HT: What were some of your favorite moments from last year’s voyage?
JC: Musically, I remember listening to a lot of the Lotus, Pretty Lights, Zappa Plays Zappa and STS9 sets. I spent a lot of time on the boat deck this year, which sounded and looked great. All of those were fantastic. As Chicago is my home, being outside in January seems like the right place to be. Personally, I played a few times too and the Everyone Orchestra set was really inspiring and beautiful. We had some great vocalists who really took it over the top, Ben from ZPZ, Ryan Montbleu and a wonderful lady from Josh Phillips Folk Festival whose names escapes me right now.
The Ohmphrey set was a real blast. Getting to play something a little proggier and little more on the fusion side of things for all of the fans was a perfect balance to the usual dose of funk that permeates the Caribbean. I also got to play a few tunes with Kyle Hollingsworth as a duet on the piano I’ll be playing this year. That was a blast too. Off the boat, my wife, manager and I did a little walking excursion in Ocho Rios to try to find some good veggie food, coffee and sorrel–its a holiday drink of the Jamaican culture that is probably the tastiest natural beverage I’ve ever had, and only available in December and January. Nice timing Jam Cruise!
HT: OHMphrey guitarist Chris Poland and bassist Roberto “Pags” Pagliari aren’t exactly card-carrying members of the Jamband Scene, did you get a feel for what they thought of Jam Cruise?
JC: They loved it. The scene for local music in LA isn’t exactly thriving, it’s much more of a studio oriented vibe for them. So to see all of these people that are loving all sorts of music really blew them away. One of my favorite comments was from Chris while we were eating dinner. He lit up and said, “Oh my god, did you see the captain of the ship?” I knew where this was going right away, as our honorary captain, Captain Toast, dresses in full nautical regalia. He continued, “That captain, he looks like a swashbucking fool!” I think he was a little concerned for our safety, but it all made sense to him and he got a hearty chuckle out of it once he realized Captain Toast was on staff. Without a doubt, Chris and Pag made a lot of new fans for themselves with their performances.
- Jam Cruise Journal: A Night With OHMphrey
HT: Any plans for more OHMphrey shows?
JC: Absolutely! We had a few complications with the times we had hoped to get together this year as Jake is having a baby and I got married and am doing a honeymoon in addition to 100 Umphrey’s shows, but I can’t wait for us to get back together and write and record more tunes. We love playing together and the chemistry between the five of us feels incredibly natural for the amount of time we actually have played together. I think our next project will blow this first one away.
HT:Â Did you come up with the idea of performing UM tunes solo on JC9 or was this concept presented to you by the organizers?
JC: I came up with the idea of playing UM tunes solo after many years of being asked to do a solo piano dinner set. As a keyboardist in a rock band, my main goal in life has been to get away from the dinner / Nordstrom’s vibe of keyboard playing. So I needed some sort of angle where this would be a unique set of me playing familiar but not overly done material. I’ve already started working on this stuff and its been a lot of fun. The other cool thing is that playing solo really leaves the improvisational aspect wide open, as I can go in any direction with both hands and not have to worry about what anyone else is doing.
HT:Â Will this performance be similar to the Keys 4 Kids shows you’ve hosted in the past?
JC: I’m sure there will be some similarities, except this one is on a glass piano with all four floors of viewing decks and a little less sure footing.
HT: Can you help whet our appetite by giving us the name of one UM tune you think would work particularly well in the solo setting?
JC: Blue Echo is one I’ve been having a lot of fun with working on at home. I think that one has a lot of possibility.
HT: Are there any artists on this year’s cruise that you are especially looking forward to interacting with?
JC: Well I’m really hoping that Big Light gets voted on the boat, as I would perform with them as a special guest. They’re from the Bay Area and a really amazing band with great songs. So help me out and vote them onto the boat!
I love playing with the New Mastersounds, they somehow always make me sound like a better keyboard player. We just did a show at Red Rocks with Galactic and enjoyed playing with those guys too. But there are so many people on this cruise for whom I have a ton of respect and would love to play with them either for the first time or again: Ivan Neville, Marco Benevento, Skerik, Rob Wasserman, Lotus, ALO, Easy Star…I mean, I feel like everyone on here has something great to offer. Last year Jeff Coffin took my photo with Maceo, so this year maybe I’ll get to play with him.
Jam Cruise 9 departs from Ft. Lauderdale, FL on January 4th with a fully-loaded lineup that includes Bob Weir’s Scaring The Children, The Rhythm Devils, Stockholm Syndrome, Galactic, Greyboy Allstars and dozens of other acts. A few cabins remain, so if floating out at sea with a few thousand like-minded music fans watching amazing musicians perform in warm weather sounds good to you, be sure to reserve your cabin now.
