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00:01:04Sylvie.
00:01:07What are you doing?
00:01:09Walking home.
00:01:10It's late. Let me take you.
00:01:11No, thank you. I'm fine.
00:01:13Can I ask you a question?
00:01:14If last night was such a mistake,
00:01:15why are you so bent out of shape about me dancing with somebody else?
00:01:20Because.
00:01:23Mistake or not,
00:01:26when a girl is kissed by a guy,
00:01:28she'd like to think that she's the only girl that guy's been kissing.
00:01:31So you carrying on with what's-her-face doesn't make me feel very special.
00:01:35Well, the only reason I was carrying on with her in the first place
00:01:37is because of you telling me this was all a big mistake.
00:01:39That doesn't make me feel very special, either.
00:01:43Matter of fact, it made me feel pretty ordinary.
00:01:49Well, you're not ordinary to me.
00:01:53In fact, I think you are one of the most extraordinary people I've ever met.
00:02:00Hey, everybody. My name is Christian McBride. I'm a bassist. I'm a composer.
00:02:02But today I hold the great honor of leading this discussion with the star of the new film called Sylvie's Love.
00:02:11It is my dear honor and great privilege to speak to Mr. Nnamdi Asamoah.
00:02:17Brother Nnamdi!
00:02:32What's up, Chris? Good to see you.
00:02:34Hey, man. This is such an incredible film.
00:02:38And kudos to you for doing such an amazing job.
00:02:43I mean, can you give us, I mean, this is a broad stroke question, but I mean, what was it like working on this?
00:02:53It was a challenge. You know, it was a challenge.
00:02:56I don't come from the world of playing the saxophone or being in romantic movies or anything like this.
00:03:03It was a big, big challenge on my end to get the part right.
00:03:07But it was also I don't know.
00:03:10I'd say very rewarding just to see a bunch of people come together and be able to tell a story, a love story set in the 50s and the 60s with a predominantly black cast.
00:03:23You know, something that we don't see often.
00:03:25So it was it was kind of the mixed bag, but all positive.
00:03:29Yes. Yes. Now, I like like many of us came to know you first as an NFL superstar.
00:03:38I had a wonderful conversation not too long ago by phone.
00:03:42And, you know, my deepest passion next to jazz.
00:03:47That's the only thing I ever wanted to do other than play.
00:03:51Did you play? You play. I mean, street street football.
00:03:55I don't know if that counts. All right.
00:03:59Because I went to an arts high school.
00:04:01I mean, we had a basketball team, but like I think we went we went oh and 12 two years in a row.
00:04:07So I think they decided no more sports for this art school.
00:04:12Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:14I've enjoyed watching you so much on the gridiron.
00:04:18But at what point did you decide that you wanted to become an actor?
00:04:23I think before that, we got to share the Philly connection.
00:04:27OK.
00:04:28Like this is your you're you're born in Philly, right?
00:04:31You're born and raised. Yes.
00:04:33You're born and raised in Philly.
00:04:35I when I played with the Eagles, I lived in old city.
00:04:39Oh, city.
00:04:40Yeah. Right.
00:04:41In old city.
00:04:42But I made my way around.
00:04:44You were in West Philly, I guess.
00:04:45Yeah. Well, by the time you played for I left Philly long time ago.
00:04:49Yeah.
00:04:50But growing up.
00:04:51Yeah.
00:04:52Yeah.
00:04:53Growing up.
00:04:54Yeah.
00:04:55I grew up in West Philly.
00:04:56Yeah.
00:04:57OK. Yeah.
00:04:58I love Philly.
00:04:59I'm back there, you know, every year.
00:05:01I mean, this is the first year just because of covid that I haven't been back.
00:05:05But, you know, my foundation is still there with the high school kids out there.
00:05:08I wish we would have won while I was there, but we ended up winning a Super Bowl three
00:05:13years later.
00:05:14Yes.
00:05:15That's right.
00:05:16Three, four or five years later, which is which was great.
00:05:18You know, but once an eagle, always an eagle.
00:05:21That's right.
00:05:22I love with you.
00:05:23Yes.
00:05:24At when did you decide you wanted to become an actor?
00:05:27I mean, like obviously this was something that you had happening while or even before
00:05:32you became a football player.
00:05:33Is that right?
00:05:34No, no, no.
00:05:35Not before.
00:05:36I had done it.
00:05:37I was with the Raiders.
00:05:39We I was doing a Nike commercial and the director came after the commercial.
00:05:46He came into the trailer.
00:05:47I was getting ready to leave.
00:05:49And he said, listen, I think you're really great at this.
00:05:53I know you're doing your thing in football.
00:05:55But when you're done, you should really, you know, get your eyes set on this.
00:05:59If this is something that you want to do, which at the time it wasn't really something that
00:06:03I wanted to do.
00:06:04I wasn't even thinking about it.
00:06:05And, you know, a couple of months later, he followed up.
00:06:08He said, I want you to be in my TV show.
00:06:10I said, OK, you know, it was off season.
00:06:14So I was like, all right, no problem.
00:06:16And I said, what's the show?
00:06:17He said, Friday Night Lights.
00:06:19And I said, oh, my sister loves that.
00:06:21So, you know, then we bonded.
00:06:23I didn't realize that it was the director was Peter Berg, the man who created Friday Night
00:06:28Lights and many other amazing films.
00:06:32And then I think that was the moment where I thought, all right, I might jump into this
00:06:38when I'm done playing.
00:06:40You know, you always have to as a football player, you always have to be thinking about
00:06:44what's going to happen, you know, and you have to.
00:06:47I mean, yeah, the coaches don't want you to think in that way.
00:06:52You know, but my second year in the league, a buddy of mine, he we were in the voluntary
00:06:58workouts.
00:06:59It was maybe which is April ish.
00:07:02It's before minicamp start.
00:07:04And his brother was getting married, but his brother was getting married on like a Thursday
00:07:09and he would have had to travel for it.
00:07:11So he asked the coach, he said, look, my brother's getting married.
00:07:15Can I can I head out for the wedding?
00:07:18And these are voluntary practices.
00:07:21And the coach told him, if you miss a practice, that means you're not dedicated to this team.
00:07:29And I'm telling you, my my buddy missed his brother's wedding to do the voluntary practice.
00:07:37And I got to tell you that training camp.
00:07:40He got cut.
00:07:41Wow.
00:07:42So and he missed his brother's wedding because I think early on I was like, oh, this is cutthroat.
00:07:50Yeah.
00:07:51Right.
00:07:52Have an idea of what's going to happen after this.
00:07:54Yeah.
00:07:55Yeah.
00:07:56Yeah.
00:07:57Yeah.
00:07:58Yeah.
00:07:59And so you did Friday Night Lights.
00:08:01And I think of like from there to what you've done in Sylvie's love.
00:08:09I mean, I was trying to think real hard of like an NFL player who made such a large leap to such a really fine, you know, position in acting.
00:08:22I mean, you know, obviously, Jim Brown comes to mind.
00:08:25You know, that's exactly what I was thinking about.
00:08:27Jim, you know, the dirty double.
00:08:29Right.
00:08:30That's right.
00:08:31And and and Fred Williamson.
00:08:33Yeah, they were doing it.
00:08:35Right.
00:08:36But, yeah, there's a I mean, when you talk about professional, it's different, obviously college.
00:08:43I mean, look at the rock and look at what some of these guys.
00:08:46Right.
00:08:47But when you talk about professional.
00:08:49Like, you know, for more than a year, more than a couple of years.
00:08:53I don't know.
00:08:55I don't know that there are, you know, Joe Namath.
00:09:01Right.
00:09:02Some of these, you know, some guys have done it a little bit.
00:09:07Right.
00:09:08Apollo Creed.
00:09:09Yeah.
00:09:10Carl Weathers.
00:09:11Carl Weathers.
00:09:12Right.
00:09:13Carl Weathers.
00:09:14Any given Sunday.
00:09:15Right.
00:09:16Yes.
00:09:17Yeah.
00:09:18LT.
00:09:19I mean, there's a there's a few that come to mind.
00:09:21A few.
00:09:22But now that I think of it.
