Diane Reeves and the Duo Challenge

Geoff 0:06

Today I'm traveling to the famous Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Romero Lubambo. Collaborations with some of the world's finest musicians. Romero has developed a guitar style that bridges his Brazilian tradition with some advanced jazz language. And he's worked with so many artists, including Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Herbie Mann, Wynton Marsalis, Astrud Gilberto, Dianne Reeves, who he's playing with in London, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, to name just a few. We're going to take a look at some technical foundations about playing the guitar, and we're going to get an insight into how he became a world-class, in-demand musician. It's going to be a good one. So here we go. Romero, how are you today?

Romero 1:17

Good, perfect. I'm here in London with you.

Geoff 1:21

You're here with Dianne Reeves.

Romero 1:22

Yes.

Geoff 1:23

And I saw you play last night, you're playing again tonight. First, how's it working with Dianne? She's incredible, isn't she?

Romero 1:28

Well, she's she's really great as a person, as an artist, as a singer, as a musician. And she she became part of my family, you know. I started working with Dianne in 1997, which is like almost 30 years ago, and we never stopped. So every CD she recorded of herself, I was there participating and doing some arrangements and playing guitar. And all the shows that I can do, I do with her. All the shows that uh I'm available, and normally I make myself available to work with her because I really love the music and I love her singing, and it's really cool. Everything is cool about it.

Geoff 2:10

And now you're just working as a duo. So, how different is that feel for you?

Playing Jobim Very Slowly

Romero 2:14

Wow, duo is something different, and I have to tell you, man, it's not very easy. Not because of Dianne, but because it's only me on the stage instead of a band. So that is Dianne singing, which is a fantastic voice, and I have to to do things right for her to be singing the best of herself. And then all of the songs, I have a solo, guitar solo, and there's nobody comping for me. Like you saw yesterday. So I have to solo about thinking about showing the audience, showing the people that are listening about trying to make them understand the harmony or the shape of the song. I can't be too crazy, you know. When you have a band, you can't go out more. But in this uh thing, I have to really be showing them sort of the chords and and uh and at the same time being being uh interesting. So yeah, yeah. So I mean I loved, I love to do that. And I had a lot of experience uh doing that before, you know, with different singers. Luc, Luciana Souza, I did years with her, Leny Andrade, she was a very famous uh singer in Brazil. Gal Costa also was uh a famous singer in Brazil. So to to work as a duo with Dianne is fun, but really it's uh you have to be connected a hundred percent. You can't look around and no, think about something else. No, you have to be a hundred percent uh connected, which is great. I love it.

Geoff 3:53

I have to ask you, there was one tune you played last night, very slow. It was a Jobim tune.

Romero 3:58

In Portuguese it's Cocovado, in English it's Quiet Night, Quiet Stars.

Geoff 4:04

Oh, so gorgeous, but so slow, wasn't it?

Romero 4:08

You know it's not easy to play slow. I know we always play slow because I love to play like that slow. I love to listen to the silence.

Geoff 4:16

I mean, how slow was it?

Romero 4:17

I think we did

Geoff 4:38

Gorgeous, gorgeous.

Romero 4:40

Something like that. The good thing about the songs was to be very slow so she can take her time saying the message of the lyrics, and then every note I play it counts. You cannot uh you know play extra notes. You have to every note has to be perfect, that's right. For example,

Geoff 5:14

So Jobin didn't write that did he? He didn't write that bit.

Romero 5:17

I don't think so.

Geoff 5:20

Oh that's gorgeous. Wow wow we were

Growing Up Musical in Rio

Romero 5:32

I mean Jobin was a master, man

Geoff 5:34

m This Now can we get back to talking about Brazil and how you got started and what your influences were?

Romero 5:40

Just to put people in the my world there, I started playing guitar when I was 13 years old, it was 1968. But my family was very musical, but we didn't have TV or phone or of course no internet, no computers, nothing. The only thing we had was people. My mother played classical piano. My uncle, the older uncle, played guitar, he was very big influence on me to play the guitar. He played guitar but to comp for himself. He he sang very well. And uh my other uncle, the younger one, he played piano and sang very well. My other auntie sang very well. So I started listening to them and listened to specifically to my family because I didn't go out. I went to school, came back and stayed home. That's it. There was no, ah, let's go out and see a show. No, there was nothing like that. So my influence was the people from the family and things that they used to listen. My my mother used to listen to good music, not only Brazilian music, but uh American music. She liked uh the orchestras and the jazz. So I started listening to everything, not only Brazilian, but from everywhere. And it was very normal in Brazil that time, and even now, to listen to music from Latin America, you know, tangos and boleros and music from Cuba, it was very normal. They didn't specify what it was, but it was everything connected, you know. You had some s had boleros, have polkas, everything. So, and then when I was 14, just one year after I started playing the guitar, I started working. Uh, and my uncle's the young uncle band. We had a band to play in parties and balls and stuff like that. So that band, we had to play everything for people to dance, for parties. And so we played uh Brazilian music, we played uh all sorts of tangos and and boleros and everything. And we played Beatles and we played rock and roll, we played everything. And uh on the stage I was playing mostly uh electric guitar. At home I played acoustic guitar, but uh for the parties electric guitar was easier to amplify. And those guys in the band, of course, I was 14 years old, and everybody in the band was much older than me. They were like 25, 28 years old, much older. And they knew much more than me. So I learned a lot with them. And I started listening to everything that I could get to listen, you know. Not because that time, like I said, it was not easy to have internet, there was no internet, so it was very hard for me to get uh LP. Uh, for example, I I loved uh Wes Montgomery, but it was hard to get one LP from Wes to listen, you know. But when I got, oh, uh a guy in Ipanema has an album, so I went there and tried to borrow that, you know. It was a process. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's the thing. So I I always like to listen to everything.

