June 9, 2025 • 51 mins
What happens when a Broadway performer steps away from the stage for a decade to raise children, then reemerges as a recording artist? In this candid conversation, Ann Kittredge reveals the unexpected twists in her artistic journey from theater to acclaimed vocalist.
The heart of Kittredge's approach lies in her commitment to storytelling above all else. "I don't ever want it to be about my voice," she explains, detailing how she molds her vocal style to serve each song rather than imposing herself upon it. This chameleon-like flexibility allows her to move effortlessly between genres - from jazz and swing to country and folk - creating albums that defy easy categorization but maintain emotional authenticity.
Kittredge shares a particularly moving story about her determination to record Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" as a love letter to music itself, despite her team's initial resistance. After bringing the song to planning meetings four separate times, she finally issued an ultimatum: "I have to do this song...if you really don't like it, you have my permission to not be involved." The song eventually became one of her most requested numbers, illustrating how creative conviction can overcome collaborative doubt.
Perhaps most revealing is Kittredge's honesty about returning to performing after a decade-long hiatus to raise her children. "Confidence has been a big challenge," she admits, describing how she initially knew she "wasn't good" but recognized that improvement required persistence through discomfort. This vulnerability transformed into strength when her pandemic-inspired debut album - originally intended just for her children - unexpectedly garnered over a million streams on Spotify.
Whether discussing caring for her mother with Alzheimer's, navigating her marriage of nearly forty years, or reimagining classic songs, Kittredge demonstrates that artistic growth often emerges from life's complexities rather than despite them. Her story offers powerful encouragement for anyone considering a creative reinvention at any age. Listen, be inspired, and then seek out the extraordinary work of independent artists like Kittredge who deserve your support.
Links
- Jay Franze: https://JayFranze.com
- Ann Kittredge: https://www.annkittredge.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tony Scott (00:05):
Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a
behind-the-curtain look at theentertainment industry, with
insights you can't pay for andstories you've never heard.
Now here's your host, JayFranze.
Jay Franze (00:33):
And we are coming at you live.
I am Jay Franze and this isyour source for the latest news,
reviews and interviews.
So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any
questions, please head over tojayfranzycom.
All right, folks, tonight wehave a very special guest with
us.
I said it once, I will say itagain we have a very special
guest.
We have an actual singer, anactress and a performing artist
(00:56):
Hailing from the great state ofNew York.
We have Ann Kittredge.
Ann, my friend, how are you?
Ann Kittredge (01:02):
Hey.
Jay Franze (01:03):
So good to have you here tonight.
I'm very excited about this.
Ann Kittredge (01:06):
I'm looking forward to it so am.
Jay Franze (01:08):
I, so let's just jump right in.
Ann Kittredge (01:10):
Tell me what is your favorite type of vocal to
(01:33):
sing?
That is such a good question,because the reality is I
absolutely have none.
What really intrigues me iswhat does this song need?
And the album that I releasedlast year, romantic Notions I
mean, I've got country, I've gotfolk.
I've got jazz, I've got swing.
You know, I've got a hundredyear old song.
I've got swing.
You know, I've got a hundredyear old song.
I've got, you know, a 2013 yearold song.
(01:54):
You know, I mean it's justbecause I don't, I don't ever
want it to be about my voice.
I always wanted to be about thestorytelling, so I kid you not,
it's always about, always aboutwhat do I have to bring to this
song in the storytelling?
And then I use it, whatever Ican do, to do that.
Jay Franze (02:12):
Do you think that comes from the theater
background?
Ann Kittredge (02:14):
Totally.
Oh my gosh.
Yes, you know, I thinksometimes my creative team just
stares at me, like you know,where is this coming from?
Creative team just stares at me, like you know, where is this
coming from?
It is impossible for me to.
You know, one of the things youhope that you are doing when
you're on a stage is it's not,it's never about you.
(02:35):
If you're doing a play or amusical, it's about the
character and the relationships,right?
And if you're doing a concertor a cabaret show, then it's all
about the audience.
It is never about you, right.
And so you know, having spentall of those years hiding behind
(02:55):
a character which I loved doing, I thrived doing it, I loved it
, and then, you know, decidingto explore the concert world and
things like that, I didn't knowany better.
