Matt Johnson & The New Jet Set will perform their jazz versions of many classic Disney songs at the Sierra Madre Playhouse beginning Friday, March 22nd and continuing through Sunday, March 24th. Johnson has created a multi-media show that includes stories, anecdotes from his many years as being a Cast Member at Disneyland and many of the classic songs we all know and love.

Last week I spoke with Johnson (who drums for multiple artists including Jane Lynch) about his lengthy relationship with all things Disney and the songwriters and songs that make us all light up when we hear them. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with Johnson, please go to our YouTube channel (where you can also see an interview with Alan Menken).

Q: Duke Ellington famously sings in one of his compositions, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” What does the Disney songbook mean with and without swing? [The lyrics were by Irving Mills]

Listen, the Disney songbook doesn’t need my interpretation to stand alone in the annals of memorable music. We just happen to interpret it in our chosen vehicle. We take those memorable melodies and just put them in the jazz machine and crank them up and what comes out is usually very swinging. A lot of the music lends itself to swing. There’s lots of lullabies and happy children’s songs and some marches and some of them naturally lend themselves to swing. Then others we choose to have a little more fun with them. In one instance the beautiful ballad A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes from Cinderella. We’ll do it as a samba and play almost a double time rhythm underneath it. So sometimes the swing just happens. And other times we consciously choose to put it in a style that makes us even more happy.

Some of those films had great opportunities for swing. They did have Louis Prima as a voice in The Jungle Book, and they had Peggy Lee write songs and perform them for Lady and the Tramp. But those were exceptions. Do you think that there was a conscious decision in the history of Disney songs not to go into a swing mode? Or do you think that the films didn’t necessarily lend themselves to that style?

I know from being a long time Disney cast member that story is the most important thing. So whoever was in charge whenever a production was in the making, they thought about what would be the best way to convey the story. So conscious decision – definitely. But just crowbar in swing music? No.

By the time you get to Toy Story with someone like Randy Newman, you have a composer who has jazz in his bloodstream.

He does. You’ve Got a Friend in Me has very much a swingy bounce to it. I think it’s definitely a conscious decision to play jazz and or any other style. I’m thinking now Ratatouille – all Parisian. Michael Giacchino’s orchestration with lots of accordion and clarinet. Very Parisian, almost a gypsy jazz appropriate for the setting in the story it tells.

How do you see the Disney songbook having evolved over the years? What do you like most about the way it was, and what do you like most about the way it is today? 

I have had the wonderful experience of seeing it in the audience’s faces as we’ve performed the show a few times now. You can’t separate the music from the time when you experienced it in the movie theater. For those of us of a certain age, that means a really grand occasion. Back before you could stream a movie on your watch, it was a really big deal to go to a theater. We always looked forward to the Disney movies. Growing up in Southern California we had the opportunity to go to Disneyland. So we saw all the the tie-ins with the attractions and all the visuals. And, of course, we saw the characters. We also had the Wonderful World of Color and the Wonderful World of Disney. The music is just one of many, many emotional touchstones that are layered in us.

If there was any one team of composers or songwriters for whom the Disney catalog is best represented, it’s going to be the Sherman Brothers: Richard and Robert Sherman. What do you think makes their songs more beloved, or given them the ability to stand the test of time above perhaps any other songwriter’s songs who have appeared in Disney movies? 

First of all, we have to agree to the premise of your question are they, in fact, the greatest? And I think the reason both of us initially say yes, without a doubt, is because of the volume of work that they did when the studio was young or in their heyday. There was a period of time when Disney wasn’t making great movies, but everything before 1975 rocked. Maybe even earlier than that. Aristocats came out in 1970 and certainly everything that preceded it was just fantastic.

Walt referred to them as the boys. He’d storyboard with some of his artists and he said, let me get the boys in here, and then we’ll figure out where we’re going from here. The stories that I know, and even the documentary footage that I’ve seen, there was such a collaboration [with] the brothers. To see one at the piano and the other one scratching down something and changing and getting stuck on a word and seeing that collaboration was personally very inspiring. 

