I was the jingle king for a long time
There are quite a few heavyweights on your album.
SE: "We have a lot in common. Patti Austin was the singer who mainly got to sing backing vocals for years, and I was the jingle king of the Netherlands".
You mainly learn how certain things shouldn't be done. That is what you pick up from working on commission. You learn to recognise all the pitfalls and identify clichés. I take that knowledge with me when I am working on my own work. Home Ground is truly a labor of love. I didn't just work with synthesizers, but also with strings and wind instruments. And in addition, with the amazing Bob Power.
You also worked with Leon Ware. How did that go?
SE: Working with people like that doesn't happen entirely by itself. You Google them, but they Google you back just as hard. Often, they only want to collaborate if you have two hundred thousand likes or followers on social media. Things like that. But working with Leon was great. He belonged to the older generation, and he really listened. I am originally very interested in dance and funk, and that is fully expressed on Home Ground.
Stars like Richard Burton, Sylvia Kristel, and Lou Reed collaborated on your albums and have passed away. Leon Ware is no longer with us either.
SE: Well, now that you mention it. Working with Lou Reed really set a lot in motion. From that collaboration on, things became a bit easier. I remember him walking in and asking, “Which voice should I put on? I know them all, after all.” Lou really thought he could put on any voice he could think of. But he only had one, and that was the one we wanted on the record. Working with Tony Visconti was special too. He picked me up from the plane in New York, took me to the studio, and got straight to work. There was no time for small talk.
How do you always manage to put together such a star-studded cast?
SE: The economic pressure has dropped for A-list artists. In the past, you couldn't even get past the secretary, but nowadays artists are happy to devote time and attention to projects they can pour their heart into. It started two records ago with that spoken-word project. Back then, everything went through MySpace. In this digital age, it’s all even easier. I am currently working with Chaka Khan's team to see if we can do something together during her concert in Amsterdam in July. Chaka belongs in the ‘premier league’, after all. That is actually where my main satisfaction lies: that such greats find it worthy enough to participate in my project without economic motives.
[Soundz - Jean-Paul Heck]