Jumaane Smith, a soft-spoken, 33-year-old trumpeter from Seattle, Washington, slides into the café booth where we're meeting at a rapid pace. It's as though he's been on the move for the past year straight. And given his recent track record, it appears he has. Fresh on the heels of his debut album release, the "I Only Have Eyes For You" musician, (who also plays the piano and sings), is in the midst of a world tour with artist Michael Bublé.
Smith and Bublé met in 2005, during Jumaane's final year at Julliard, a place he described as "inspiring - the most concentrated exposure I've ever had to so many people so intensely dedicated to their craft."
Since then, Smith has gone on international adventures, played the Grammys with Stevie Wonder, and accidentally met Bill Clinton at a bar in Dublin. But, he says, beneath the celebrity and the whirlwind of names and stages, the most important thing at the heart of jazz is simply the tune.
You just got back from Brazil, where you were on tour with Michael Bublé. How was it?
We were all over South America, it was great. We had a good time, it was a nice tour.
You performed in Brazil, and where else?
We performed in Argentina, Chile, and, actually, when we were in Argentina, there was this wild rainstorm, and we were performing in an outside stadium, for maybe 25,000 people. Everybody just figured we would be canceling the show, and that no one would show up, but instead, everybody showed up. [Bublé's] wife is from Argentina too, so it was a homecoming in a kind of way. So everybody was there, and we were like playing in the rain, and we did the whole show. Fortunately, everything went OK, nobody was hurt, but it was kind of a scary. I never like doing shows like that.
How long were you on tour with Bublé?
This past month, or three weeks, maybe? Then we go back out at the beginning of November. We're going to Europe this time. We're starting in Budapest, but honestly, I just go along for the ride. The less I have to worry about, the better.
Do you have a way to get in the zone before you get on stage? Do you do any warming up?
I definitely take some time to myself and try to clear my mind and focus on the moment, and try to be present. I do some deep breathing, and try to relax. It's exciting, though, being able to get on stage in front of thousands and thousands of people. The cool thing about being in Michael's band, too, is that we're all a big family. It's a tight-knit community. Most of us have been in the band - or surrounding the band, being friends of the band - for many years now. I guess I'm one of the older members of this band, but some of the younger members have been in the band for almost six years. I have been in the band, since 2005. Nine years. It's really cool, we've become close, good friends. Some years, we spend more time with each other than we do with our significant others. That aspect can be a bit challenging sometimes, the travel.
Are there any artists that are your favorites, or biggest sources of inspiration?
Stevie Wonder, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown were huge influences for me.
I saw you worked with Stevie Wonder. What was that like?
It was tremendous. I worked with him on the Grammys, and actually, I worked with him at Quincy Jones' 80 birthday party at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and that was cool. I was just there last weekend, doing a show with Michael. We did a private event, for Keep Memory Alive. It's an organization that does some great brain research and work in medicine.
Tell me what it was like to perform for George W. Bush.
That was incredible, because I got to go to the White House, and hang out. I performed in the East Room, and saw the president and all his staff. I didn't really get to talk to him too much, but it was cool. He said he was diggin' the music. He was grooving along.
Do you have a particular style all your own when you play?
I hope I do. I think my style is a melting pot of all of my influences, mixed in with a bit of me. I think being a singer has influenced my trumpet playing and the way that I phrase and articulate certain characters of song based on the lyric and the melody, and how they fit together.
Are you working on anything on your own currently?
I have a new show that I've just put together, which I'm excited about. It's based on American popular songs from the 1940s to today. We do Bruno Mars, we do Louis Armstrong, we do Joe Cocker, and all kinds of cool stuff. There are a lot of original arrangements, and I'm very excited about it. I play the trumpet, play piano and sing. I'm looking to maybe film a live DVD for that, possibly sometime soon, and maybe do a second record as well. My first record is called "I Only Have Eyes For You" and Michael Bublé is on it, as well as Jackie Evancho, who was on "America's Got Talent". Naturally 7, who has been opening for Michael for the past six years, and they're pretty tremendous, is also on there. They're a seven-piece a capella group that does all kinds of unique sounds.
Do you have a favorite song to perform?
I like to perform, "I'll Be Seeing You." Billie Holiday's version is one of my favorites. I think it's so sentimental, and the treatment that we've done to it in my band is quite different from that version. We gave it a Norah Jones "Don't Know Why" feel, and did some cool stuff to the harmony. We sort of modernized it, in a way that the lyric is - well, first of all, the lyric is always going to be relevant, and that's something that holds true from the time it was written until, well, forever. So I feel like with the modern treatment, it's possible to make songs like that current again.
I like to do "You Are So Beautiful," that's a fun one. We have a cool arrangement of that. I start at the piano, and it builds into a rocking trumpet solo. Lots of drama, high notes. I get up there.
How have you seen the jazz scene change since you started until now?
It's interesting, because when I started, it seemed as though there was a lack - in New York, at least - of musicians and audience. Now, it kind of seems as though there's a reestablishment of it being relevant in New York in certain pockets. For example, I'll go to Dizzy's club in Lincoln Center, and nowadays, it's always full. With young people, too. And that's kind of amazing. As far as stylistically, I think it's incredible how [jazz] keeps growing in many ways, and there are great young artists coming out who are at the brink of innovation and finding new, experimental developments. It's an interesting time to be in New York, to be in the scene.
Sometimes, I feel as though musicians can get lost in the music - since they're so deep into what they're doing - that they forget the audience. It becomes a foreign language, that, if you know how to speak it, then it's amazing, but if you don't, it just sounds like any other foreign language. And so, I feel like that's one thing that, as jazz musicians going forward, we have to be mindful of, because the only way that this art form will continue to exist is if there's an audience for it. And it has to be financed in some regard, or else a) all the musicians will have to get a day job, and they won't be able to commit as many hours to the craft as necessary, or b) it's just going to completely be gone.
Do you feel like that's happening?
I feel like it's always a struggle, especially in the states, unfortunately. It seems so ironic that jazz is from here, and yet, it's the least exposed and the least appreciated [genre]. American culture is so far removed from it, and in many ways, it's considered "adult music." Our culture is so focused on youth. Adults attempt to be more like kids rather than children striving to be more like adults. At a time when jazz was more popular in the states, I think the reverse was true. That's why in my music and on my record, I tried really hard to create something that had that depth to it, but at the same time, was still accessible to everybody. I tried to create a nice mix of instrumental and vocal music, improvisation and pre-organized, and arranged music. I feel it's important to focus on melody - something people can always latch on to. If you know a melody, you can put anything around it, really.
Do you do anything besides playing instruments? A day job?
No, fortunately, right now. I've only had one real job in my life, well, I've had two. One - and some people credit how loud I am on my instrument and as a person to this - was when I was a kid. I used to sell programs at the University of Washington, Husky Stadium. Then the second one was, for about three months, I worked at a music store. But aside from that, I've made my living just as a musician so far.
You're lucky.
Yeah, absolutely.
My record - it came out at the beginning of the year, and I spent a lot of time developing it. We were fortunate to record it at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. We had a full string orchestra - it's a romantic record, that features lots of ballads and love songs. It's a nice, mellow album, to be enjoyed with a glass of wine and somebody you care about. That's what I always say.
For more on Jumaane, check out his Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. To purchase "I Only Have Eyes For You," head over to iTunes.
