttered once." What does that mean, you know? You know what I mean? It could be a real person or it could be a vision. It could be a dream you had. And for me, it's all those things. It's a real person. It's a vision I had. It's a dream I had. She can be, you know, the creative part of you. She can be your lover. She could be your mother. She could be-- you know what I mean? So I'm telling a story but I always want to leave it open for interpretation. You know I think that's my gift as a writer. >> What's the real challenge to writing a lyric that you're not going to cringe over after singing it a hundred times? >> I don't know. I don't even-- I don't think about it. I just write it down and record it, and it's done. Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't question where it comes from. It just comes and that's it. You know, everything-- all my best work has come like that. The Dreamer, the Title Track, CODE. I've always had these tracks, too, that just like broke open. They were like the blueprint for that album, you know what I mean? And I never sit down and like belabor over a line and like writers have to do and edit themselves, you know what I mean? I just sit down, "Oh, that's what it is," and I look back and it's like that, that's it. >> You never tinker with things? You never-- how do you know when you're done with the lyric? Just when you come to the end? >> There's no more notes [laughs]. There's no more notes, yeah. >> Do you think there's some kind of code to jazz? And if so, how did you unlock it? >> Well, there's so many codes to jazz, you know. >> Talk about it. >> I mean, you know, when we say jazz, that means a lot of things. I mean, I guess I always think of like a lineage of the greats who have kind of defined this music and kind of risen up every, you know, decade and just bam, this is where the music is going now, this is where the music is going now. And I think, you know, the blues, all-- you know, what they all have in common is the blues, church, gospel music. You know, it's really folk, you know, it's this folk American, deep, taking it back, you know, and like no matter how far a train went, you could always, you know, play the blues or in that it all comes from the same kind of place. And all the best, in my mind, players, Stan Getz, or, you know, Bill Evans, they could also play the blues. I think that's like where the code is. I feel like if you cannot play blues and I mean like a straight up, 12-bar or 8-bar or, you know what I mean. If you can't do that then you'll never understand black music and that's the whole foundation of jazz. >> So how do you reconcile then or maybe it doesn't need reconciling, but how do you balance a folk expression with the art? >> Well, the art was in there, I mean, you know, it was always there. You know, it's like-- I don't think people have thought of it as art, you know, they just thought of it as expression and, I think, that's when real art happens. I think when you start thinking of things really conceptually, that's when it gets weird, you know what I mean. It's like when, you know, Louis Armstrong wasn't like, "Man, you know, today I'm going to do this crazy thing that no one is going to understand." You know what I mean? I feel like that's what kids today now. They go to music school and they're like, "I'm going to write this progression that's so advanced that no one's going to get it but me and like my guys 'cause I, you know, we're all going to practice and everyone's going to be so impressed by this amazing progression that we came up with." It's like-- that's not what Louis Armstrong was doing, you know. It advanced because the music was ready to advance and he had-- he was a genius. I mean these are geniuses, you know. Van Gogh wasn't like, "I'm going to, you know, change this. I'm going to use a lot of paint because it, you know, to mess everybody's head up." That's just where he went, you know. >> And yet the narrative that sort of frames a lot of this music and the public discussion of this music has also changed where people talk about jazz as America's classical music, and that's what I'm always trying to reconcile is this sort of expression of soul that is also supposed to be this sort of rarified classical. >> Yeah. >> Can it be both? >> Well, I mean it is both. You know, I mean you go to Lincoln Center, you see a lot of music that you won't see anywhere else and vice versa. There's a lot of music as in New York that will never be in Lincoln Center, you know. So, you know, now the music just exists, you know, it's just there and whatever you call it, it doesn't matter, I think, at all. You know what I mean? And to me it's funny because, you know, like all the reviews of like Robert Glasper's album, it is a jazz, you know. It's like, nobody cares. Like that question is not even-- I don't even think it's relevant because, okay, it's not jazz, okay, and that's fine, too. You know, it's a-- that's not even like the question to ask, it's like why is he doing that? What does he want to say right now, you know? What is this expression? That's the question to ask to me. You know, I think what got messed up was that jazz, so-called jazz, was the music