00:09:25Almost not many of those roles really dealt with romance like this movie, though, because this
00:09:32is this is a very beautiful, sensitive thing that really is transcended to any kind of culture,
00:09:39because everybody knows about romance or they should.
00:09:42I sometimes find that as hard to.
00:09:45Like, I wonder if people between 18 and 25 understand the depths of romance.
00:09:52You know what I mean?
00:09:53Yeah.
00:09:54You did such a wonderful job as playing this this this person.
00:10:02You know, you and Tessa Thompson are just amazing.
00:10:05What was it like working with her?
00:10:07She's great.
00:10:08She is like this.
00:10:10This is I've been been blessed in coming in to be working.
00:10:15I did a film called Crown Heights and I was opposite.
00:10:20Keith Stanfield, who's done, you know, a number of films and many other actors.
00:10:27But working with people like that that have the experience, I think, has really helped me working with Tessa, who just I mean, she understands.
00:10:39There are so many technical things about acting that no one knows, you know, like I'm sure you like I'm trying to put this in layman terms.
00:10:49But there's, you know, marks that you have to hit and you have to like you have to go here and you have to make a certain expression at this moment.
00:10:57And then you have to say a certain line when you get to that spot.
00:11:00And then, you know, like it and and to and the really great ones make it look easy.
00:11:07And watching her, it just it the flow was so simple and easy.
00:11:14But there's a lot of work that goes into it.
00:11:16And so I learned a lot from her, learned a lot being opposite her.
00:11:20But I got to tell you, romance was not an avenue that I thought I'd ever do in acting.
00:11:27Like that's first of all, it's uncomfortable.
00:11:30I'm not the romantic like I'm not the wine and diner.
00:11:34So it was just I find it hard to believe after this movie, bro.
00:11:39I'm not. Listen, I'm not the wine and diner, but I but I worked.
00:11:43I had a coach like I had all sorts of people just like, OK, so in this moment, what is he feeling?
00:11:49What is he I got to tell you, like as a and I'm I hate to keep going back to it, but it was the majority of my life.
00:11:55So this is what I draw on as a football player.
00:12:00You don't. We're kind of trained to not.
00:12:06The vulnerability is not a thing for us, you know what I mean?
00:12:10Like, especially when you do it for years and years and years.
00:12:13I mean, you could go. You can have a game and team gets killed and, you know, or you're winning.
00:12:20And then in the fourth quarter, the team comes back and they beat you guys.
00:12:23And, you know, you're pissed. You want to start throwing things.
00:12:26Right. Right. You want to do that.
00:12:28Then the camera gets on and they say, tell us about the game.
00:12:32And then what was it? You're supposed to. Right.
00:12:36Yeah. We got to go back on Monday. We got to look at the film. We'll be fine.
00:12:39You know, it's you know, and it's like you're trained to do it, but that's not what you want to do in the moment.
00:12:44You want to break every camera in the room. You want to start screaming.
00:12:48So so it was it was a challenge to sort of break down some of those walls so that I could bring out what what was in the performance.
00:13:00It was a challenge. Well, man, you did such a marvelous job.
00:13:04A few words about working with Eugene Ash.
00:13:09Yeah. He if if there was a movie that that this man was.
00:13:16Born to make it was this film. Yeah.
00:13:19Yeah. I had I've never been around someone that had such a command of a period, you know, and a style, whether it's the music, whether it's the clothes, whether it's the settings.
00:13:34You know, he he sort of he grew up in New York.
00:13:38He understands Harlem. But just the detail that he would have, you know, as a director, you know, I think anytime you're working with someone that's in charge, but has a command and a love for the work that they're doing, it makes it easier for everyone else.
00:13:53And this is a guy that just loved. I mean, love the period. He loved the music.
00:13:58He loved the jazz. He could tell you anything you needed to know about it.
00:14:02And he loves honesty and acting like he loves truth.
00:14:05It doesn't have to be, you know, this big bouncing off walls performance.
00:14:11He just wants you to connect to the audience. And, you know, I really I appreciated that in him.
00:14:16He's so he's a special one. One thing that what you mentioned about him paying close attention to the period and like getting all of the details right.
00:14:26I find that with a lot of movies that involve jazz, you know, as a as a jazz musician and a jazz historian, I'm always zoned in or like they better get the music right.
00:14:38They better get the clubs right. They better get the attitude of the musicians and the dress, all that kind of stuff.
00:14:44Right. So we're talking with Sylvie's love late 50s into the early 60s.
00:14:49And it was it was dead on the money. Was it on the money?
00:14:55OK, OK, OK. That's good to hear. That's good to hear.
00:15:00Now, what I'm curious about is as a saxophonist, because, you know, you play Robert the saxophonist in this in this film.
00:15:11Did you have a saxophone coach?
00:15:13I did. Yeah. Poncho Williams out here in in Los Angeles.
00:15:20I've my acting teacher who this woman just, you know, helped change my life in this world.
00:15:29She had she had cancer.
00:15:32She coached me on this film on Crown Heights, which I spoke about earlier.
00:15:37And she passed away right before the premiere to see it.
00:15:42But in her passing, she's connected me to so many people just to further the journey.
00:15:50And so we were we were at her her funeral and, you know, someone gets up, pulls out their saxophone and they're playing a song for her.
00:16:03They're playing. I think someone to watch over me was the song.
00:16:07I said, man, that is beautiful. Left it alone.
00:16:10You know, I'm never going to meet this guy, but that was really awesome.
00:16:14A year and a half later, this role comes and I'm like, who am I going to get to teach me the saxophone?
00:16:20And I can't tell you why. But he popped into my head.
00:16:24Well, I saw a guy and if he knows her, then, you know, that I could.
00:16:30And so then I started working with him and Poncho taught me how to play the tenor sax.
00:16:35And, you know, I fell in love with it. Yeah.
00:16:38Yeah. So after working on this film and having a saxophone coach, I might have to put you on the spot a little bit here.
00:16:47Just a little bit. Come on, come on.
00:16:49Who's your favorite saxophone player?
00:16:51Oh, living?
00:16:54Yes.
00:16:55Living.
00:16:57Or both. Give us give us your favorite saxophonist who's passed away and living.
00:17:04I'll tell you who I studied that was a younger person.
00:17:10Oh, I'll tell you who passed away.
00:17:14I had to study Coltrane, obviously, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot.
00:17:18I had to study Coltrane.
00:17:20Damn.
00:17:21Dexter Gordon, I love.
00:17:25We talked about this before.
00:17:29I was watching that Kim Burns documentary of jazz.
00:17:32And I'll never forget one of those episodes just started with this cool guy sitting on a chair.
00:17:40He just finished, like, practicing.
00:17:42He pulls out, you know, his hand keeps, wipes him, puts it back in, takes it.
00:17:46And he walks down this hall and he walks out into, you know, a stage.
00:17:51Yeah.
00:17:52Who is this?
00:17:53And I just did my research and said, OK, so I got to start following him.
00:17:56So I watched Dexter, who was amazing.
00:18:01Nuke, Sonny Rollins.
00:18:05I don't.
00:18:06The list goes on and on, man.
00:18:07I can't.
00:18:08I couldn't even, like, just narrow it down.
00:18:10And then the guys that are young now.
00:18:13Josh Redman was someone that I studied.
00:18:18My man.
00:18:19I studied him a lot just because, like, I wanted to see.
00:18:23He'll be glad to know that.
00:18:24I wanted to see it.
00:18:26But, well, he's the YouTube.
00:18:28The YouTube clips were endless.
00:18:30So I could just watch sort of how he stood, how he commanded the stage and and his presence.
00:18:37And he's a very he's not a wild guy.
00:18:40I don't know him.
00:18:41No, he's not wild.
00:18:42Yeah.
00:18:43He seems, like, very, like, into the music, into the feeling.
00:18:47Yeah.
00:18:48He's right here.
00:18:49He's right here.
00:18:50That's right.
00:18:51That's right.
00:18:52So he was one that I studied a lot.
00:18:54And I just fell in love with it just overall.
00:18:57So the the the vulnerability, we keep bringing up this word vulnerability, but the vulnerability
00:19:02that would come through the music as I watched these guys play was clear to me.