Doesn’t it feel like Alan Menken is the heir to what the Sherman Brothers were able to accomplish?

In and through the collaboration with his lyricists…Yes. All of those contemporary things from Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. I’m no different than most. I’m really affected emotionally performing this music and having the responsibility of giving a little insight through my narration. Instead of saying, “Now we’re going to play I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” I give a little background on the music and the production or something that I’ve read that’s interesting that maybe we don’t know. I have to be careful that I don’t trigger an emotional little thing in me that becomes distracting or, even worse, makes me emotional. 

Don’t you feel like this music allows us to revisit our childhood in some way, shape or form?

Every single time. My friend Charles Phoenix put it so perfectly, “Every time I go there, I feel all the ages I’ve ever been.” Because he remembers encountering the Disney magic at all these different points in his life. And also remembering the people in your life that are no longer with us. When you think about going there with your grandparents, I mean, that’s a powerful memory, you know? It’s just part of who I am. 

You can’t walk through the park without hearing music everywhere. A lot of it’s piped in now, but walk Main Street. You know better than anyone, that’s where you often hear live music.

Right. Straw Hatters are still out there. From season to season, sometimes they bring back a couple of what we call the break down groups: The Firehouse Hook and Ladder Gang. It’s been a while. The sax quintet who dressed in that Keystone Cops? We say Keystone Cops, but, the police uniforms from the previous century. The pre-recorded music there is all early, sort of parlor music. It’s not exactly ragtime yet. It predates ragtime. It’s happy family music from the turn of the century.

A lot of the music that that you and I know and that people probably have at least half a generation below us embrace as well, is stuff that kids today don’t necessarily have any relationship to unless their parents held on to old DVDs or they would catch the films on Disney Plus. What do you see in in terms of young people who come to these concerts and their response to these songs that they didn’t grow up with the same way you and I did?

There’s one thing that happens in general. I’m reminded of my friend Tony Guerrero, who says, “Even if you don’t think you’re familiar with jazz, if you witness a live performance, you can’t help but like it.” There’s just something about live musical performance that’s very powerful. Something you and I would take for granted because we sat through innumerable concerts, but young people wouldn’t necessarily. We try to have a couple of the contemporary Disney songs in there.

My indoctrination into the world of Disney took place when my aunt took me at three years old to go see Mary Poppins. That was the first time I became aware of movies. It was the first time I became aware of musicals in any way, shape or form. Obviously, the first time that I became aware of Disney in any in any measurable way. It is my understanding that you have worked with Dame Julie Andrews.

I was performing with a group called the Palm Springs Yacht Club in the early 90s. It was a musical comedy group, but we worked for maybe 3 or 4 years as a warm-up act for a handful of touring celebrities at the time, including Julie Andrews, but also the Smothers Brothers and comedian Rich Little.

We traveled one whole summer with Julie Andrews. It was my personal experience that she was wonderful and had a wonderful sense of humor. She was appreciative of the small supporting role that we played in her show. She traveled with an ensemble as well. We were traveling separately. Her band was on a standard tour bus at the time. She drove in a limousine and had a driver. This was the caravan. It wasn’t uncommon that the band, while on the road, their wives would come out sometimes and join the tour for the weekend and fly home. I overheard a conversation where she offered one of the guys the limo so he and his wife could travel from one venue to the next together to have some time together. She road on the bus. That said a lot about who she was. She was always very, very good humored and always made us feel as though our role was valued.

In Richard Sherman’s book, Pursuing Happiness, he tells a story about giving a lecture at USC. As he described it, some smartalec shouted out, “How much money did you make from Winnie the Pooh?” He goes on to tell this story about a girl in Texas who had fallen down a well. As they were trying to rescue her the girl apparently told her mother that she wanted her to sing Winnie the Pooh, because “Winnie the Pooh was in great tightness and he got out and I’m going to get out.” Richard Sherman said, “That moment made me the richest man in the world.” How does music in general, and these Disney songs in particular, make you the richest man in the world?

