[piano intro] - [Narrator] "Shaped by Sound" is a co-production of PBS North Carolina and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The series is presented by Come Here North Carolina.

[gentle music] [ambient music] - [James] I'm James Mieczkowski and this is "Shaped by Sound."

[ambient music] [gentle piano music] Nnenna Freelon is a Durham-based jazz vocalist with a career spanning over 40 years.

She's performed for presidents.

She's performed in some of the most prestigious venues on the planet, and she has seven Grammy nominations.

But for the first time, Nnenna Freelon is releasing an album of original songs.

Today on "Shaped by Sound," performing songs from her latest album "Beneath the Skin," and in conversation with me, Nnenna Freelon.

[gentle music] [gentle guitar music] [gentle guitar music continues] ♪ Love doesn't recognize ♪ ♪ The lost and found ♪ ♪ Or the gifts that can be measured ♪ ♪ By the bound ♪ ♪ Or drifting clouds that come and go ♪ ♪ Feelings that we long to show ♪ ♪ Love is simply warm beneath the skin ♪ [gentle music] ♪ The forest testifies ♪ ♪ In shades of green ♪ ♪ I must see him play softly ♪ ♪ By a stream ♪ [gentle music] ♪ The willow tree, the sycamore ♪ ♪ [vocalizes] Yeah, they underscore ♪ ♪ A love that's growing deep beneath the skin ♪ [gentle jazz music] [gentle jazz music continues] [gentle jazz music continues] [gentle jazz continues] ♪ Love winds round a trellis in your mind ♪ ♪ We'll, if you are so inclined ♪ ♪ To fill you up, be your supply ♪ ♪ A breath of praise, a lullaby ♪ ♪ On an extraordinary day ♪ ♪ When beauty calls ♪ ♪ Don't look away ♪ ♪ Love waits there for you ♪ ♪ Beneath the skin ♪ [gentle music continues] [Nnenna vocalizing] ♪ Beneath the skin, the skin, the skin ♪ ♪ The skin, the skin, beneath the skin ♪ [gentle music fades] - So I kind of wanted to start this episode by saying thank you so much for being here because I'm so inspired by you, just what you've done for our communities, just the fact that you've been doing this for so long and at such a high level and have played for presidents.

You've played in the most prestigious places I can imagine.

And you get to chat with us today and I just feel so grateful.

- Oh, thank you, thank you, Thank you.

It's my pleasure.

- So you've been a performer for 40 years now, is that right?

Can you kind of talk to us sort of about the beginning of that journey for you?

- I am an artist who was given birth to by the community.

There is no conservatory that I can speak to, to say, "This is how I got here."

- [James] Yeah.

- I was loved up on stage by the people in Durham, in Chapel Hill, in Raleigh, in Alamance County.

I just wanted to sing.

- Hmm.

- And when I gave myself permission to do that, I found there were people in the community who could teach me, who could mentor me.

- I'm also a little curious, too.

I know that, 'cause you didn't start recording music until your thirties, is that right?

What was that like for you?

I feel like that must have been sort of terrifying, right?

- Not sort of terrifying.

Absolutely terrifying.

[laughing] - [James] Yeah.

- The first time I was in a studio was when I recorded my first record in early nineties.

- Mm.

- The process, we don't celebrate that.

We celebrate grabbing the brass ring, but not what it took for you to do that.

- Right.

- Patience, persistence, and controlling the things you can control.

Like I can't control when my phone rings and it's like, "Opportunity."

But I can control what I have learned, what I have absorbed, if and when that call comes.

- I wanna also just say, gosh, the Freelon family is so talented.

[laughing] - Thank you.

Thank you.

- It's incredible to see everything that you all have done.

You and Pierce have worked on an album together.

- Yes.

- This is incredible.

And he has his own career.

- Yes, he does.

- He's also the star of one of our podcast.

- [Nnenna] Yes.

Yes.

- Coming on the job, which is so cool.

- Jamming on the job.

- Your son, Dean, is a professor at UPenn.

- Yes, yes.

- Right?

Gosh.

Your daughter, Maya, is an incredible visual artist.

- Yes, yes.

- And of course, your late husband, Phil, just is like one of the most inspirational architects, I think within North Carolina and also maybe the United States.

So how has your family been able to affect who you are as a musician?

Like- - Wow.

- [James] What have they brought to you?

- Everything that you see here was developed, honed, the creative friction of mothering and wifing.

It's all in there.