Geoff 9:06

So, what was the influence of Jobim? Did you ever meet Jobim?

Romero 9:09

I met Jobim, I played with him in New York. I met him a few times, you know, when because he had an apartment in New York. And um he was so smart, so nice, and so funny, also. And uh so we met, I went to his house, we played. There was one concert that we played together. I used to play in the beginning when I got to New York, my first employer was uh Astrud Gilberto. And Astrud Gilberto, of course, she recorded The Girl from Ipanema, and she became famous because of that. Oh yeah. And she was very connected to Jobin. So we did one concert with Jobim and Astrud in New York City. And uh incredible. That was the only time in my life that I remember that I was a little bit nervous because Jobim was sitting on the piano, and uh I had so much respect for him, you know.

Geoff 10:07

In Brazil, was he was he uh as iconic and legendary as we think of him now, back then?

Classical Technique and Better Tone

Romero 10:13

Yes, he was, but but was I I don't think it was more like it was not like people, ah, Jobim. No, it was not like that. It was just natural, it was just normal. It was just normal to listen to Girl From Ipanema or Wave or you know Meditation or Meditation or Corcovada. It was just a normal thing that played on the radio. It was not like ah Jobim. No, it was not like now it's like ah Jobim. But that time was just something natural. Baden Powell was a very big influence also at that time because Baden Powell was a great guitar player and also a great composer. So I started listening to him. At the same time, I was listening to Jimi Hendrix and uh and Led Zeppelin. You studied classical guitar, is that

Geoff 11:02

right?

Romero 11:02

I I studied classical guitar later because my mother, after I was already playing in the parties and everything, and playing jazz and electric guitar, my mother said, because she was a classical player, said you should study some classical guitar. I said, why? I already play, I already have fun, already making a little bit of money in the weekends. I could only work on the weekends because I studied during the week, regular school. And and then she said, No, but I think it's gonna be good for you. You can learn how to read well and this and that. So I went. She took me. She took, no, let's go, I go with you. Yeah, sure. And she said to the teacher, you have to teach my my son, he's really good. He said, No, I don't have uh space anymore. And she said, No, but you have to teach him, he's really good. And then I remember the teacher said, Okay, play a little bit for me. And then I played for him the way I used to play. And then he said, No, I'm gonna teach you. And the first thing he said was funny because first thing he said to me, he said, Okay, I teach you, but you have to stop playing everything you're playing right now. You have to stop popular music and jazz and everything. I said, Of course. Of course, master. And I never stopped anything, of course, lying. Exactly. It was the first big lie of my life.

Geoff 12:33

Because of a technique thing, right? Because classical guitar is very, specific

Romero 12:40

for example, one thing that he did right away was to to put my hands in the right place. Exactly. And and these fingers have to be perpendicular to the strings. Yeah. And this also as much as possible, because it's the sound is better than this.

Geoff 12:57

It gets scratch is scratchy, it's not as clean sideways as a clean.

Romero 13:01

Yeah, this is this is scratchy. So he said, no, it's this. Yeah. So I was smart enough to understand what he was saying and getting the good ideas of the classical music and bring to my own world, you know. So I studied classical music. What's great because I love Bach. I love Johann Sebastian Bach. I love it. And uh I started getting most of the songs that were uh adapted for guitar.

Geoff 13:33

Yeah, so like the violins uh and the cello.

Romero 13:37

All the cello suites and everything. They did uh mostly Segovia did a lot of the transcription for guitar. I don't know how to call it. Yeah, but but uh so I was doing those songs and and of course practicing reading. But the thing is, uh I was reading, but I had a very good memory or writes all the songs very quickly, so I didn't need to read a lot. I read enough, just enough to learn. I never read enough to work every day reading for studios enough. I can do it, but not like a guy that only does that. I I wanted to read enough to do my work and to learn the songs, and that's what I did.

