PH: Hi, my name is Peter Höld and I'm from the Webradiostation GrooveFM. I have a few questions for you. Is this your first time in Germany?

PB: Yes, it's my first time in Germany.

PH: Yes, indeed? And you like it here?

PB: I love it. So far it's great. I love this venue, it's beautiful and everybody is very nice.

PH: And we have nice Californian weather (laughs) today.

PB: (laughs) Yes, I brought the sunshine.

PH: One important question for me, because I'm a guitar player. You are playing a Gibson L-5?

PB: Yes, on my recordings I use a Gibson L-5. Live I have this Nelson Palen Archtop, that's what I'm playing tonight.

PH: You have produced all three Jessy J albums. How did it come about?

PB: I was doing a concert in California and she came with her demo cd and she wanted me to produce her. I listen to it and I didn't really liked it all that much and then a year later she came back and did the same thing.
She gave me another cd that was a more contemporary sounding thing and it was better, but I still wasn't in love with it. And then I decided to have a all female band. So I remember her and I had her come down to an audition for my band. That was the first time I heard her play tender saxophone. And I love her tender sound, you know. She was playing in my band for about six months, and then we decided we´re trying to get her a deal.
We wrote Tequila Moon and a couple of other songs. I get her signed and this is her third record and she's really come along. I mean she is becoming just an amazing artist.

PH: Which of Jessy's Albums was the most challenging?

PB: I really like the first record. I love the song Tequila Moon. That one I really enjoy. But her new album has got about eight really super strong songs. It's a latin jazz, R&B combination and I think we refind it a lot. The new album is really a nice blend of latin and jazz.

PH: And you work together with nearly every top smooth jazz musician. Who's missing?

PB: (laughs) There's a few I hadn't worked with, like Joe Sample. Jessy worked with him on the new record. I wasn't there for that.

But, I really, really like Jamie Cullum. I would love to work with him. I always want to do something really different, like with someone like Aretha Franklin and do a Jazz Album. So I'm working on trying to do something like that. Someone outside, that doesn't normal do jazz, like Aretha Franklin. She's primely my favorite singer. And, I got a chance to work with Luther Vandross for 15 years. Aretha and Luther are just… that's it for me for a vocalist, you know.

PH: Jamie Cullum is great and I like his jazzy punk style. His performance is great.

PB: Yes, Jamie is a great performer.

PH: Your last Album "Love you found me" is from last year. Are there any plans for a new Album?

PB: Yes, I pretty much have finished about 15 Songs and now I have to decide which one to put on, how many vocals and how many guests to have, but the music is all done pretty much.

PH: Sounds very interesting and I’m looking forward to your new album.

PB: Yes, got some nice, some really nice things on there. We got Jessy's on there. Euge Groove, the saxophone player Darren Rand is on there and I think I'm getting George Duke to play a song too. I've never worked with George. We've been talking about doing something together, so I brought to get George on this one.

PH: We are really looking forward to your new record. OK, next question. You are using social networks like Facebook. Why?

PB: Why not? (laughs) One of the reasons is, my manager is been telling me for years "you gotta use Facebook", because (I mean) say you have 5000 friends on Facebook, which is the max. It's amazing, 'cause if I have an album coming out and I'm doing a show, I just put a posting on there - boom - there it is. And 5000 people know what´s happening, and then of course their friends get it. So, it's pretty powerful.

PH: Yes, it's a very close contact to your fans.

PB: And that´s how I got this show here. Christian contacted me through Facebook. So I mean, lot of people who didn't contact me before for what ever reason. I mean it's an easy way to contact somebody. I got a lot of jobs through Facebook. It’s very powerful.

PH: What's on your iPod or MP3 Player?

Paul: (both laughing) Fortunately I don´t have an iPod. Both my kids have, but I… I don´t listen to a whole lot of Jazz, honestly, and it wasn´t my biggest influence. I was a Grateful Dead fan and everybody is always surprised when I say this. On my first album I thanked Wes Montgomery and Jerry Garcia and a lot of people asked me how could you put Jerry Garcia in the same sentence as Wes Montgomery, but that´s what I listen to, you know. I love Eric Clapton and that´s what I think, so I listen to some different types of music and lots of old R&B stuff, but not a lot of jazz, but I do like Grant Green the guitar player. I’ve been listening to a lot of Grant Green lately and I really love him. He doesn´t play the guitar like a normal guitar player. It sounds like someone is playing the saxophone. So I really like what he plays.

PH: Ok, It´s your first time in Germany, so (laughs) what´s your favorite place in Germany? - Augsburg?.

PB: I´ve only been to Augsburg, right yeah. I mean, we flew in Munich but didn´t seen much of it.

PH: From Munich to Augsburg by car?

PB: Yeah, and that guy was going FAST!!! It took maybe an hour! He was crank. He was flying down the freeway.

PH: Thank you very much for the interview and your time.