00:19:09I said, OK, this has to be a part of the character.
00:19:12Nam, do you mention the word vulnerability?
00:19:15And it is a very important word because in order for you to be able to do such a great
00:19:20job as you did when dealing with romance, dealing with learning how to be a saxophone player
00:19:28and expressing yourself through music, learning so much from Tessa Thompson.
00:19:33That vulnerability is a is a very important thing.
00:19:37So as a as a black man in 2020, how important is it for us to embrace that word vulnerability
00:19:50and to be able to show our deepest emotions, particularly when dealing with romance and
00:19:58love and and those things that traditionally as men were taught, you know, we're always taught
00:20:04to be tough.
00:20:05You know, this is what I'm talking about.
00:20:07So when you know, you have the wall as a football player, but then add the wall as a black man
00:20:13that we have that we know we have, you know, you have to you know, you always have to be macho.
00:20:21You have to make sure that you're holding it down.
00:20:23There is no you can't show any sign of what would be deemed weakness.
00:20:28So you add that on and you're trying to chip all of those walls away, which makes it very difficult.
00:20:34But I it's always important.
00:20:39I'm still embracing that.
00:20:41You know, I know it's important.
00:20:43But I'm still embracing it.
00:20:46I'm still I'm still I'm still working on that.
00:20:50That's still that's very much a work in progress.
00:20:52But I think it's important for our posterity, those that are coming after us to see it.
00:21:01It's just wonderful video that just came to mind where I think they're these kids.
00:21:10Maybe they are six or seven years old, just a bunch of black boys.
00:21:14I think they're in a karate class or something.
00:21:17And one of the kids starts crying because I think he's he has to do push ups or something.
00:21:24He has there's something that has to happen.
00:21:26And the instructor, who is a black man, comes up to the little black boy and he says, what's going on?
00:21:33He says, I can't do it.
00:21:35You know, he's crying.
00:21:36And then that instructor is basically telling him this is OK.
00:21:39It's OK to cry.
00:21:40You know, you're going to you're going to start breathing.
00:21:43You're going to get through it and then we're going to keep pushing.
00:21:46You know, it's something that you know that those moments really have an impact on me, you know, more than anything else, because they show that it is OK to have that certain level of vulnerability.
00:22:02And it is important for those that come after us to see it so that we continue down that path.
00:22:07It's yeah, it's a work in progress, but I think it's it's it's it's very it's very important.
00:22:14Yeah. Is there is there some sort of correlation between athletic preparation and artistic preparation?
00:22:28I guess it depends on who you are, right?
00:22:32I mean, for me, I guess, oh, you know what?
00:22:36I had a coach once that told me the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.
00:22:41And I take that with me, you know, I don't I don't move in that space.
00:22:48But when I think back to how I work, it reminds me of that quote, because the correlation for me is all I wanted to do was prepare.
00:22:57So I made the week for football.
00:23:01You have an entire week to get ready.
00:23:04I made that the toughest.
00:23:06I mean, practice was tough for me.
00:23:08You know, that was hard, like studying, watching film.
00:23:11Right. Consumed my life.
00:23:13I would have family visit before a game and, you know, it would be 7 p.m.
00:23:18And they'd say, oh, let's go get dinner.
00:23:20I said, no, I got to watch film.
00:23:22You actually people watch film.
00:23:24I thought you just go on the field and just play.
00:23:26Right. Right. Right.
00:23:27Right.
00:23:28Which I'm sure they think with musicians as well that there's no practice.
00:23:31You must.
00:23:32Well, I thought I thought it's jazz musicians.
00:23:34You guys just make it up.
00:23:35Right.
00:23:36It's really.
00:23:39It's very important to get to that space in both athletics and as an actor to where you can do all of this work.
00:23:49And then when you're in the moment, you can throw it away and just rely on what's already in your bones and in your body and let go.
00:23:57I think Charlie Parker, there was a quote where he says your job as a musician is to learn everything you possibly can and then forget it.
00:24:06Hmm.
00:24:07Hmm.
00:24:08I love that.
00:24:09You know.
00:24:10I love that.
00:24:11Yeah.
00:24:12Free form, free and flow from everything you've learned.
00:24:15That sounds like him, too.
00:24:17That's right.
00:24:18That's right.
00:24:19Tell us about your production company.
00:24:22I am 21.
00:24:23Oh, you.
00:24:24You back Sylvie's love of the the your company and why you back this.
00:24:34Well, the company started because I wanted to act.
00:24:38I had to find a new career.
00:24:40I wanted to act and I I believed that I can do it.
00:24:45But the projects and the roles that were coming my way weren't anything I was interested in.
00:24:50I felt like I could do more.
00:24:53So I just said I need to create the work.
00:24:57You know, I need to figure out a way to create the roles that I want to do so that I can feel fulfilled in this new career.
00:25:04And so I started a production company, started making projects that some I act in, some I don't.
00:25:11But when I do act in it, there are roles that I'm drawn to so that I'm I'm sort of carving out my path and allowing myself to be happy, you know, with with what I'm doing.
00:25:24And, you know, so I so I started the production company and we've been making films.
00:25:31I mean, we just we we made a film called The Banker that's on Apple with Sam Jackson and Anthony Mackie.
00:25:39We helped make the film Harriet on Harriet Tubman.
00:25:45You know, I helped make there's a movie called Beasts of No Nation on Netflix.
00:25:50I mean, the the you know, the list goes on.
00:25:53You know, we're we're really doing well.
00:25:55And I think with Sylvie's Love and a lot of these films, we're attaching ourselves to projects that probably wouldn't have otherwise gotten made.
00:26:06You know, they're difficult to get made projects.
00:26:10And I say difficult because a lot of times predominantly a black cast.
00:26:15Yes.
00:26:16So in this industry, when it's predominantly a black cast, for some reason, those projects have a tough time getting through and actually being made.
00:26:25So we've been able to find those projects that we like and push them through.
00:26:30And Sylvie's Love was one of those it it was dead.
00:26:34It was dead in the water, so to speak.
00:26:36Nobody was going to make this film.
00:26:37And we just said, let's go do it.
00:26:40Oh, man.
00:26:41Well, thank you.
00:26:42Thank you for that.
00:26:43Because I believe that when this is released on Christmas Day on Amazon Prime video, everybody is going to fall in love with this.
00:26:53Oh, that's great.
00:26:54That's great.
00:26:55So what is your favorite?
00:26:58No, let me ask you this.
00:27:00What did the movie remind you of?
00:27:02Well, when I think of jazz and romance, I mean, because, you know, I love a good romance, but I'm always happy to see a jazz musician portrayed in a movie who's not a drug addict.
00:27:19Oh, yes.
00:27:20Yes.
00:27:21Yes.
00:27:22That's right.
00:27:23That's right.
00:27:24Somehow the tortured artist always gets thrown on jazz artists, you know, so they always put on heroin or cocaine.
00:27:32They got gambling problems.
00:27:33They're alcoholics.
00:27:34You know, and no one can really get over that.
00:27:37You know?
00:27:38Yep.
00:27:39And here you are a clean living, clean cut together jazz musician who's just madly in love.
00:27:47Yeah, that's right.
00:27:48You know, it was such a beautiful, beautiful thing.
00:27:53And, you know, hats off to you and Eugene and Sister Thompson and everybody who was involved in what I believe is such a great, great, timeless story of romance.
00:28:08But, yeah, to see a clean musician really was like, yes.
00:28:13Yeah.
00:28:14It was.
00:28:15Yeah.
00:28:16I mean, Sidney was clean in Paris Blues, wasn't he?
00:28:21Yes.
00:28:22Yes.
00:28:23Yeah.
00:28:24But that's few and far between.
00:28:25Yeah.
00:28:26I mean, the other time you see a jazz musician, there's something going on.
00:28:29Yeah.
00:28:30Yeah.
00:28:31That movie was made in like 1960.
00:28:32Yeah.
00:28:33That's correct.
00:28:34The period where you guys are in.
00:28:36That's right.
00:28:37That's right.
00:28:38Yeah.
00:28:39Was there anything particularly intriguing for you in the film?
00:28:44Like, you know, maybe the time period or being a saxophone player or the whole the romance or like was any particular thing that kind of got you?