Geoff 14:16

So, speaking of reading, you know, in your career so far, how much has reading been a part of some of the gigs that you've done?

Romero 14:22

Like I said, I read enough for all the jobs that I did. For example, if you have to work in the Broadway, I couldn't do that because there has to be a guy that sits down there and read all the notes uh without mistakes, and I can't do that.

Geoff 14:36

But if you're on a record date, for example, if you're playing with you play with Michael Brecker or someone like that, you know, was there any reading involved?

Romero 14:42

If it's something complicated, most of the time they they have to send the part before, and arrangements sometimes for orchestra and everything. So they send the part before, and normally nowadays they also send they send a demo and a part, then I work on the hard things, you know, and I can do it.

Geoff 15:00

Guitar is very hard to read. Oh, it's really hard. It's very difficult, man. Guitar is hard to read. There's three, four places to play Middle C, isn't there?

Romero 15:10

Exactly. Yeah, I mean, crazy. And uh but but uh answering to a question, I read enough for my gigs, for my my things that I do, you know, the type of music that I do, and is is is good enough. And the sound, the classical guitars, they they really go after the good, beautiful sound, you know. And that's an important thing because the same guitar, if different guys take this guitar and play, everyone's gonna sound different because of the way you play. And uh I always wanted to play in a way that I can take a good sound of the guitar without a lot of noise. Yeah, you can you can hear my whole show and normally don't hear this. Yeah, something that I wanted to do, you know, be clear and with a big, nice sound. So, yeah, the classical thing was was great, but I think the the time that I had the band there to play when I was very young was very important because there was different sets, right? There was a set of Latin music and then pop music and then dance for whatever. So we had to play a bunch of uh Brazilian music and some boleros, and then the next set is all Beatles, and that time was Beatles, and a lot of different things. So that I think opened my mind a lot to a lot of things. And the funny thing also was that I started with acoustic guitar because that's what I had, but but was acoustic guitar for my uncle, and then I said that my father, I think I need a guitar for myself, you know, for me too, because I really like this. And my father don't understand anything of music, nothing, but he was an incredible guy. But my father was an amazing guy, I loved him so much. And one day he got there with a copy of a Stratocaster, you know, as an electric guitar, rock and roll guitar with an amplifier. That's very different. But uh so I started playing that. That was my first guitar. Well, was an electric guitar, and I was playing with the electric guitar.

Geoff 17:19

With steel strings?

Romero 17:20

With still strings.

Geoff 17:21

With your with fingers?

Romero 17:22

yeah, yeah. And for solo I can play, I could play with the pick. Right. Yeah. That time I started playing with the pick for for the solo for electric guitar, you know, and playing with the finger with acoustic guitar. So I always use both.

Geoff 17:37

Right. Okay.

Romero 17:38

But now I nowadays I play mostly my fingers, you know, because I I got so used to play without the pick.

Geoff 17:48

It's much more expressive as well, don't you find?

Romero 17:50

I think so, because there is nothing between you and the string. There is only your your finger and the string. I think I I feel closer to the sound.

Geoff 18:01

Connected to the strings.

Romero 18:02

Connected, yeah. Yeah, I I I feel better this way. So nowadays I do most of it. Sometimes I use the pick just because of some sound that I want, a different sound, more aggressive, in a blues or something. But most, but especially when I'm playing alone, like a duo, I never use a pick because I I think I would be naked if I had you know without the pick, I can do the bass, I can do the work of the bass.

Geoff 18:56

As Sagovia says.

Romero 19:01

Yeah, I that's what I want to do. Of course, we have to always work more and more to get better and better and better, but uh that's my idea until the end is to try to get better.

Jazz Standards as a Teacher

Geoff 19:13

Fabulous. My podcast is all about jazz standards and about learning jazz standards. Okay. What do you think the part that jazz standards played in your development as a jazz musician?

Romero 19:28

Oh, it's I think it's very important. It was very important for me because uh to put my life in perspective was not so easy. I didn't have a school like Berklee or anything like that. I didn't have books, I didn't have teachers, I didn't have nothing. So one of the first ones that I remember I was crazy about was with Wes Montgomery playing Days of Wine and Roses. That recording of him, oh my god, and then I didn't understand why those phrases that he played was sounding so good. I didn't know why he was using those scales. Which scales would I was I'm talking about I was I don't know 15 years old maybe. And then when I started learning them, was so important for me because that's what I I started doing when I was alone in my room. I was playing standards by myself. I was just doing like that time, huh? And then I started like doing improvisation just by myself. Oh, really? I try not to

Geoff 21:05

No no no, I I'm just interested because the the difference in the sound production of the first and the second finger as as you're plucking the strings, it gives it gives the lines uh some beautiful dynamics.

