Leading Into The Holidays
Niles
0:00:00
Good morning and welcome.
Bijon
0:00:08
You're listening to B-Side Morning Crew with Deej and Niles. Hot coffee, cool chatting, chilling on the corner of Lifestyle Lab and Music Street on
Niles
0:00:19
91.5 KUNV Jazz and More.
Chipmunk Voice
0:00:23
And we're recording.
Niles
0:00:24
We're in.
Chipmunk Voice
0:00:25
We're plugged in ready to go dude I'm the matrix we are in yeah we are in whether we like it or not man I'm so tired I'm trying to like I'm trying to be that whole like the hills are alive for the sound the music I can't get there man let's start with our sip of coffee oh yeah oh yeah that's it.
Bijon
0:00:50
You gotta switch gears, brother. You gotta switch gears. No, man. Time. You gotta turn it on. Man. You have to switch.
Niles
0:01:00
I will say...
Bijon
0:01:01
You can't shut it down.
Niles
0:01:03
And also when the weather, like, our weather here has just changed so drastically. I mean, now it's just like... I imagine it's the same in Boston, but like here, it just all of a sudden got cold. Oh yeah, no, Boston, yes. It was 80 degrees on Friday, last Friday, and then it was 50 degrees the next day. Yeah. And now it's 42. The winter chill is upon us. That's okay. No, it's good. It's good. I think, yeah, it's just downshifting that quickly. Well, for you, you know, you're always rocking the libs and the beanies and stuff.
Bijon
0:01:39
So now, you actually look appropriate wearing your beanie, because it's actually cold.
Niles
0:01:44
Although, I don't know if you've noticed this, but lately on the social media, I've been rocking without the hats. I've been allowing...
Bijon
0:01:54
You've been raw-dogging it.
Niles
0:01:55
Raw-dogging it.
Bijon
0:01:56
I don't know if we can use that. Oh, we're going to use it alright. There's nothing wrong with that. Oh my gosh. I mean it.
Bijon
0:02:17
Oh, not at all.
Niles
0:02:19
I mean it. I don't know why, but it's been years since I've done that, because I'm normally always wearing some sort of lid, you know, mostly always my flat caps, and then I'll wear a ball cap every now and again, and of course my beanies.
Bijon
0:02:52
Well, it is scarf weather.
Bijon
0:02:54
It is, yeah. And your beloved pea coat. You can now bust that out.
Niles
0:02:59
Oh, yeah. I got a hand... You know, I think most of my wardrobe is... are coats. I've just got coats and sweaters. I'm the man with the shirt. You're the man with the coat. It's true. It's so true though, it's crazy. So anyway, we're all here, you know, you got the family getting ready for the big Thanksgiving, right? We're all gearing up for the special day coming up in a few weeks.
Niles
0:03:23
Well, let's be completely honest, you know, Halloween is the gateway to the fall.
Bijon
0:03:28
You know, once you hit that, once you've passed that threshold, you're in deep. Yeah. I mean, you're in deep. It might as well be Christmas tomorrow.
Niles
0:03:39
Wow, it's feeling like that big time.
Bijon
0:03:40
Yeah. Now, you're doing the... Are you doing... So, when you do your turkey, you're doing the
Niles
0:03:42
whole big... What do you call it? When you fry it up? When you put it in the big fryer? Burn the house down? What are we doing? It's because I'm black-bred.
Niles
0:03:48
We're frying turkey. Oh, you knock it off. No. No, actually, what we do, and this is the key to juicy turkey, is we're going to be doing a lot of the same stuff. We're going to be doing a lot of the same stuff.
Bijon
0:03:54
We're going to be doing a lot of the same stuff.
Bijon
0:03:55
We're going to be doing a lot of the same stuff.
Bijon
0:04:05
No, no, actually what we do, and this is the key to juicy turkey, my wife is exceptional at making turkeys. Yeah. You use a smaller hen, okay, so you use like seven pounds to, you know, six to seven pound hen. You do two of those in the oven at once.
