Cinema Music

By Jeff Katz

My Imaginary Friend Has a CD

I never had an imaginary friend, but if I did he’d be a bit younger than me, the little brother I never had. He’d definitely share my taste in music – Elvis and The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Paul Weller. He’d also dig jazz, Ellington, Ella, Sinatra. We’d watch old Annette Funicello movies, some Hope and Crosby pictures, Apocalypse Now. Oh yeah, he’d be British. That would be way cool.

Maybe Baby (or, You Know That It Would Be Untrue), is a series of fanciful columns I’ve created, “what if” moments in rock and roll history – what if Otis Redding had lived, or if John Lennon blew off Paul McCartney when they first met, or if Stephen Stills had been a Monkee. Since it rolled out last summer, my readership has grown, especially in England. I think the British have a keener sense of appreciation for this sort of thing. It’s via the Maybe Baby blog that I met Jon Nickoll, my imaginary friend turned real.

Jon became a follower of the blog and its Twitter feed of daily rock factoids. When I premiered my ragazine column, with a piece on my own peculiarities of LP storage, I sent it over to him. See, Jon is a vinyl junkie too and his blog, I Buy Records, recounts the highlights of his once a week flipping through record shop (or, in his case, shoppe) racks. Jon loved the article and our friendship grew. We’d chat about albums, recent Maybe Baby pieces, all sorts of music related topics. I went over to Jon’s website and started listening to his music. I was impressed and told him so.

Jon has two distinctive musical careers. One is as pianist and jazz vocalist at The Dorchester Hotel. Before that he was, at 26, the youngest resident at the Savoy Hotel’s American Bar, the legendary piano bar that dates back to 1898. A Who’s Who of celebrities has made their way through the place. Jon had always messed about on piano, but he got the job after an impressive audition for a London agent who supplied city hotels with performers. At The Savoy, he could be seen stompin’ with Paul McCartney. (Macca shared his story of meeting Elvis with the Presley-obsessed Nickoll). Amy Winehouse popped in and pulled up a piano stool for a half hour of duets and Johnny Rotten requested a Tammy Wynette chestnut as he doodled giant breasts on a Savoy napkin. Pretty heady stuff!

I love Nickoll’s jazz style. His playing is tasteful and beautifully done; his vocals are smooth, not sappy, and reminiscent of great singers in the Mark Murphy tradition. His soul is undeniable. But late at night, after his genteel sessions at the hotel are over, this ivory-tinkling Jekyll becomes a rock and roll Hyde. Jon’s latest disc, Cinema Music, finally came sweeping across the ocean via a very slow Royal Post, and I was bowled over. It’s a great record.

From the time he was six years old, Jon has been a rock and roll animal. He was watching Elvis’ 1970 concert documentary and Jon remembers it as “a lightning bolt. I was converted! I was utterly transformed by the film and it shaped my self-identity. I wanted a piece of what I just seen.” His parents surrounded him with Beatles, Paul Simon, Hollies, Everly Brothers and little Jon would spend all his pocket money on records. What a good boy!

At 18, a treasure trove of his own songs in tow, the prolific Nickoll roamed Scandinavia for three years, honing his craft, meeting girls and making a reputation. When he returned to Jolly Old England, he nearly garnered a record deal with BMG, but one record exec, like so many before him, made a bad decision to pass on this great talent. Their loss.

Undeterred, Jon made his first album on his own. Arena Parade, which included the piano tune “Technology Will Break Your Heart,” an Internet hit. The folky, singer-songwriter approach of his debut has been shunted aside for the more expansive, much deeper songs that are Cinema Music. Nickoll impressively plays every instrument on every song.

From the opening rhythms of “Green Man,” the album captures your attention. “Dig the Changes,” employs Beach Boys harmonies circa Pet Sounds and Smile. Jon played in a band with a guy who had all the Beach Boys albums and the mere sight of all that vinyl blew Nickoll’s mind. The beauty, complexity, and honesty of Brian Wilson’s sound led to many a night listening to the master’s works.“Eva Versus the King of Hearts” is a soulful tune with a title out of a Godzilla movie. Written over a heartbreak suffered in Denmark, it’s a sparse, funky delight. Every song is worth your time; there’s not a clinker in the bunch.

There are recurring religious themes that pop up, though Nickoll is not a churchgoer. In fact, he was surprised that I noted the references to Jesus, guilt and the sacred. He’s clearly a spiritual guy, and creator of excellent imagery. Like all of us lowdown sinners, Nickoll is not above a bit of a guilt complex, but there’s not a whit of shame in his love of pop music. His definition of perfect pop – Brill Building tunes of the Goffin-King variety, The Hollies hits, early 1960’s Elvis, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” He calls it, “mind-blowing pop.” Amen brother!

So, how does he reconcile his schizoid life of smooth, cool hotel pianist/crooner by day, rocker by night? He loves dropping the tux and donning jeans, there’s something more. Nickoll’s  jazz vocals and rock vocals are poles apart. Does he say to himself, “I need this voice for a jazz sound and this sound for rock?”

Whatever it is, he’s aware of it. “I feel sensitive about it too. I’m like The Talented Mr. Ripley with music. The changes in my voice are automatic. It’s really weird. I haven’t analyzed it too much. But I am aware that I’m a better singer in the traditional sense when I’m in my ‘jazz’ voice, it’s something I can just turn on. I feel more exposed doing my own stuff, but it means more personally.”

Believe it, this Mr. Ripley delivers and there’s more on the way with a new album scheduled for a summer release. Amidst his new “kick arse” gear, Nickoll has 15 or more of his own songs from the wood inspired by his surrounding garden. Will there be a tour of the States? “I really hope so,” is all he can say at this point.

Snatches of influence abound – Jeff Buckley, Paul Weller, the aforementioned Wilson and Winehouse, but don’t get the wrong idea. Jon Nickoll is a distinctive artist who, like other greats, distills what he’s learned and makes something new. The cover of Cinema Music shows Nickoll, guitar case in hand, climbing a metal staircase. He’s going up, folks, most definitely going up.

Jon’s site http://www.jonnickoll.com/

I Buy Records http://ibuyrecords.blogspot.com/

Maybe Baby http://maybebabyoryouknowthatitwouldbeuntrue.blogspot.com/