of the people, you know, that people-- it was popular and it was more than popular. It's what gangsters listen to. It was what people dance to. It's what people put on, you know, to relax and cook to, you know, what I mean in their house. It was like-- it was a part of their life. It was music that connected to people on a social level and it wasn't-- nobody trying to hit you over the head with look how fantastic I am, you know, then things started to change, you know, B-Rob, and since then, it has evolved into this something else, you know. So I think what I want to do and I feel like what Esperanza Spalding wants to do, Ben Williams, and Robert Glasper and this new generation of artists, and the [inaudible] as well. You know, we want to just make music that connects to people. We want our friends to come and see us. You know, we want-- last night I played at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, and that's a place where, you know, it's affordable to come to. It's you can sit down, you can stand up, you can talk, you can text, you can Twitter, and we don't care. You can enjoy it in any way that you want, you know, and I like that. You know, I think that's how I want to see music as well. You know, at the same time, when I want to go see a string quartet, you know, I'm going to dress a certain way. I'm going to act a certain way because that's the culture. So I always think of it as more like you're stepping into houses of culture. This is a house of culture. It's already defined by the, you know, the architecture and the atmosphere. So to me that's more important than what you call the music. It's where is the music played and for who. That's like a really long answer. >> How do you feel when you look out into the audience and you see people taking photos of you or documenting your performance, or does any of that bother you? Do you see that as-- >> Not at all. >> No? >> Yeah, not at all. >> Do you encourage it? >> I don't discourage it. I mean, for me like, you know, I think-- I mean celebrity has just change. I mean, the amount of wealth in the music industry, you know, you grow up-- I was there for the transition from hip hop being like this underground, you know, want to sell your mixed tape locally, you know, the [inaudible] or whatever, to them blowing up and being like, you know, a platinum artist. And as a kid I watched that, you k now, and it was like-- and I've also now seen a lot of those artists kind of crumble after that intense wealth. So for me, it is what it is and you have to deal with what it is. You know, if you want to, you know, Keith Jarrett is an exception, obviously, you know, but if you want to have people be into you who are in certain age, they're going to tweet about it, they want to take pictures. They want to share it and-- >> How about if they record it? >> Great. You know what I mean. Music, let's be honest. Music is free. There's no way to stop, you know, that debate is over. People will pay for music if they want to but that, it's their choice. It's completely individual choices like voting. You vote for who you want to or you don't, you know. >> So, you're okay if somebody in the audience records tonight's-- video records tonight and it shows up on YouTube tomorrow? >> Well, that's fantastic. I mean-- >> You like that. >> Hopefully, they-- it's not all crazy and, you know-- >> As long as it's steady. >> Yeah, I mean, I think it's great to kind of have this, you know, I don't know if you can call it permanent because we don't know what technology is going to do or the internet, what it's going to do. But, you know, I spend a lot of time on YouTube trying to find some rare James Brown moment or, you know what I mean. Like, and that's amazing, you know, to-- when you find something, the Nicholas Brothers, I mean, the artist like, that's a good example, the Nicholas Brothers, they are so-- a few examples of great footage of them doing what they do. And it's all in movies which is great but I would love to see, you know, them just messing around backstage men, them like, you know, those kinds of moments. So I think you have to wade through a lot of stuff, you know, cats riding monkeys or whatever, you know, on YouTube. But like there are these gems, you know, Stevie Wonder in Germany, you know, that just surfaced up. And we're talking about, you know, if there exists which we kind of feel like it's out there somewhere, West Montgomery with John Coltrane. And as a fan of the music, you just want to hear it, you know what I mean. >> But here's the real question, I mean, and the reason I ask this, is who owns the music? Or is that even a concern or consideration for you? >> I mean, you want my real answer on that? >> Sure. Yeah, don't we want the real answer? Yeah? >> Honestly, like I'd say God owns the music. That's-- >> Does God own the publishing? >> [Laughs] God doesn't care about publishing? >> Oh really. >> But you know what I mean? Like, I mean for real like I'm not religious or anything but I know that any artist, any musician knows that music comes from a spiritual place that you can't define. And if you want to call that god or whatever, whatever it is, that's where it comes