Bijon
0:04:27
So you get twice as many legs, twice as much breast meat, thighs, everything. And they come out just amazingly juicy and flavorful because for many reasons, not the least of which, it doesn't take as long to cook. This is supposed to be like a half hour of cooking time for every pound or something like that.
Niles
0:04:41
Every time I've done like a 12 to 14 pound turkey, it's about three and a half hours
Niles
0:04:45
ish.
Niles
0:04:46
Something like that.
Bijon
0:04:47
Right? Something like that.
Niles
0:04:49
There's some metric that's used.
Bijon
0:04:50
Yeah. Anyway, so you do two smaller hens and you get twice as many options, right? Sure.
Niles
0:04:57
Twice as many legs, twice as many thighs. Yeah. Now, when you guys do the stuffing, do you, well, you're getting a hen, though. It's a turkey.
Bijon
0:05:04
It's the female turkey. It's the hen, yeah. Okay.
Niles
0:05:07
But do you stuff it as well when it's... No, no, no.
Bijon
0:05:10
Oh, wow. My mom makes a separate casserole dish of stuffing.
Niles
0:05:14
Oh, okay. Gotcha.
Bijon
0:05:16
And the pièce de résistance is the macaroni and cheese.
Niles
0:05:22
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Bijon
0:05:23
Four cheese macaroni and cheese.
Niles
0:05:25
Yeah.
Niles
0:05:26
I don't even know what to say to that. I've never had, you know, look, I love mac and cheese. This is, you know, truth be told. But I've never had it on Thanksgiving. That's interesting.
Bijon
0:05:35
Oh, yeah. Four cheese macaroni and cheese, stuffing. And then I make my Brussels sprouts. You and your Brussels sprouts. And cheddar and
Niles
0:05:56
garlic and onion. Nice. Sauteed and then broiled. Yeah. Wow. That sounds delicious. You have your pies. You have people commissioning. You're often It's my favorite meal to cook. I love doing everything You know from scratch as well. Like I'll do the stuffing from scratch is my mom's recipes to the master
Niles
0:06:13
I make it the best garlic mashed potatoes. I think ever I will say that but with the pies Yeah, you know, it's like it's starting to take off here But you know, I've been here what seven years now something like that, you know back in LA, yeah like I just became famous for my homemade apple pies, which is a, you know, it's a
Niles
0:06:43
special ingredient that goes in and that just kind of, you know, I can't, it's a secret recipe, I can't tell, but I think last year I made about four or five pies for people, you know,
Bijon
0:07:06
that's my thing, yeah.
Niles
0:06:50
Moving on to music. You just got back just a couple weeks ago, right? From Europe, European tour with Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.
Bijon
0:06:59
Yep.
Niles
0:07:00
So you were gone for what, was it two weeks? 14, 15 days?
Bijon
0:07:02
Two weeks, 15 days.
Niles
0:07:03
Okay, yeah.
Bijon
0:07:04
And we were in, let's see, seven countries, 14, 15 days. Wow. Let's see, we were in Amsterdam, another city in the Netherlands, Leuwarden, Hamburg, Germany, Dusseldorf, Germany.
Niles
0:07:19
Yeah, and Dusseldorf.
Bijon
0:07:20
No, Dusseldorf.
Niles
0:07:21
Yeah, and Dusseldorf, Hamburg.
Bijon
0:07:24
Vienna. Nice. Cologne, Brno, the Czech Republic, Budapest, Hungary, and Stockholm, Sweden.
Niles
0:07:33
Wow, man.
Bijon
0:07:33
All of these concerts were sold out.
Niles
0:07:36
And playing the size venues 20, 25 hundred, kind of like the Reynolds Hall
Bijon
0:07:42
here at Smith Center, right? Yeah, 20, 100, 2,500, yeah. Each one or you know the premier performing arts venues in the respective countries. Yeah. Vienna Opera House, the El Philharmonie in Hamburg, which is an 800 million dollar venue. Well, that also houses like a Four Seasons or an Intercontinental Hotel, something like that. It's actually a building within a building. It's completely soundproof. Wow. And they did that because it's up against the water, a shipping lane that goes through
Bijon
0:08:14
Hamburg. And the barges would have horns that would go off in the middle of concerts. Yeah. So, the concert venues that aren't soundproof,
Niles
0:08:24
you have to be conscientious of that. Yeah, wow. That sounds amazing though.
