When we caught up with Natalie Cressman (Trey Anastasio Band, Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini) she was on the road with J.Wail doing a run of shows in Florida. We had a great chat about everything from the new album she is putting out, to her former bandmate Tony Markelis, to Denver’s own Dance Party Time Machine as the van rolled down the road.
Listen Here Denver!: What’s it like returning to the road in this kind of strange environment we’re in? I know you did some shows with Trey Anastasio Band (TAB) in the fall, and that was an interesting experience I’m sure, But what’s it like for you guys out there now?
Natalie Cressman: It’s definitely different than the before times. But, actually down in here Florida it’s oddly feeling like nothing ever happened. I will say that in general traveling is more stressful than it was previously, but the payoff is actually getting a play in front of a live audience.
Listen Here Denver!: Yeah, I’m sure. What did you miss the most about it? Was it really just getting out there in front of people?
Natalie Cressman: Yeah, it’s hard to put my finger on it, but after doing a bunch of live streams at the beginning of the pandemic and just playing to a computer screen, you realize how much you rely on the energy that the audience gives you. It’s a two way relationship, and it’s harder to get in the moment if you’re not feeling people reacting to what you’re doing. I never really thought that I needed that or would miss it as much as I did, but I definitely do. Seeing people’s faces get wrapped up in it helps me get into the music. It’s just been super great to slowly be getting back to that after such a long break.
Listen Here Denver!: So obviously that time was difficult for everybody, but some people kind of welcomed it as a chance to pause and recharge. Were you able to spin something positive out of lockdown?
Natalie Cressman: Definitely! Ian and I were using the extra time to work on this new album that we’re putting out in April (pre-order here). The way that we went about writing and recording it was at a totally different pace than what it would have been if we were gigging every weekend like we were planning on. Having the time to pause and reflect and take my time creating new material and getting in the studio without any deadline, it was great. I think that the music would have been totally different if we hadn’t had that pause.
Listen Here Denver!: What do you think would have been that much different about it?
Natalie Cressman: My dad’s a great recording engineer so, at the beginning of the pandemic, we would just go over every Sunday, make them a nice dinner, hang out, sleep over, and then we spend all Monday recording. We would record the basics, like guitar and vocal, then I’d take the next week to write the trombone parts, and then go back the following week and record those parts. So we were on that pace of writing and recording and we tried to complete a song every two weeks or so. Thirteen songs kind of came and went pretty quickly in those months of shutdown. It really kept me going just to have some kind of creative outlet.
Listen Here Denver!: That really sounds like a nice way to record. You described the nice dinners with your family sleeping over at their house. That sounds pretty luxurious.
Natalie Cressman: Totally. Gone are the days where a record label rents out a studio for you for weeks and you get to take your time. Usually the experience of recording these days is kind of on the clock and you’ve got a finite amount of time to get things down that doesn’t always align with bursts of inspiration or when you’re really feeling it. Doing it this way was so nice. If we didn’t like something there was no stress. It was like, oh, we’ll try it again next week; we’ve got all the time in the world. I’ve never had that experience with recording a project of my own. It’s always been a little bit more under the clock because I’m either renting studio time or the musicians that I’m working with have to split at a certain time. We just had unlimited time and a blank canvas.
Listen Here Denver!: The album drops in April, is there anything we can point people to so they can get a sense for the feel of the album?
Natalie Cressman: We put out a single in – I think it was June of 2020. It’s going to be on the album, but it was a single song that we wrote during the pandemic that we call our pandemic anthem. It’s called “Already There” and it’s totally just about what we were experiencing as we were experiencing it, the feeling of trying to be at peace with living in the moment because all of our plans were canceled over and over again.
Listen Here Denver!: So, when you come out to Denver, you’re playing two days right around Valentine’s Day at Dazzle Jazz and I understand that the theme is, appropriately, love. Can you tell me a little about what you have planned for that?
Natalie Cressman: A lot of our songs are about love anyway, but we’ll pick some unlikely covers and other songs that invoke romance and are perfect for that theme. We are planning love songs in about four different languages and pulling different sources of inspiration from here in the States and also French Impressionism and of course Brazil is a big influence. Brazilian music is already so romantic and just picking songs that can bring that vibe and give everyone that nice date night feeling.
Listen Here Denver!: And you’re doing a 1pm show on the 13th, right?
Natalie Cressman: Yeah, we’re doing a brunch set on Sunday. It’s over and done way before the Super Bowl so you can marinate your wings.
Listen Here Denver!: And so with three shows, the Jamband community will obviously ask; are they going to be different?
Natalie Cressman: Yeah, I think so. At this point we’ve been playing together for five years, and when we do a single set at a venue, it’s always hard to choose what songs to do. But, yeah, with three shows, we’re going to be able to change the set up a lot, maybe not 100%, but I’d say at least 80% of the songs will be different.
Listen Here Denver!: Awesome. Well, that sounds great. So shifting gears a little bit, I know that the TAB family suffered a huge loss last year when Tony passed. I never got to meet him, but he always projected such positive energy. I’m curious what you can tell me about your relationship with him and any favorite memories that stand out.