We just performed our show a couple nights ago. After the show a gentleman came up to me and said, “My dad has Alzheimer’s.” Out of the blue. I never met this guy before. I said I’m very sorry, not knowing where he was going with this. And he said, “He’s been living with us. When I was leaving the house, I said, I’m going to see a Disney show tonight. They’re playing Disney music.” His father, with Alzheimer’s, brightened up and said, “Do you remember when we took you to see The Aristocats?” Now, The Aristocats is not one of the most memorable movies, but it’s a fabulous movie released in 1970, and it happened to be the very last animated feature that Walt Disney would be able to approve for production in 1965. 

He went on to say that his little brother was born and stayed in the ICU for six weeks. [He continued] “When my little brother was able to finally come home my dad took my sister and I out to see The Aristocats.” This person who was suffering from Alzheimer’s was able to tap into that because of his connection to the Disney music. You can’t put a price on that; that I was part of a performance that reminded both those individuals of that story and that he chose to relate it to me.

Knowing how it affects people, how deeply connected people are to this music, it’s a great responsibility. Whether I’m playing at the park or whether I’m playing on the outside with my own band and present this music at the highest level, because I know how people relate to it. It is a gift that I cherish and I don’t take it for granted.

To watch the full interview with Matt Johnson, please go here.

Main Photo: Matt Johnson (Courtesy Matt Johnson)

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Owen will be performing at the Grammy Museum on Monday, October 9th. She follows that with four performances at the McKittrick Hotel in New York beginning on October 11th.

Earlier this week I spoke with Owen about the lusty songs she recorded on Come On & Get It, the role of female empowerment in modern music and we discussed what, if any, difference there is between Judith Owen and Lady J. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: You sing He’s a Tramp on this album. Peggy Lee, who wrote that and other songs for Lady and the Tramp [with Sonny Burke] said, “I try to project not only a song, but a personality.” Your album is released under the name Judith Owen. But on stage, you’re Lady J. How much do the songs that you choose to record and perform reflect Judith Owen? And how much is a preparation for who Lady J is when she performs them?

Very good question, actually. But the truth is it’s all Judith Owen. I was christened Lady J by my trumpet player, Kevin Lewis, his mother. When I did the first ever show at Snug Harbor, New Orleans, right after the last day of recording [this album], she jumped out of a seat after I’d finished singing King Size Papa and screamed, “We love you, Lady J.” The whole place cheered. It was amazing. So my band and everyone else has been calling me Lady J ever since. I think what it refers to is the unapologetic badass woman that I’ve been gestating, that has been hiding inside. 

I always wants to be the consummate entertainer. I want to sing and perform and dance and play the piano and have that stagecraft. Whether it’s my songwriting or whether it’s me covering somebody else, you have to inhabit it. Peggy Lee was absolutely correct. But the truth is, that’s all me. It’s all me finally on display, unapologetically. I love being the front person. I love being that lady J out front, center. Whatever you want to call me, it’s me. 

What inspired you most about this collection of songs, all performed by women, that have innuendo at their core?

What these women were all about, whether they wrote it or not, was about the ownership of it. It was about the fact that they could sing it and deliver it in a way that no one else could. No man would ever get away with this or do this and be that empowered. This was an era where women were meant to be decoration. Nice girls were singing about romance, for God’s sake. These women were not only singing about sex, they were celebrating female sexuality and enjoying it. They had a smirk on their faces. They had their tongues in their cheeks and they were putting it out there that they were woman in control of themselves. 

If people think that sexuality has only just occurred with Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B, think again ladies. These woman were in control and sexy – out of control sexy. And they didn’t even take it off. I’m bringing my fresh take on this and showing the joy and the sexiness of keeping it on.

I assume singing these songs on stage allows you to bring even more than what you do in a recording studio?

That’s correct. I’m a very visual artist. Performing is my true love. Live performance is what I live for. Everything is recorded live. It’s one take. I believe in that completely and utterly, because I want to keep that seat of the pants feeling that makes great performance.

