 Aloha, and welcome to this episode of the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. I am your host, Gwendolyn Harris. My guest today is a native of Detroit, Michigan, who is a musician, composer, and arranger. He is a proven entertainer for music lovers of all generations. He is open for numerous contemporary musical giants such as Stevie Wonder, George Benson, The Average White Band, Temptations, Pieces of a Dream, and many others. His latest single, My Joy, is climbing the charts. I am happy to have him here today. Let's welcome Lord Jansy to the show. Aloha. Aloha. It's good to be with you. And welcome, welcome, welcome. Look at you looking all spiffy with that hat on. I love that hat. Well, thank you very much. Let's get started. I know a lot of people want to know, how did you get your start in music? Let me see. It takes me back a couple of years. Go ahead. Tell us. Tell us. In my family church, I used to go every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and it seemed like Saturday, Thursday. But anyway, on this one particular Sunday, a gentleman came and he had brought this instrument. And I knew what this guy was about to do. And anyway, he pulled that instrument out and he went into a song. I can remember the song. It's called I Go To The Rock. He lived into it so heavy, so hard, with such an authority. And church folks call it the anoint. So that he just, I don't know, something pervaded through that horn and it became the flow through the atmosphere. And I felt something different. I felt something that made me very curious to know, how did you do this? Someone, other sisters and members, they were just, they were cutting up lady to a baby up in the head, brother jumped over the bench, he rang the car. The baby, the baby was good, but the spirit was great. And so afterwards, I had to meet this gentleman, find out what that shiny thing was in his hands. And he was so kind and gracious that he'd say, come on, let me show you, let me hold it. And it was a wrap. It was over. My story began musically that day, many years ago. Wow. You just tell your story. I love the way you tell that story. I love the way you tell that story. Now, what were some of your musical influences? Of course, starting in the church. We still listen to a general by the name of Johnston, who was a gospel section. He was good. Oh, man, he was good. Man, I made a mistake and I heard this guy named Grover Washington. Yes. this guy named Robert Washington. Yes. All bets was off dead. Okay. We listened to the second music in my house. So, uh, Robert Washington, he was kind of a no no at that time. And just like, you know what, if that's gonna send me to that place with that guy with the pitch board there in the flames and a barbecue, of course, I just got to go there. Because that music of Robert Washington, it spoke to you. And I tell you, it spoke to thousands of us around millions of us around the world inspired to, uh, to stay in music and to, uh, aspire to be more. But they had to go over, started listening to Coler Train and a couple of other full founders of the genre that we love called jazz. And there's just so many to name. That's just a few. Now, where did you study music? I went to interlocking. And then I went to University of Michigan. And of course, high school as well. So those three places kind of gave me what I needed to come out of the world and do what I do. How many instruments do you play? Being a musician? Being a musician. Well, you know, when you, I started out thinking I was going to be, come on school and become a band director. But during that time, you could throw in so many different instruments in your face and you have to learn the basics of all of them. But I would say kind of the ones that stuck was piano and sags. I can do a little something on quite a few instruments, but those piano, saxophone and flute. And those woodwind instruments, right? Oh, yeah. That's right. We're going to leave that brass. See, I grew up playing music, so I love music. So I know what you're talking about starting, because I started at the age of six. So, but I need to get back into playing. I got out of it when I graduated college. I don't know why, but you know. Time is not. What's your favorite genre of music to play? Ah, favorite genre of music. I don't have a favorite genre of music. My favorite, I played classical in college. I played jazz. I played gospel in the church. Let me see. I played R&B. I worked with some blues artists. I worked with some, I could keep country artists, so music. Right. Category, I don't even care about the category. Whatever's going to speak to that person in the audience and give them something that's going to inspire them a week or a day. That's my favorite genre of music. I like that answer. I like that answer. Just play music. It's music. Now, with this COVID, of course, we're still in this COVID pandemic. And last year, it pretty much put everything to a halt. As far as musicians, you know, you guys couldn't go tour. It was just hard. What did you do during that time to keep your mind busy and to, you know, keep going? That's a really good question. I think only first starting about two, three months, I'm probably going to speak for most musicians. We all were ready just to pull our hair out of it. There's nothing like being in front of an audience, giving what you give and giving what they did. So I just realized that we had a different place here. I got to make something happen. And so what I did was I went in the studio and I just started writing and writing, but all of a sudden I was like, hey, Nancy, we're doing a Zoom-based disc than the other. So I'll tell you a lot of Zoom concerts or organizations for churches. And that's why I stayed busy creating and performing. Now, have you been back in front of a live audience since then? Actually, I have. Actually, I have. Yeah, quite a bit over the last two months. What's that feel like to get back on stage in front of people? It feels like you're where you belong. But when you, like me, taking this whole pandemic that very serious, it's, you're going to do a film about wanting to make sure that you're safe and that you're protecting those that you love, you know, the grandmother that I love to visit. And I mean, again, you just might want to hug. It's just a lot that you think about why you're out there, but you call it to be there. So I mean, you have to do what you have to do. And of course, being in front of live audiences now, it's kind of hard. I guess usually, like here at the Blue Note, they used to, after the shows, you know, the performers would come out and greet the audiences. But now it's kind of hard with that because either they're not going to do it or you have to mask up or you can't get too close to them. That's that's different, isn't it? So it feels different to you. It is very different. Well, the audience, they don't seem to mind. Many folks in the audience, right? They don't care about my mask. And other times I heard, can I have a picture? Can I have a picture? And then they looked up at you. Can we take your mask off? So it's very interesting being at this. Well, I'm just hoping it's over soon so that you guys can get so we can get back to normalcy, you know, when it comes