00:28:54Well, the first thing I mean, from reading the script, I read it on an airplane, which is when I get a lot of work done.
00:29:02So I read it on the airplane quickly, called the next day and said, let's go do this.
00:29:08And I think the thing that jumped out at me, if I'm just talking about the character, was the saxophone, because that meant I'd be able to do something that's outside of myself.
00:29:19So I'm not just going to be, you know, a football player going out there, you know, I'm able to do something that I get to learn something else.
00:29:28So that was the first thing.
00:29:29And then the other thing was just doing just a little bit of research and seeing the clothes.
00:29:36Right.
00:29:37Right.
00:29:38The clothes from that time really just, I mean, I was in love with every, you know, every like the high waisted pants.
00:29:45Yeah.
00:29:46Like everybody.
00:29:48The skinny ties.
00:29:49The skinny ties and everyone.
00:29:51It didn't matter where you could be going to the grocery store.
00:29:54You had a suit coat on.
00:29:56You had a shirt.
00:29:57You know, you had some nice shoes.
00:30:00It didn't matter your income level, your socioeconomic.
00:30:04None of that.
00:30:05That was dressed.
00:30:07That's how you.
00:30:08That's right.
00:30:09So that's right.
00:30:10Clean clip, clean cut.
00:30:12So all of that I just fell in love with because it was so different from who I am and who we are as a people today.
00:30:21Right.
00:30:22I was sitting up here thinking about one of these days we got to put together an ex athletic all star band.
00:30:32Yeah, get Bernie Williams in there to play guitar.
00:30:41I'm trying to think of what other ex athletes have become a famous good musicians.
00:30:47There are some.
00:30:48I mean, I mean, there are opera singers.
00:30:51There are pianists out there.
00:30:54There's a lot of musicians that that were athletes in their former life.
00:30:59Right.
00:31:00There's a lot.
00:31:01And then somebody like, I mean, Don Cheadle is not an ex.
00:31:05He's not an athlete.
00:31:06But I mean, I'm not sure people understand, like, this guy plays a whole bunch of instruments.
00:31:12This guy is crazy, man.
00:31:13He plays the saxophone.
00:31:15He plays the bass.
00:31:16He plays the trumpet.
00:31:18But, you know, his level of dedication.
00:31:22There are people like that that I look to in just their level of dedication to their job.
00:31:30And it's not just actors.
00:31:32I mean, in all sorts of, you know, I read a lot.
00:31:37I find out who these people are.
00:31:39I try to study, like, what is it?
00:31:41And the one thing that connects a lot of these people that have been successful in their jobs or in multiple jobs is their dedication to the work.
00:31:51Yeah.
00:31:52The process, you know, trusting the process, trusting that over time, you know, it's like nothing happens overnight.
00:32:00You know, it's that work in between.
00:32:03And so watching someone like Don Cheadle and watching him play Miles or, you know, watching him play Sammy Davis Jr.
00:32:10Yeah.
00:32:11Or, you know, watching him play Paul Recessa Baguina in Hotel Rwanda.
00:32:16Yeah.
00:32:17Or watching him in Devil in a Blue Dress.
00:32:23Yeah.
00:32:24Right.
00:32:25You know what I mean?
00:32:26His dedication.
00:32:27You know, those are the type of people that I look towards and I'm really impressed with.
00:32:30He's a heavy cat.
00:32:31Yeah.
00:32:32My my my my final question.
00:32:35I have to ask you this.
00:32:37What does your dear wife think of this film?
00:32:40Oh, she loves it.
00:32:41She loves it.
00:32:42But is she going to love it just anyway?
00:32:45Because I'm in it.
00:32:47She definitely loves it.
00:32:50And she's been so supportive with it and with the journey, you know, all along the way.
00:32:57But, yeah, she she loves it.
00:32:59Right on.
00:33:00Well, as long as she likes it, we're good.
00:33:02Then we're good.
00:33:03That's it.
00:33:04Nandi Asamoah, it's such an honor to speak with you, my man.
00:33:10You are a gentleman and a scholar.
00:33:13And I can't wait till this pandemic is over and I can travel to L.A. again.
00:33:20We got to kick it.
00:33:21And.
00:33:22Absolutely.
00:33:23Absolutely.
00:33:24Absolutely.
00:33:25Well, brother, it was a pleasure, man.
00:33:26And take care of yourself.
00:33:28And we will talk very soon.
00:33:30Don't forget Christmas Day.
00:33:33Amazon video.
00:33:35Sylvia's love.
00:33:40I'm really impressed.
00:33:43I've been around my share of television studios and you really know your stuff.
00:33:50The band got offered a gig. Come with me.
00:33:52I'm starting a new position at the station.
00:33:54What if we don't work out?
00:33:57I thought about coming back a thousand times.
00:34:01Why didn't you?
00:34:03I guess I just wanted you to be happy.
00:34:10Hello, everyone.
00:34:11My name is Novella Ford and I'm a cultural producer and currently serve as the associate director of public programs and exhibitions at the Schaumburg Center for Research in Black Culture located in Harlem.
00:34:27I'm delighted to moderate this conversation inside the music of Sylvie's Love and bring together the masterminds behind the film.
00:34:36I have here with me writer director of Sylvie's Love, Eugene Ash.
00:34:40Hey, how are you?
00:34:42Right.
00:34:43We have composer Fabrice LeConte.
00:34:46Hi, Novella.
00:34:47How are you?
00:34:48Hi there.
00:34:49So good.
00:34:50And certainly last but not least, we have jazz vocalist and songwriter Cecile McLaurin-Salvant.
00:34:57Hi.
00:34:59Hi.
00:35:00So let's jump right in.
00:35:02We all have a soundtrack to our lives where music has enhanced a special moment or an emotion.
00:35:09Could you share with us your favorite song to fall in love to?
00:35:12We'll start with you, Eugene.
00:35:13You know, I see falling in love as a director.
00:35:16I kind of fall in love with not just people, but places and ideas.
00:35:22So one of my favorite, it's not just a song, but an album to kind of fall in love to and with Coltrane for Lovers with Johnny Hartman on vocals.
00:35:37I have fond memories of, you know, walking the scene in the rain in Paris while listening to that record on what back then was my iPod, not a telephone.
00:35:49But, you know, like I said, as a director, I kind of fall in love with all things, people, places, ideas.
00:35:58And that's one of my favorite albums to fall in love with things and people, too.
00:36:05How about you, Cecile?
00:36:10That's a tough question because I feel like I rarely use music to fall in love.
00:36:17I usually use it when I'm in love and it's not working and I'm crying with it.
00:36:24So I think for me, it's like a it's like a bomb.
00:36:29And I would say so it's I'm not answering your question, but but it's more true to me that that a song like I didn't know what time it was sung by Ella Fitzgerald is just a bomb for me.
00:36:44And it makes me it makes me cry about the love that I feel.
00:36:49So I don't know if that's it's a way of falling in love while things are disintegrating.
00:36:59And how about you, Fabrice?
00:37:02That's beautiful what you said, just said Cecile, and that's very deep.
00:37:06With me, it's I feel the same, probably.
00:37:12But thinking about film scores that created that that mood, actually, I couldn't think of anybody else but Michelle Legrand's Le Parapoli de Charbourg.
00:37:27And there was also from Demoiselle d'Avignon, there was a tune that does it to me every single time is La Chanson de Maxence.
00:37:36And every time I hear it, I fall in love.
00:37:40Well, I love that that's where we're starting, because this film goes all of those places.
00:37:46Right. It's falling in love, falling out of love, falling in love with places and ideas and also having the sort of French love song inside of it.
00:37:56And we'll get to talk a little bit about that as well.
00:37:59But starting with you, Eugene, music is a major part of the film.
00:38:03When writing the script, did you always see jazz music as another character in the film?
00:38:07Oh, yeah, without a doubt. Most of the songs that wound up in the movie The Needle Drops, as we call them, were in the script from the beginning.
00:38:19And I always envisioned having this big sort of lush string orchestral background music.
00:38:29And so when I first met Fabrice, we talked about it long before the movie.
00:38:34I've known Fabrice much longer than before we even made the movie.