The artists that you see.

- [James] Yeah.

- Is influenced, shaped by family.

[gentle music] ♪ Must my heart a widow be ♪ ♪ Widow song is never free ♪ ♪ To have and hold ♪ ♪ My love for thee ♪ ♪ Must my heart, my heart ♪ ♪ A widow ♪ ♪ Be ♪ [gentle blues jazz music] [gentle blues jazz music continues] ♪ Must I wear this cloak of gray ♪ ♪ Give myself to yesterday ♪ ♪ To the tender breath of memory ♪ ♪ Must my heart, my heart a widow be ♪ [blues jazz music] ♪ I have to love us ♪ ♪ Each one so fine ♪ ♪ Ones name is patience ♪ ♪ And the other's name is time ♪ [blues jazz music] [blues jazz music continues] [gentle blues jazz music continues] ♪ Must I tend this hearth alone ♪ ♪ Must my heart turn into stone ♪ ♪ Love that lives yet cannot be ♪ ♪ Must my heart, my heart ♪ ♪ Must my heart a widow be ♪ ♪ Must my heart ♪ ♪ A widow be ♪ [blues jazz music] ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ [gentle blues jazz music] ♪ Must this memory ♪ ♪ Be all that's left ♪ ♪ Of everything, everything, everything ♪ ♪ Must my heart ♪ ♪ A widow be ♪ [blues jazz music] ♪ My heart yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Must my heart ♪ ♪ A widow be ♪ [blues jazz music] [Nnenna vocalizing] [blues jazz music] - When I watch you perform, I feel like there's things that you're just like channeling and you can just like feel them.

- [laughs] Thank you.

- I want to kind of know what it's like to go there.

Like what is that like for you?

- I embody the music.

It's in me, it's in my bones, it's in my tissues.

I can't not move.

I mean, I have tried to stand still and sing and it doesn't work for me.

I feel it in a visceral way and it feels like dance to me.

It feels like poetry to me.

To be able to be a vessel, open yourself up wide enough to let it through is what my prayer always is.

Whatever I thought I was gonna do, whatever's on that set list, let me be open enough to let that little extra that I didn't expect, that I didn't plan come through.

- Yeah, and do you feel like with jazz that kind of emphasizes that each time you do something, it can be different- - Absolutely.

- And you can take it where it wants to go?

- Absolutely.

A lot of it has to do with being open to the moment though.

Because the more you know what's gonna happen, the less, the more closed down you are.

If you just open whatever needs to come through in that river is gonna come through.

- The way that you approach music and the way that you approach performance, it seems like there's parallels to the way that you can approach life.

Do you feel like there is?

- Absolutely.

I consider myself an improvisational human and we all are.

- [James] Yeah.

- What we decided to eat for breakfast or not eat, what we decided to wear or not wear, you know, the route we took to get here.

I think the world might signal different messages than that, but you absolutely owe it to yourself to be an improvisational human, you know, to react to the situations in the way that seem best.

And it doesn't mean make it up as you, like, it up, anything goes.

That's not what I'm saying.

- Yeah.

- You take in what you are receiving through the eyes, through the ears, through the heart, and then you play with that.

You're engaged.

- So it's almost like an open-mindedness?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- Yes, yes, more fully alive, more fully alive, more fully awake.

More humor can come through.

More cowinky-dink.

[both laughing] Just, you know, the loveliness of life, you know, and then things, if you're open to to not knowing exactly or not thinking you know, things happen that you don't anticipate and they're delights.

- Right, some beautiful happy accidents.

- Beautiful happy accidents.

[jazz music] ♪ Lost some of the night ♪ ♪ I dream of you and smile ♪ ♪ Velvet elegance ♪ ♪ Intoxicating scent ♪ ♪ Black Iris in bloom ♪ [jazz music] ♪ And when she winks her eye ♪ ♪ All the lonesome butterflies ♪ ♪ Sing her praise ♪ ♪ In their own sweet way ♪ ♪ Black Iris in bloom ♪ ♪ She's no ordinary shade ♪ ♪ Midnight floral serenade ♪ [jazz music] ♪ When her blues are on parade ♪ ♪ She sways in the breeze ♪ ♪ Brings June to her knees ♪ [jazz music] ♪ Her petals on display ♪ ♪ Summer bed in disarray ♪ ♪ Yet the roses whisper ♪ ♪ What a fine little sister ♪ ♪ Black Iris in bloom ♪ [jazz music] [jazz music continues] [jazz music continues] [jazz music continues] [jazz music continues] [jazz music continues] [jazz music continues] ♪ She's no ordinary shade ♪ ♪ Midnight floral serenade ♪ ♪ When her blues are on parade ♪ ♪ She sways in the breeze ♪ ♪ Brings June to her knees ♪ [jazz music] ♪ Her petals on display ♪ ♪ Summer bed in disarray ♪ ♪ Yet the roses whisper ♪ ♪ What a fine little sister ♪ ♪ Black Iris ♪ ♪ Black Iris ♪ ♪ In bloom ♪ [jazz music] - My upcoming record is a record of original tunes.

