Magical Music - An Interview with Jim Brickman
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[Ed Note: We'd like to welcome our newest columnist, Tyler Schwartz, to LaughingPlace.com. Tyler is co-owner the incredible website The Magical Music of the Mouse and he'll be doing reviews and writing on other musical topics for LaughingPlace.com]

Last week, an advance copy of a new Walt Disney Records release showed up in my mailbox, as they sometimes do. After anxiously tearing open the package, I discovered a man dressed in black staring back at me from the cd cover. The album was called Jim Brickman: The Disney Songbook, and I deduced that the man on the cover must be Jim Brickman himself.

My curiosity was peaked, since I had never heard of this Jim Brickman fellow before. Turns out that I must be living under a rock, because I soon discovered that Jim Brickman is America's foremost platinum-selling pianist, famous for his romantic, even haunting, stylings. Perhaps you've heard of him?

One of the first things I noticed was the album's track listing. It's compiled of an eclectic collection of Disney standards ("When You Wish Upon a Star"), together with more contemporary pieces ("Reflection"), a few originals ("I'm Amazed") and some rare gems ("When I See an Elephant Fly"). I was dying to hear what these tunes sounded like when played in a romantic style, so I popped in the cd and hit play. That was last week, and I haven't stopped listening since.

Brickman's interpretations are heartfelt, moving and sometimes surprising. And just as eclectic as his song choices, is the variety of guest vocalists who accompany him. American Idol's Kimberley Locke does a fine job of making "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" her own. Kassie DePavia (from One Life to Live) deftly delivers "Baby Mine." And country music sensation Josh Gracin shakes things up a bit with "When I See an Elephant Fly."

But most surprising is funnyman Wayne Brady singing "Beautiful", a Brickman original inspired by the first-time-ever release of Cinderella on DVD. Even after hearing Brady croon so many times on Who's Line Is It Anyway?, it never occured to me that he might be a serious vocal talent. If the funny business ever dries up, this man could hold his own in the music world, no question about it.

A few days after the album showed up in my mailbox, I had the chance to speak with Jim on the phone and ask him a few questions about his most recent project. It seems he (together with the publicity machine at Disney Records) is anxious to spread the word about his new album.

TS: How did Jim Brickman: The Disney Songbook come to be?
JB: After eleven albums in ten years, I really felt it was a great time to interpret some of the music I love. I knew my audience would appreciate hearing me "Brickmanize" popular songs that weren't written by me. And certainly it doesn't get any more wonderful than Disney when it comes to that.

TS: What is your earliest memory of Disney music?
JB: The first album I ever had was the Mary Poppins record and I vividly remember the purple Disneyland Records label. It was also the first movie I ever saw when I was around four years old.

TS: So that must be why you included a Mary Poppins medley on your album?
JB: Yes. But when I sat down to play the music, I didn't read any of the sheet music. My style is to try to interpret, by recalling in my mind how it goes and then finding my way around it in order to infuse my style. With a song like Chim Chim Cher-Ee, when you really pare it down, it's just so haunting. I have to get some Jim Brickman in there, but I also have to get the crux of the melody and all the other stuff that matters.

TS: One of my favourite tunes on the album is your version of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. It's the perfect blend of the original medley together with Jim Brickman flair. What is the process you go through to Brickmanize a song?
JB: You don't want to be too inventive. People tend to overcompensate when they take a well known song and make it something else. To me the melody is really the strength of the song. Then you use that as the core and try to interpret it from there. I just played it and let it come naturally to me rather than deciding on a song's style in advance.