Producer Of The Year Grammy Nominee Larry Klein On Working With Jeff Goldblum On His Debut Album: “A New Experience For Me…Akin To Trying To Make ‘Live At The Sands’ With Frank Sinatra”

In addition to a GRAMMY nomination for Producer of the Year, and a number of exciting projects queued up for 2019, Larry Klein also produced Jeff Goldblum’s debut album, ‘The Capitol Studio Sessions’ (Decca), met with tremendous praise when released in November. After seeing one of Jeff’s long-running weekly variety shows in Los Angeles with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, Larry says he “immediately thought of building a jazz club inside the studios in the Capitol building.” Studios A and B at Capitol Records in Los Angeles were converted into an intimate dinner club – a stage, tables, red curtains - and the album was recorded in front of a live audience. 

"Jeff is a dedicated lover of jazz,” Klein says of Goldblum, an accomplished pianist. “When I saw his show I absolutely loved it. It was about 50% music and 50% Jeff dialoging with and playing off of the audience extemporaneously. It was a jazz show, it was smart humor, and best of all, it was FUN.” 

“Working with Jeff was a new experience for me in regard to the type of album that we were making,” he adds. “It is more akin to trying to make ‘Live At The Sands’ with Frank Sinatra, or an album with his Rat Pack than anything that I have worked on before. The biggest thing that was confirmed to me about the experience is the need to trust in the ‘gods of spontaneity’ when you are working with a personality that is as charismatic, quick, smart and agile as Jeff.”

Klein says that the album was half planned and half left to improvisation, to fully capture the spirit of Goldblum’s weekly gig. The album weaves in pieces of comedy and off-the-cuff banter with the likes of Sarah Silverman, one of the album’s many guests. 

Klein’s Producer of the Year GRAMMY nomination is his third in the category (non-classical) since 2010, and recognizes his work on 2017-2018 releases with Madeleine Peyroux (‘Anthem’), Luciana Souza (‘The Book of Longing’), Hailey Tuck (‘Junk’), Molly Johnson (‘Meaning to Tell You’) and Thomas Dybdahl (‘All These Things’). Klein has 4 GRAMMY Awards and eight career nominations. 

An award-winning producer and collaborator who also has done scoring work in film and television, Klein grew up in southern California before touring with jazz greats like Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter and working with such diverse artists as Robbie Robertson, Tracy Chapman and Randy Newman. Klein has gained special recognition as an astute producer of female singer/songwriters. Klein has continued to explore the areas that lie between genres, circling back to his jazz roots to work with mentors like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, writing for and producing such hybrid artists as Madeleine Peyroux and Lizz Wright, exploring new areas with artists from around the world such as fado singer and Portuguese star Ana Moura, Norwegian alt-singer-songwriter Thomas Dybdahl and French pop legend Eddy Mitchell. His musical curiosity continues to lead him towards a completely eclectic array of artists and projects from every area of music.

https://www.larrykleinmusic.com