Nick
Colionne Relieved His Hard Work Finally Paid Off
October
12, 2004 - Nick Colionne is finally at a place in the Smooth Jazz world where
his music is being appreciated by a mass audience. Though the guitarist turned
pro at fifteen it wasn't until his 4th album "Just Come On In" released
last year that he reached the top of the charts. The CD's debut single "High
Flying" peaked at #2 on the R&R charts and #1 on the World Smooth Jazz
Top 20. Colionne already has a follow up hit with "It's Been Too Long,"
"It was almost the title of this album," says Colionne, "That's
how I felt going into this record I thought this was my last shot. I thought if
I don't have a hit with this one I don't know if I'll have the money to do another.
I told my manager Carol Ray that I had to get on radio because it had been too
long." The tune is currently # 18 on the R&R charts. Read our interview
with nick from October 2004.
John
Beaudin
- Hi Nick welcome to our site, Smooth Jazz Now.
Nick
Colionne - John, it's real good to be talking to you.
John
- You're working on a new album right now, right?
Nick
- Yes I am. I'm writing the songs for it and doing a lot of the pre-production
for it right now.
John
- Since 1994 you've released four albums, you've taken your time my friend!
Nick
- (laughing) Well, it's not that it took me so long but my first few projects
were financed right out of my pocket so that's why they were slow in coming. Even
the latest album "Just Come On In" was financed by my manager and myself
until we got a record deal. For the album that I'm working on now there is a budget
so this one won't take too long. I'm looking to have this project out by the first
quarter of next year.
John
- "High Flying" did just that on the charts. You certainly put in the
time, that must make you happy?
Nick
- It was shocking at first (laughing) but it really felt good.
John
- When you first heard "High Flying" as a finished song did it hit you
that you could have something here?
Nick
- It did. It was one of those songs that John and I wrote and one night Craig
Bower was mixing it and he called me at home at 10 o'clock at night and he said,
"Come down I want you to hear a Smooth Jazz hit." (laughing) I thought
he was going to play me a hit by somebody else. So I went down to the studio,
he turned down the light and turned it on and it was like a wave that came over
me. I could feel my eyes swelling up and you know I thought this time we would
have a hit after all those years. The hook in "High Flying" is singable
and it has a nice little flow to it.
John
- Hey Nick are you trying to create a best dressed list for Smooth Jazzer's? I
can see that you put some thought into what you wear on stage.
Nick
- (laughing) Well thank you. You know I like dressing up. I was playing in Milwaukee
once and this programmer in the city introduced me onstage as "The best dressed
man in Smooth Jazz" (laughing) I'm thinking who's he talking about.
 |
Mindi
Abair with Nick Colionne |
John
- Hey, I like that long coat you wear; you pull that off real good. I couldn't
wear that I'd look like Count Dracula but with you man you're making all us other
slobs look bad, man!
Nick
- (laughing) You sound like my keyboard player, he looks at me and looks
at some of the colors I'm wearing and says, "Only you, man!" (laughing)
John
- You have some good fashion stories man, remember when you were doing those early
gigs and you painted on a mustache to look older?
Nick
- Well, all I can tell you is the mustache is real now. (laughing)
John
- Well, you turned pro at 15 and you were playing for people so much older
that you were and the only thing that wasn't real about you was your mustache.
Nick
- Back then John I was pretty insecure because all the guys that I was playing
with were all in their twenties and they treated me like I was a little boy. (laughing)
I understand that because they would sometimes have to ask my mother if I could
play when I was on punishment. I would do something stupid and my mom would say,
"You're not going out for a week." (laughing) The guys would get me
out of it though they'd just beg her to let me out.
John
- I always found as a kid that hanging with older children just made me street
smart. That's the kind of wisdom that gets you out of jams. So did you find that
helpful hanging out with these guys?
Nick
- Oh, they were very helpful in that way and they looked out for me. I tried to
emulate things that they did. I liked the way that they tried to protect me. I
would hear, "You can't do this or that or you can't hang around these people."
John
- Were you a good kid?
Nick
- I was a pretty good kid. I had my little quirks. (laughing) I was always talking
to the older girls, they were in their twenties and they'd be looking at me thinking
this one's a little kid. (laughing)
John
- If you could talk to that younger Nick Colionne what would you tell him?
 |
Bob
Baldwin with Nick Colionne |
Nick
- I would tell him I think you have juice and I think you have the heart to do
it but don't be dependant on other people. I was so group oriented and if somebody
offered me something I wouldn't go unless the group came. I missed some opportunities
thinking that way.
John
- The actual sound of the bass sounds great on "Just Come On Up." Before
we got on the phone I was listening to "Shuffle" with James Perkins
on sax and man he sounds good. Anyway, the album's sound is mixed pretty damn
good it makes my crappy car stereo sound great. (laughing)
Nick
- (laughing) Well, I put a lot of time into it as you know I did a lot of the
keyboard work myself, programming the drums and a lot of the bass stuff so I really
took my time. I thought if this CD doesn't do well it will at least be something
that I really like and am proud of. I think it's important when everything is
said and done to listen to your own album and say, "I like this."
John
- You really grew up in a real Jazz town, Chicago.
