A.J. Teshin American singer A. J. Teshin was born and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania. He studied piano and violin at an early age, touring and recording as a violinist with a local polka band. After studying voice at the Hartt School of Music and later earning a BFA in musical theatre from the Boston Conservatory of Music, he moved to Los Angeles, where he works as a session singer and actor. Teshin’s vocals are on the best selling Liquid Mind Series, Volumes 6, 7, 8, and forthcoming volume 10—ambient relaxation music on the record label Real Music. He also sings in Los Angeles Choral Artists, a 25 voice classical choral ensemble. He most recently sung, produced, and arranged the cd called The Kurt Weill Project released by LML Music in August of 2008. As an actor, A. J. can be seen in the films Cat and Mouse, Killer Photography and Barrio Boys. TV appearances include the music video THE DOPE SHOW by Marilyn Manson, the ’98 MTV Music Video Awards, and Star Trek: Enterprise. LA Theatre audiences have seen him as Henry in Henry and Hyde at the Celebration Theatre, and as the Tenor in Song of Songs: The Music of Al Carmines at the Fountain Theatre.

 Interviewed by Kipley Wentz

First of all tell me about your album, The Kurt Weill Project.

I am a singer in Los Angeles, a tenor, and I produced The Kurt Weill Project which is an album that contains 12 Kurt Weill songs (13 when you buy at iTunes) with hyper-stylized, futuristic soundscapes, using both orchestral instruments and electronic instruments.  The record has a kind of hybrid sound (what they call crossover pop) and the original orchestrations help flesh out a lot of imagery and subtext.  The lyrics, of course, are very deep, so there is an unavoidable theatrical quality as well.

It seems like every singer I know has an idea for an album, but very few of them are ever completed. You worked on this for 2 years… what was the most challenging part of finishing this album? What inspired you to keep going until it was complete? 

With me it has always been about my voice and communicating to people using my own voice. Now, that sounds easy, but I have often stood in the way my own success because of doubts or lack of focus. The important thing was to make a commitment.  Once I committed to making quality recordings, and to finishing a full length cd, the completion of it became tied to growth, progress, and happiness in other areas of my life.  The production was scattered across 2 years and 3-4 different studios in LA, and production went along according to the pace of my cash flow.

This has clearly been a labor of love… what was original idea for the album? What first inspired you to create this? 

Musically, I hear a yearning in almost all of Mr. Weill’s music that makes me wish I could have known him, known what he was like as a person.  In these pieces, there are orphans, prostitutes, and murderers:  Characters whose present reality is at odds with their dreams.  I think these ideas resonate with all of us--certainly they resonate with me, and the actor side of me.  Following a dream, chasing a dream, not giving up a dream.   We have either followed our dreams, or let them die, and in doing so, we learn that either choice comes with a set of consequences. 

Personally, I came to the realization that working is great, but much of what we do as performers is in service to other people’s dreams and ambitions.  These people are our employers, and we are hired to do a job. That’s truly magical, of course--earning a living as an artist? Wow! I love all of that and want to continue, but that’s just employment.  It isn’t necessarily personal.

This project came out of my need to create something, and I had been singing a lot of different styles of music since moving to LA. Certain cadences and chord progressions trigger images and collages in my brain. I started to wonder what might happen if I fleshed them out sonically.  Hmmm.  Could I sonically transcribe the images I see in the words of Bertolt Brecht, and Langston Hughes and Maxwell Anderson and Jacques Deval and Ira Gershwin?  Could I do this using the knowledge I picked up from my studio work?  Maybe.  Since I have always had Kurt Weill songs in my rep, and I always felt so deeply connected to his characters, I knew I couldn’t go wrong if I started my experimentation there.

Not a the typical “cabaret singer” album with just a piano and solo voice, The Kurt Weill Project is a fully realized concept album with original orchestrations and multi-voice vocal arrangements. Can you describe the process of interpreting the songs, and how you created the style of the music?

