The
Interview, pg. 2
I've
read that Mitch Miller blamed your
singalong album for killing the
craze.
J.E.:
Oh, he's just being vengeful and petty, It
was his baby, and he blew it.
Despite
all the setbacks, you've obviously
garnered quite a following and you've even
won a Grammy.
D.E:
Yes, that was in 1960 for the second
album, Jonathan and Darlene in
Paris.
I
can see it there next to the
TV.
D.E.:
It puzzled Jonathan about the Grammy being
for comedy, but nevertheless we
were glad to receive it.
J.E.: The funny thing is -- and I
feel kind of nice about it -- that the
Westons have never won a Grammy. I do
admit that they did all their recording
before the academy was started, but they
don't really have a Grammy. Weston has
that one he got for being the first
national president and founder, but that's
not really for performance. The only
Grammy in this household is ours, and they
have the nerve to make us keep it in our
bedroom.
Many
people do seem to have a hard time pinning
down your music.
J.E.:
The new Ellington-Waller album (Darlene
Remembers Duke, Jonathan Plays Fats)
is easier to categorize because a lot of
that is real jazz. It's swinging jazz. My
stride piano is at least the equal of Fats
Waller. Sometimes there are extra beats in
the bar . . .
D.E.: . . . which gives him an
extra stride.
No
one ever thought of that
before?
J.E.:
No, but a lot of things we do no one has
ever thought of before. And there are a
lot of things we do that other people have
thought of and foolishly rejected. People
even steal things from us.
D.E.: We've heard piano players in
cocktail bars who we're certain have
stolen our style. Jonathan's
mostly.
You're
always giving the credit to Jonathan,
Darlene, but you've got your own unique
style. I've never heard it anywhere
before.
D.E.:
Well, thank you.
J.E.: Darlene's so good she could
do opera if she really wanted to. If she
could do "Stayin' Alive," I'm sure she
could do opera.
D.E.: Maybe you're right,
Jonathan and Darlene Swing the
Classics! We never thought of
that.
J.E.: Possibly after the Noel
Coward album we could do that.
(Jonathan leaves the room to deal with
fans on the intercom who have arranged to
seek out Paul Weston and Jo
Stafford.)
Darlene,
you didn't start singing professionally
until your children were grown. How did
you develop your remarkable
style?
D.E.:
We were originally from Trenton, and I
performed at a lot of PTA functions. My
club group used to have me sing before our
bridge games. It was things like
that.
How
did Jonathan get his start?
D.E.:
I'd rather you asked him because I'm not
sure.
Well,
then, with Jonathan gone temporarily, what
can you tell us about two artistic
personalities getting along?
D.E.:
We get along fairly well. He is
kind of rigid, though, and there are times
when he bugs me. If it's a matter of
setting the tempo, for instance, I would
think that the singer would get to pick
it. But with Jonathan, that's just out.
All the tempos and arrangements he really
dominates. Sometimes I get kind of mad,
but most of the time, artistically, we see
eye to eye.
That's
interesting, Jonathan has such a
reputation for being loose musically, yet
when it comes to structure, he's
inflexible.
D.E.:
That's right. When he hits that tempo,
you'd better just go along because that's
the way it's going to be.
Otherwise,
you might finish up at different
times.
D.E.:
Yes, you would, and there are times when
we have had trouble, but of course, we
almost never do retakes. If you listen,
there are places where we have had a
difference of opinion about when I'm
supposed to come in.
To
me, that's part of your special artistic
process. I get so tired of seamless
musical perfection. Art just isn't like
that. It has rough edges.
D.E.:
That's where Jonathan really contributes,
in the free flow of musical ideas. He
demands complete freedom, and he sees no
reason why, for example, there can't be
five beats in a 4/4 bar. Who said
so?
Jonathan,
you're back just in time for our technical
discussion. All these years of challenging
the basic tenets of contemporary
musicianship, all the banging on the gates
of the sacred temple, all the musical
touches you've pioneered -- are there any
that you're especially proud of, that you
feel are very much your own?
J.E.:
I think my arpeggios are my own. They're
not like other people's arpeggios. They
contain a great many more notes. Some
people have had the nerve to point out
that some of my notes don't actually
belong to the chord which I'm building the
arpeggio around, but I'm simply much more
imaginative than the average pianist, and
I put a lot more into my arpeggios.
Anything
else?
J.E.:
Well, I am very imaginative on all three
elements of music -- melody, harmony and
rhythm. Rhythmically, I've added bars, or
if I think a bar is too long, I'll shorten
it up and get on to the next bar.
Harmonically, I've never believed that the
composer's original harmony needed to bind
me in any way because in many ways I'm
much more musically sophisticated than the
average composer. If I can think of a new
harmonization for his melody, he's sort of
fortunate.
Sort
of like getting Michelangelo to paint your
bathroom?
J.E.:
Exactly.
What
about you, Darlene? What do you feel your
biggest contribution has been?
J.E.:
That's easy -- her sophisticated way with
lyrics.
D.E.: I just love
sophisticated types of songs, and when I
find words that are really sophisticated,
I just lay into them. I really give them
their due. Rendezvous, for example,
or nonchalant.
I've
often thought, Darlene, if only someone
would write a song for you with the word
ointment in it, you could do a lot
with it.
D.E.:
Boy, could I. I'm surprised no one
has.
J.E.: I'd make ointment a
7/4 bar. I'd drag that bar out . . .
because it's worth it.
After
25 years, can you look back to the
beginning and trace your artistic
development? Or were you pretty much a
finished product from the
start?
J.E.:
I was very good from the beginning,
and Darlene was quite sophisticated from
the very beginning.
D.E.: Coming from Trenton, New
Jersey, some of it is going to rub
off.
I
know your fans would like to know why
there have been so few albums from
Jonathan and Darlene -- only five in 25
years.
D.E.:
We work a long time on them. We prefer not
to retake songs when we're recording
because we like the intimacy of the first
take, even if there are differences of
opinion. But we take a long time preparing
to record, usually several years. We owe
that to our fans, who expect our best
effort.
J.E.: I think our fans can expect
some more albums. We're not tapped
yet.
**Los
Angeles Magazine © December
1982