Romero 21:16

Yeah, I I guess so, right? This third finger, I think I play stronger when sometimes I don't know. The notes are not always in this with the same uh volume. There is a dynamic, like you said. Yeah, it's gorgeous. That happened doing the standards in my room alone because I didn't have comping for me. I I wish I had. So I had to memorize the the harmony.

Geoff 22:27

Listeners have ten seconds to recognise that tune. All The Things You Are, right?

Romero 22:32

All The Things You Are, yeah.

Improvising 'Alone Together' Live

Geoff 22:34

Very good, thank you. Right. So speaking of play-alongs, um. Yes, I asked you to pick a tune from my my list of apps. You picked Alone Together.

Romero 22:44

Yeah, that was the first thing that came to my mind. You know what? Alone Together, I love that song.

Geoff 22:49

Me too. You know what? I think that might be my favourite jazz standard.

Romero 22:52

Really?

Geoff 22:53

Actually, yeah. Nice. It really is. So I'm gonna queue up the backing track. So we're gonna play two choruses. Uh there will be an eight-bar introduction. Okay. Uh, and uh the first chorus, the bass will be in in two feel, the second chorus, the bass will be in four feel.

Romero 23:08

Okay.

Geoff 23:08

Which is pretty standard for all the tunes on these apps. So here it comes, two choruses, no tune, just improvising.

Romero 23:15

Okay. All right. No rehearsal, that's cool.

Geoff 23:17

No rehearsal.

Romero 23:18

I love it.

Geoff 23:19

Here we go. Wonderful. Smells good. I suppose it was great, yeah. Bending notes on on um not long string guitar very often. Yeah.

Romero 25:57

This this is this comes from the my my my

Geoff 26:00

your rock and roll days.

Romero 26:01

My rock and roll, yeah. I still do that and and and when I play electric guitar nowadays, I do a lot of that stuff. Yeah. Happy listen.

Geoff 26:17

Fantastic. How was how was that?

Romero 26:18

Oh my god, it felt so good to play with those guys when I'm answering. When I grow up, I want to have an app like that when I grow up.

Favourite Albums and Transcribing

Geoff 26:28

Well, you're grown up, and then and now is now is the day. So that's fantastic. I've got a set of questions that I asked everybody. Okay. We'll just pile it into these questions and uh see what happens, alright? So, question number one what is your favorite album?

Romero 26:44

Uh that's a very hard thing, you know. One that that's more like a rock pop album is Dark Side of the Moon. But you know, I love that album.

Geoff 26:58

That's that's such a great answer. Okay, well I I wasn't expecting that. I have to say,

Romero 27:02

I love that album like crazy. Right. On the other side, uh, there is a Wes Montgomery album. I don't remember the name of the album, but he recorded Round Midnight as the first track. And uh I don't remember, it was a trio, but just organ, guitar and drums, and and um I think it was Jimmy Smith, probably.

Geoff 27:23

Right, okay.

Romero 27:24

And and uh Round Midnight, that recording of Round Midnight, I never stopped listening my whole life to that. But Dark Side of the Moon is an album that I love for so many different reasons, you know. The music, the the feelings, and and also the what they had to develop in 1975 to record that was so amazing, you know, because we didn't have 24 tracks or 48 tracks or whatever 100 tracks that we have today. They had to invent a lot of things to get those sounds, you know, and uh and they put a lot of elements on that voice of the screaming voice that they put, and uh everything is good about it. I love it. David Gilmore is one of my favorite guitar players because he can play few notes and and and be so expressive and so perfect, and the sound is great. I mean, I love it. I love it. But but I have to tell you, there is many, many albums that were like very fantastic. And the album that George Benson did playing blues was a funny name.

Geoff 28:42

Did you transcribe things? How did you learn your vocabulary for playing?

Romero 28:46

I I transcribed few things. I started with Wes Montgomery, for example, that solo that he did I mentioned before on uh Days of Wine and Roses. For me to understand what he was doing, I I I transcribed some some uh improvisations there. And I I was trying to see the chord and the lines he was doing. So I started like understanding that's the way I learned.

Geoff 29:14

Guitar playing is very shape-based, isn't it? I mean, chords and things. Did you learn that way or did you learn from a linear way?

Romero 29:21

I think you learn first, I think it's vertical.

Geoff 29:25

Yeah. Pentatonic scales are sort of the first thing that guitar players learn a lot.

Romero 29:30

Yeah, but since I was listening to Wes Montgomery the beginning of my life, he plays so many different things, you know. So I start doing other things. Start studying the C major scale in a random shape, for example. So I started like doing that instead of doing yeah, yeah, yeah. Because then I I I didn't have that shape, always doing that shape because breaking out of the box, is it because otherwise it sounds like a scale, and I didn't want so I started telling people, some some students that I had try to do that. It can be slow, you don't need to do fast, you can do like but this gives you a vision and try to do that with every scale and in every tonality, and um yeah, so it became more like linear. Yeah, yes.

