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Going To Soulsville with Jeff Kazee
An Interview with Jeff Kazee
by Michelle Paponetti

In 1998, Jeff Kazee's newly found role as the Asbury Jukes keyboardist won the acceptance and praise of many a Juke fan. But Kazee's career was well past getting started. Born in Newark, Ohio, Jeff got his start as a musician at a young age and has been working hard ever since, playing the key role as the Asbury Jukes soul-influenced keyboardist as well as writing his own music for his band Kazee. Now that Jeff Kazee has become a staple in the Asbury Jukes live sound, he has worked his way up to becoming a key figure in the studio sounds as well.

Kazee spent a lot of time with Southside Johnny in the past few months, collaborating on solutions to some of the new material, as well as having a hand in writing songs on the new album, "Going To Jukesville." At the young age of 34, he has proved himself to be not only a strong musician, but a man with a great sense of songwriting ability and an understanding of life.

I met up with Jeff in a Japanese restaurant just outside of Westbury, Long Island to discuss his thoughts on a few different things and here is what he had to say.

It's pretty evident that you have a well rounded education in music with a wide range of musical influences. Do you remember how any of that began?
Yeah, I came from a family of musicians. I grew up playing piano in church and all the influences started early. My dad was a choir director and my mom made me take classical piano lessons. From age ten. My brother's a fantastic pianist. He owns a recording studio. He's eight years older than me. And I probably should have started piano earlier but I was so intimidated because he was really good from an early age and much more dedicated because I was much more into sports. And my dad was really into country music so we listened to country music radio a lot. And that formed the basis of what I do. Then I became a radio freak, all day, all night. Believe it or not we had hardly any black music around the house-zero-and you know I'm a huge R + B/Soul fan. I really identify a lot with soul music, R&B, but the only black music I'd heard was Ray Charles and the only reason was because he had a record called "Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country Western Music." And of course when I got older, like in my teens, I started listening to classic R&B, because I found it on oldies radio stations. There was this great station called WLW, and there was this DJ named Jim Labarbera "the Music Professor" and he would tell the history behind certain songs and that appealed to me. Then I got into a band in high school. Almost every type of music has always resonated with me. I'm just musically curious-it's my curse.

Have you always planned on being a musician or did you go to school working on something to fall back on?
Never. Never had anything to all back on. I knew I was going to be a musician, even when I was slacking and hanging out in Ohio. It's almost like it was a chosen thing.

And your parents were OK with that?
Well, yeah. My dad loved the idea of it and my brother had been a successful musician eight years before me. So he laid the groundwork that it was OK to actually make a living on it. Although every year it gets harder and harder for people to make a living because there just are not that many places to play anymore. If my kids want to do it, I'll just say, "Do your thing." It seems like if you're good enough, you always end up landing on your feet. Maybe not with a full wallet, but you land on your feet. If I went back to college, I'd probably study Literature full time and I'd still end up making music for a living-albeit with better grammar.

When did you start writing your own music?
Well, I was always improvising, but I didn't write my own music and sing them out until I was about 25 or 26 years old, because I had such a high regard for the great songs. I always felt I'd be a writer. My dad has written hundreds of songs, so it's sort of in me, you know? I was always an arranger, composer and improviser. In my late twenties, I started to come into my own in regards to writing stuff down as a song. I just felt I needed life experiences to reflect on. What can I say, I was a late bloomer in the writing thing. I felt I had to live more. I wanted some life experience before I started writing things down. Some people start writing at like sixteen, seventeen, and it works out. But I never felt a rush. Now I feel there's a rush because I'm in my thirties! (laughs)

You had a hand in some of the songwriting on Southside Johnny's new album, "Going to Jukesville." How did you get involved in that?
Johnny had heard my record, "No River" and knew I wrote music. And in the beginning, he wanted to go in a more soul/Stax influence kind of thing and that's my bread and butter. That I know. And that's kinda what I bring to the band. So he pulled me aside last year and said, "Look, we're doing this record and I think you could write some songs for this." At that time I thought it was going to be a pure soul record. I didn't know there was going to be a turn for more rock and roll, which is totally cool, and it came out great. So I had an idea for a Sam and Dave/James Brown thing called "Change for You" that John and I eventually ended up writing together. And since John has that ability to do the Otis Redding stuff, I gave him an Otis-inspired tune called "Lost" which he proceeded to sing the hell out of on the record. John just made it his own, he has an incredible gift of doing that - making someone else's words into his own. It's something all the great singers do.

I think that opening line, "Please think twice..." has a great James Brown meets Otis Redding feel about it.
Right. I wanted a strong line like that and only a few guys can really pull it off and John's certainly one of them. I completely thought of John with that opening line.

