KEN NAVARRO

1. First off, you’re doing something quite unique and leading-edge with your new Positive Music release, “Love Coloured Soul.” Could you explain what’s going on there, and what someone might expect to find with a visit to your website?

KN:  I am allowing visitors to my website to follow the weekly progress of the creation of my new CD. Via a series of streaming videos which will include footage of the recording sessions, previews of the cover and CD packaging as well as interviews with myself and the other musicians, I am sharing the recording process. In addition, when the CD is completed, I will be offering three DVD extra packages along with the finished CD with extended special features. Each package will focus on the particular interests of smooth jazz listeners,. For example, there will be a package called “Be The Guitar”. This package will include a video about the way the guitar was recorded as well as my own private demos of the songs with the first guitar parts, different from the ones on the final CD. It will also include a guitar lesson from me teaching you how to play one of the songs from “Love Coloured Soul” and a music minus one audio track so that you can play my guitar part along with the original tracks. And there will be another package called “Backstage Pass” which will include a 20 minute movie on the making of the CD as well as extensive interviews with all of the musicians and access to the original demo CD of all the songs which were given to each musician to help them prepare for the recording sessions plus much, much more.

2. When and how did you really start getting into the high-tech thing with your music?

KN: I think it started for me in 1986 with my first Mac computer (an SE)
and the first version of the music sequencing program I still use, Performer, now Digital Performer. I couldn’t believe what I could do
in a back bedroom in my house in Los Angeles and it’s just continued
ever since. I love learning new things and this latest endeavor has
plenty of learning curve, even for me!.

3. As one of the pioneers of this format, you were playing Smooth Jazz back in the days before it was even called Smooth Jazz. How would you describe the evolution of your music since that first album, “The River Flows,” back in 1990?

KN: I am still just as concerned with the creation of an “album” as opposed to one song at a time. The theme of an album is very important to me and from the beginning with “The River Flows”, has always been. But in almost every other way, I have learned so much as a composer, arranger and guitarist with each new CD. Of course, I really believe in recording real musicians and writing for them as opposed to all of the programming I hear in so much smooth jazz and pop music in general. Especially drummers, percussionists and bassists – I can’t record without them! I have evolved a great team of musicians I have been working with since 2000. Even on the projects I produce for other musicians, I insist on working with all or most of these musicians. They know what I want and can do almost anything I ask of them and it’s REAL. There is nothing like a great, live rhythm section playing a great song.

4. As one of the best-known, best-loved Smooth Jazz guitarists around, and as a label executive, what do you see as the most positive elements to encourage the growth of Smooth Jazz in, say, the next five years?

KN: The fact that many musicians seem to be writing music and recording CDs which are not intended solely for the purpose of getting airplay on commercial FM radio is a very positive sign. The format as it is presented on most commercial FM stations is quite limited. I believe that if we can get back to creating exciting, meaningful, emotionally important music for people rather than for music programmers and their corporate sponsors, we may see the interest, excitement and subsequent sales that this type of music was once capable of.

5. What do you see as the biggest challenges to the growth of Smooth Jazz in the future?

KN: Reaching the audience is the biggest challenge. Artists and record labels need to work very hard to reach out to the adult audience who so love this music. It is just as important to be creative in this way as it is with the creation of the music.

6. What are you the most proud of at this point in your life and career?

KN: I am most proud of my family. I am so inspired just by watching them and marveling at their accomplishments. My son just left for college and though I miss him terribly, I can't wait to see his development and what he will accomplish in this next phase of his life. As regards my career, I am most proud of the best of the music I have created and of certain memorable live performances I have given in the last 14 years. Those things are a gift from somewhere else and so I am not sure how proud I should allow myself to be but I am still proud!

7. What would your top "desert island" albums be, regardless of genre...the albums you turn to time after time for your own personal enjoyment and inspiration?

KN: That's easy - Laura Nyro's "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession", Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds" and Pat Metheny's "Letter From Home".

8. I ask this question a lot, but love the responses to it: Going back in your life as far as you can remember, what song or performance is the first you recall hearing and being affected by?

KN: "All My Loving" - The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. I immediately gave up the piano (after 5 years) and picked up the guitar.

9. What beyond your music inspires you and might be a calling for you if music weren't a factor?  

KN: I love teaching and am looking forward to one day teaching at the college level. I would love to teach music technology for musicians. I have already designed a 12 course curriculum for the subject.

10. You've been a family man for many years, with a long-standing marriage and two children. To what do you credit this longevity in a day when that sort of commitment seems rare?

KN: I love my wife. I was lucky enough to find her early in life and smart enough to know it. I just hope I can find her in the next one.
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Bonus Questions

If you were to board an airplane for a fantasy transcontinental flight, and there was exactly one open seat, who would you want to be sitting down next to?

KN: Another very easy question - Pat Metheny. I have SO many questions for him and I could listen to his answers for hours.

Our operatives tell us that you’re a huge Seinfeld fan. Do you have
a growing favorite among the current crop of TV shows?

KN: I love the show written and starred in by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David. The show is called “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. You have to have HBO but it’s worth it for that show alone. Brilliant but disturbing. Hilarious and extremely smart.