Geoff 30:50

I I love the fact that you love Pink Floyd. That's that's

Romero 30:52

Oh my gosh, Pink Floyd is fantastic. And I met the bass player, he I was playing a gig was flute, guitar, and percussion, maybe Massachusetts or somewhere there, close to New York. And I was doing this concert. Uh I saw him on the back of the room, uh standing up, and he listened to the whole concert. And then he came to speak to us after that. He said that he liked very much. And then we went for dinner, everybody, together, and so I had the pleasure of sitting two hours with him talking there and um uh eating, and it was so fantastic.

Geoff 31:33

Wow, wow, wow.

Romero 31:34

Because um that group of oh my gosh, it's fantastic.

Heroes and Dream Collaborations

Geoff 31:38

Yeah, yeah. Okay, second question: is there a musician alive or dead that you would have liked to have played with?

Romero 31:45

Alive or dead? Yeah. Well, Wes Montgomery I would like for sure. Herbie Hancock, I played with him, but in different uh things, but I would like to play with him in a more together thing.

Geoff 32:00

Tell us about playing with Herbie.

Romero 32:01

Herbie, he can make everything sound good. Yeah, whatever situation he has, you know, he put his hands on the on the piano. He he can make everything sound better, you know, and and and so beautiful, and and you get inspired, and he's always playing something different that you don't expect, you know. And he's very generous, he's very generous with the people that work with him, and and I felt that.

Geoff 32:30

I was uh I interviewed Geoffrey Keezer last week.

Romero 32:32

Oh, I love Geoff.

Geoff 32:34

Yeah, so so last week he was in London, so I talked to him and he was talking about Herbie.

Romero 32:39

Uh-huh.

Geoff 32:39

And he's he said exactly the same thing about the generosity and not being afraid to give anything away because he can always do something extra.

Romero 32:48

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Geoff 32:50

And I love that.

Romero 32:51

You know, I loved that, I love that. No, Herbie is something different and amazing, and everybody that works with him will say the same thing.

Geoff 33:00

Did you comp at the same time as Herbie?

Romero 33:02

Well, the thing is that the thing that I worked with him was a big thing. There was bass and drums and piano and voice and whatever, saxophone. Was a big thing on those those uh jazz uh days. They have jazz days that he he's the uh the main guy. And uh I participated in some of them, and and uh so we played on the stage like that, but was a lot of people. So I I yeah, I played together with him, but like I said, I would like to to work with him in a little bit more small, smaller setting that I could actually be more involved with with what he was doing. That would that would be very nice.

Geoff 33:44

What about playing with other guitar players?

Romero 33:46

Well, Pat, I played with Pat once. I did a show with him, Pat Matheny. I love Pat Matheny for a lot of reasons. He's an incredible, I think, incredible composer, incredible musician, an incredible guitar player. And uh I played with him a whole show in LA once. He invited me to do that. And um we played some duos, and we played also with what they call the orchestrion. Orchestrian is that thing that he built with the robots, machines. We played with that also, but I like the duos because that's me and him. But I like to play more with him, you know. Bill Evans, maybe. I love him. There's so many, that's what I'm saying. There's so many guys that's so amazing, you know. That uh I I could I I played with John Schofield in recordings, and and he I love John Schofield also. I don't know, I love so many, so many guys.

Geoff 34:44

You've done so many great things. It's just it's incredible. It's incredible.

Romero 34:48

I did so many years of working, you know, and I was lucky to to meet a bunch of incredible musicians. So that leads to I played with Yo-Yo Ma. Yo-Yo Ma was one of the best guys I ever met, you know.

Geoff 35:01

Amazing, amazing.

Romero 35:02

And I recorded with him, I played so with him, and uh, he's so beautiful person and so amazing players, you know.

Career Highlights and Big Stages

Geoff 35:11

Great cellist for anyone. Incredible, yeah, cello player. Well, that leads beautifully on to question number three. Oh, God. Um if if it's possible, is there a highlight of your career?

Romero 35:22

Oh, it's funny to think about the highlight of my career because highlights of my career for me, the way I felt, there was few, you know. When I went to Carnegie Hall to do a tribute to Jo Jobim the first time was a highlight of my career because I was in Carnegie Hall. Michael Brecker was there, and after that we did several. We did maybe five of those Carnegie Hall. Every year we were doing a tribute to Jobim. But the first one was like, oh my gosh, I'm in Carnegie Hall.

Geoff 35:53

Right? Yeah, and uh that's the joke, isn't it? How'd you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.

