Steve Cole’s Band Brings Out The Best In Him

 

This interview originally aired on The Afternoon Cruise on 06/9/25

READ THE COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

It’s The Afternoon cruise. I’m chatting with saxophonist Steve Cole. Steve is a Mack Avenue recording artist based in the Twin Cities. He’s getting ready for a show at the Dakota on Saturday June 14, aka this Saturday. This is part of Cole’s larger touring itinerary, which brings him to London, Florida and many more spots. Steve Cole, thanks for taking time to check back in with the afternoon cruise.

 

Steve Cole 

Thanks for having us back, man, I mean, actually not us. It’s just me. It’s just me. Not the royal we just me myself.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Well, you are enough for today. And of course, your record, without a doubt, has been really a wonderful thing to add to our playlist here at jazz 88 and it’s been out since the fall of 2023 you’ve been doing this for quite some time. How do you measure the success of a new record, both artistically, business wise, like, how are you feeling about the release and, and what sort of data have you gotten about its reception?

 

Steve Cole 

It’s interesting question, because there’s the metrics, right? I mean, you know you want, you want it to get played on the radio and, and you want people to stream it. And we’ve been just super, super fortunate that we’ve we’re four singles deep into this record, you know, really successful in terms of radio and streaming, but for me, honestly, the the real proof in the pudding is, how are people reacting to the music live? You know, because that’s really where the where the rubber meets the road, both literally and figuratively, I guess so. And the reception has been great. So I’m really thrilled with this record. It was, it was really fun to make. You know, I’m very fortunate that Mack Avenue is allowing me to make another, yet another record that we’re, you know, working on currently.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

It’s the Afternoon Cruise. I’m chatting with saxophonist Steve Cole. He’s taking the stage on Saturday night at the Dakota now, Steve, the last time you visited jazz 88 we talked about the very intimate role that saxophone can play in jazz, and maybe in particularly for contemporary jazz, it serves as the lead instrument, a very human lead instrument. And often it sort of feels like it has a vocal quality. You hire the best players in town, and I assume you hire the best players wherever you’re going to play, and I know that those great players often naturally give you the space to be the centerpiece and to tell your stories on the horn. How do you make sure that there’s room for you to be the get the vocal, basically. How do you get to be a diva? Steve, you’re playing with these great folks, but they got to stand back and let you shine. It’s the Steve Cole show. How do you navigate that space with really top flight players?

 

Steve Cole 

Well, I think you nailed it in the in the first statement. It’s about top flight players. And the fact of the matter is that the the players that are performing with me at Dakota on Saturday are the ones that go on the road with me. I mean, I I’ve played with musicians all over the world. The band that I’m working with now with with Jeff Bailey and Kavy and Dave Feeley and Kirk Johnson, they are just some of the most you know, intuitive and sensitive and musical players that I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with and and, you know, they are in the in the business of really just bringing out the best in in, in the artists that they’re working with, and that it was really a special phenomenon that is, it’s really a joy to experience with these guys.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Thank you for using Twin Cities players. I’m sure you got a nice Rolodex of Chicago players and players all over. But you live here and you’re making your way here with these awesome musicians. And we always love to see Minnesota artists shining on stages all around the globe.

 

Steve Cole 

Yeah, they’re blowing people away wherever they go. It’s like, you know, other artists are like, Hey, man, who’s, you know, who’s playing this, who’s playing this? And then, you know, half of me, it’s just like, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Yeah, I don’t know his name, you know, like,

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

I’m chatting with Steve Cole. He’s He’s keeping the names of his musicians secret from these other contemporary jazz stars all around the globe because he wants to make sure they can shine with him. And that’s what they’ll be doing on Saturday night at the Dakota, Steve, I was reading your bio today in preparation for this, and I saw that one of the first ways you connected with music as an instrumentalist was actually just listening to the radio and playing your saxophone with whatever was on, whether it had saxophone on it or not. Now that you’re a professional and you can set up any kind of musical landscape you want, does does that background give you an ability to imagine saxophone into tunes that other players might go. I don’t know how I could fit into this, but you have those years of playing along with the radio, and you can find your way into more spots.

 

Steve Cole 

That’s that’s a great question, and really insightful Sean, which is why I love, I love chatting with you. You know, the reason I had to play along with the radio is because I got kicked out of band because, you know, I, all I wanted to do is play the melody. And the band director was like, stop playing the melody. And I was like, why? And, and that was, you know, the end of that. So, you know, my lot of what I was able to do is play with the radio. And I just, you know, when there was a commercial, I’d flip this dial and find another station and just play along. And I guess. you know, I never thought about it that way, but you bring up something really, really interesting. I think that that’s how I conceptualize the saxophone in a lot of different genres, just because it was by necessity, there were too many commercials and not enough music, so I had to keep flipping the dial, and when I landed on music, I would play along with it, no matter what the genre was.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Steve Cole is playing this Saturday over at the Dakota. We’re going to listen to some of the music from the latest record. We’re going to hear the tune. Come on, y’all from without a doubt, this came out in the fall of 2023 just a little bit later in the program, like a couple minutes from now, I’ll be giving away a pair of tickets to this show coming up at the Dakota on Saturday. Steve, last question for you. You mentioned you got some great players working with you, including cavesh, David Fiely, Jeff Bailey, Kirk Johnson, what do you think is the thing that folks who are checking you out on Saturday should be ready for? Who, if they’re not watching you? Who should they watch to really get into the feel of the show?

 

Steve Cole 

Well, I mean, I think, honestly, it’s, it’s, it’s a really fantastic unit of of musicians. And, you know, the great thing about how we go about it is everyone, everyone has time to shine, you know, and it’s a band full of soloists. So, you know, when I’m not playing, it’s not like, you know, nothing’s going on. There’s going to be a, you know, a guitar solo that’s other worldly. And then there’s going to be a, you know, a bass solo that’s or even just a groove that’s just, you know, in your head, and you can’t do anything but to, you know, to move your other parts and and Kavy is just such a brilliant solo, so, you know, and that’s the beautiful thing these guys are in just so intuitive and so sensitive and generous in their in their playing, as you know, you know, supporting me, but in a split second they’re, they’re in superstar mode, right? You know when it’s their time to shine. So, you know, I have trouble keeping up with them. They keep me on my toes, certainly.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Well, you can move your other parts with Steve Cole on Saturday night over at the Dakota. Steve, thank you for visiting with jazz 88 good luck on the bandstand. I guess you got a couple more shows even before that. But I wish you extra special. Good luck when you’re in Minneapolis on Saturday night at the Dakota thanks for connecting with jazz88.

 

Steve Cole 

Thank you again. Sean, I really appreciate it.

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