- [James] Hmm-hmm.

- Now most artists, most jazz singers are mining the American songbook, the Tin Pan Alley Tunes, not so much original music.

- Right.

- And at this point in my life, having experienced loss, having experienced love, I felt ready to write my own music.

It's a different kind of vulnerability.

You know, it's one thing if you're an interpreter of a standard and then people kind of judge you on how well or not well you did that standard.

- [James] Right.

- But when people are listening to your original tunes, they're checking out your lyric, your phrasing, and your interpretation of your tunes.

So it's a little heavier or can be a little heavier.

And so that's what this record "Beneath the Skin" is.

It is an interior view of the stories, the songs that I want to tell right now.

And I'm super excited about that.

- I would like to leave this with, is there anything else that you would like to say?

- I'm just grateful to be at this point in my career, having you ask me these questions.

"Shaped by Sound" is an opportunity for us to learn more about our community of musicians, about the wonders, the treasures of North Carolina and beyond.

You know, this is the thing.

Yes, it's NC.

And it's also beyond.

I think it's gonna open up doors for a lot of people who've never considered North Carolina to be a center of excellence, to rethink that.

And I just, it's just such an awesome opportunity.

I'm grateful.

- Well, thank you so much.

And you are a wonder and a treasure.

- Oh, thank you.

- Nnenna, thank you.

We are grateful to have you.

- Thank you.

- So, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

[gentle music] ♪ It's over now ♪ ♪ It's over now ♪ ♪ Now we both know that it's true ♪ ♪ Love's at an end ♪ ♪ Let's not pretend ♪ ♪ I bid you a fond adieu ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ What's your hurry ♪ ♪ Don't make leaving such a long, sad story ♪ ♪ There's the door, don't look back ♪ ♪ It's over now and that is that ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ What's your hurry ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ Why you waiting ♪ ♪ Are those tears ♪ ♪ I know that you been saving ♪ [swanky jazz music] ♪ Fare thee well, goodbye, so long ♪ ♪ Can't miss you till you're gone ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ What's your hurry ♪ [swanky jazz music] ♪ It's the calm before the storm ♪ ♪ Welcome mat is thin and it's worn ♪ ♪ Some things, you know, they can't be fixed ♪ ♪ So darling, darling ♪ ♪ Let's just call it quits ♪ ♪ [vocalizing] Here's your hat ♪ ♪ Time's a wasting ♪ ♪ No regrets ♪ ♪ Or hesitation ♪ ♪ Final curtain ♪ ♪ Don't you know ♪ ♪ Here is the end of our late, late show ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ What's your hurry ♪ [Nnenna vocalizing] [swanky jazz music] [swanky jazz music continues] [swanky jazz music continues] [swanky jazz music continues] [swanky jazz music continues] [Nnenna laughs] [swanky jazz music continues] ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Calm before the storm ♪ ♪ My welcome mat is thin and worn ♪ ♪ Some things ♪ ♪ Just can't be fixed ♪ ♪ So baby, yeah ♪ ♪ Let's just call it quits ♪ ♪ I said, said, said, said, said here's your hat ♪ ♪ No use stalling ♪ ♪ Lose my number ♪ ♪ The one you've been calling ♪ ♪ Maybe it's an old cliche ♪ ♪ Everything must end, they say ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ Here's your hat, baby ♪ ♪ Don't look at me like that ♪ ♪ Here's your hat ♪ ♪ What's your hurry ♪ [swanky jazz music fades] [gentle music] - [James] Thanks for joining us on "Shaped By Sound."

If you'd like to hear the songs we discussed today, you can find them over on our website at pbsnc.org/shapedbysound, or you can find 'em on YouTube.

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music fades] - [Narrator] "Shaped by Sound" is a co-production of PBS North Carolina and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The series is presented by Come Here North Carolina.