00:38:39And we talked about it for years, you know, so yes, I always kind of had that idea.
00:38:47And one thing that was important to Fabrice and I was that the music that the Dickie Brewster Quartet played would sound like actual jazz and bop from that era and sound like something that John Coltrane would be playing or sound like something that, you know, Monk would be playing.
00:39:04So we really tried to be authentic to that. And Fabrice, of course, you know, composed those and then we had composed the music for the band.
00:39:12And then we had some fantastic kind of super group put it together.
00:39:18Matt Penman, Mark Turner, Ben Porowski and Uri Kane together the super quartet.
00:39:24And so, yeah, it's from the beginning. It's always been about the jazz.
00:39:28Obviously, Robert and the Dickie Brewster Quartet are a jazz band and they played the Blue Morocco, which was in my dad's neighborhood in the Bronx back in the day.
00:39:37And that was all, you know, part of it. So, yes.
00:39:42Yeah. And so, Fabrice, if you could jump in there and talk about being invited to work on Sylvie's Love as a film composer, but also talk to us about the purpose of a film score.
00:39:53Meeting Eugene was really a great experience and an unexpected one.
00:40:02It actually happened at a wedding of my cousin, who is a very good friend of Eugene and his wife, Nina, and both of them are actually actresses.
00:40:13And there this very good looking, very elegant man walks in with a beautiful bow tie.
00:40:21And we were listening to some music in the background and we started talking about the music in the background.
00:40:27And from then on, the conversation went on jazz and jazz singers and jazz music.
00:40:32And we had very similar tastes. And I neglected to actually spend time with my cousin and my family because I just wanted to talk to him the entire evening.
00:40:44We had a terrific time and we called each other often.
00:40:47And he was, you know, doing a lot of work and he was writing great scripts.
00:40:53And that's where everything started, actually. And it was fortuitous and it was a blessing for me.
00:40:59I got to meet this great man who had a fantastic vision and the script was unbelievable.
00:41:08And I saw it develop in the different drafts and every time there was a new gem in it.
00:41:16And I couldn't wait to see the movie. And it was so, so easy to write the music for it.
00:41:20Hmm. And could you talk a little bit about the purpose of a film score?
00:41:25We talk about soundtracks, but then there's always this beautiful music in the background that is meant to be background.
00:41:31But sometimes it like sits right up next to the main characters.
00:41:35Could you talk a little bit about what the purpose of film score does for moving the film along?
00:41:40Yes. It sort of, it could accompany the scene. It could amplify the emotions.
00:41:46It could do a lot of things. It could, you know, lead one emotion into another.
00:41:51In this particular case, it was a very interesting and different scenario.
00:41:56As Eugene said, he had already worked out all the needle drops.
00:42:00So it was great because he had already set the time and the mood for most of the scenes.
00:42:06So what I had to do in a way was just, you know, to find a way to emotionally do the transition between one scene and the other.
00:42:16And then to let go in the special topic scenes like the lovemaking scene or some extra dramatic scenes like the breakup at the end,
00:42:27where instead I was given the possibility to develop the theme a little bit more.
00:42:32But it was very well planned since the beginning.
00:42:36And even in the orchestration, it was interesting because we decided first to go with very light music,
00:42:44with lots of bells and sounds that are like ringing sounds, you know,
00:42:50nothing too heavily concentrated in the lower part of the orchestra to sort of give a sense of the lightness of the beginning of the story.
00:43:01And then more and more when we drive towards the dramatic part, the second half, then the music changes.
00:43:10And you don't hear any more little percussion and celeste and harp, but you hear more like cello solos and, you know,
00:43:17and piano doing figured basses and orchestra, just strings.
00:43:22It becomes much more of an emotional, personal, heart wrenching music than the beginning of it.
00:43:32So how did you get involved with Sylvie's Love and also talk a little bit about working with Fabrice and Eugene on the song that's in the end credits
00:43:53and the lyrics for the version of Be Loved in English and what inspired you to sing it in French?
00:44:00I got involved thanks to Nandi Asamuga, who's the lead, the lead romantic lead.
00:44:10And it was, I actually don't know if I want to say this, so we'll find out.
00:44:18But he showed me, I said yes, of course, immediately when he told me what it was about, but then he showed me the movie with actually no sound.
00:44:28Well, there was the mic sound, like there were the dialogues, but there was no music.
00:44:35And it was so moving and beautiful, but then when I did see it with the music, it just, just to sort of go back to what you were mentioning,
00:44:45it just lifts up and amplifies the emotion in such an intense way.
00:44:50I mean, music, I think only music can do that kind of like amplification of emotion.
00:44:59And so it was, it was a really powerful, beautiful, joyous, heart-wrenching, bittersweet story with two black leads.
00:45:15And in that time, you know, a period film, like there was so many different things that were attractive to me about it,
00:45:24even outside of it being a film around celebrating in praise of jazz.
00:45:31So it was just, it just felt like such a celebratory thing.
00:45:35And I was happy to even watch it, let alone be a part of it.
00:45:38Right, right.
00:45:40And there was this sort of unspoken Parisian element to it.
00:45:49Or maybe it is a spoken element.
00:45:51I don't know.
00:45:52But there was this, this link to, to me, to Paris de Cherbourg, to, to those, those sort of love stories that are, that are so enduring.
00:46:05And, and so we talked about the song possibly being in French.
00:46:12And I'm, I'm, French is my first language.
00:46:16And I've been writing songs in French for a while.
00:46:19So it sort of became clear that it made sense that with this trip to France and back, like it would, it would sort of fill in that, that part of the story through music.
00:46:30And, and I actually had a great time writing those lyrics and, and it was clear what it had to be about.
00:46:38I mean, the lyrics of that song are about nostalgia, loss, memory, and, and using a song to call back your lover to you.
00:46:49And if they might not be able to hear it, which I think is a big part of this film is, is that call.
00:46:58Thank you for that, Cecile.
00:47:00And I'm going to want to hear a few of those lyrics from the song because it's beautiful in French, but I do not speak French.
00:47:07So I would love to hear what, what is being said.
00:47:10What is being said.
00:47:11And then Eugene, I saw that you had something to say.
00:47:13So we'll let you jump in after Cecile goes, goes, goes ahead and gives us some of those lyrics.
00:47:18Okay.
00:47:19So the song is, um,
00:47:21Ton regard m'a chanté la mélodie d'une chanson oubliée.
00:47:25Okay.
00:47:26So you're, um,
00:47:28Say it again, Cecile.
00:47:29Say it again.
00:47:30That was beautiful.
00:47:31Ton regard m'a chanté la mélodie d'une chanson oubliée.
00:47:38Et je l'ai gardée ici près de moi attendant ton retour.
00:47:42So the, if I translated it means, uh, your gaze sang me the melody of a forgotten song.
00:47:53And I have kept it here close to me waiting for your return.
00:47:58Hmm.
00:47:59And I mean, I could go on, but towards the end of the song, uh, he or she, but I guess in
00:48:06this case it's he is saying, and now I'm playing for you this song.
00:48:11I'm singing you this song as a call for you to come back to me.
00:48:15Hmm.
00:48:16And I think it ends with her coming back.
00:48:20If I remember the end of the song correctly.
00:48:23Wow.
00:48:24Oof.
00:48:25Eugene.
00:48:26Eugene.
00:48:27Eugene.
00:48:28Well, what I wanted to say about just, um, the idea of there being this sort of unspoken
00:48:34French-ness about the film.
00:48:37Obviously we know Robert goes to, goes to Paris with his band.
00:48:41But Fabrice and I, from the beginning had this kind of a concept of, and my French is
00:48:46not Fabrice and both the two of them speak French fluently.
00:48:49But it's retrovi, which is sort of the French idea of, you know, the joy of kind of being
00:48:56reunited.
00:48:57And so that was a, uh, so I think it kind of bookends really nicely with what Cecile's song
00:49:03is saying, because that's, we actually, one of the songs is called a retrovi in the film,
00:49:10uh, that we didn't really use, use the way that we were going to originally.
00:49:16But just that concept of the joy of reuniting and how Sylvie and Robert come in and out of
00:49:22each other's lives, uh, is a very big theme in, in the movie.
