“It seemed a good time for me to explore what I was going to do,” says James from his home in Minnesota, away from the country’s major music cities. “For many years, the main part of my dream has been to perform in a classic trio setting, where the piano is the prominent instrument and has control over the musical direction. On lots of other projects where I collaborated, I discovered how much I like being an accompanist.”
Even with the group Fourplay, a very popular group he co-founded that blends jazz, pop and funk, his role leaned to support and arranging. “I collaborated recently with David Sanborn, In that role, the piano plays a significant part, but not the main role. I didn’t know whether I’d become cowardly and was not ready to commit to it, but suddenly the timing seemed right. Actually, there was one particular booking last fall in New York where I played a week at the Blue Note with this same rhythm section that ended up on my album project (Billy Kilson on drums and Michael Palazzolo on bass). We had such a good time and I felt so comfortable playing some new music I composed. The audience response gave me more encouragement. So I decided to plunge in and do it.”