time to the performances. Now, you've played with many people, you've opened for a lot of people. Where would be your dream collaboration? Who would you just love to do? Would you just love to collaborate with? You know, that's that again, isn't interesting. And the answer is not so kind of dry. For me, it's working and networking with any artist that has a positive message and they were using their gift and they are to make the world better. So it's not a particular person. It's just connecting with people who live in their life. They want to make that that's it. Now, tell us about about this new, your new song, My Joy, which I absolutely love. What was the inspiration behind that tune? Many of these songs that one and wants to follow. We knew that it was rough out there and people needed something that would make them move and exercise and make them feel good on the inside. So, you know, connecting with some of my buddies in Detroit, we got busy writing together and My Joy was further. Now, here's a question for you. And I asked this of all the artists. There are a lot of saxophones, even though you play many instruments, but we really know you on the saxophone. So there's a lot of saxophonists out there in the music industry. What sets you apart from the others? Hmm. I would say that my varied experience with classical, as gospel has given me a different I can say this different span on how I deliberate. It's probably my intention. I'm on stage. It's not about the artist. It's not about the ego. It's about giving that audience something. So it's a different way that the same one comes out different than it might come out. Maybe it's the experience, maybe it's the passion. Maybe it's a number of things, but for the most part, I would say it's something about passion that I've got to touch with people and reach them. You can see them come in one way, the concert one way, and they leave out the hold. That's from the note that the spiritual aspect was communicated and you've done your job as that's the tool of it. Now, you have many organizations that are dear to your heart, but what's the world, the one that is most dear to your heart? What organization is that that you work with? I've worked with a lot of different nonprofits, but I would say that I have a passion for working with children and inspiring them. Working on a new program now that will kind of get out there and talk to these young men and boys that are coming up who may not have good role models, whose mental conditioning may need just a little bit of inspiration. So we're going to bring in some professionals I know and meet that, marry that with the children and just offer them a glance of the world in a different way that they may never see it. If someone like me won't come along, sure. Now, I think you're going to play for us today, right? A little something for us? I can do that. Yeah, we make that happen. You make that happen? Yes. You want to set it up? Yeah, you can set it up. Sure, let's do that. I'm going to let you tell us what you're going to play. This particular song is entitled Happy. And it's not one of those songs that the audience has to be with me. It makes them feel good. And I want to share it with your audience too. So I'll see what we can do. Okay, I need to find out where you're playing next and come see. Glad to see you. And we're going to get to that in just a minute. We'll get to that in just a minute. But I'm looking around your studio and I see all your instruments is there a particular brand of instrument that you play, not brand, you have brand of saxophone that you prefer? That's a really, that's a good one. That's a good one. I've got a lot of sounders. I've got a lot of instruments. So I don't really want to say that. He answered that question just yet. I'm working on a new endorsement song. Oh, okay. I do endorsement. Yes, I'm not going to say. I feel you. I feel you. But I just was noticing it. And I was just, I was just admiring all of your, your, your instruments back there. You can't see the whole scope. I've got stuff. I'm pretty sure. I'll get my way. Okay. The kids. Oh, wow. That's nice. Absolutely. Absolutely. Very passionate about that. We have a brother to see a child with an instrument in their hand that I've gone any day. Oh, wow. Over the years, that's been a program that I've supported and made sure that if I see his promise of student, I make sure they got what they needed. They can afford it and step in and when they can have it. Wow. That's, that's awesome. Now, what advice? There's a lot of musicians that are, that are coming out. There are a lot of new musicians coming out. What advice would you give a new artist coming into the industry today? What advice would I give? I would tell them to honor your work, honor your commitments. Don't give, give more than what's required. Don't make this business about your ego. Make it about the fans that you represent. I would tell them to make sure you got a good PI person like this Desiree Benson. Make sure you got good management. Make sure you got a good support team because team is everything. And there's a whole lot of more things that I would say, but that'll take longer than the time we have today. What new projects, if any, are you working on? Are there any shows, virtual shows coming up that we should be marking on our calendars? You know, music. I got a lot of new music coming out. It's coming out. Yeah, but it's a whole lot. So definitely stay tuned to the social media platforms, the website, and yeah, yeah, a lot of new music. But performances, yeah, there's quite some shows coming up as well. Where can, where can people go to find out, to find your, to find your, to find your music and to find your performances, like me? Primarily all of that is uploaded to moreyansomusic.com, as well as going to Facebook and Instagram, L, Yanniston. So everything going on would make it on those platforms. Wow. What do you like to do? What do you like to do in your spare time? Because I know you're so busy. Spare time. What is that? Oh, in my spare time, I like to work out. I like to read. Spend time. I love reading. They have good conversations with good friends. I just want to know how I love to travel and do photography. Wow. Okay. Well, our time has come to an end. I'm looking in our little chat. You know how we do these interviews now from Zoom? I'm looking through my chat. So our time has come to an end. But I thank you so much. First of all, for staying up late to do this interview and for the technical difficulties we had prior to the show. But I thank you so much for staying up late doing the interview. And of course, you know, giving us a little sample of what you do. I'm definitely going to be looking you up. I'm definitely going to be finding out where you are and come to see you in person. And maybe one day, you'll get to come to Hawaii here. You've been there seven times. Really? I've been to places in the whole wide world. I've seen parts of this world. But we'll have to get you back over here. If you have not been to Hawaii, you've got some special stuff about the island. Just choose one. We'll definitely have to get you back over here. Again, thank you so much for being with us and to my viewers until next time. Aloha and Douglas.