Jazz88’s Patty Peterson spoke to guitarist Cory Wong about coming back to his home town for two concerts at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, November 23rd and 24th. He also talked about what it was like to write, arrange and record his original material with the Metrople Orkest for his newest album Starship Syncopation.
Full interview:
This interview aired on Jazz Futures 11/13/24
Transcript:
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
You are listening to jazz features here on 88.5 I’m Patty Peterson with you. Guitarist Cory Wong, who is from the Twin Cities, is joining me for a conversation about his upcoming concert at the Palace Theatre, and that’s on November 23 and 24th. We’re going to talk a little bit about band he’s got, and also his newest recording called Starship Syncopation. It’ll go into some detail about how fun it was to record with the Metropole Orkest. Cory, welcome to jazz88 we love you. We’re excited to have you back in town performing as well.
Cory Wong
I love you guys too, and I appreciate you having me on and I’m very excited for the show’s coming up.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
Cory, let’s start with this particular tour you got going on. I saw it a couple years ago, your show a couple years ago, and it is exciting interactive. It’s filled with multimedia and kind of sing along, chant alongs. I love this new experience and this new wave of how we’re able to listen and interact with concerts. Talk to me about what you got going on this time, coming up at the Palace Theatre on the 23rd and 24th of November in Saint Paul.
Cory Wong
Yeah, I’ve got a 10 piece band, which is fantastic. A lot of Minneapolis folks just from growing up. I mean, that’s the fun thing about this, is that I’ve been able to take along a lot of the musicians that I grew up playing with. So a 10 piece band. It’s a five-piece rhythm section, five piece horn section, and I also, on top of that, have Mark Lettieri joining on guitar as well. He and I have a band called Fearless Flyers we’re doing together. A lot of people know him because he plays guitar in the band, Snarky Puppy. So really fun. Doing a lot of new music for my new album, doing a lot of stuff that, you know, people have always wanted to hear live and, yeah, big production. This time around, I have just a lot of fun surprises, as far as just kind of fun antics that we do live, you know, I don’t like, I don’t like going and just well, actually, this is something that I that I learned from the way that you did your shows. It’s not just going out and playing a gig, oh, I’m just going to play music in front of people. That is great, but I’ve always loved the idea of having it feel like a special event every time. So with this tour, I wanted to make sure that it felt like a unique event that’s much different than the last tour. So there are certain things in this tour that we’re only doing on this tour, and the next tour will do stuff that’s only for that tour. So the tour itself feels like an event. The show feels like an event. It’s entertainment, it’s deep, musically, it’s expressive, it’s dynamic, it’s really fun.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
So I want to just stop you for one second, because you said the new music, the new CD, the new album that you’ve got out right now. Does that have an influence on how you’re changing the show? Can we talk about that new album project with the Metropole Orkest?
Cory Wong
Yeah. So I, few years ago, did some live shows with the Metropole Orkest the Metropole Orchestra, who’s based out of the Netherlands, and we based we adapted a bunch of my existing music to perform it with the orchestra. And then afterwards I had, I was just thinking, Whoa, what if we did some music that was written specifically for my band, plus this orchestra? And it took a couple years of kind of organizing and all that stuff, figuring out how to do it, and spent a lot of time just writing for my full band, plus these extra 60 musicians, and all of a sudden I had this gigantic color palette to paint with, and it was just so much fun, because it’s basically the type of music that I normally do, that people know me for this, you know, funk, jazz, pop sort of thing. But now being able to utilize an entire orchestra on top of it really added a lot of depth, added a lot of extra things where I didn’t have to do as much overdubbing, I didn’t dive into, you know, I don’t know, I it was just that, you know, there’s so many more people to draw from. So it was really fun, because there’s all these musicians, all these arranging techniques that I’m now able to use, that I, you know, not to say that a 10 piece band is small by any means, but I was, it’s a little bit different.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
No, I know. I you know, really, and, and I think, first of all, let me tell you, when you tell me the stories of working with an orchestra, you know, that’s a dream come true. That’s a dream come true for anybody who’s been in the biz a long time. How did you manifest that one in the first place? Because they don’t they’re not from Minneapolis. How did that happen?
Cory Wong
Well, they found my music online and were interested in what I was doing and the tours and albums that I was making, and they reached out to me, saying, “Hey, here’s some stuff that we’ve done in the past” as if I didn’t know who they were. I mean, I was familiar with them from shows they did with Chaka Khan, Pat Metheny, Richard Bona, Al Jarreau, Jacob Collier and Snarky Puppy, a bunch of bunch of different artists. I was like, yes, absolutely, let’s, let’s do something together. And, yeah, it’s an absolute dream come true, because it’s playing with an orchestra, with that many people, that many heart beats in a room. It’s not playing along to a laptop. Plenty of people are out there playing along to laptops, and it’s just the same every time. And it’s just, I’m working on arrangements, working on arranging, working with their orchestrators. And then it’s, yeah, there’s 70 of us in this room that have to nail it all at once. And the feeling that you get when everybody does it is just this really special, shared human experience that, you know, we’ve all had those kinds of experiences where you experience something with a group of people and it feels so special, but when it’s a group of musicians who have dedicated their life to a craft and they’re coming together to express an artist’s artistry like mine, in this case. It really is, is something special for me, and they’re the type of orchestra where it’s very special for them as well, because they love being able to come aside and come along with an artist and really bring their vision to life.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
Let’s hear something from that new album so they can hear the orchestra. Here’s a song called the sorcerer From starship syncopation by Cory Wong.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
Cory, I want to talk about the album again, and that is Starship Syncopation with the Metropole Orkest. And you have a couple of songs that are in rotation at jazz 88 and they are “305” which features a legendary saxophonist, but another one called “Burning”. And I just think, how many times you know, you get off the bandstand and you go, man, that was burning. Let’s talk about those particular songs. They had to be so fun to create.