How did you meet Johnny?
I met him about ten years ago at a Chubby Checker fan convention! No actually, Rusty Cloud called me up and said, "I'm thinking about leaving the Jukes, but I'll probably still do a few gigs. Would you be interested in learning the material and subbing on it?" I said, "Yeah, sure." Southside and the Jukes are such a legendary live band, completely right up my alley. The Jukes are made for me. They get bored quickly like I do sometimes. They're constantly reinventing the music and the setlists. There's never the same setlist. That appealed to me. And so Rusty called me and asked me if I could make this gig at the Tradewinds. I showed up and I saw there were two guitars. I didn't understand, because there was a Marshall stack beside me. I knew about Bobby because I had seen him play several times as a fan. The Marshall amp stack belonged to, of course, Mr. Bon Jovi, who was sitting in for the night-just the first surprise in a long list of unpredictable environments for doing a Jukes gig. Then this guy shows up who looks like the guy off the Southside records. It was Johnny and he had the sunglasses and the whole deal. I had never met him, we didn't rehearse. But I recognized him immediately, and he looks at me and goes, "Who are you?!" And I said, "I'm the new keyboard player." And he said, "Rusty quit?" and I said, "Not yet."

He didn't even know that you were going to be playing?
I think he did. But anyway, he said, "Here's our rehearsal," it was at sound check, and he says, "Give me the intro to "The Fever'" so I played it, and he says, "Are you sure you're playing that right?" and I said, "Yeah." so he says, "OK, next one." Meanwhile the whole band is looking at me. And I knew some of the guys in the band. Chris Anderson introduced me to Rusty the first month I moved to New York, which was fortuitous, because Rusty and I live in the same world, as far as influences. All over the map. Rusty was turning me on to a lot of the NYC gigging scene-really helped me out. Of course, I bailed him out of some schedule snafus, so he got something out of the deal as well. Anyway, at the Tradewinds, we rehearsed for about ten minutes and I had this one card with just the keys on it and the names of the songs, and I had it in alphabetical order so I could find them quickly, but then on the set list, they change the words so that like "I Don't Wanna Go Home" isn't under "I" it's under "Home." And Johnny basically talks in Chinese when he's on stage to you, so part of the gig is to decipher what exactly is Mr. Southside saying? Is he mad or is he just emphatic or insane? And the answer to that is All of the above! (laughs) So that was a cool gig and then Jon Bon Jovi popped up. That was the other guitar, and he seems to know the material better than John does. He knew all the parts and that was cool. A lot of fun.

Then I did a few more gigs and I thought to myself - I don't want to share this anymore. I told Rusty "I don't wanna share this gig cause I really want it all for myself and this part time stuff ain't cutting it" - in a matter of words. I really was feeling the attraction to the band and just loving the horns and stuff, real deal music. I was getting greedy! Little did I know that Rusty was planning on leaving, so it worked out. He said, "Just take 'em all." And I hit it off with John due to a lot of similar interests, though I draw the line at bird watching. We trade book talk a lot. And so I think I was just the right guy.

I hear you're working on your second solo album as well. How's that coming along?
I thought it would be done a lot faster. I actually started doing it in May. I went to Bearsville up in New York where Todd Rundgren and The Band recorded. Dylan was up there in the early days. And I got myself a producer named Kevin Salem who lives up there.

Where is Bearsville?
Bearsville is up by Woodstock, it's a studio and a town. And no kidding, I saw a bear in the parking lot. It was by the dumpster and I completely freaked out going to get my car because it was right by the dumpster where the bear was! A raccoon is OK, but a bear? No. I don't dig no live bears!

So what did you do?
I gave the keys to my drummer, Richie, and said, "Hey man, I'm busy doing some stuff, can you go get my car?" So he went an got it and I haven't seen him since. (laughs) So anyway, I started that record and recorded eight tracks. I'll go record eight basic tracks, then I'll go back and record four or five new songs. Meanwhile, I'm working at Kevin's studio and at my house too. With computers, I can do recording wherever I go. So, it's just me and Kevin right now and we're bringing guys in here and there.

Do you think it will be out by the end of the year?
Yeah. Absolutely. It'll be great for stocking stuffers.

Are there going to be any guest appearances on the record?
I don't know. I talked to John about playing harp on it. I'm not into putting guests on just to have guests. It has to be right. If there's a harmonica thing that I want, we'll see. But its not a blues or R&B record. It's a pop record with soul influences. It definitely harkens to like early-eighties, thinkin' man's pop. So I don't know, maybe we'll see our friend Southside, maybe we'll see some other people. I definitely want to put some horns on a couple of things. I'm gonna have to see if I can shake down the Jukes to play for cheap!

