Fans may know Jeff Goldblum from his roles in movie series like Jurassic Park and Independence Day, as well as Thor: Ragnarok, but the actor is also a musician. Last year, Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra released their debut jazz album The Capitol Studios Sessions, and this year released its followup: I Shouldn't Be Telling You This.
I Shouldn't Be Telling You This includes 11 tracks, and features artists like Miley Cyrus, Fiona Apple, Gregory Porter, Inara George, Anna Calvi, Sharon Van Etten, and Gina Saputo. And if you're not familiar with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, the collection of musicians includes Alex Frank (bass), Kenny Elliott (drums), Joe Bagg (organ), and Goldblum on the keys. Guest musicians also featured on this album include Gilbert Castellanos (trumpet), Scott Gilman (saxophone), and James King (saxophone) — King is also a member of Fitz & the Tantrums.
A few of the collaborations on I Shouldn't Be Telling You This may be unexpected, and Goldblum explained how some of them came to exist. He tells iHeartRadio that he had a wishlist of artists he wanted to be included on the album, and Fiona Apple was one of those artists after having once previously met her. He explains, "We had a wishlist of, 'Hey, who should sing these songs?' I said, 'How about Fiona Apple?' We got in touch with her. Anyway, she was great. I won't tell you the whole story, but the first time I heard [her sing], she came over to my house. Joe Bagg was there and we were trying to figure out the key. The first time she sang it, she sings 'Don't Worry 'Bout Me,' it's an old jazz standard. The way she sings it ... I started to play it at my house. She sang, I was crying."
Miley Cyrus was also on Goldblum's collaboration wishlist. The track that she sings on is a combination of "The Thrill Is Gone" with 1954 John Lewis jazz standard "Django." Jeff had first met Cyrus during the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, and then ran into her several more times before he sent her a direct message on Instagram to ask if she wanted to be a part of his jazz album. He tells us:
"I think the first time I ever saw her live was when we went to the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. It was kind of a televised thing, and [featured] a lot of luminaries from the past. I was on that on occasion. I found myself walking into the theater next to Keith Richards, and we spoke a little bit. Anyway, there were a lot of people there, and Miley Cyrus sang a song. And I was like, 'Wow, she's great.' She was really stunning. She's very striking, very outstanding, very gifted; a real voice, very musical and just great. And then a year or two passed, and I was doing a movie, and socially ran into her on a couple of occasions. She was very nice, and interesting. And then, as we were talking about this album, we said, 'Well, hey, these songs, these singers (who weren't really jazz singers usually), who would be really good?' She was on our dreamy, dreamy wishlist. And well, how would we go about getting in touch with a person like Miley Cyrus? I said, 'Well, I ran into her a couple of times. We know each other a little bit. I said hello.' And, so he said, 'Well, she's probably got big agents, and this and that.' Alex Frank, our bass player said, 'You know, I see that she's on Instagram.' I'm on Instagram myself, but not much. But I'd never contacted anybody. You can write somebody, or write them a note or to somebody. Anyway, I did it. That's the only one I did. I haven't done it since. We wrote her a note. We said, 'This is Jeff. We're doing an album, do you wanna [sing on it?]" And she wrote back right away. She said, 'Yeah, hey. How are you? Hey, that sounds good.' We sent her the song. She said, 'I love that song.' And that's it. And then we started to kind of do videos back and forth a little bit, a couple times, that were just delightful. I got them on my phone right now, still. We couldn't arrange to be in the same place, so she had a recording studio and an engineer, fancy engineer, and we did our stuff in the studio and sent her the track, and said, 'You just have to sing along with that.' She did and then she sent me a video and said, 'Well, here it is. Listen to this. Here's a little bit. Here's the thing, we just did it. I think it's pretty good.' And sure enough, it was just great. I love the track."
I Shouldn't Be Telling You This features a few songs mashed up together, like "The Thrill Is Gone/Django." In choosing what songs to include on the album, Goldblum and his band ultimately came up with the list together, as well as the idea to combine tunes.
In addition to playing keys, Goldblum also sings on the album, especially on a cover of "Little Man You've Had A Busy Day," which is a song he sometimes sings to his two children at bedtime. He tells us:
"Somebody said, 'Hey, Jeff, maybe you should sing 'Such As It Is.'' And I said, 'Really?' I go, 'I can't sing this.' And I said, 'Hey, I have these couple of kids. I got a four year old boy and a two year old boy. Two little boys that are so sweet. And sometimes when I'm putting them to bed, I sing them a lullaby.' And they said, 'What lullaby do you sing?' I said, "[Little Man You've Had a Busy Day].' They said, 'Wait a minute, I know that song. Hey, guess who released that a million years ago? Decca Records. Wait a minute...' Alex Frank said, 'Here, before we leave, sing that into my phone. Let me see what key you're singing that in.' I did. Based on that key and that recording, he came up with an arrangement, and sure enough it got to be part of the album. We showed up at the Jim Henson studios where we did it this time, unlike the first album where we did it live at Capitol Records. We had four days where we just kinda hunkered down and had this creative spurt outpouring. The Jim Henson studios are on La Brea if you know Los Angeles. It used to be Herb Alpert's place, A&M records for a long time. Then before that, Charlie Chaplin's studio, supposedly where he did many things. So it was full [of] speaking of ghosts and vibrations, it was a delightful place to work."
The I Shouldn't Be Telling You This cover art also has an interesting story: it was shot at Frank Sinatra's house in Palm Springs. He tells us of getting to shoot the cover at the music legend's home, "It was fantastic. There were pictures of Frank [Sinatra], and Tina [Sinatra], and Frank [Sinatra Jr.] all over one room. It was great. I mean, I don't believe in ghosts, really. I don't know that there's anything of Frank there. But just me, a guy like me thinking to myself, 'Gee, Frank was right here, he was right here,' was kinda fun, I must say. And what do we know of time, you know? I mean, here we are now, but you know, time, as they say, does not necessarily run in the way that we conventionally think. We, have this idea about it, but time may all be happening at the same time, and not really sequentially. And so Frank may have been there in some way, in warped loops of some kind."
And as for how Goldblum's album got its name, he had this story to share:
"Somebody I know, many years ago, suggested that as a possible title for a movie, saying it's kind of a nice, intriguing, sounding title. And as it turned out, then I saw it, we fell on that, and we kind of decided on that. And then it looked good, the little yellow lettering on our album cover. And then, as I started to think about it, and the album started to [take shape], as we were doing it, it was a very organic so-called process. And the songs we were gonna do, and the singers we got kinda revealed themselves as we were kinda getting ready to finish it up. I Shouldn't Be Telling You This became relevant in a way that I can't even tell you — actually, in a way that I shouldn't be telling you, and I probably won't and I can't. I Shouldn't Be Telling You This can mean, and came to mean — really mean — some of these lyrics are personal, intimate [and] private in ways that you may not realize, and in ways that we shouldn't be telling you. But now you can imagine what they are and to whom they relate, maybe. And then even some of the instrumentals are so full of unexpurgated joy and emotion, that it's probably indiscrete to share it publicly, except musically. So, I Shouldn't Be Telling You This, but here it is anyway."
Photos: Adrianna Casiano