Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra garnered a #1 position on Billboard’s Current Jazz Chart and Billboard’s Traditional Jazz Chart, as well as hitting #4 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart. Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra’s The Capitol Studios Sessions was released on November 9, 2018 on Decca/Verve Label Group. This is Jeff Goldblum’s debut album.
Goldblum, who has been playing the piano since he was a child, has performed with his jazz band at venues in Los Angeles and New York City over the past few decades. When he’s not filming, the actor hosts a weekly jazz variety show at LA’s Rockwell Table and Stage. Frequented by locals and A-listers alike, the show intersperses Goldblum’s love of jazz with his passion and skills at improvised comedy.
The atmosphere and energy of these shows is captured perfectly on this album, which Jeff credits to producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Madeleine Peyroux). For the recording, Larry recreated the buzz of The Rockwell at the legendary Capitol Studios. The studio was transformed into a jazz club food and drink was served to an invited live studio audience of Rockwell regulars, friends and family.
This album lives in that magical area where artists and audiences meet. There is a joyful sense of anything-can-happen and a spirit of creative generosity in how Jeff speaks to his fans, how he accompanies guest singers and soloists, and especially in how Jeff comps. To Jeff, his role within the context of a jazz band is a seamless connection with his acting:
I love improvising and that feeling of communication and interplay. It’s one of the cornerstones of my acting technique. I see my music in the same way.
Jeff Goldblum the Capitol Studios Sessions is the realization of this idea: jazz and standards presented in a manner that dares to be high-spirited and to make you feel good. The repertoire includes favorite 60’s jazz numbers Cantaloupe Island and I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free), the 1940s classic Straighten Up & Fly Right with guest vocals from Irish superstar singer and songwriter Imelda May, My Baby Just Cares For Me from 1930, featuring American songstress Haley Reinhart and the 1920s song Me And My Shadow sung by comedian and actress, Sarah Silverman. The band is joined by the extraordinary Grammy-nominated trumpeter Till Brönner.
Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra deliver the feel and the swing, and they make it fun, funny, and familiar. Those are words not often associated with jazz, though they still can be, and with this album we are reminded of that.