I know you read a lot of books. What are you reading now?
I'm reading about three books right now. I picked up a book called "The Professional" by W.C. Hines. It's like one of the greatest boxing books ever written. I just read a book called "The Feast of Love" that's really good. I want to go back and revisit a bunch of books right now. My favorite book of all time is "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. I was just reading a review of it the other day, an updated review, and I thought I should check it out again. I read it about every ten years. I first read it when I was fifteen. It epitomizes the artist, in this case he's an architect, and the unwillingness of the public to allow true artistic vision to survive, and this guy fights against that. It's a great book.

If there were one person, dead or alive, that you could have lunch with, who would it be and what would you ask them?
Let me think. Usually that's a round table question, like if you could have a dinner party, but if I could have lunch with one person, without getting too deep, it would probably be Jesus, for real.

Without getting too deep?
(laughs) Yeah right. And it would be a long meal cause I've got a lot of questions. A lot of thanks and a few grievances. The ultimate would be to unlock what I'm here for. What we're here for. I know what I'm here for. That's to make great records and to make a lot of money! (laughs) And to serve Johnny.

Who is your favorite pianist?
My all time favorite, if you put a gun to my head, Keith Jarrett. He's a jazz guy who's really intense with soul and gospel. That's who's music I would take to a desert island.

What's the last record you bought?
Randy Newman's "Good Old Boys." The movie scores are the stuff he cashes in on now, he's a really great composer, but he's one of the best living American songwriters around today. Actually, I previously stayed away from Randy because I was always afraid of ripping him off too much. He's rooted in the Southern/Dixie/Bluesy meets College Boy. I can relate all too well. He has this song that I've been obsessed with the whole summer, "Louisiana 1927" about a flood. He's really into piano and strings and heavily orchestrated music and I've been into that for a long time. I stayed away from Randy because every time I heard it, it was similar to me. He's rooted in dixie, he has that jazzy, bluesy type of playing. He's real sardonic and ironic and beautiful at the same time.

Elton John or Billy Joel?
Elton John.

N'Sync or the Backstreet Boys?
You know what, I get them mixed up. Which one did "I Want It That Way?"

Backstreet Boys.
Then the Backstreet Boys, absolutely. Justin? Is that it?

No, that's N'Sync.
Oh, no, I'm a Justin guy (laughs). I had a t-shirt, that had both bands on it. And it was funny cause the fans were asking me, "Do you really like them?" So I said, "Yeah, I think they're hot..." (laughs)

Do you remember the first record you ever bought?
Wings. Londontown. "With A Little Luck." I love that song. I'm a Paul guy.

He was you're favorite Beatle?
He was for years.

Are your children into music?
Yeah, my daughter, Vassileia, is into music. We listen to records constantly. When we have meals, I go into the other room and put some jazz on. One time I played this guy Art Tatum, who's like the greatest jazz piano player ever, or one of them, and she heard him playing while she was eating and she was about two and a half years old, and in between bites she says, "This is not you, daddy." And I said, "Yeah, I know it's not me." And she says, "This guy's much better than you." I said, "You got that right!" Both of my kids are into dance. I'd say they're musical, at least they appreciate it. Vassileia has actually started on the recorder. She practices fifteen minutes a day. And the recorder, even when it's played properly, is pure hell.

You've been on the road quite a bit. What's the most bizarre thing that's ever happened to you on the road?
With the Jukes, literally every gig has a chance to be bizarre, but the most bizarre gig that we've done in a while was last year in Vandalia, Ohio. It was a Labor Day celebration, in the middle of a soccer field. And this Jukes fan completely blew the entertainment budget for the summer on the Jukes, for this company's own personal concert. It was like the least attended concert cause everybody had Labor Day plans and it wasn't really advertised that
well. It was great though, it was like what a classic Jukes fan would do. And I ended up playing drums on the last song, very poorly I might add. And I got yelled at by John. I didn't stick around afterwards because I didn't want to get yelled at anymore. More recently, we played a music festival in Cincinnati, essentially a homecoming gig for me and the weather was absolutely terrible, Dickie Betts played over their limit, leaving us with about 45 minutes to do our 2 hour show. We go on stage, no monitors working, no keys working, and the Main speakers are kinda just sputtering static. So we just played and looked like jerks to the remaining fans - half of 'em my family - a real disappointment for me because I'm so proud of the band. Not the way I wanted the band to be presented to my friends and family...ouch. The next day, we totally killed in Cleveland in front of 6,000 maniacal fans. I told my Mom that and she just said, "Sure, Dear, I'm sure it was wonderful." Why are the disasters the most memorable?