00:49:27So I think that, you know, there's, there's just a sort of undertone of that idea.
00:49:32And I, you know, Cecile is psychic, so she must've picked up on that, that French-ness.
00:49:39Yes.
00:49:40Yes.
00:49:41And the, the only other thing I wanted to say is that I saw, uh, Cecile sing Obsession.
00:49:47And I sent it to Fabrice and to Nnamdi and to Gabrielle Gloor, one of our other producers.
00:49:55And, uh, I said, uh, she needs to sing a song in the movie.
00:50:00Like, it doesn't matter what.
00:50:05And everybody agreed.
00:50:06Just so you, I just wanted to kind of, you know, put it out there.
00:50:11You know, yeah.
00:50:12Cause I mean, so we were fans, we were fans of yours, uh, Cecile before this even,
00:50:18you know, happened.
00:50:19So it was just really great.
00:50:21And I've often said, you know, if Cecile was to go back in time,
00:50:24to 1963, 64, she'd be just as big as any other singer.
00:50:29That's how she's the, she's the real deal.
00:50:32I second that.
00:50:33I second that for sure.
00:50:35Fabrice, how many songs did you compose for the film?
00:50:38Um, and how long did the process take?
00:50:41Um, so there, there were the three Dickie Brewster jazz songs.
00:50:48Uh, then there were 18, uh, cues and then the, um, the, the, the end credit song.
00:50:56So, um, there were a bunch of different things, uh, different compositions in, in different styles.
00:51:04And, uh, it, it was a lot of fun to work on them.
00:51:08And, you know, this great acting and great script.
00:51:12And, uh, you know, it was very easy to, to work on all of them.
00:51:16And, uh, it went actually fairly quickly.
00:51:19Uh, there were several revisions and changes that needed to be made.
00:51:23So, uh, thank God, I, there was not a very pressing time to, to, to finish them.
00:51:30Um, which, uh, so at the end of it, I would say about two and a half months, three months,
00:51:37uh, to do everything.
00:51:38And, uh, and with Cecile, it was a breeze because she is so amazing.
00:51:43I mean, she's a wonderful lady, as we've got the most beautiful personality,
00:51:49the most incredible talent and kind of voice of an angel.
00:51:54And, uh, and, uh, the, the poem that you wrote, because I see it as, as a free form poem,
00:52:00which works perfectly with music I had written.
00:52:04And I thought that that was, that was so movie.
00:52:07I read it often, uh, on its own.
00:52:10And my father was a French poet and my sister is a poet.
00:52:14And, uh, so I grew up reading a lot of poetry.
00:52:16And when I read it, I was like completely taken by it.
00:52:19So once again, this is Eugene's finding the perfect person,
00:52:25the perfect people for everything.
00:52:27And, you know, he's got this extra sensibility.
00:52:31He knows whom to get for what.
00:52:34And he, he got this winning thing, you know, and, and, and it was such a pleasure every day
00:52:40to be surprised by all the talents that they were.
00:52:44Mm-hmm.
00:52:45Well, you are one of those talents alongside Cecile.
00:52:49So it is definitely a match made in heaven in terms of, uh, musically, uh, the sound of Sylvie's love.
00:52:56Uh, Eugene, given your background as a recording artist, was the character of Robert based on anyone you know, or from your experiences in the music business?
00:53:06I would say that the, um, dynamics in the band, uh, definitely, uh, come from relationships with my, my, my bandmates, uh, in the past.
00:53:18So I wanted that to feel authentic.
00:53:20Um, so, you know, it's not based on any one person in particular, but more like just this idea of the brotherhood of a band and how different personalities stick out different personalities.
00:53:33You know, often the person who wants to be the star the most does not become the star.
00:53:38It's the most, most reluctant.
00:53:40Yeah.
00:53:41And so that's something I kind of wanted to talk about.
00:53:45Also, I wanted to talk about sort of one, one, when I was a, I was in like an R and B artist on, on, on Sony and I sort of watched R and B get as, as hip hop came in.
00:54:02R and B sort of stopped being as much the, the, the, the, you know, the main, uh, music of young black folks shifting towards towards hip hop in a way that I feel.
00:54:17So in the movie, we kind of have, we show where jazz stops being the, the, um, the primary, you know, music that young black folks listen to and you see Motown and this kind of thing start to come in.
00:54:31And, and that shift has happened throughout history.
00:54:34And so it's, it's interesting to see and to watch and, and, and see why it happens or what happens to the people, you know, what happens when the music that you're doing is no longer in vogue.
00:54:49Uh, and something else is, is coming in.
00:54:52So it's an interesting thing, you know, you, you haven't changed as an artist really, or what you do, you know, do you change with the times?
00:54:59Do you start playing Motown type of stuff?
00:55:02You know, do you stick from being an R and B artist to a hip hop artist?
00:55:06What do you do?
00:55:07You know, how do you stay current or relevant, or do you just stick to your guns or does it happen organically?
00:55:13So all of those things are, are, are themes that I dealt with in my own personal life.
00:55:19You know, I shifted from my focus being on music as a musician and singing to create, you know, I did some soundtracks work for, um, for, for people, for other movies.
00:55:31But I just shifted into writing.
00:55:34That's, that's what I did.
00:55:35And all of my films always have a strong music element because.
00:55:39Mm-hmm.
00:55:40Mm-hmm.
00:55:41So, so that's what happened.
00:55:44If I could pivot for a second in relationship to what you said.
00:55:48Um, I think there's an interesting heritage conversation, though, to be had too, right?
00:55:54When we shift from one kind of music to another, right?
00:55:58There's a lot of conversation around how, um, maybe in black communities or African American communities, jazz isn't valued, um, as it once was.
00:56:08Therefore, people, um, don't claim it as their, as part of their heritage.
00:56:13Um, and yet you have young, um, artists like Cecile who do these beautiful interpretations and new music and sort of is able to introduce it to new audiences and possibly create new audiences, right?
00:56:27Maybe not even introducing to new audiences, create new audiences because the same audiences will flock to whatever is new.
00:56:32But, um, I appreciate this film for being a jazz film.
00:56:37Um, because you have these beautiful, uh, actors who a current generation knows very well.
00:56:44Um, and it is a way to introduce them also to, um, a particular musical style, uh, wrapped in a love story, right?
00:56:53Um, so I don't know if there's a question in that, but if I, if anybody wants to respond to that, um.
00:56:59Well, one thing I just wanted to add is it was important to me to show that jazz was the music of young black folks.
00:57:07You know, it's really easy to look back and be like, oh, that's like, yeah, that's old people's stuff, jazz music.
00:57:14You know, even when I was growing up and my dad used to play, uh, Coltrane and, and, and Monk and, and Sonny Rollins.
00:57:22And my mom would play Nancy Wilson and Sauer Bond.
00:57:24And, you know, I kind of thought, you know, I was trying to listen to like the Jackson five and like, you know, Teddy Riley and God, like I wasn't, it didn't really hit me.
00:57:35It hit different when I got, when I got older, you know, a little bit, I just, uh, it just, I remember listening and just really hearing it at one point.
00:57:45And, uh, so I wanted to, it, I was fascinated by the fact that my parents were young people listening to this music and that they were young people making it.
00:57:53And Cecile is young and she's making this kind of music.
00:57:56So it just seems very like, you know, it was very apropos to have her because that was, it was just fit with the ethos of the film.
00:58:02I wanted to show jazz as a young people's music, which it was.
00:58:07And I had, I had another question about the rock about Robert's character.
00:58:13So it's played by Nnamdi, uh, and he plays the saxophone and there's even conversation with Sylvie about him sort of being the next John Coltrane.
00:58:23What is it like getting an actor ready to be a gifted musician on screen?
00:58:28Um, well, Nnamdi did a lot of the work on his own.
00:58:33Nnamdi learned how to play, you know, uh, Mark Turner's solos are really hard to, to do the fingering on.
00:58:41I mean, he's basically playing air saxophone.
00:58:43So he had to learn how to play all of that stuff.
00:58:46Otherwise it, it, it would have looked fake.
00:58:48It really would have looked fake and he wasn't trying to do that.
00:58:50So Nnamdi can play all of those solos.
