Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer PJ Morton is coming home with a new album and memoir amid a Saturday afternoon performance. new Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which is nearing the end of its eight-day run.
Morton, a preacher’s child whose parents – the Revs. Paul And Debra Morton – who is well-known in town – said she looks forward to taking the stage at the fairgrounds every year.
“Jazz Fest always feels like home,” Morton said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It feels like a family reunion. We want to eat, just like everyone else. You get a chance to meet all your friends, see everybody. Nothing is better than that.”
Morton said he does not take for granted the love he feels in his hometown or at performances around the world.
“I’m amazed at the crowds and the rooms we get to play,” he said. “Happiness started in small clubs where we were playing with 20 to 50 people. Now there are thousands of them. I like to see growth. It’s special to me on every level.
“I hope the fans leave having a good time. I want to give people everything I have and for people who are already familiar with my work to walk away knowing that and for people who aren’t familiar with this ‘PJ Morton Kid’ to walk away feeling it too. ‘
Since New Orleans is home, he said the city always has something special going on.
“I play things 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 the keyboardist for Maroon 5 since 2012. That same year he also released his first solo EP, “Following My First Mind”. lead singer of maroon 5, Adam Levine, was featured on the lead single, “Heavy”. The following year, Morton released his first major-label debut album, “New Orleans”. And, in 2017, he released his first self-released studio album “Gumbo”, earning him two Grammy Award Enrollment.
In 2019, he won Best R&B Grammy for “Say So” and Best Traditional R&B Performance for “How Deep Is Your Love”. Since then, she has won three more Grammys 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 during a trip in 30 days. Which took him to South Africa, Nigeria. , Ghana and Egypt.
On Friday, she released her new single, “Smoke and Mirrors”, which is about “defying preconceptions” and has a “message that connects back to yourself.”
He said the project forced him to trust his gut instincts.
“I wrote every day for 30 days and recorded every day,” he said. “It was written entirely in Africa and now I’m giving it to the world. On my last album, ‘Watch the Sun’, I did a lot of duets with heavy hitters like Stevie Wonder and Nas and because of the pandemic I had a lot of time to reflect on everything. This closes that chapter for me. I wasn’t able to think too much about it. I wanted to be inspired by that moment and go beyond instinct. And, it gave me a realistic deadline. In the end, I learned that limitations can give you freedom.
In addition to music, Morton said his memoir “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning” is scheduled to be released on November 12.
“I don’t usually talk about my travels. I make albums, tour and mind my own business,” he said, laughing. “But over the years, with the Grammy wins and being able to do all this independently, being my own master and making my own decisions, I thought it was a good time to get it down on paper. ‘Emotions’ turns 20 in October and I thought it was a good time to share that mark and let people know that some of the crazy stuff I did actually works. I’ve been able to do it this way, in my own way, and hopefully I can inspire some other people to stick to their guns on their journey.”
The eight-day Jazz Fest concluded on Sunday. Other headliners on Saturday include Queen Latifah, Neil Young Crazy Horse, Greta Van Fleet, Tab Benoit and Sonny Landreth.