from. So, you know, that's where music-- that's where it belongs. That's where it goes. That's what you've given back to the source. That's what you're getting from the source. So, you know, I don't really-- I'm not in this to like get rich, I'm not in this to, you know, do all that stuff, you know what I mean. I'm in this because I was called to do it, that's it. There's no way I could not do this. You know, there's no way I could not sing tonight, it's just impossible. So it's just the way that it is. I mean you have no control over it either. And again, I think as a generational thing, a lot of people get mad and it's like, no pictures and no autographs and, you know, I'm just-- I'm the artist and there's a wall here and you stay on your side and that's the way it is. Man, you know, that's kind of boring, you know. People want to know who you are, you don't have to give up your life but it's like we're all fascinated by people. You know Quentin Tarantino, why did he get Samuel Jackson? That's fascinating to me, you know what I mean? Like, why is he into all, you know, kung fu movies and blacksploitation? Why is he such a nerd? I want to know, I don't just want to see the movie, you know, and I think that's-- we have access now to these kind of interviews and these thoughts. And I think that's the art now. It's like why do people think the way they do, you know. And for me, you know, anything that's out there that leads people to my thought process or things like today, you know what I mean, I think it's great because that's what kids need now, you know what I mean? And the larger conversation is not really do I care of if it's documented, it's about who gets to see what, you know. It's still about access to information, you know, 'cause still a lot of people, they don't have computers in the world, you know what I mean. A lot of people still don't have regular access to things on the internet. You know, I went to China and just forgot. I was so jetlagged, I was like, "Let me check my Facebook." Wrong, I was like wow, let me-- oh, this YouTube, no, you know what I mean. And it really hit me, being over there was like, that's why this stuff is important, you know, 'cause somebody can tape something from a show, put it up on the internet. If I like it, I'll post it on Facebook or my team will put it on Twitter. Somebody in Kyoto is like, man, there's no Jose-- 'cause, you know, some people just-- you just can't ever access the artist, you know what I mean? There's somebody-- >> Now, would you ever think to ask someone or ask YouTube to take something down? >> Put it like this, I would never do anything in public that I didn't want to be recorded, you know what I'm saying. Everything-- I mean I don't even think about the questions, it's like, yeah, anything that people want to record, whatever, it's totally cool because it's just publicity. And if you're good, then people want to watch it, you know, but I mean, you know. >> You used an interesting word a couple of times and that's information. We are certainly still, I think, in an information age. What do you think is the difference between information and knowledge? >> Well, knowing how to use that information, you know what I mean. I mean that's the joke of like a dictionary. It's like you want to learn how to spell the word, you have to look it up, you know what I mean. It's like everything is available but if you don't know what you're looking for, then it's like you're not even opening up the book, you know what I mean. So yeah, wading through all of this deluge of, you know, information that comes in and what's important. You know, learning how to have taste and trust, you know, that's really important. >> And how did you develop taste and trust? >> Well, I was-- free internet. I think internet really does something to our brains. You know, it floods you with so much that you just-- it's the power of it, it's the speed of it, you're like entranced by it, you know. I got to like look up a recipe when I'm cooking and like 30 minutes later, like the food is burning and I'm like watching some like movie on Netflix or something, you know what I mean. It's like it just takes you in this whole place. I mean, you know, I read a lot. I think reading is really important because you control the pace of the story, you know what I mean. And I think there's nothing as powerful as like being so into a book that you have to like put it down 'cause you want-- you'd be like, "Oh, I don't want this to end." You know what I mean. And really, reading and literature is the only art form that you have power over the speed of which you take it in, I think, you know what I mean. I mean, looking at paintings, you could argue that too. But everything else happens in real time, dance, music, cinema, you know what I mean. >> What's the last book you read that you couldn't put down? >> I know this one. What was it? I just read it. I'm reading like five books right now. So, the last book that I finished that I was like I don't want this to end was "Norumbega Park" by Anthony Giardina. And that was a book that I didn't expect to like because it's such a-- I didn't expect to love. He's a great writer but I didn't expect