An Interview with Kaylene Peoples of “Romantic Bossa-Nova”
On Romantic Bossa-nova: “We open with a Chick Corea tune of all things. It features me on flute, called ‘500 Miles High.’ This song gets the audience going, because it’s still Latin influence, upbeat but still very romantic in its theme. And the traditional ones like ‘Dindi.’ I think that’s the favorite one that people like the most that I do. We do ‘Berimbau.'”
- Romantic Bossa-Nova Interview by Sheryl Aronson Kaylene Peoples 18:57
Kaylene Peoples Romantic Bossa-Nova with Bunny Brunel at the Back Bay Bistro June 28, 2019! This is the transcript from the interview from June 18, 2019.
Interviewed by Sheryl Aronson
Responses by Kaylene Peoples
Sheryl Aronson: I am so honored and privileged to introduce an interview today—a very dear, talented friend of mine Kaylene Peoples. Kaylene is going to be having a wonderful concert I want you all to go to with Bunny Brunel, and it’s the “Romantic Bossa-Nova” on June 28th at the Back Bay Bistro. It’s in Newport Beach, and if you’ve never been to this venue, it is just utterly fabulous and romantic and stunning. So I have Kaylene on the phone with me. We’re going to talk about the concert and probably many other things. So, good morning, Kaylene.
Kaylene Peoples: Hi Sheryl, that was a great intro.
Sheryl: So why don’t we tell everybody about your fabulous concert at the Back Bay Bistro. I’ve seen it quite a few times . . . wonderful.
Kaylene: Thank you. You know it started back in December 2016 with the famous sax player, the late Dave Pell (founder of West Coast Jazz). He played the song Corcovado. Also Chase Masterson (Star Trek: DS9 Leeta), who performs with me on occasion. She performed three tunes that evening. That concert went over so well. I couldn’t even believe it. We only did Bossa-nova on that concert. It just felt so good. It is a fun thing. People love Bossa-nova. It’s relaxing, it’s romantic. People felt great at this concert. I’ve been continuing it since then. It is now one of my shows that I perform regularly.
Sheryl (to the listeners): Kaylene plays the flute. She’s a fabulous vocalist, she’s a composer . . . this is one multi-talented woman; and I’m only mentioning what she does in music. She does so many things. But Kaylene, tell everbody about some of the music that you love to play at this concert.
Kaylene: Well, that’s going to be fun. We open with a Chick Corea tune of all things. It features me on flute, called “500 Miles High.” This song gets the audience going, because it’s still Latin influence, upbeat but still very romantic in its theme. And the traditional ones like “Dindi.” I think that’s the favorite one that people like the most that I do. We do “Berimbau.”
Sheryl: You’re doing “Take Five,” right?
Kaylene: We are doing “Take Five” on this [show] because we’re mixing it up a little bit. So we are doing a couple of nontraditional Bossa-nova, cause that’s not Bossa-nova.
Sheryl: Right.
It’s a two-hour show, so we thought we mix it up a little bit. So we are throwing in a couple of nontraditional tunes. But “Take Five” is the only non-Latin tune that we’re doing.
Sheryl: Of course you have the Grammy-nominated Bunny Brunel playing with you, who is just an outstanding bassist, musician . . . let’s talk a little about Bunny.
Kaylene: Well, you know Bunny . . . what can you say about Bunny Brunel. My goodness. Aside from being just mind-numbingly talented (they laugh), you can’t say enough about him. You haven’t experienced jazz until you’ve seen Bunny. You just haven’t. What’s special about Bunny and the Romantic Bossa-nova—I’m not sure that he’s going to be doing this at the show but we have an album that we had a limited release on—we will be releasing the full album this year sometime, finally—but Bunny is a featured guest on one of the songs, singing “Agua de Marco,” which translates as “Waters of March.” And he’s brilliant on it. What got me was after he recorded his vocal, I literally had to redo mine. (Laughs.)
Sheryl: That’s how good he was!
Kaylene: No, he’s not going to sound better than me on my own record. It’s just not going to happen. I was surprised. Not only does he play phenomenal bass but he’s one of the four founding fathers of the jazz fusion bass movement. The other three are Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, and Jeff Berlin . . . and of course Bunny Brunel. In fact, Stanley Clarke is doing a documentary on Bunny and fusion bass. It’s currently in production. Bunny can play any style of jazz. He can play [almost] anything anyway, but he prefers jazz.
Sheryl: And Bunny designs basses, too.
Kaylene: Yes, in fact the bass he’s going to be playing the night of the concert on the 28th is the Bunny Brunel Electric Upright Bass (BBEUB) that he created and designed, and manufactured himself. It’s a gorgeous bass. Stanley Clarke owns a BBEUB. It’s a very beautiful bass. It’s very romantic looking. So what do you say about Bunny Brunel, other than he’s just a legendary musician, who needs to be seen (experienced) live. We’re doing a lot of [Latin] Chick Corea to feature him as well.
Sheryl: I’d like to mention that Bunny played with Chick Corea.
Kaylene: Yes, Bunny was a band member for almost 10 years with Chick Corea and he has another Grammy nomination with Chick. He also played with Tony Williams, Tony McAlpine in his band CAB, Herbie Hancock, even Dizzy Gillespie. You name it. [Bunny’s list of credits is too long to list] Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_Brunel
Sheryl: Why do you love playing Bossa-nova? We know it’s very romantic. Is there any other attraction for you?
Kaylene: Yea, well I like to dance.
Sheryl: Well, you’re very good up there.