Vocally, this was fun, because a lot of my favorite Weill songs hadn’t ever been recorded by men, and we didn’t change any pronouns.  Songs with female pronouns were turned into songs about gay relationships and the songs with guy pronouns remained songs about straight people.  There’s tolerance in our Universe nowadays, so the pan-sexual approach gives some of the material a new spin.  I’m not good at camp, so I interpreted the lyrics earnestly.  None of the gender-bending was done for comic effect. Even though I twisted and adapted, servicing the lyrics, establishing an environment, and telling a story were critical.

The Men singing in The Alabama Song became a Monk’s chorus singing about secret Catholic desires behind closed doors.  Soldier’s Wife is so grim at the end, the entire track needed to be light and funny, and setting it in a Navy submarine made it creepy.  Nanna’s Lied became the story of a male prostitute discussing his career and the passage of time, and Pirate Jenny (which never made it to the cd because it turned out so over-the-top) was simply me telling the story of a “girl I once saw in a bar…” Surabaya Johnny is a monologue sung to a pimp.  This singer being male doesn’t change the main idea of the songs that much, but I knew it might honor the music in a new way.

Are you a fan of Sprechstimme and Brecht and Germany?

Oh yes, I love German Culture, and German Composers very much.  Now, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill created a style of theatre, which invited the audience to gather knowledge of the plot, observe the human condition, be entertained, and be informed.  There wasn’t much of an attempt to naturalize action on stage, and because of this, the audience notices a strange disconnect from the performers, emotionally speaking.  Regular bits of the story and plot are demonstrated to the audience in very abrupt and stylized ways using choreography, movement, visual projections and artsy theatrical devices. The viewer’s emotions are indeed hooked, but in a different way, and the storytelling demands are different than with naturalistic theatre. I wanted to put some of that unique style into   these songs.  And yeah, Sprechstimme is fun.

The conventions of the digital recording studio became my Brechtian devices. Recordings operate on the principal of a time clock, to ensure all tracks are in synch with one another. I learned that in the context of pop music, there wasn’t as much freedom to bend and stretch phrases the way I would in a recital, but because most of the lyrics exhibits a sense of urgency, a sense of time passing, I married my phrasing and interpretations to the strict beat of each measure.  It really kept things moving, and took away some of the classical style from the music. I felt we had to avoid any sort of retardando, and vocal embellishments. No overindulgent singing or phrasing.  This adherence to strict tempi and the addition of ambient backdrops to suggest location became very Brechtian, and helped glue the album together stylistically.  I wanted a very slick, mechanical, and modern feeling--an interpretation for the digital age.  

Who are you most influenced by?

I listen to mostly classical music and I like choral music.  If I hear recordings of operatic tenors, and I want to sing at the Met.  If I hear a Kenny Chesney or Kenny Rogers song, I want to be a country singer.  If I listen to Pat Benatar, I want to BE Pat Benatar.  I also listen to a lot of Japanese Pop and love old recordings of  Googoosh, Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel, and Ute Lemper.   So for me there are not 3 B’s, there are 6 B’s:  Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bowie, Blondie and Benatar. Britney makes 7.  Beyonce 8. I don’t know if any of this is healthy.  It gets confusing at times, but when a singer helps an audience understand their point of view through music--no matter what style or language--well, that’s what I find exciting, and that’s what I get into as a performer.

Most of my ideas on the cd, however, came from what I was exposed to at The Boston Conservatory.  I really like unconventional theatre: Beckett, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, Sondheim, Brecht, Wedekind, Kander and Ebb, Tony Kushner, Caryl Churchill. I can’t put my finger on anything or anybody who is the end all be all for me, but a lot of what I did on this album borrowed a little something from the people mentioned here.

There is always a temptation when recording to keep fiddling and tweaking and adding more… when did you know a song was done?