Bijon
0:08:34
Yeah, it's pretty cool. In terms of the crowd, how do you feel? I'm sure you get, well, they're sold out shows, right? Right, but it was such a wide range of ages, demographics.
Niles
0:08:54
It was very well represented diversity-wise.
Bijon
0:08:53
mature audience members. I was gonna say be careful bro be careful. So yeah it was excellent. It was a really good time. A lot of a lot of time on the bus to chit chat and you know talk mess with the other band members and it was a you know if you're still friends at the end of two weeks then you must have been doing something right after traveling that much
Niles
0:09:16
Well, and also just those amount of shows back-to-back so to speak I mean I imagine the shows Energetically music everything would get better and better You know say even three four or five shows in absolutely part of being a pro them
Bijon
0:09:29
You know yeah, no matter how are you feeling or how tired you or whatever you never let the music suffer. Right. The music always comes first. Yeah. Yeah. I think just to be in front of those audiences and see that and be received so amazingly. That's so beautiful. It speaks to how they disseminate and how they promote music there. Each country or each place we were in, they have a state-run radio station that is dedicated to promoting the music of that venue or that you know. Oh nice. Yeah. Yeah, you just have so much more communication with the
Bijon
0:10:21
audience and I think KUNV is
Niles
0:10:28
kind of like that where they have so many different options to promote live music
Bijon
0:10:39
and it's a public radio station you know.
Niles
0:10:28
Do you understand? Yeah.
Niles
0:10:29
Yeah. Now you guys were also, I know Clayton Hamilton's got the new album out, right? So are you guys promoting that as well, type thing?
Bijon
0:10:37
Yeah, kind of, sort of. Okay. We had just finished it in August, so, you know, getting, as you know, putting an album together, it takes, you know, more than a couple of weeks. So it literally was released the second day we were on tour.
Niles
0:10:54
Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. So was some of the repertoire from the album on?
Niles
0:11:00
Did you guys play any of those?
Bijon
0:11:01
Just a couple of the tunes on the concert. And in fact, we probably played one of those. Yeah, let's hear one. Yeah, so one of the tunes that we did definitely on tour was Haitian Fight Song, which is a tune that was originally written by Charles Mingus, who's a bass player, like John Clayton. Of course.
Bijon
0:11:17
And this is John Clayton's treatment of Haitian fight song performed by the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. You're listening to B-Side Morning Groove with Bij and Niles on 91.5 KUNV, Jazz and More.
Niles
0:11:33
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, the the the so Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Niles
0:13:00
the the Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Welcome back. You're listening to B-Side Morning Brew with Bijan Niles. That was Haitian Fight Song by Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra off their new album called And So It Goes. With Bijan here on lead trumpet. Beautiful tune, man. Slamming tune. So cool.
Niles
0:14:03
And Matt, you said that just came out right when you guys were out on tour just a couple weeks ago. The second day of our tour. It was crazy. Crazy. We were in the Netherlands when it was released. Yeah, that's so cool man. Love that.