to love it. Because it's just such a different experiences about like, working class Italian, Western Massachusetts history kind of, you know, generations, which is not, you know, it's not my experience but I got in to it and I just, wow, I got into all the characters, and the story, and I find myself, you know, in those last 30 pages, you're just like, man, I don't want this to end. You know what I mean? "Beloved," Toni Morrison, I'm reading that for like the 20th time. You know, I mean that's-- to me that's like the ultimate American novel for me personally. >> If Toni Morrison were sitting on the stage with us, what would you want to talk to her about? What would you ask her? >> I'd ask her about her new novel, which I haven't read yet. You know, those kind of people, like McCoy, you know, McCoy Tyner. You know, when you're around them, they are masters. And it's not about literature or music. It's about they have reached a certain point as human beings. They've evolved to this plateau. And it doesn't mean that they can't drink or cuss or whatever, you know, what I mean? But they have reached a place that everything they do, it emanates, you know. So, when I'm around somebody like that, I mean I just-- name dropping right now but I'm just saying, for Aretha Franklin's 70th birthday party, like 2 months ago or something like that. And long story short, Kris Bowers was a fantastic pianist, the winner of Thelonious Monk International piano competition. He plays in my band. She loves him, he was-- she was a judge. She called him there to play and say bring the singer and it was me, thankfully, you know, and-- >> What did you sing for Aretha? >> I sang Trouble. I'm sang my stuff. I sang Trouble, I sang Save Your Love for Me, Buddy Johnson and I sang Do You Feel, which is of the new album which I'm going to do tonight. And she was fantastic. You know, and just someone like her, the way that she comes into a room tells you everything you need to know about who she is, you know. So Toni-- I mean I saw Toni Morrison recently at a reading and just the way she comes up to the podium just like tells you everything, you know, that you need to know about who she is. The way people carry themselves. The way people-- yeah, I mean Miles used to say that he could tell how good a musician was by the way he carried his instrument, by the relationship he had with it. And that's true, man. It's absolutely true. >> And yet at the same time wouldn't you like to ask Miles a question? >> Well, I would like to ask Miles like, if he would give me a real answer, yeah, but he would give me a lot of BS probably. You know what I mean? It's like-- and that's the thing. It's like sometimes you meet these greats and they're not the nicest people, you catch them on the wrong day and it kind of crash your-- it kind of like takes away from the point of what they do. You know, I think all the answers are in the music or in the artistry. I mean, I did meet-- with that said I did meet Al Green and he was so fantastic and warm. And it's nice to know that, you know, that that feeling, that humanist matches the music. You know what I mean? >> We're nearing the end. I want to make sure I ask you a couple more questions. One is I'd like for you to name two or three recordings that really changed your life. >> I have to say that's a tough one, really. I mean there was a group of three recordings that changed my direction. It was the first three things that I bought and it was Charlie Parker on Verve, like the compilation, I was like 13, you know, The Best of Charlie Parker or whatever and Duke Ellington, this is all cassette tape too by the way. Duke Ellington from the Cotton Club, it was like the radio stuff, and Louis Armstrong. And those three influences really put me on a path, you know, what I mean, to where I am today. But I have to say, you know, Coltrane's Sound. It terms of a jazz album that really just bam, you know, Central Park West is on there. Equinox is on there. I've written lyrics to both of those and that really helped defined my kind of entry into jazz. I mean, the hardest thing know is for people, young jazz artists is how do I-- what do I have to say? How do I get into it, you know. Contemporary stuff, you know, Ice Cube, "The Predator" was a huge emotional album for me 'cause the Rodney King riots had happened. And that's when I couldn't look to jazz to kind of express what was happening right now in our culture. So, you know, I was young and mad and that album was very angry and rightfully so. So that was really eye-opener, was that you could be really political and intelligent, you know. There's a lot on that album that I cringe about today. But at the time it really connected politically and emotionally. And then I had to say "Kind of Blue", you know, to me that's the ultimate jazz record because everything is on there, you know, everything that you love about jazz is on that, instrumental jazz is on that album to me. >> There is always more and I'll look forward to continuing this conversation some time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Jose James. Thank you. [Applause] >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov. [Silence]