I learned that it isn’t a question of knowing when things are finished, but rather knowing when it is time to move on and not wallow in ego or control.  There is always something that will make a track sound better, usually that’s money.  But at a certain point in the process, each track does ring with the authenticity you were first imagining, and all your best intentions are represented, and you move on.

I did not have a lump sum of money to work with, so I budgeted and played it cool, sometimes taking weeks in between sessions.  But I listened over and over again to whatever track was in production at the time.   I did a lot of note taking, in case I wanted to add instruments or orchestra parts, or re-sing any phrases in the lead vocal.  Ideas came so quickly, that I had to make lists.  Any idea, no matter how simple, or silly or brilliant, was written down.  I listened to the mixes on various types of speakers:  at other studios, the stereos in my friend’s living rooms, at the computer, laptop, and the car, to be sure the sound quality was consistent on both high end and consumer level speakers.

I put a lot of thought into everything, because I knew once the cd was released into the universe, it could never ever ever ever change again or grow. I felt like I had to take care the first time around.

Maybe that’s why your album sounds so great and has amazing “production value” (with really great photography outside and in the booklet, too.) I’ve listened to it several times, and each time, I can hear something new. 

Thank you for saying that.  One of the characteristics of a good recording (esp with pop music) is one in which the listener is inclined to click repeat once the song is finished.  Does the track stand up to repeated listening? That is very important.  Does the listener ever want to turn the volume down?  No no!  The listener should only be turning the volume UP.   And yes, the packaging was fun for me to design and make thanks,  I like how it turned out.

Can you talk about the people you worked with to create this album? What were the major considerations in creating the perfect sound?

From the singer/performer end of things, I coached the material most often with my coach Armen Guzelimian here in LA, but also with a few voice teachers and coaches in both LA and NY from the classical community, to be sure my diction, singing, and connection to the lyrics were as strong as possible.

As a producer, there was trial and error for me at first, and I learned that a lot of people in LA didn’t know who Kurt Weill is/was, so until I was able to describe my project with marketing buzzwords and a very concise description using extreme diplomacy, I wasn’t able to attract anybody’s interest.

But because the production took 2 years, mine became a ‘fine arts’ approach, which afforded a lot of time to be very thorough, but it did not make sense to many in Hollywood who are more product-oriented in pop music. On the other hand, listening to a rock guitarists fresh, unbiased approach to Kurt Weill was really exciting too.  My requirement, however, was that all engineers, singers and players had prior knowledge of Kurt Weill, and good interpretive skills.

I crossed paths with Chuck Wild at a singing gig and later sang on many of his recordings.  He is a composer and synthesist, and creator of musical healthcare line called Liquid Mind. He’s also worked with Frank Zappa, Michael Jackson, and was in the new-wave ‘80’s band Missing Persons, so being creative is part of who he is, but he’s also fearless when he’s at work. When he and I finished Le Train du Ciel, it amazed me so much.  He helped me realize that these pieces had endless possibilities--and he encouraged me to cover these very old songs--but to do it in a way nobody had ever attempted. As time went on, I kept asking him for help, and he kept saying yes! I still talk to Chuck a lot--he is invaluable.
 
Shaun Drew, a composer in Los Angeles, orchestrated and had input on many of my tracks.  A few tracks were nothing more than me singing oohs and aahs, doom ba doom, dee dee dum of the various orchestra parts he had written.  I’d sing these into the mic and as long as we were able to create a wall of choral sound that acted like instrumentation, and conveyed the intention of the music, it stayed.   Still, Shaun’s other tracks on the cd are full blown symphonic orchestrations, and his studio is so well equipped, and he’s so multi-disciplinary, I did most of the recording there.  We became good friends too.  

Matt Forger engineered the vocals on a few early tracks, and he is a sound engineer/producer who started in analog recording, then migrated to the digital studio over the years like everyone else, so there was a lot of analogue-y techniques and interesting mic placement when I worked with him.  I did the vocals for It Never Was You in Matt’s studio, he was awesome to work with.

