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Listen to any of Jim Brickman's Windham Hill albums and it's hard to believe that his first piano teacher told his mother that Jim, at age 10, had no musical talent! Brickman doing well
for a guy with
‘no talent’By John Berger
Special to the Star-Bulletin"I think in retrospect it came from the fact that I was really a songwriter-in-training," says Brickman today. "I think sometimes when your proficiency is as a writer it doesn't show itself until later, so technically I may have not been the greatest pianist, but my talent turned out to be as a song writer."
Brickman, calling from his home in Southern California in advance of his performances in Hawaii, says he enjoys his home when he can; he tours about three quarters of the year.
"It's an adventure, I'll just put it like that," he says of his tour schedule. Brickman performs on Maui tonight and opens a two-nighter at the Hawaii Theatre tomorrow. After that, he's off for concert dates in Manila, Singapore and Bangkok.
Brickman fans here -- ardent enough to warrant the addition of the Sunday afternoon show at Hawaii Theatre -- probably already have his newest album, "My Romance -- An Evening With Jim Brickman," which was recorded during a PBS special and features duets with Dave Koz, Olivia Newton-John and Donny Osmond. Brickman counts all three as friends.
IN CONCERT
Who: Jim Brickman
Two other longtime friends, vocalist Ann Cochran and electric violinist Tracy Silverman, will be performing with him here.
Brickman has an eclectic perspective on music. He'll take organic acoustic textures over synthetics, likes a good melody, and is cautious about putting labels or boundaries on music.
"I think of my music as pop music. I don't think of it as jazz. I don't think of it as New Age. I think of it as solo instrumental pop music, and because of my collaborations with other singers that are all pop adult contemporary collaborations, that is where I feel I belong."
Some people were surprised in 1997 when he asked country star Martina McBride to be a guest vocalist on his third album, "Picture This." Brickman says it was a natural choice.
"Country music is really the only place right now that you find great singing (and) it's where they're singing songs with melodies and stories and emotional impact. Pop music doesn't have that, with the exception of Celine Dion or somebody, (so) you have to go to country or Broadway, and Broadway doesn't really fit with what I do.
"With a lot of the country singers I don't hear them as 'country singers.' I just hear great singers who happen to chose to sing country."
"Valentine," the song he recorded with McBride, hit No. 3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and helped the album reach No. 30 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The song also hit No. 9 on Billboard's Country Singles chart.
Since then, Brickman has collaborated with such diverse artists as Herb Alpert, Carly Simon and Pam Tillis.
Brickman started writing ad jingles while he was still in high school but found it difficult as a Cleveland teen-ager to get area ad agencies to take him seriously. He continued writing jingles while studying classical piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music and working on a business degree at Case Western Reserve University.
He spent 10 years as a jingle writer in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles. It wasn't until he was already in his 30s that he decided there was something missing in his life.
"I was doing music but it wasn't really fulfilling in that I didn't feel like I was making a difference. I was just basically selling products and I wanted to accomplished something a little more in my music than that."
Brickman decided to break away from advertising. Once he was signed by Windham Hill, he hit the road with his album and drove around the country visiting adult contemporary radio stations.
He's been working as an artist ever since. He is still single and expects to remain so for at least several more years.
"I don't really have much of a choice. I think the next five years are going to really be my prime time and so I think of it in that realm (but) I had a lot of fun in my 20s where I just played and had fun and dated. I really went all out in that department so in that respect I feel completely comfortable with the fact that this is my time in my career."
That's not to say that the 39-year-old bachelor is not a romantic at heart. There's a point early in his show during which he tells the audience that those who did not arrive with someone may be able to hook up with someone during intermission. Does it ever happen?
"Absolutely! There are some wonderful stories of that exact thing, which I think is really cool."
And as for that teacher who told Brickman's mother the kid had no potential?
"Now she uses my music books as technique to teach that particular style of playing."
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