Romero 36:00

So this this was this was one thing, but before that,

Geoff 36:04

but as you said earlier, you played with Jobim.

Romero 36:06

The time I played with Jobim was incredible, it was a highlight of my my career also because I was there on the stage with him. And then I was on the stage with people that was so amazing, like Paquito D' Rivera, I ended up working a lot with him. But when I met him and I recorded with him, and then I started playing shows, was oh my gosh. And uh Dianne Reeves, Dianne Reeves is a person that before I worked with her, I I loved her singing and I thought it was so amazing, you know. And uh I don't know, it's it's hard to remember all those things, but there was many highlights. Yes, yeah. The day that I played on the stage with with Pat Metheny was amazing. We went to one of the best theaters in the States, I think, was the Disney Hall there in LA. And uh I felt like the king. But just me and him on the stage. The whole year he was doing a tour with the robots, with the machines alone, just him and the machine. That was the only show with a human, and the human was me. So imagine my responsibility. Was so fantastic, and Pat is amazing, was was amazing, he's a super nice guy, incredible musician. But I I mean I can I can say so much, you know. Uh, because there's I I what I'm lucky that um I have I had many opportunities to do many beautiful things in my life, you know, and uh I'm very thankful for that.

Weaknesses, Comping and Focus

Geoff 37:41

Okay, question number four. What would you say is your musical weakness?

Romero 37:46

Should uh do I have to confess?

Geoff 37:48

Yes. Just a small one.

Romero 37:52

Uh uh okay, I'm gonna tell you something that um nobody actually probably know, but I would love to have perfect pitch, for example. Right. With that, I would say that it would be easier for me to take a melody that I have in my mind and play on the guitar. Sometimes this is difficult for me, you know, and and play all the notes right. Some guys can do that with perfection. And you know, and and uh I admire that a lot, you know. And I can't, I have to study the melody and make sure I know it.

Geoff 38:25

But you have good relative pitch, right? So you can.

Romero 38:27

I have good relative pitch, yeah. But I would like to do more a melody in a sense that uh could be more comfortable playing melodies that I never played before. Sure. And and just that would be one thing that I could get much better. Uh I think it's very important. I don't know if this is one of your questions or not, but one thing that I do well, I think, and I think guitar players have to do more is to comp, to know how to comp for somebody. Do comping. I see a lot of guitar players, they they study so much to play fast and to play a lot of lines, to play improvisation fantastically well. But then to comp is not so good. And and and sometimes it's important to know how to comp also. I was always soloing in improvisation and everything, but I always like to comp for somebody, for singers or saxophone or or anybody, you know. I think it's important. Yes, yeah. And I think I developed that in a good way, you know.

Geoff 39:30

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, of course you have, yeah. Do you ever get nervous on stage?

Romero 39:34

Very rarely. What I feel is like I never take for granted that it's going to be good. Never. You know, I always focus. For example, I did the show with Dianne, not only this, but I did many shows with Dianne Reeves many, many years. But every time before the show, when we go to get to the stage, I'm a hundred percent connected. I don't take it for granted that I can play those songs, you know. I want to transform myself right there and be a hundred percent for that show during that time, you know. So I it's not that I get nervous, but I'm always uh connected. I don't I don't let me being lazy or or how do you say just disperse? I don't know. With Jobim, I was a little bit nervous.

Geoff 40:23

What about starstruck? Have you ever been starstruck? Do you know what that means?

Romero 40:27

With Jobim, right? That would be, right? When you see the ah yeah, exactly. I think that was a situation, you know. Maybe with Pat also, because I was like, oh my gosh, that's a huge thing. But but I don't have that very much. You know why? I have to tell you why. Because a lot of people don't know. It's very important for a musician, I think, and this is a nice idea, it's very important to develop your own personality. Because you learn in school a lot of things, you learn what they teach you, and everybody can do the what they teach you very well. But I think you have to also look inside of you and develop your own thing. Because then you you are unique, and when you are unique, you're the best guy to do what you do. If I'm unique, there is no other guy that's gonna do what I do. So if you call me to do a gig, it's because you want to be me. So I I feel very always comfortable going to a gig or a show or recording because I'm myself. And I have to tell you also, what reinforced that idea a lot was when the first album I did with Dianne Reeves, the producer was uh George Duke. George Duke was a fantastic uh musician. He was the producer, the piano player, two piano players was Billy Childs and Mulgrew Miller, Reginald Veal on bass. There was only very famous and incredible musicians, you know. So I got to that studio 1997 in New York, and I said, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do here in the middle of those masters? You know. I don't know what to do. So I was a little bit scared because we didn't have the music. They brought the music to the studio, arrangement by Billy Childs. And uh I said, oh my gosh, I'm a little bit concerned about that. And then George Duke, not because of me, because of him was the producer. He called everybody, all the musicians where he was, he said, listen, everybody here is here because of what you do. So what I want from every one of you is to do what you do. Don't try to sound like anybody else, because that's not the idea. The the drummer was Brian Blade or Terri Lyne Carrington, both very good. And when he said that, I said, Oh, I can be myself, very well, you know. I uh that's the best thing I can do.