And you're going to Europe in a few months. Are you excited?
Yeah, I like Europe because they totally have us down, completely for the music, as opposed to this nostalgic image. In the states, some people are like, "Let's go see the Jukes. I used to see them on the shore all the time." For me, I never saw the Jukes on the shore. So the part that's interesting to me is that the fans in Europe is that they're into the Jukes solely for the music. Not because they happen to be from a town a few miles from the Jersey Shore. I mean, the nostalgia aspect of the band is great, but we are an evolving, relevant, musical entity that is still trying to grow musically. John is totally about combining the romantic past with a great big dose of the Here and Now. But in Europe, a lot of them haven't seen us, or haven't seen us in a while and they've sought us out. And we always draw great crowds over there. And I love to travel.

Well, also it's not like you're going to fill those places up with people hoping that Springsteen shows up.
It's a strong enough band that even though there's a small amount of people that have come to our shows for the wrong reasons, ironically, we're able to convert them. I know a lot great fans that have come to us that way. And I'm very secure about this band. However they come, to have an open mind is all we ask for because you're gonna have a good time. And if you want to feel, then this is the right band for you.

You've got a lot of good shows coming up, you have the whole summer booked. What comes after that? Are you going to finish up your new album maybe put a tour behind it?
Yeah, I am. I've been going back and forth with some people about putting the record out. At the least, I'll put it out myself. The thing I want to do right now is to continue to play with the Jukes, do my thing and I also play with a bunch of other people. I want to balance that if I can. The good thing is that the thing I'm doing now with the trio (Kazee), I can go out and I only have to worry about paychecks for two people. Although I want to get paid as well! But, I've put off playing for the public for the last couple of years with that band because I've had my other CD out, "No River" for four or five years and it's just not that fresh for me. And I have all this other material now. So that's what I'm hoping to get started up again.

On your first record, the topics seemed to bounce around between rejection, stability, escape and it worked out nicely. Is there any kind of specific thematic direction your heading toward with the new material?
I still write about those things. I'm starting to realize that there are only a couple of songs you can write. Either story songs or love songs. Love songs could be lack of love, rejection of love, love not realized, and those things appeal to me. I like the fact that even in a happy relationship, there's tension. Or even a bad relationship there's that dynamic of great love. The highest of the high and the lowest of the low. But there's also something in the middle, people don't tend to write about. The day-to-dayness of living. And that's true love, just going day to day. I tend to be turned on by the mundane, like going to work and showing up on time.

I think that's why Bruce Springsteen has such a huge fanbase.
That's a good point. He's a grown up and I always liked that about Bruce. Even when he was singing about youth, he was a grown up. I look and see how old he was when he did those first records and I can't believe it. I can completely identify with him with the fact that I had a realization at a young age about relationships and a sense of community like that. By the way, that's a good observation that you make concerning my first record "No River" in regards to the whole escape/stability thing. I'm proud of that record. That's my life. The first statement of my life. Every song on that record is true. It's completely my life at the time, it sums it up. On the new record I hide it a little bit better, I'm talking about other people. I'll never be a great storyteller like Bruce, I like to tell small stories in a pop sense.

One of the songs that I really like on the Going to Jukesville record is "She's Still In Love." It's got such a great groove, some wonderful horn arrangements.
Yeah, and that song was completely different when it was first written. John wrote that song and it was real straight. You'd never recognize the tune, and John was saying, "We gotta do something." And I suggested we do a Tyrone Davis treatment of it. And it really changed the feel of it. He completely took it to soulsville. John was really for it, and Bobby did the right guitar riff and the rhythm section fell in great. I think the rhythm section really was into it. It's such a horn band. And the challenge for us is to deliver the goods without stepping on the horns or John.

What's your favorite song on the record?
I'm a huge fan of "She's Still In Love." "I Can't Dance" is great. I think it captures John in a youthful moment. And John is always good to laugh at himself. I'm proud of "Lost" and I thought John captured exactly how it should be. I don't think we could have made it any better. The great thing about John is that he carries his heart on his sleeve when he sings. The songs about isolation, they appeal to John. There are a few songs that I might have kept off the record, I think it's a few songs too long but overall, I think it's a great record. It's funny, when you make a record, some of the things that you thought were lousy at the time can come out pretty strong. That goes vice-versa. A track that you think is perfect turns out to be incredibly average or just plain lame. Hey, I always think you can make a record better, though it's hard to argue with the Soul of this record. It's got everything a Jukes fan could ask for. Power, good songs, horns, a driving sound, and a killer vibe. I can't wait to do the next one. I'm sure our Sinatra has something burning up his sleeve.

For more information about Jeff, or to purchase a copy of "No River", visit Kazee's website at www.kazeemusic.com

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