00:58:52He'd probably tell you he can't play them anymore now.
00:58:55Cause he stopped playing them 17 times a day.
00:58:58Right.
00:58:59He was doing it.
00:59:00Right.
00:59:01But he really, he did, he put, he did his homework.
00:59:04It took him about two years and he really learned everything.
00:59:07Cause you know, we prerecorded a lot of stuff, all of that stuff because we, we had to.
00:59:13Um, so he had some time with the, with the material and he had a, an instructor whose name escapes me, but he had a really talented instructor.
00:59:24Who, who hadn't go through it.
00:59:26And Nnamdi played was a professional football player.
00:59:28So he's got some issues, you know, with his fingers and stuff, but he still, he still went through it and made it happen.
00:59:34And it was great.
00:59:35And it was great.
00:59:36It was a great luxury for me to be able to do closeups of, of all of those bands playing.
00:59:41Cause they all know how to play.
00:59:43Uh, the person who plays, um, Buzzy Courtney, uh, is, uh, he's played with Beyonce and everything.
00:59:51So he's a real, a real basis.
00:59:53So that was really easy.
00:59:55And, and reggae had played the drums.
00:59:57And so you notice I shoot a tone bell from camera, the piano's in front.
01:00:04So he's just, you know, he's got this going on.
01:00:07It's all on the shoulders up here, right?
01:00:09But, uh, it was a great luxury that the guys worked on it so hard, you know, to, to learn how to play it and specifically Nnamdi because we didn't have to fake anything or get a stand in or anything.
01:00:22That's all him.
01:00:23And he can, he can really play.
01:00:24And he's playing outside when he calls, uh, Sylvie to come down to see him.
01:00:29He, that's him playing.
01:00:31And we just took a live sound from that.
01:00:33So, yeah, that, so, so it was all, I asked him and he was up for the challenge to do it.
01:00:42Wow.
01:00:43Wow.
01:00:44That's great.
01:00:45That's great.
01:00:46Cause I was, I was watching the fingering.
01:00:47I know lots of musicians and I was like, okay, well this passed the snap test with them.
01:00:52So you can always, you can always, I feel like when, when musicians are watching movies,
01:00:58uh, about music or about playing, you're always like, what's he doing?
01:01:05Right.
01:01:06Where are they cutting it off to somebody else's hands, you know?
01:01:09That's right.
01:01:10I know I am.
01:01:11Impressive.
01:01:12Yeah.
01:01:13I'm always looking for that.
01:01:14Yeah.
01:01:15It was impressive.
01:01:16Just, just, you could feel, it didn't take you out of it.
01:01:19You weren't like, oh, that's Nnamdi playing.
01:01:23It's just like you're in, you're in this, in the thing and you're, you're seeing somebody actually,
01:01:27great at their craft, which can only happen with how many, how many years of saxophone lessons?
01:01:33That's crazy.
01:01:34Well, that was just two years of him only, it was two years of him only playing those five songs that he was going to play.
01:01:42Hey.
01:01:43He got in his 10,000 hours.
01:01:45Around those songs.
01:01:47Well, Cecile, we talked about how you have wonderful interpretations of songs from well-loved musicals.
01:01:57What draws you to what's called the Great American Songbook?
01:02:02And how can films like Sylvie's Love help to expand the canon to include even more work from more recent songwriters like yourself and composers like Fabrice?
01:02:16Well, I'm interested in, in the Great American Songbook, but I'm also interested in the Lesser American Songbook.
01:02:25I don't know how, how do you call all of the throwaways and rejects and forgotten songs.
01:02:31Those really get me going and get me excited.
01:02:35I really love novelty songs, songs that really point to an era or a specific thing that doesn't exist anymore.
01:02:43I like how they, I feel like when you're, when you're playing these songs and also just playing with history and tradition and messing with it, you're in this dialogue with people that came before you and people that come after you.
01:03:02And I just, you know, it's, it's again, this whole idea of like a call and a response.
01:03:07And I feel like playing with the American Songbook, the Great and Lesser American Songbook and the rejects and folk songs and like forgotten oral traditions is, it's like playing with time.
01:03:23It's like, it's like, it's like doing, it's like responding to people who are no longer with us and, and keeping them alive in a way, which I think is the fundamental role of the singer and the musician, right?
01:03:39There's this historian aspect, especially in the roots of African music and singing like the griots were historians.
01:03:48I'm not a griot by any stretch of the imagination, but I really liked the concept of, of singer troubadour as historian, the keeper of the traditions, but also the molder and bender with time into something different.
01:04:05And I think that that's the beauty of jazz as well.
01:04:08It's like this music that is filled with contradictions.
01:04:11It's a music that is extremely intellectual, but also based in folklore and oral tradition is a music that is written, but also not written, improvised, not improvised.
01:04:24There are so many complexities to it. And it's also a music about dialogue, intimacy, trust, communication.
01:04:37And I think seeing it play out in a movie like this is actually the best, to me, it's the best way to experience it.
01:04:44Because I think it's harder now to just sit down and listen to a record, right? It's, it's, let's be honest, it's hard to just sit down and actually listen to it.
01:04:57If you're somebody doing something else, it'll be on shuffle, you'll listen to, you know, it'll go from Coltrane to Lady Gaga, I do it all the time, right?
01:05:04But when you're sitting for a film, you're immersing yourself in the universe, and you're really giving it time, your eyes are engaged, you're, the sound.
01:05:14So it's like to me, one of the best ways to really have somebody engage with something like that.
01:05:20And especially now, I know that we probably shouldn't be talking about the pandemic, but especially now, I feel like being in that performance setting, being in the club setting, like this is the, this is the way, this is our way of being in the club setting, is through our screen, and through, can be through a film.
01:05:41And so, to me, it's just a really beautiful way to be immersed in that world, now that we actually literally can't be.
01:05:51Yeah.
01:05:52And Fabrice, it looks like some of what, or all of what Cecile said was resonating with you.
01:05:58Do you, do you want to add anything to that?
01:06:00Absolutely.
01:06:01And, and, you know, and that there is a big need for love right now more than ever.
01:06:07And I think that love stories like this are certainly some, you know, very, very important.
01:06:13And, and whatever, you know, all of the things that Cecile said are, are so true.
01:06:20And they were so, so elegantly put.
01:06:22It's, it's, it's, it's really like that.
01:06:24I mean, there is a need for, for another song book as well at this point.
01:06:29And she's, she's a champion of that and she does a wonderful job with it.
01:06:34So I have, I have two more questions, but agreed, another song book.
01:06:40We won't call them castaways or forgotten.
01:06:42We will call it an expanded song book.
01:06:46The rest of the song book, maybe.
01:06:48But going back to this idea that Eugene spoke about at the beginning around places and ideas.
01:06:57So two places I want to quickly touch on Harlem and town hall.
01:07:03So the, the film starts out with Sylvie standing in front of town hall, NYC.
01:07:08And we hear Nancy Wilson coming across.
01:07:13And then during the film, we get to see really special places.
01:07:18Harlem at a certain point in time, actually know exactly where that record store is, where you filmed.
01:07:25And I believe I've even saw some of the old cars and such that have been on the street while this film was being shot.
01:07:33But could you talk about Harlem?
01:07:36Everyone, Eugene, I know that you have a relationship to Harlem.
01:07:41I know Cecile used to live in Harlem.
01:07:43Fabrice, I'm not as well versed.
01:07:45But if you have a story about Harlem and why was it important to situate this film in Harlem.
01:07:51And then my second question to you, Eugene, specifically is about town hall, NYC.
01:07:57While it's been a site for music, it's also been a very important site for cultural moments in the fight for civil rights.
01:08:04And a place where artists like Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis and Lorraine Hansberry and other music artists, musical artists use the space to talk about race in America and injustice.
01:08:19So if you can each give me a little bit about your Harlem and then specifically, Eugene, a little bit about town hall.
01:08:27Yeah, I mean, you know, Harlem for me, Harlem is where I grew up until I was about nine years old and we moved downtown Manhattan to the Upper West Side.
01:08:42But my mother grew up in Harlem and my dad grew up in the Bronx and there was this sort of exchange between them.