Geoff 42:58

That's lovely, isn't it?

Romero 43:00

So that day changed a lot my concept of being myself and being certain that I could always be the best guy to do what I do.

Geoff 43:10

Yeah.

Colbert Questions, Travel and Favourite Chords

Romero 43:10

And I think that to young people because now with the internet, sometimes they they get lost because so much information. And oh my gosh, this, this, and this, but this guy does this as a, wait! Sometimes close everything and look at yourself and take your guitar or piano, whatever, and try to find your sound, try to find your ideas, try to see what is pleasant and and easy for you to do, and then you're going to have an identity, you know.

Geoff 43:40

Of course, that can take a long time, can't it? For some people.

Romero 43:43

Yes, yes, but it's worthwhile.

Geoff 43:45

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Right, okay. I have some other questions that are not music related. Okay. One. Those are better. What's your favorite sandwich?

Romero 44:03

Oh, Colbert questionnaire.

Geoff 44:05

Oh, have you seen the Colbert questionnaire?

Romero 44:07

Of course. Of course. Many, many times.

Geoff 44:10

Because you have nobody over here has seen that.

Romero 44:12

I'm a big fan of Colbert.

Geoff 44:13

Stephen Colbert is an American talk show host and he he interviews famous people and he gives them the test, doesn't he? He asked the question. Including what's the best sandwich? Okay, so your answer is

Romero 44:24

BLT.

Geoff 44:25

BLT!

Romero 44:26

BLT! Fantastic. Simple and good for me.

Geoff 44:30

Yeah, okay, that's excellent. Okay. Right, second question. Do you have a favorite movie?

Romero 44:35

I have several, but one that comes to my mind now, I think people are not going to like this answer. But it's Terminator 3. I'm sorry.

Geoff 44:47

Three, especially. What about one and two?

Romero 44:49

I love the one also. I love all of them. Oh yes. I love those movies. But I also like the Aliens number one. Right. I love the Alien number one and number four. Wow. And I like action in sci-fi. I like sci-fi movies when they are good.

Geoff 45:08

Do you watch a lot of movies?

Romero 45:09

I watch a lot, but it's hard now because not all the time they produce good movies now. But I like action, I like sci-fi, and my wife also likes that, so it's good for us. Fantastic. Yeah, sometimes before we go to sleep, we watch a movie or half a movie. Of course, if I think more, I'm going to remember other movies. But this is what came to my mind right now.

Geoff 45:32

That's perfect. Okay.

Romero 45:33

Yeah, I got I got uh a signature from Toninho Horta. You're going to ask that? No. No? Oh no? No. Oh, Colbert questionnaire, ask, did you ever ask uh

Geoff 45:44

ask for an autograph?

Romero 45:45

Autograph.

Geoff 45:46

Okay. Who did you get an autograph from?

Romero 45:48

Toninho Horta. Oh, the um guitar player, composer from Brazil, singer.

Geoff 45:54

Okay.

Romero 45:54

Toninho was 1980. He was releasing one of his first albums. I think the second album. He came to play in Rio. He's from Minas Gerais, but he came to play in Rio. And I went to see his show, was the first guy that I asked for autograph. Wow. And then he became my friend. Then we worked together.

Geoff 46:13

Oh, how lovely.

Romero 46:14

This was a long time ago.

Geoff 46:16

Right.

Romero 46:16

And he's amazing. He's amazing.

Geoff 46:19

Um, you obviously travel a lot. Is there a favourite place that you like to visit? Or favourite city or a favourite country?

Romero 46:26

I I have a tendency to like places that are with the beaches because uh I I grew up in Rio. I I prefer places like uh in the Caribbean that has beaches and uh more like a tropical thing. In Brazil, for example, you go to Fortaleza, my gosh, it's so beautiful.

Geoff 46:45

Do you get back to Brazil very much?

Romero 46:47

A lot. Yeah, I go family there. I have family there. I go maybe twice or three times a year. I I just came back from Brazil. I stayed a month and a half there during the holidays and to see my mother. My mother is 94 years old and still good, you know, she's still great. And my my sister, my brother, uncles. Yeah, I go to Brazil and I I like the culture there, I like the music, I like the food, I like the people, you know. I think that country has so much to offer, and uh, I wish it could be a little bit more organized, but um one day, who knows?

Geoff 47:24

So we were talking the other day, you you mentioned that you were thinking of moving to Europe.

