Nicky Schrire: On Songs, Spaces And Places

So in terms of picking material, I don't want to choose anything for the sake of choosing it. I want the songs to mean something to me. "I Wish You Love" had already been performed a year before the album [came about] because I had arranged it for a trio I had with Jay Rattman, who's a clarinetist, and Glenn Zaleski, who's a pianist. I said to them, "let's create this trio that's called The Balladeers, and we'll only play ballads," which [laughs] was a nice idea, but you need variety, even in the smallest of ways. So "I Wish You Love" was arranged for them, "Say It Isn't So" I did on my graduate recital at MSM as a full band thing, but the basis of it was piano and voice. Same thing with "Someone To Watch Over Me." So all of these songs had kind of come together, and then you just pick tunes that you love. Labi Siffre's a British composer who most people don't know, but they know his most famous song—"It Must Be Love" [sings a few lines]. My dad had introduced me and my siblings to another one of his songs—"Bless The Telephone"—when we were younger, and it's such a great song. And, in fact, it wasn't even really arranged [for Space And Time] because it was so good. I just made a chart and gave it to [pianist] Gerald [Clayton], and I sent him the original, in case it influenced anything he did. But we decided to literally just play it down. So picking songs that I love, and the fact that I arranged them, makes it cohesive. You don't have to worry about songs sticking out or not feeling like they fit.

AAJ: So we've discussed all three of your albums and the intentions surrounding them. The big question that's left is, "what's next?" You're preparing to move to London now, so why don't you tell us a little bit about what prompted this decision and what's next for you, if you even know what's next.

NS: I'm not one-hundred percent sure about what's next. I've gotten so much out of being here in New York, but, in many ways, this is like the end of me being in school. I was [actually] in school from 2009 to 2011, but I feel like my graduate degree was four-and-a-half years long, as opposed to two years. It just kind of feels right to leave now, so that's what kind of prompted the moving. And also, I find myself really yearning for space, both from a living perspective and scene perspective. It's so saturated here, and that's awesome, but it's also just really overwhelming all the time. So that's the thing about leaving.

I love South Africa, and I would love to live there, but the industry is just so small. So moving to London means that I get to experience a new scene. Also, musically, I think there are a lot of really interesting things going on in London...and I think there are some unbelievable things going on in Europe. There are musicians who are really influential, like Norma Winstone from the UK, and Maria Pia De Vito from Italy. I just want to be closer to a different sort of world. And I was born in London, so I like the idea, in a romanticized way, of going back to my birth place.

So that's the move, but I really have no idea what it will bring. It really could be an absolute abysmal mistake [laughs], and part of me thinks I could end up doing something completely different, but I don't know. I have one gig booked at the moment, which is nothing short of a miracle because it's so difficult moving to a new scene. I know because I've done it already. And then, every time I go back to South Africa I feel like I'm trying to scrape into a new scene.

Record-wise, I have an entire record of original music. You've heard [some of] it. It's been played at gigs. I recorded that music onto a demo at the end of last year. I'd like to try to get label support for the album before I record it, only because I've already done two other albums the opposite way, where I recorded them and then I shopped them around and basically took what I could get. This strategy might not work, but at least I've got all of this music recorded, even in a rough way. Ideally, if I could get some label interest, and I'm not talking label funding, [that would be great]. Just knowing that it had a home before I made it would be nice. So, hopefully, that's what would be on any future album. That's the next move into all-original territory, but I've also been writing more duo material. That might be a terrible mistake, but there are some pianists that, if they said tomorrow, "do you want to record a duo album?," I would say "yes" at the drop of the hat.

AAJ: Not to put you on the spot, but could you name a few?

NS: Yes. Josh Nelson, who's in Los Angeles, who I just adore [is one].

AAJ: He sounds great with Sara [Gazarek].

NS: Yeah. Totally amazing. He's a beautiful pianist, and a wonderful person, and we have a lot of shared aesthetics, so I would work with him in a heartbeat. And I told him as much. My first [scheduled] gig in London is a duo gig with a Welsh pianist called Huw Warren who's played a lot with Maria Pia de Vito and, also, June Tabor, who's sort of a British folk singer. He just released a trio album with June and saxophonist Ian Ballamy. They have a trio called Quercus. [The album they released is on] ECM, so they just have this beautiful space, and that sound. It's a beautiful album. I haven't played this gig with him yet, and he might just think, "oh gosh, she's off her rocker," but going on a hunch, I would record with him if he wanted to [laughs].


Selected Discography

Nicky Schrire, Freedom Flight (Circavision Productions, 2012)
Nicky Schrire, Space And Time (Magenta Label Group, 2013)
Nicky Schrire, To The Spring (Self Produced, 2014)

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez