3. Ray CharlesMakin
Ray Charles has always been just a hero of mine. What an inspiration. I love his voice and the way he sings and the way he plays piano. ‘Makin’ Whoopee’ is just one song that I love the way he does. He adds specialty lyrics to it. Actually, I mentioned that day when my wife Emily first came to our gig — she was in the Olympics for Canada as a rhythmic gymnast, and was the Pan-American championship, and she learned aerial, Cirque du Soleil-type things, contortionism. And she said, "Hey, you want me to do a routine on top of your grand piano?” This was just a couple of days into knowing each other! But I said, "Sure. Hey guys, what should we play as she’s doing this?” I thought about that movie where Michelle Pfeiffer is dancing and singing on top of the piano with Jeff Bridges, The Fabulous Baker Boys. She’s singing "Makin’ Whoopee”. So we played that, and she did her routine. Oh my gosh… I love that song. And of course, I’ve done three jobs with Michelle Pfeiffer, one of which was Into the Night, which was scored by B.B. King. Believe it or not, during that experience I was asked to play piano on a couple of videos that B.B. King did. I got to play with B.B. King, which was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