Nick
- Yeah, I grew up in the heart of Chicago and my parents and grandparents
were heavy into Jazz and they were always going into Jazz clubs to see somebody
so they'd come back and that's all we heard. I also heard, "You have to learn
how to place stuff like this," and they would really get me to listen carefully
to this stuff. I would always hear, "If you could play the guitar like Bird
plays the horn then you got it."
John
- Were there times when you didn't recognize the brilliance in an artist?
Nick
- Sure, there were times when I didn't understand the messages. My mom
and my step dad constantly played these Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell records
all the time and then they would argue about which one I was going to play like.
(laughing) One day I just said, "I'm going to play like Hendrix." (laughing)
Of course they said no to that. I really did love Wes Montgomery and when they
put the Tequila" album on for me and I first heard "Pumpin' On Sunset"
I was gone after that. You know that's how I got my first electric guitar I had
to learn how to play "Bumpin' on Sunset." John, a lot of people don't
know that actually you're the first person that I've told that to. (laughing)
John
- Well thanks for sharing that. I guess you started paying your dues early on?
Nick
- Oh, when you look up the word "Dues" in the dictionary you'll see
my picture next to it. (laughing)
John
- I like the way you honor your audience on your website. You have pictures of
the fans on the site.
 |
Joyce
Cooling with Nick |
Nick
- You know I really do appreciate each and every one of them. These people pay
their hard earned cash to see me deserve all that I can give them and that's not
only on the stage but my time off the stage to talk to them. You know I've been
around Chicago for a long time and people around here know me but this summer
I was playing a concert for our Smooth Jazz station WNUA and this guy who I've
seen at least 20-30 times and he comes up to me and says, "How are you Mr.
Colionne?" I say, "Who?" I told him it's just a record, it's doing
well and I'm thankful for that but I'm still just Nick from the west side. (laughing)
John
- Yeah, you're not changing but sometimes the fans change thinking you have.
Nick
- Yes, people change most of the time luckily most of the people that I've known
still have their feet on the ground.
John
- "It's Been Too Long" the new single is doing pretty good.
Nick
- Yes, it's been out for about 6 weeks now and its No. 18 with a bullet on the
national chart and we're making the "most added" list this week. "It's
Been Too Long" yes, it has. (laughing) It was almost the title of this album.
That's how I felt going into this record I thought this was my last shot. (laughing)
I thought if I don't have a hit with this one I don't know if I'll have the money
to do another. I told my manager Carol Ray that I had to get on radio because
it had been too long. (laughing)
John
- Your first CD did well on radio.
Nick
- Yes, it did. It wasn't Top 10 but it did hit Top 20. You know when I write I
don't think about what most people listen to so I try not to monitor the radio
to figure out what they're playing. You know you can hear a lot of songs but I
want you to feel what I'm playing. If you feel the musician you can get next to
what the artist is trying to say.
John
- Do people understand instrumental music?
Nick
- I think sometimes some people don't understand it because they're used to hearing
words. Sometimes they don't understand that even though I'm an instrumentalist
I'm also telling a story. The story has a solo but it also has sentences, periods,
commas etc. You can't always hear it but you can feel the pauses and you can feel
notes that are not being played and that's a good thing.
John
- I like the way you put "My Favorite Things" on there. It's a Christmas
song but then again it isn't at all. It's just sometimes played at Christmas,
it's a technicality.
Nick
- (laughing) Well, it's not a Christmas song. You know I was asking this older
gentleman that I hang around with a lot and he's kind of a father figure to me
since my father passed away. I asked him why so many people thought that it was
a Christmas song and he said it was because the movie "The Sound Of Music"
came out at Christmas. So people identify "My Favorite Things" with
the holidays. I wanted to do it with a different twist and when I told my manager
I wanted to do it she asked me why. I just told her how much I liked it. I was
working with something different because the song is in 3/4 time and I just made
a straight 4/4 time song. I just wanted to give it another feel.
 |
Nick
mentoring at the Florence B. Price Elementary School for the Performing Arts in
Chicago |
John
- You do some mentoring at the Florence B. Price Elementary School for the Performing
Arts in Chicago. How long have you been doing that?
Nick
- For the last ten years.
John
- What was the catalyst to giving back that way?
Nick
- Well, I've always liked kids. They keep me honest because they're so honest.
I got into it by trying to help this school out. At the time I had some success
with our first record and the school was just a small parochial school and they
needed some money. I performed at their fundraiser and I met the kids and they
all asked if I was going to come back so I did. So John, I came back over and
over again (laughing) and then next thing you know it's been ten years. (laughing)
I've learned a lot from the kids and hopefully they've learned a lot from me.
I've established great relationships with kids that I've mentored and with their
parents who have also come out and seen me. It really feels good and the kids
that I all started with are all grown now. I got a call from somebody from the
early days last year and she just called to say that she was in the war and that
she was ok! I just said, "Stay down!" (laughing) I thought that was
so kind of her to do that. The younger ones that I mentor who are playing instruments
hopefully will get something from coming out and watching me play. Maybe they
can see that they can do the same thing. I'm straight out of the hood. (laughing)
Straight from the broken down west side of Chicago so if I can do it so can you
all you have to do is persevere.
Watch
for part two of our interview with Nick Colionne coming soon