And whenever I became overwhelmed with too much orchestration and thickness, I went to Jeff Sudakin for a final mix.  His style and instincts are incredible, and he has great ears.  Lots of work was tossed about between these four guys.  The bigger the team, the better. I think quality would have suffered if I trusted just my own ears.

What software and equipment did you use?   What sort of technology did you use?  Who was your producer?

Well, every person mentioned above is a producer in his own right, but for what I was trying to do, I became producer, which was a nice surprise for me.  Finding the money to put it all together and make a song happen means you’re a producer. But with my training in theatre, I felt more like a director, and that each track was a play that I was putting together.  I chose a main idea for each track, and everyone had to be involved in that, especially musicians.  Storyboarding helped. Then, the engineers helped create a style according to the vision I communicated to them.  Engineers push buttons and turn knobs, according to what the producer wants, but my guys were so experienced as engineers and producers and musicians and composers, we’d toss ideas back and forth sometimes and much of the process was a collaboration.  Even at The Mastering Lab, Robert Hadley had to be involved somewhat in the theatricality of it all, to be sure the final track order and flow of music was the most effective.

Most studios in Los Angeles  are digital studios.  I don’t have my own, but the guys all did, and each studio was different.   We used Protools, CuBase, sometimes GigaStudio and Digital Performer.   The software and the gear specifics are were less important to me, because I knew I had been blessed with the company I was keeping, and everything about these studios was the latest and greatest.  A quick google of any of their names will show you some impressive accomplishments, and I was already familiar with their work before even meeting them, just from tv, and radio. 

Where is the CD Available? 

The Kurt Weill Project is available online at

iTunes  and Amazon.com

And at all music and bookstores worldwide.    You can find me on www.myspace.com/kurtweillproject  too!

Now that you have this wonderful album… what do you plan to do with it? Do you have plans to perform these songs live? If so, how do you plan to recreate the full studio sound on stage, or will you reinterpret the songs for a live show?

I would definitely love to perform this in Art Galleries and at Music Conservatories both in the US and abroad.  So I can only say the live shows are still being developed, and I’m open to expanding the project beyond what is heard on the cd.  There were so many singers and musicians in the studio, and that won’t be possible in live performances.

I do know that images and words and subtitle projections seem essential, on the back wall wherever I perform.  I’ve begun booking some dates in January, where my beautiful accompanist Trissina Laube and I will present a combination of the album, and a voice/piano recital.

What advice would you give to someone else who might be dreaming of recording their own album? 

Time is of the essence.  Even when you finally commit to a dream, it may still take years to fully realize it, so you have to start now. If we have creative thoughts and impulses that we ignore, they turn to regret later on, and that is not something we should ever accept.

And of course, there’s the issue of money.  Studio time and union scale is very expensive.  A few people dear to me donated some money, and many donated their talents to the Kurt Weill Project, but for most of the album, I hired.  For a short period of time, I worked a 9-5 job.  I also won some grant money from a foundation in New York called the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust.   Cash is necessary. 

From a spiritual standpoint, an idea is just the first step.  Everybody in Hollywood has crazy ideas and images running in their heads, so it isn’t like one person’s are any better than the next person’s. The only thing that ultimately matters is finding a way to bring your ideas to life, and this is where heartache and hard work and tenacity matter. This is neither surprising nor mysterious, but I used to love to cheat there, then pity myself for a supposed failure.  This process has taught me a lot.  Now my approach to any work is much more direct, without the baggage I used in the past. 

When people get praise and recognition as an artist, it is usually because they have made enormous sacrifices, and tolerated extraordinary situations--those which non-artistic people consider unacceptable.   Despite all the folklore, every culture’s fascination with celebrity, and all the romantic notions people may have about ‘the biz,’ the only thing that really matters is a lot of hard work.
 

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