Who is Jeff Goldblum?
You may well know him from the Hollywood blockbusters Jurassic Park, Independence Day and Wicked, but you may not realise the American superstar also knows his way around a piano. With his Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, Goldblum has played Glastonbury and Ronnie Scott’s, and their fourth album is out on 25 April on Decca.
Jeff Goldblum... childhood piano lessons and playing in cocktail lounges
When I was 15, I got it in my head to get the telephone book, look up ‘Cocktail Lounges’ and cold call them: ‘Hey, I heard you need a pianist…’ Some said, ‘We don’t even have a piano,’ but others said, ‘Yeah, how old are you? Come on over and let’s hear you play.’ And I got a couple of jobs that way. I had been playing piano since about the age of nine or ten; our parents, progressive and wonderful as they were, got us lessons. My two older brothers took clarinet and a couple of other things that didn’t stick, but me and my younger sister Pam took piano.
Jeff Goldblum... 'I was a bad student, but then I discovered jazz'
I took to it and started to learn to read music, but I was a bad student – I didn’t know the joys of discipline yet. Every week my teacher Tommy Emil would come over and I hadn’t practised; he’d be miserable and I’d be miserable, but after a year or so he gave me an arrangement to some jazzy tune – I think it was 'Alley Cat', with syncopation, which I just loved. That’s when I started to really get better. Then seeing I had kind of a flair for, or an interest in, jazz I was sent to Frank Cunimondo; and, sure enough, he taught me harmony, extensions and things like that.
My dad brought home the new Erroll Garner record, Erroll Garner plays Misty, and that was his favourite song. Him bringing home that record and me digging it was an important moment for me. My brother was four years older, and he was into jazz right around my formative teen years, too. He was into Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis and Bossa Nova – he played the Stan Getz album with Astrud Gilberto a lot. I’m still into all those things that he liked.
Jeff Goldblum... from music to acting
After I got those gigs in the cocktail lounges, I decided I wanted to be an actor. Music was only for fun, or pure passion without careerist fantasies; acting was what I had my heart set on, so I went to New York and pursued it till, miraculously, I started to get opportunities.
I fell into a Broadway show in 1971. It was Two Gentlemen of Verona, which John Guare had adapted from the Shakespeare play, with a Galt MacDermot score. It was a big hit at ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ and we went to Broadway. I was in the chorus and understudied one of the parts, but people would come in and out of the pit, including Thad Jones. My dad being the jazz fan that he was, we would vacation in Atlantic City, and he saw that the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band was playing, and we went to see them. So I said to Thad, ‘I saw you guys!’ and we would jam before the show.
Jeff Goldblum... 'I'd sneak my piano playing into a movie or two'
I had a piano in my apartment and I’d started to get movies, so I’d sneak my playing into a movie or two, like The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy. When I was doing Robert Altman’s Nashville in 1974, Shelley Duvall and I were pals, and she said, ‘Hey, I’m crazy about this guy David Bowie and he’s coming to Nashville. Let’s go!’ So she and I went; it was the Diamond Dogs and ‘Ziggy Stardust’ period. Ten years later he was in a movie that I was in called Into the Night, so I got a chance to know him a little bit. That was inspirational.
Jeff Goldblum... from Graham Norton to making jazz records
Several years ago, Gregory Porter was appearing on The Graham Norton Show with me and he said at the last minute, ‘Hey, I’m promoting this Nat King Cole record and I want to sing “Mona Lisa” just with a piano. Maybe you could learn the part and we could do it together?’ Tom Lewis, the head of Decca, saw the show and thought that maybe they should do some music with me.
Jeff Goldblum... starring in Wicked and singing with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande
When I met Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande on the set of Wicked, I could have been intimidated by their masterful, prodigious gifts, lifelong devotion, discipline and mastery of their instruments and their acting. But I’m always bushy tailed and such a fan of music, and theirs, that I couldn’t stop myself from singing in between every take! We’d do the American Songbook, every show tune I could think of, and they loved it all and were so cordial and so sweet.
Jeff Goldblum... 'My sons now study piano too'
We’ve got two boys, seven and nine, and they’re both studying piano. They play a couple of times a week with their wonderful teacher, and then it falls to me and their mom to facilitate their practice. That’s been a challenging, delicious and nourishing multi-coloured experience, but also very delightful.
Charlie, the older one, is impressive: he’s playing Flight of the Bumblebee! River is now learning Liebesträume, which I played with Tommy Emil early on. Talk about nostalgia and things coming full circle; that has been very meaningful to me, working with them on their piano.