Niles
0:17:13
Love that. Which leads me into you know, we've been talking about our new album or our new collection of songs that we're going to collaborate on and which we've never done before actually collaborate and
Niles
0:17:14
You know because we have a bit of a timeline we want to work from and it's been difficult because I haven't been it's not That I haven't been inspired. I just haven't been listening to certain Just certain music that will that that would get me there to try to figure out you know At least the first step and at least sending you over a couple bars of a you know a lick or an idea of something You know And I'm kind of moving into your house, too
Niles
0:17:38
There's that but you know you have stuff in the background and it was the other day I I heard it just by accident or maybe it wasn't by accident. They were celebrating art Blakey and art Blakey's Monin was playing and it just really hit me and I thought BAM. That's Okay. Now I'm inspired, you know, I've got this idea and the funny thing is I know that again this is because we've never collaborated So for me if I were to just take this idea and run with it run with it all by myself
Niles
0:18:08
It would probably Go more down that road or stay stay in that road You know where our Blakey was but I'm excited about getting it over to you Whatever it is. I come up with based on the inspiration because it's gonna change. Well, that's what
Bijon
0:18:22
That's what's about. I mean, you know, we do obviously have similar tastes in a lot of ways. So it'll be interesting to see how working together, instead of me adding to one of your tunes and you adding to one of my tunes, truly finding that peanut butter and chocolate combination and develop it, right? Yeah, yeah, totally.
Niles
0:18:47
It's a lot of fun. Yeah. No, I'm looking forward to it. I mean, you know, and me musically, as you know, and I'll start sharing this with our audience as things progress, but I'm also working on a different project that I'm titling it something different, but not so much in the jazz vein. It's a bit more, I guess it's a bit more rockabilly, got a hint of maybe a little country twang to it kind of thing. But I've been going back to one of my favorite artists or band was the Stray Cats back in the day. And then, so as a result, I've been listening to Brian Setzer and the Stray Cats, and then of course, his orchestra,
Niles
0:19:35
and just honestly being reinvigorated with the guitar, just learning. You know, I've done this before because I've obviously produced that artist who we got a record deal for that was down that vein anyway, but it's really nice to get back on the guitar and play some of that style, you know, but integrate some of those jazz chords with that swing and that kind of rockabilly, you know, fun aspect to it. So my mind's been there as opposed to me trying to figure out the jazz stuff to send you a bar or two of an idea, basically.
Bijon
0:20:04
Well, I think the reality is that all of our, as creatives, all of our outside influences in even different mediums, whether it's a book we're reading or going up on the slopes and skiing or going for a bike ride, our interests influence how we express ourselves musically. So it's important to kind of have lots of different interests outside of just maybe what your wheelhouse is, take yourself out of your comfort zone and actually start to what's the word I'm looking for? Investigate, explore, explore.
Bijon
0:20:40
Yeah, yeah. Start to explore those other places and take it there. Take it down a road that maybe is not so familiar. And that happens through putting yourself out there and experiencing different things.
Niles
0:20:54
So it's true. And because this other project I'm setting up as a trio, so it's like I have to play guitar differently than I do when we're doing our thing. But what I'm excited about, and with this new inspiration is how I'll be integrating the guitar into what we're doing and having a more of a role rather than just, you know, I love being like the background or like the guitar having a bed, just a nice bed of sound, but now I'm having to express it differently and be more lead and all that kind of thing. So yeah, I've talked
Bijon
0:21:25
about the fact that you're working.
Niles
0:21:40
Oh my brain is a mess.
Bijon
0:21:42
Right. You're going to give us some of that guitar flavor. Yeah. And that's what I'm looking forward to too, is that type of participation. People don't realize that you're super talented at it, and you need to do more of that.
Niles
0:21:54
Thank you, thank you man. Well, the other thing too is talking to a buddy of ours, he's a photographer that shoots a lot of famous artists and stuff. Him and I have known each other since the fourth grade, but it was funny when I let him hear a sample of what I've been doing, he goes, oh, you've got your house voice. And what he was referring to is that, you know, for the last few years or whatever it's been, as you know, my singing on these albums have been more mystery, you know, like just
Niles
0:22:24
mystery and kind of soft and whispery and that kind of vibe. But now like I'm singing full voice So it'll be interesting to see where it goes to with what we're you and I are doing and how I approach those songs Vocally as well Be definitely a whole new thing for us, there's no doubt, you know, which is cool which leads me into I would love to I would Love to speaking of Brian Setzer's orchestra. There's a song that I'd love to to share with the
Niles
0:22:57
audience. It's just, you know, it's just a
Chipmunk Voice
0:23:02
good... funny for me, right, because I'm
Niles
0:23:07
normally the dark brooding one and the music's always dark and brooding, but this
Niles
0:23:22
song is not. Anyway, this song is called
Bijon
0:23:32
You're the Boss by the Brian Setzer
Music
0:23:38
Ancestor Orchestra here on 91.5 KNV Jazz and More on the B-Side Morning Brew with
Music
0:23:46
Beej and Niles show.