I’m very proud of the album. But the thing that I love about performing it live is to entertain you. But also to transport you and to leave you breathless with that art form that is rarely seen these days. It’s an old art form and it’s a wonderful art form. If I could spend the rest of my life on stage performing like this, that’s really what I’ve always wanted.

Female self-expression and ownership has changed a lot from the time of the music that you’ve recorded to what’s being released as new music today. Where do you think female self-expression will go vis-a-vis artists in the next ten or 15 years?

Young women are asking me what is the answer? How do they get to that place? You, in your lives, are not here to be pleasers. It’s to please us first and then we can everyone else. I do believe in that strongly. I think that whatever way you look, whatever way you dress, the future is woman. However you present yourself, your music, your gift, your sexuality, is on your own terms. Because when you’re authentic and when your voice is true, people can tell.

I spent a whole career being told why do you talk so much? Why do you think you’re funny? Why do you want to do this, do that? Then you get to a point where it’s look, this is who I am. Do you understand? This is who I am. You like me or you don’t like me, but I can’t do anything about that. It’s not about how other people judge you, What matters is the voice inside you that’s judging yourself. We all know that you get to that point [where] we actually don’t give a shit. That’s the most freeing moment. That is moving forward movement. I really hope that is the future.

Let’s talk about your future. 18 years ago you were Lost and Found [her 2005 album]. Now you’re at a point where you’re saying, come on and get it. What do you feel is the most authentic next step for Judith Owen?

That is unbelievably insightful and I never even thought about it that way. I’m somebody who every single CD, every single album I made, you could tell where I was, who I was, how I was doing, how my mental health was. I was lost. I was found.

Here I am 18 years later after all this time and all these albums at a point where I’m saying to the world grab this life. Just embrace who you are for real. It’s a short life. It’s a short time we’re here. Don’t waste it. If I could have got here faster, I would have. But I couldn’t. So here I am looking forward. These women gave me permission to be my unapologetic self, to reveal the bad ass that was gestating all this time since I was six years old. I kid you not. Moving forward, I’m going to be performing and recording and being that person. 

Since we started with Peggy Lee, I want to end with something else that Peggy Lee said. She said, “I regard singing pretty much like acting. Each song is like playing a different role. I get very involved with my material. I feel a responsibility for the emotion it brings out in the listener.” Do you equate singing with acting? And if so, how does that inform not just how you present yourself today, but how are you going to present yourself in a week or a year or a decade?

Having an overactive imagination, but having a core actor sensibility in me, I do believe that. Being an interpreter is about being an actor. Somebody like Sinatra was so extraordinary in that way. Peggy Lee was so magnificent in that way. You felt like she meant every single word. That’s what I believe in. It’s half acting, half really exposing your true self. Because like any fine actor, you must immerse yourself in the character. You must immerse yourself in the role and you must mean every word that you utter. So if you’re going to do it right, and do it well, you take it to the place inside you where it resonates.

I’m not just singing this song because it’s pretty or lovely or what sounds good or my voice is nice. That’s not what it means to me. I want you to be on this ride with me, to feel what I feel and remember how you’ve been there. She could not be more right. I’m a big believer of this. Again, it’s not incredibly popular, I guess. You don’t see that very much these days, but I believe in it.

To see the full interview with Judith Owen, please go here.

Main Photo: Judith Owen (Courtesy Judith Owen)

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Her sense of humor about it was something we discussed last week in a Zoom call. Parlato said, “If you see the list of the other artists I’m very certain that I am the most least-known artist of all of them. And I’m happy to be included. It’s just that feeling of being able to have that moment to honor this music and then be starstruck and to just look over. I don’t know how close you can get to the other artists.”

The other artists are Billie Eilish, Debbie Harry, Bettye LaVette, Seth MacFarlane, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Dianne Reeves. They will all perform with The Count Basie Orchestra with musical director Christian McBride and pianist John Beasley.