Kaylene: Yes I’m moving and I also feel like I can get really deep with it on certain songs. I’m a big fan of Antonio Carlos Jobim. He’s actually really one of the main people that I sing. And his lyrics are very deep. They translate [well], and people are affected by this music. It’s simplistic lyrically and melodically. It’s not complex but there’s something about it that brings out the emotion in people; it all resonates with the audience. We’re all one during a performance. It’s Zen. And it makes me feel good.
Sheryl: I love [Antonio] Carlos Jobim’s music. I was listening to it on my ride back from San Francisco. But I think what it is Kaylene, it just appeals to the romantic soul inside of all of us. It just brings it out. It’s so lovely and tender and sweet and rhythmic, all of that.
Kaylene: I think you definitely nailed it. That’s exactly what it is. I think we’re all romantics at heart, even the most stoic person is. I think that this type of music—this particular style tends to evoke emotions from people who normally don’t expose that side of themselves. I like seeing people get misty-eyed. I love it when I’m onstage and people are [swooning]. I’m singing “How Insensitive” or a big one that people tend to like is “Once I Loved”; it talks about a failed romance.
Sheryl: I want to reiterate that Kaylene Peoples and Bunny Brunel are going to be performing on Friday, June 28th, the Romantic Bossa-nova at the Back Bay Bistro, overlooking the water in [Newport Beach]. It’s a great date night to go out and listen to this music. Kaylene, do you want to talk about your background and you career as a musician? You have quite a background.
Kaylene: Yeah, I have a pretty extensive background. Starting from a child, I’ve been classically trained. Of course I’m overly educated. (Laughs.)
Sheryl: That’s not a bad thing!
Kaylene: I am also a composer and I got into doing jazz as a kid when I was listening to Hubert Laws and Dave Valentin, and I discovered Dave Brubeck. I was 11 years old and decided to memorize “Blue Rondo a la Turk” on my flute. It’s just been a passion. It’s just in my DNA, whether I do it to get paid or I do it for my soul or to help other people. I’m not really doing it to pay the mortgage. I’m doing it because it feels good. Everything I’ve ever done in my boils down to one denominator: music. I’m just this crazy person who . . .
Sheryl: Not crazy but she’s passionate everyone. And Kaylene not only is stunningly gorgeous but her chops on the flute and her vocals are tremendous. And they are just phenomenal, worth going to see, definitely. And I love the fact, Kaylene, that you are very powerful on that flute. You have some beautiful, powerful chops.
Kaylene: Thank you so much. You know I just did a show, well just a cameo appearance, really, at a festival a couple of months ago. You were there (The Artemis Awards Gala 2019). And I just did one tune. It was “Take Five.” You don’t expect much feedback on one tune. People were coming up to me. “Oh my gosh, your flute reminded me of Jethro Tull and . . .”
Sheryl: Ooh…
Kaylene: Yeah, I was getting all kinds of references. The funny thing about the Jethro Tull reference is I never listened to Jethro Tull before somebody told me I sounded like Jethro Tull.
Sheryl: Interesting.
Kaylene: So then I looked him up and listened to his music. This was when I was in high school. And I was like, “Oh wow, I do sound like him. How funny, I never heard of the guy!” I think what I want to say here is there are a lot of influences, but sometimes people come up with their own, and maybe someone else came up with the same thing, too, but it’s not necessarily like they took it from someone.
Sheryl: Exactly.
Kaylene: Of all of the flutists that I mentored with, Dave Valentin is probably the biggest influence. And he’s a Latin flutist, which is probably why I gravitate toward Bossa-nova. I’ve been told I have a very pure tone, even though I’m playing aggressively. Sometimes when you hear an aggressive flute playing, it’s more of an airy tone as opposed to a pure tone; that’s really from him. Herbie Mann is another really big influence, which you’ll hear his influence on my song “One Note Samba.” And then of course Hubert Laws . . . I memorized every single Hubert Laws solo he ever did when I was growing up. I bought all of his albums, purchased his charts, and literally memorized his solos because they were so compelling.
Sheryl: Yes, he’s so amazing, one of the greats.
Kaylene: Yes, so those are my influences.
Sheryl: Kaylene is there anything else you want to say about your upcoming concert or about your career in music?
Kaylene: If you’re not in the orange county area, it is worth the drive to see this concert. It is really quite a musical experience. Just the level of musicianship is so high, and I’m not just referring to myself so much. In general, the whole ensemble, includes phenomenal musicians Bryan Cabrera (drums), Joe Calderon (guitar), [Matt Politano (piano), and of course the amazing Bunny Brunel].
Sheryl: That’s a great group.
Kaylene: If you’re in Orange County, please come out. The food at Back Bay Bistro is just incredible.
Sheryl: Yes it’s delicious.
Kaylene: It’s got a great view, just breathtaking.
Sheryl: Yes it sits on that bay in Newport Beach. It’s wonderful.
Kaylene: It’s an experience. So come. If you want to hear some Bossa-nova, and some Chick Corea, and ONE Brubeck tune . . . (They laugh.)
Sheryl: I’ve seen the show many times and I would see it again. That’s how good it is.
You can find Kaylene on her social media here:
Twitter.com/boogseymusic, insta @kaylenepeoples, facebook https://www.facebook.com/kaylenepeoples/ and visit her website: kaylenepeoples.com
The Show:
Back Bay Bistro: 1131 Back Bay Drive, Newport Beach, California 92660
Doors/Dinner:
Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/