Music
0:23:49
I just got to keep on shifting, oh Daddy, you are the king
Music
0:23:56
Baby, you've got me beat up and down, inside out and across, oh yes
Niles
0:24:03
But in the middle of the night when the moon is shining bright, oh you're the boss Talkin' bout a dancin' and a down home romancin' Oh, Tess, my dear, you make the scene Talkin' bout a dancin' and a down home romancin' Oh, baby, you are the queen
Niles
0:24:26
And when boys come to show that when it comes down to love
Niles
0:24:29
You're the boss
Niles
0:24:31
Oh, boy, in the middle of the night
Niles
0:24:33
When the moon is shinin' bright You're the boss, you're the best of everything You're a beast, you're a fly, you're a dove, you're a pearl
Music
0:24:37
You're the best of everything Oh, baby, you're my man, baby, you sure are wise
Music
0:24:54
And when it comes to knowing which way the wind is blowing, oh daddy, you take the prize
Music
0:25:02
Baby, you're a genius when it comes to cooking up some chili sauce
Niles
0:25:07
But in the middle of the night when the moon is shining brighter, you're the boss Oh baby, you're a genius when it comes to cooking up some moon-chillin' stars Oh, in the midst of the night when the moon is shining bright on your love heart Oh, when it comes to kissing I just gotta keep insisting, oh baby You sure do some swag And when it comes to kissing I just gotta keep insisting on your tally
Niles
0:26:05
You are the king Oh, you got me beat up and down, you got me out of control Round and round, you got me in love and I'm with the moon and shining bright
Music
0:26:18
Oh, you're the boss
Music
0:26:20
You're the boss
Niles
0:26:22
You're the boss
Music
0:26:24
You're the boss.
Niles
0:26:26
Baby, you're the boss. Oh, baby, you know I like it when you're the boss. Mmm, you know when I like it when you say that I'm the boss.
Music
0:26:35
Well, then maybe tonight I'll be the boss.
Music
0:26:38
And tomorrow night, I'll be the boss. Oh.
Niles
0:26:43
You're the boss. You like it when I'm the boss.
Bijon
0:26:59
Welcome back. You're listening to B-Side Morning Brew with Beej and Niles on 91.5 KUNV, Jazz and More. That was You're the Boss, performed by the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Man, that's pretty cool. I gotta be honest. I hadn't heard that song before so thanks for bringing that to our attention I know you're you're you know you're big band and orchestrated guy. You know I think you got a trophy for something, right?
Niles
0:27:20
So I figured I I figured I'd surprise you because you know that's right you're full of surprises now Yeah, picking up where we left off in terms of having different influences musically Yeah.
Bijon
0:27:32
Picking up where we left off in terms of having different influences musically to help us express what our likes are musically. It's important to go down lots of different roads. So we'd like to thank 91.5 KUNV Jazz and More for being our media partners and allowing us a platform to be able to share our creative experiences with you and our lifestyle and allowing us to engage with our amazing audience.
Niles
0:28:03
We'd also like to thank High Note Roasters.
Bijon
0:28:05
What would B-Side Morning Brew be without great coffee? And of course we'd like to thank our listeners. If you'd like to know more about what Niles and I are doing, you can visit nilesthomas.com or bijohnwatson.com. You can keep track of us. Have a happy Thanksgiving,
Bijon
0:28:25
and we'll look forward to connecting with you in December.
Niles
0:28:29
Good morning everyone.
Bijon
0:28:30
Enjoy your Sunday. And morning brew. And morning brew.
Niles
0:28:33
Street on 91.5 KUNV Jazz and More.