Though Parlato is not a household name the way other artists on this program are, she should be. She’s a two-time Grammy Award nominee for her albums Live in NYC (2013) and last year’s Flor. She has an understated approach to singing that draws a listener in almost immediately. She can easily go from singing from the Great American Songbook to singing a song by David Bowie (No Plan which is on Flor).

Her grandmother was the person who most influenced Parlato.

“She played a big role in playing these amazing jazz vocalists for me. Before I even knew what jazz was. It was just this sound of Ella and and Nancy and Frank and Peggy Lee.”

When asked if she’s concerned that our present-day culture is entirely too focused on the present and not the past, particularly as it relates to recording artists, she finds a reason to believe.

“I agree with you that often it takes a little more effort to seek out the art of any genre that isn’t alive anymore,” she offers. “To show how important [Sinatra and Lee] were in the lineage, look at the singers that are chosen to be a part of this show. Billie Eilish is one of them. She has stated her adoration for Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. So that’s a perfect example of someone who’s very young who can pay tribute and admire singers that she grew up with that have helped inform what she does. But it’s unique.”

For this concert Parlato will be singing two songs from the Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim catalog. While she is definitely a fan of Sinatra’s, I believe she has a lot in common with Peggy Lee’s signing style. Lee said of her own vocal talents that what she did was “singing softly with feeling.” The comparison is not lost on Parlato.

“It’s interesting because I’ve heard different quotes from other artists. Not until you just mentioned the quote from her did I put it all together. That’s the way that I have been brought up being a vocalist. There’s something so powerful about this understatement and intimacy and kind of allowing people to feel all the different facets. It doesn’t have to be something obvious, it can be something that’s a little bit intriguing.”

It’s also the moments she chooses not to sing that are equally important to her.

“You’re totally right. That is equal, if not maybe more important; the space and the silence in-between the sound. I talk a lot about that when I teach. It’s like the yin and yang. It’s like these opposites that complement each other that make the other one even stronger. It’s an exciting place to be when you allow that space to sit and you get comfortable with it. And it’s a great metaphor for life to write, for meditating or just leaning in and accepting a situation and allowing it to be and feeling. Allowing whatever will come around to enhance that place that you’re in.”

Parlato has learned a lot from teachers like Ruth Price, Tierney Sutton and the late Barbara Morrison who called what Parlato does with her voice “an offering. It’s a gift, like, here you go.” As for the lessons learned from Sinatra and Lee, she is very quick to respond with one word.

“I think phrasing is everything. Singers like that really taught me to pay attention to not only the emotional story of the song, but what are we singing about. Barbara had us write out what are the lyrics about of the song that you’re singing. What’s a way that you can introduce this song and find your connection to it. That’s something that I can find much easier to do now in my forties than when I was a teenager. There was a disconnect, too. It was mostly about this more intellectual and technical sense of phrasing and rhythm. I think paying attention to the rhythm can be informed by the emotional story of the song. So what are you trying to say? How do we phrase based on the story?”

Last spring Parlato completed a recording with guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke. Their duo project will be released next year followed by a series of performances around the world. For now it’s the tribute to Sinatra and Lee followed by a tour in Europe in October and November.

But what if Sinatra was able to hear her sing? To hear her sing from some of the legend’s most celebrated albums? What would she like him to say?

“Oh, wow. That’s a cool question. I’m imagining him sitting in the box seat smoking at the show. I think if he said ‘Good job, kid’ I’d be good with that. If he said, ‘Let’s have a drink. Cheers!” that’d be good.

“In all seriousness, if he was able to find a glimpse, a sparkle that he had an influence and a connection to. I think that would be an enormous compliment. Somebody of that level just feeling that I am connected to the music. I would hope that he would appreciate artists finding their own voice, singing a song and telling their own story. So I would hope that he would hear me singing his exact arrangements and that he would hear that there’s a tradition there. But that there’s something fresh and a new story to tell. That I made it my own.”

To watch my full conversation with Gretchen Parlato, please go here.

For details on Gretchen Parlato’s tour schedule, please go here.

Main Photo: Gretchen Parlato (Photo by Lauren Desberg/Courtesy of the Artist)

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