Romero 47:28

Yeah, well uh we are thinking about moving to Spain. Thinking seriously, because for years we are thinking about that. My wife, a long time ago, she went to live in Madrid, she studied there, she has a master's degree in Spanish literature, and uh, she loved the country and she always wanted to move. Or, Portugal. Portugal also is a nice country, and of course, we are so connected, Brazilian and Portuguese people, the culture, the food. But maybe we're going to Spain maybe this year.

Geoff 48:01

I hope so. You'll be nearer to nearer to us.

Romero 48:03

Yeah, my daughter lives here in Manchester. That's right. She loves England. Oh my gosh. She came to study here, she she did a Master's degree in Oxford of musicology, and she fell in love with this country. She said, I don't want to go back. She's American. Yeah. But she said, I don't want to go back there. I want to stay here forever.

Geoff 48:23

So she is. Well, America is in a bit of a bit of a mess at the moment, isn't it?

Romero 48:28

Big, big, big, horrible, ugly mess. Yeah, unfortunately, it's a it's a country that has so much, you know, good stuff, but right now is oh my gosh. Let's not talk about that because it's so ugly.

Geoff 48:43

Okay, I have a few more Colbert questions. Oh yeah. Uh window or aisle.

Romero 48:47

Aisle, always.

Geoff 48:49

Okay.

Romero 48:49

Uh I like that. You know why? I don't like to sit down for four hours. I like to even if I don't have to go anywhere, I I like to stand up and walk a little bit and come back. I like that idea.

Geoff 49:01

Funny, because I like I like windows. I like to look out. I would always like to see the ground. I feel safer if I can see the ground.

Romero 49:08

My my wife likes windows, she she loves, but my wife can sit down that seat for eight hours and and sleep or wake up and not do anything. I can't. I I feel like I have to move.

Geoff 49:20

Yeah, sure, yeah, sure. Um, okay, cats or dogs?

Romero 49:24

Dogs. I don't have a dog, but if I had to choose a pet, it would be a dog.

Geoff 49:29

Good answer. I have two dogs. Good. Um the most used app on your phone?

Romero 49:34

Oh, YouTube, that's for sure. Yeah. Is the one that I use the most. I I don't watch TV, but I I I watch YouTube a lot because there's so much stuff that you can learn. And you have to choose well. But if you choose well, you can learn a lot of stuff, you know.

Geoff 49:54

I totally agree with you.

Romero 49:55

And I I totally like that. I you I watch YouTube uh a little bit every day. Yeah, even there's some series like Bonanza. I don't know if you know.

Geoff 50:05

Oh Bonanza, yeah, the Western thing.

Romero 50:08

I love Bonanza. And and sometimes I have in the phase of watching Bonanza every day. So every day I watch one Bonanza. It's YouTube. Oh my god. And sometimes I I I I watch uh music stuff like Rick Beato is a guy that you know him, yeah. And uh and uh musicians, sometimes friends of mine doing shows or or or or teaching something or a lot of things YouTube uh very useful if you if you know how to choose, you know. Absolutely, yeah. I love it. So that's for me, I think, is the the more useful. Of course, after I I have yours, probably it's gonna be that. It's gonna be your your Quartet apps, yeah. Exactly. That's gonna be the more important for you.

Geoff 50:50

Absolutely, right answer! Here's that here's that 20 pounds I owe you. And the very last question um is what's your favorite chord?

Romero 50:59

Chord! Yes. Oh, I don't know.

Geoff 51:01

Play me some nice ones. That one there, okay, that one there, that's that's got a love lovely spread to it.

Romero 51:20

Oh this is what this is almost like a um uh a Phrygian, almost like a Phrygian, right? A D minor nine over A. Yeah. I don't know this I just did it here. You know, guitar is so interesting because uh yeah, I like chords with with the open strings, you know. For example, so I there's a second minor second here. Yeah. There's so many of those. It's an F. You could be this, you could be this, but this is different.

Geoff 52:15

Yeah. Because you got the G open that open G there, haven't you?

Romero 52:20

Yeah, open G and the open E. Yeah. This is just an example, you know. I'm not thinking too much, but I like this one. There is a second minor second here also. This is an A flat, yeah, minor seven, nine. Yeah, that's it.

Geoff 52:43

Yeah, beautiful. So, Romero, thank you so much.

Romero 52:50

Thank you so much, what a pleasure, man. What a pleasure. Okay,

Geoff 52:54

Say goodbye and thank you once again.

Romero 52:55

Oh man, let's keep in touch. Let's keep in touch. Yeah, okay, and I have to say, man, what a pleasure to be here in England again and in London again, and in this club again. I love this place, you know. I love it.

Geoff 53:08

All right, I'll see you soon. Thank you.

Announcement 53:11

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