Natalie Cressman: He was always just kind of looking out for me. I really cherish the time that we had together and the way that he welcomed me into the family and was so supportive of my original music. He always he really nice, thoughtful things to say. He was a lover of the English language, but many other languages as well. I’m super into languages too so we would exchange vocab and chat in whatever language we were the most into. He’s such a great storyteller and always had a great restaurant recommendation in every city, and especially earlier on in my time with Tab, he would just kind of invite me out to I was pretty green with my first touring jig, and he would just say, okay, we’re going to go check out this Portuguese restaurant. It was some really great memories of things we did off the bandstand that really enriched my life. He really felt like family. He would leave me these lovely voicemails every time he was driving home to upstate New York, through New York City. He would call me when he was on the West Side Highway because he knew that I lived close by and he was like, “just thinking of you and hoping you’re well.” We would chat and check up on each other a lot, and I still have a lot of really nice voicemails from when I didn’t pick up. I just love that I still have this way of hearing his voice. It’s so special, and I miss him so much.
Listen Here Denver!: So what was it like being back out on the road without him as such a foundation of that band? I know Dezron [Douglas] obviously has a different style, and I’m curious what it felt like because Tony was always the guy, when I saw TAB, that I focused on, keeping things just bouncing and vibing.
Natalie Cressman: Yeah. He was kind of our anchor in a way, and just kind of holding everyone together with this undeniable kind of heartbeat. He was really the heartbeat of band. What’s so cool about it is I think that Dezron is honoring Tony by being himself, because that’s what Tony would want him to do.
He’s not trying to play what Tony played verbatim. He kind of put his own imprint on it and so it takes the music in a lot of interesting directions and plays on certain influences that are different than where Tony was coming from. He pushes things in a slightly different direction, into a slightly different space. I think we’re just also happy to be playing music together. And the fact that does run really kind of a family to all of us just feel like the perfect fit.
Listen Here Denver!: That’s awesome. I’m glad that worked out for you guys. I mean, I’m sure that’s what Trey wants, too. He’s always wanting to reinvent stuff and push boundaries.
Natalie Cressman: Exactly. And I think I think all of us in the band are kind of. Yes. Then we’ll have a crazy idea, and we’re all game, and I think the other one brings that energy to just, like, add down to follow you wherever you want to go. I’ve got you.
Listen Here Denver!: That’s awesome. And in the mess that was the fall tour, I know you got to play with your dad on one of those shows.
Natalie Cressman: That was really cool. Yeah. Big highlight for me.
Listen Here Denver!: Had you guys played together with TAB before?
Natalie Cressman: Yeah, a few times, actually, but not in a long time. Of course, it was his gig before me. He had it first and then he passed it off to me when he was on tour with Santana. There would be times where we would be maybe like at the Fox in Oakland – he lives in San Francisco – and he would sit in with us. There were even a couple of festival dates one summer where James was on tour, I think, with Meghan Trainor, and we were like, well, who do we call? Trey loves my dad so much. He’s such an amazing pro, and it doesn’t really matter that he doesn’t play saxophone. That was the guy that we wanted to fill James’ shoes. That’s kind of what happened yet again, the sub for James on his past tour had one gig that was a previous commitment, and he couldn’t get out of it so Trey was like, “is your dad busy? Can we fly him out here for the Boston show?” My dad was super game to just come out and do it and he blew everyone out of the water in terms of his professionalism.
We have a really deep book of many songs, and it didn’t matter that all the charts were for Saxophone and in a different key, clef and range than the trombone. He just nailed it and our jaws were on the floor at sound check because of how amazing he sounded. I just so happy to play that gig with him and also have that little moment of getting solo back and forth.
Listen Here Denver!: That’s great. So, I know you’re coming back to Denver in March for the Dance Party Time Machine show and I think you did your first one right before the world shut down in 2020, right?
Natalie Cressman: Right. Yeah. I think that was, like late February, 2020, one of my last gigs, for sure.
Listen Here Denver!: That’s always such a fun event and I’m curious what your experience was like as a first timer at that time.
Natalie Cressman: Oh, man, it was really fun. It was super well organized. Sometimes cover sets can go one of two ways. It can either be a total mess and we’re just scratching the surface and trying to cover in broad strokes what’s going on, or we can really try to do the songs justice. I like how Gary brings these unexpected covers to the table. He’s like, I think it’d be great if you and Jen sang “Time After Time.” We never would have thought of that! It was so fun. I think it’s a completely different set of time again covers that he wants me to sing on one that I never would have thought to pick for myself but they totally work and it’ll just be yes.
Listen Here Denver!: Right? Exactly. He’ll pull a song that’s at the top of the charts now and won an old Elvis tune or Chuck Berry or something and it’s just such a good concept.
Natalie Cressman: Yeah, totally. That’ll be a lot of fun. Really different than the upcoming engagement but that’s how I like to do it all. It’s fun to be able to be expressive in one way with the duo and then do something really different.
Listen Here Denver!: Right. Exactly. That’s kind of where I was going with that; you can kind of juxtapose those two things. If you want to see Natalie in a sit down Jazz club for brunch, you can do that or you can go to Cervantes’ and party till 2am.
Purchase Tickets for Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini
February 13th @ 1pm
February 14th @ 6pm
February 14th @ 9pm
Purchase Tickets for Dance Party Time Machine
March 18th
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