New Orleans’ PJ Morton returns home to Jazz Fest with new music

AdminMay 4, 2024

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Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer P.J. Morton returns home with a new album and memoir, due out soon, as he nears the end of his eight-day run Saturday afternoon at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Morton, the child of a preacher whose parents are Reverends. Paul and Debra Morton are well known in town and say they look forward to taking the stage at the Fairgrounds every year.

“You always feel at home at Jazz Fest,” Morton told The Associated Press. “It’s like a family reunion. We want food just like everyone else. You will be able to see all your friends, see everyone. There’s nothing better than this.”

Morton said he doesn’t take for granted the love he experiences in his hometown or at performances around the world.

“I’m amazed by the crowds and the venues we play in,” he said. “The joy started in small clubs where we played for 20 to 50 people. Now it’s thousands. I like to see growth. For me it is something special on every level.

“I hope the fans come away having a good time. “I want to give people everything I have and allow people already familiar with my work to walk away knowing that, and those who are not familiar with this ‘PJ Morton kid’ will feel that too.”

Since New Orleans is his home, he said there is always something special about the city.

“I play stuff here that I don’t play anywhere else, like ‘New Orleans Girl,’ which I wrote for Jazz Fest 10 years ago,” he said.

Morton has been Maroon 5’s keyboardist since 2012. That same year, he also released his first debut solo EP, Following My First Mind. Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine participated in the recording of the single “Heavy”. The following year, Morton released his first major label debut album, New Orleans. And in 2017, he released his first self-produced studio album, Gumbo, which earned him two Grammy Award nominations.

In 2019, he won Grammy Awards for Best R&B for “Say So” and Best Traditional R&B Performance for “How Deep Is Your Love.” Since then, he has won three more Grammy Awards for Best Gospel Album, Album of the Year and, this year, Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Good Morning.”

At Jazz Fest, Morton said fans can expect to hear a mix of old and new, including songs from his latest project “Cape Town to Cairo,” a collection he created in 30 days during a trip that took him to South Africa and Nigeria. , Ghana and Egypt.

On Friday, he released his new single “Smoke & Mirrors,” which is about “challenging preconceptions” and has a “message that brings us back to ourselves.”

He said the project forced him to trust his instincts.

“I wrote every day for 30 days and recorded every day,” he said. “It was written entirely in Africa and now I am giving it to the world. On my last album, Watch The Sun, I had a lot of duets with heavy artists like Stevie Wonder and Nas, and I had so much time to think about everything because of the pandemic. This closes this chapter for me. I couldn’t think about it for long. I wanted to be inspired by the moment and guided by instinct. And it gave me real deadlines. “In the end, I realized that restrictions can give freedom.”

In addition to music, Morton said his memoir, “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning,” is scheduled to be released on Nov. 12.

“I don’t usually talk about my journey. I record albums, tour and do my own thing,” he said, laughing. “But the Grammys have been winning over the last few years, and being able to do it all on my own, owning my masters and making my own decisions, I thought now was the time to put it on paper. Emotions turns 20 in October and I thought now would be a good time to share this milestone and let people know that some of these crazy things I’ve been doing actually work. “I was able to do it this way, in my own way, and hopefully I can inspire some others to stick to their guns in their own journeys.”

Jazz Fest wraps up its eight-day program on Sunday. Other Saturday headliners include Queen Latifah, Neil Young Crazy Horse, Greta Van Fleet, Tab Benoit and Sonny Landreth.

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