01:08:49But before there was this exit before the suburbs got started to get integrated, there were these different sections of Harlem.
01:09:01Harlem. And I wanted to kind of get that across like these different neighborhoods in Harlem where I grew up and where that's set is like kind of 128th Street up St.
01:09:15Nicholas Terrace and Common Avenue just below City College.
01:09:20And that's where my parents lived and where I lived and where my mother grew up.
01:09:26And there's a movie with Sidney Poitier, Edge of the Night or Edge of the City, Edge of the Night, I think, maybe with Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee that's set in that neighborhood.
01:09:40And so I just wanted to kind of somehow document and chronicle this part of Harlem that sort of ceased to exist.
01:09:50Actually, the buildings are all still there. It's just really gentrified now.
01:09:54But it was just important to show that there was this kind of class system going.
01:09:59And then you can see that later Sylvie and Lacey were part of that exodus to the suburbs when they moved to New Rochelle.
01:10:06But yeah, that was kind of one of the important concepts for me to show that part of Harlem when doctors and lawyers all lived there because Harlem was the only place you could live.
01:10:21There were no suburbs yet that were, you know, letting us buy houses that was came with integration in the 60s and through the civil rights movement.
01:10:29So I just thought it was an interesting point that is never really isn't made that often.
01:10:35And so that's what I kind of wanted to show in my Harlem.
01:10:39Yeah. How about you, Cecile?
01:10:42I lived on 122nd and Lennox next to Marcus Garvey Park.
01:10:48I miss it terribly. I was in a brownstone.
01:10:53It was the first place I lived in New York.
01:10:57And there's just a great sense of nostalgia when I go back and a sense of like, it's changing.
01:11:08And and I was there not that long ago.
01:11:11So I can only imagine I have friends who've lived in Harlem for 15, 20 years.
01:11:15And they're like, yeah, everything changes a lot.
01:11:18You have no idea.
01:11:20But but yeah, I have great memories of being there.
01:11:24And it makes seeing Harlem in this film really trippy because it is so different.
01:11:36How about you, Fabrice?
01:11:38Well, first of all, today I was hoping that even though we have this horrible pandemic,
01:11:44there would have been a way to just do this live in person because I was dying to come to the museum
01:11:50and just and just get a chance to see a different part of Harlem because my limited knowledge,
01:11:56I have a very limited knowledge of Harlem except for going to visit some friends here and there and driving through.
01:12:02And I wish I would have more chance actually to know to know it better.
01:12:06That's why I was hoping today, you know, in the occasion, hopefully soon.
01:12:11But not having had that experience, I saw this like I saw the entire movie like an extended dream, beautiful dream
01:12:21in which there were no no bad things happening, really.
01:12:27There were no no curses.
01:12:29There was nothing, none of the trivialities and the dirt, you know, and the aggressiveness.
01:12:37So to me, this this city for for the knowledge that I have of it was just this ideal place where all of this emotion would come out.
01:12:47And I saw it as that.
01:12:49So to me, that's that's what will remain always with me as how Harlem is,
01:12:55even though, unfortunately, I don't know it in so well in person.
01:12:59Mm hmm. Well, I definitely invite you to come up to Harlem.
01:13:03There are many sites that you can see, even though you may not be able to go inside.
01:13:08And if I may do a short plug in Jackie Robinson Park, as well as in St. Nicholas Park.
01:13:16There are wonderful old images of Harlem, everything from Sugar Hill to one hundred thirty fifth street.
01:13:24Harlem, why? And many other sites.
01:13:27So you definitely can take a glimpse of old Harlem while also experiencing new Harlem.
01:13:34We're going to wrap up. I'm sorry. Sorry.
01:13:37Yeah. So we're going to wrap up our conversation with this last question.
01:13:43Sylvie's love is an intimate love story that would be quiet if it were not for the city that never sleeps.
01:13:50It's lush on screen. And while there are other characters, it is a conversation that Sylvie is having with herself as well as Robert that draws us in.
01:13:59So my question to you all, if she was in a jazz band, if Sylvie was in a jazz band, is she a vocalist, is she a musical instrument, the band leader, all the above?
01:14:10We'll start with you, Fabrice.
01:14:12Hmm. That's very good.
01:14:16Well, she's definitely a woman that controls her life, who has ideals, who's very strong emotionally, who's, I think, I don't know.
01:14:33It's probably somebody who would start her own band, I would see, most likely.
01:14:38She's just terrific. Eugene described all of the characters in such a vivid way.
01:14:46And each one of them as an individual is so defined that I think I see this in her so much.
01:14:54I never thought about it, but that's a very, that's a very good, interesting question, actually.
01:14:58Probably to me, band leader probably.
01:15:01Okay. Cecile?
01:15:04I would say she's, in the best way, nerdy enough, smart enough, and like, independent enough that I would, no offense to the other instruments, but I would put her at the piano.
01:15:26And maybe she has her own band, but she also can be a sideman if need be. But she's, for me, she's at the piano.
01:15:34Okay. I love it. And Eugene, you have the last word.
01:15:38Yeah, I mean, I think she, for me, she, you know, I think she blows her own horn.
01:15:46She reminds me of Robert, just the way that she, you know, it's the same kind of evolution. You know, we know that she's talented, but she's got all of these outside things that hold her back.
01:16:00And then she sort of emerges and gets agency and turns into this, you know, she blossoms into this amazing person who, who can think for herself and, and, and I think Robert does the same thing.
01:16:14And I think she might also be, I do something about, maybe she'd be a, maybe she'd be an alto sax player though, not a tenor.
01:16:26I love all of these answers. Well, the audience is definitely in for a treat. Congratulations on making this film.
01:16:34It seems like Christmas time, making its premiere on Amazon Prime, but also the opportunity to sit and watch a film as Cecile was talking about.
01:16:45And really take it all in. I think it's the kind of film that you either want to immerse yourself in and not be distracted.
01:16:52And maybe that's a side effect of quarantine, but it does give us a little bit of time to also focus on whatever it is that we want to lay our attention on.
01:17:03So thank you all for this lovely conversation.
01:17:15I'm really impressed. I've been around my share of television studios and you, you really know your stuff.
01:17:22I suppose I do.
01:17:23What?
01:17:25I don't know, you just, you really are something.
01:17:30May I have the pleasure of this dance, Miss Johnson?
01:17:33The band got a gig in Paris and come with me.
01:17:45What if we don't work out?
01:17:49I need to be the woman of my dreams.
01:17:51Not just yours.
01:18:01Robert.
01:18:02Sylvie?
01:18:24Sylvie.
01:18:28What are you doing?
01:18:30Walking home.
01:18:31Hey, let me take you.
01:18:32No, thank you. I'm fine.
01:18:33Can I ask you a question?
01:18:34If last night was such a mistake, why are you so bent out of shape about me dancing with somebody else?
01:18:41Because.
01:18:44Mistake or not, when a girl is kissed by a guy, she'd like to think that she's the only girl that guy's been kissing.
01:18:52So you carrying on with what's-her-face doesn't make me feel very special.
01:18:55Well, the only reason I was carrying on with her in the first place is because of you telling me this was all a big mistake. That doesn't make me feel very special either.
01:19:04Matter of fact, it made me feel pretty ordinary.
01:19:06Well, you're not ordinary to me.
01:19:07In fact, I think you are one of the most extraordinary people I've ever met.
01:19:19Hey, everybody. My name is Christian McBride. I'm a bassist. I'm a composer.
01:19:34But today I hold the great honor of leading this discussion with the star of the new film called Sylvie's Love.
01:19:44It is my dear honor and great privilege to speak to Mr. Nnamdi Asamoah.
01:19:51Brother Nnamdi.
01:19:53What's up, Chris? Good to see you.
01:19:55Hey, man, this is such an incredible film and kudos to you for doing such an amazing job.
01:20:04I mean, can you give us, I mean, this is a broad stroke question, but I mean, what was it like working on this?
01:20:13It was a challenge. You know, it was a challenge.
01:20:16I don't I don't come from the world of playing the saxophone or or being in romantic movies or anything like this.
01:20:24It was a big, big challenge on my end to get the part right.
01:20:28But it was also I don't know, I'd say very rewarding.
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