Cory Wong
Yeah, 305 was a fun one, because that actually started one of my friends, Armando Lopez, has a band in Miami. And they do this jam every week where they kind of make improvised jams on the spot, and they just do a gig where it’s, it’s fully improvised. And he posted a clip one time of a jam that they were doing, and I was like, what is that groove? Is that one of your songs, is that one of your improvised jams? He goes, Oh, no, we were just making it up. We were just hanging out. It’s like, I’m hearing a melody over this. I’m hearing a thing, like, if you guys aren’t going to use that, I got an idea. So he’s like, yeah, come down to Miami. So I went down to Miami and I had all these ideas. I had a B section, I had a bridge, but I just hearing their groove really just sparked something for me. So I went down to Miami. We finished writing this tune together, recorded the rhythm section for it, and I wanted just a really big epic sax solo on it. So I was in New York doing some shows at the Blue Note with Fearless Flyers, and Chris Potter came and sat in with us. It was right when I was starting to work on the album, I was like, Oh my gosh. Here it is Chris Potter! So in the green room after the show, I was saying, Hey, Chris “I have this album I’m working on. I would love to feature you on sax.” He’s like, all right, I got time tomorrow. Let’s go in the studio. So I went in the studio, recorded two takes. The first take is he was just kind of figuring out the song, and he’s like, all right, I know it now goes through. Second take just crushes it all the way down on 305. And the solo is just a take all the way through, and it’s this long, just beautiful, built solo. That is why he’s Chris Potter, yeah. Well, there you go. There you go. It’s amazing.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
305, what does it mean?
Cory Wong
It’s Miami area code.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
There you go. I’m so literal, I wanted to know what that meant and talk about Burning.
Cory Wong
Burning is one that I wrote with my friend Marty Fisher. Marty is an artist based out of Berlin, and he and I connected years ago because he just has similar musical sensibilities. He enjoys the comedic value of certain things just on the internet, like he’s a funny kind of internet personality in Germany, and he’s also a fantastic musician, and we’ve done a bunch of writing back and forth over the internet for years. Actually, we’ve written a ton of tunes together. So he sent me something. I added a section. Sent it back to him. He added a little bit more. I added more on that. I was like, All right, let’s come up with a big, just long outro where we can really feature a nice horn soli, and to feature the Metropole Orkest in a fun way. And then now playing it live, you’ll hear it in St Paul Michael Nelson just taking it, giving the Horn Heads twist on the whole outro is just really fun, and it’s perfect, perfect.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
Can’t wait to hear it. We’re gonna hear two in a row right now. We’re gonna hear “305 featuring Chris Potter”, and we’re also gonna hear the song called “Burning” here on jazz88.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
That’s Cory Wong and Starship Syncopation, his new release with the Metropole Orkest. We heard the last tune was called Burning. Before that, it was 305. Cory, we’re so grateful that you could spend some time with us here prior to your coming back to the Twin Cities, your hometown for this concert. It’s at the Palace Theater the 23rd and 24th of November, I always need me a Cory Wong fix, and I can’t believe that I’m going to be able to come and listen to what you’re up to. So I think about this, and I think of how you’ve grown with your music, from jazz, which you play great, to the more contemporary stuff you know, you and I have had some fun times on stage as well, too, but you’ve got this intensity with this groove and this group. What else are you clandestined to do? What do you want to do this in your life, musically, besides this fun you’re having?
Cory Wong
Yeah, well, it’s all fun, whether it’s jazz or the contemporary stuff. All of it, I have a good time doing it because it’s. . .I’m playing music. How can I? But I do want to explore some of the space at some point of kind of bringing that energy. And actually, I’ve been, I’ve been doing this on this tour, a handful of the shows we’ll probably do it in Saint Paul is playing the the high energy funk stuff, but on acoustic instruments, so kind of doing a quote unquote unplugged version of the thing that I do, right? It’s been a really fun thing to kind of experiment with and just kind of see what the acoustic. Instruments draw out of us that’s different than, you know, playing electric guitar. So, I would love to do some version of film scoring at some point.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
Not surprised to hear you say that.
Cory Wong
Yeah, you know, honestly, this, this orchestra album, some of it, I was kind of dabbling. I mean, a lot of the way that I write music, I think of some sort of visualization, some sort of landscape, or some sort of picture or story in my head that the music can go along with. So I was doing that while making this album, and I think doing it for an actual motion picture would be really fun.
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
Oh, I think it would be too. And we’ll follow along like the devotees that we are. And whenever that happens, we’ll be right there to see what you’re up to. But in the meantime, we get to see our friend Cory Wong, and we’re going to hear you on Jazz88 as well, not only with the songs that you continue to give us, but jazz 88 host of jazz impulse, Danny Sigelman, will be at the concert to bring us some of the music live as well, and we’re really excited about that and support you in that way. So thank you. Take good care of yourself. This touring is a lot of energy. I don’t have to tell you and keep that smile on your face, because I know what one of your biggest missions is in life, and that is to put the feeling of joy in people’s hearts. Yes, yeah, I’ll never forget.. You’re so welcome. Now.
Cory Wong
Thanks so much for having me!
Patty Peterson (Jazz88)
That’s Corey Wong coming to the Palace Theatre in November 23 and 24th for a happy Thanksgiving. And it sure will be thanks. Cory, talk to you soon.
Cory Wong
Thank you.
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