I literally didn't know anybetter.
All I knew is how to tellstories.
(03:16):
The only difference was Iwasn't hiding behind a character
.
Jay Franze (03:21):
So what did you learn from it?
Ann Kittredge (03:24):
That it's harder to be yourself than a character.
So what did you learn from it?
That it's harder to be yourselfthan a character.
Jay Franze (03:30):
Nobody telling you what to do.
Ann Kittredge (03:32):
Well, yeah, and and also, you know if you're not
vulnerable I mean, that's whatpeople respond to whether you
know, if you're doing a theaterproduction or something, your
job is for people to connect to,whatever it is the story you're
telling, right, but if you havea character to hide behind,
(03:55):
that is so much easier.
But when, all of a sudden, thestorytelling is exposing you,
you really have to be honestwith yourself.
You know, I think it's temptingto put on a show, right, but it
(04:15):
doesn't.
Audiences are too smart, theydon't buy it.
Jay Franze (04:20):
You know I've never done theater, but to me, I think
, for me personally, I thinkbeing myself would be a lot
easier than trying to act and besomebody else.
Ann Kittredge (04:31):
Well, you know, I don't even think I'm like this
anymore, but I used to be veryintroverted and I think hiding
behind a character was theperfect place for me to be for
the longest time.
And I was just talking to mydaughter about this.
It's interesting how we chooseour careers, right, and, and a
(04:54):
lot of, you know a lot of peoplechoose to be therapists because
they went through a lot oftherapy.
You know what I mean.
And so they're like okay,that's, that's, I understand
that and you know, and they gofor that.
And and I was telling her how,interestingly, when you're
working on a character, you'vealways got to find the truth of
the character in you, even ifit's not a dominant feature,
(05:17):
right, it's not.
Maybe it's not something thatyou you know doing, like you
know being a murderer orwhatever, but we all have it
right, we all have it in us andso we have to tap into that.
And I found, when I was reallyheavily doing a lot of theater
productions, uncannily I wouldfind myself working on
(05:39):
characters that were forcing meto deal with a part of my
personality that needed work,that needed some attention.
And sometimes I'd be doing ashow and I'd be like this is
creepy, like why am I doing thispart now?
Jay Franze (05:56):
Give us an example.
Ann Kittredge (06:02):
Oh boy, I guess I would bring up O Pioneers.
I was doing oh Pioneers and ithappened to be happening at the
same time that my husband and Iwere separated.
Now my husband and I aregetting ready to celebrate our
40th wedding anniversary, but wedid go through a difficult time
and we were separated foralmost two years, through a
(06:27):
difficult time, and we wereseparated for almost two years
and I got cast in the showcalled oh Pioneers and the woman
is, you know, in a lovetriangle and all these different
things, and I'm like, oh my god, like why, why am I?
Why do I have to do this role?
Why do I have to really behonest here, like you know, and
and it was, yeah, but that washappening all the time I can't
(06:47):
even you know so many differentexamples, but that would
probably be a really good one.
Jay Franze (06:52):
Is it really tough to get through something like
that?
Ann Kittredge (07:14):
it's actually really rewarding, if I do allow
myself to be honest, becausethere is nothing more rewarding
as a performer than, especiallywhen you're being vulnerable,
than complete silence, becauseyou know that you've connected,
(07:38):
you know that they know thatwhat you're doing is true and
you're affecting them, even ifit's just for an hour or
whatever.
And when that doesn't happen,it's like damn, like what's
wrong with me?
Why aren't I, you know?
But, boy, I can't even tell you.
I love the silence.
(07:59):
I love sometimes, how,sometimes you could tell me that
I'm making this up and say,well, maybe you just sucked, and
that could be true.
But there are times sometimeswhere a moment has been so
captured that the audiencepauses before it applauds.
(08:20):
It's like it's not even surethe audience isn't even sure
they want to interrupt themoment.
It's that kind of stuff thatreally really gets my juices
going is knowing that they'relike, oh wow, that's everything.
Jay Franze (08:38):
So, when this is going on, when you're working
through one of these roles thatrelates to your life, what's
going through your mind asyou're performing it?
Are you ever concerned withwhat people will think or how
it's coming across?
Ann Kittredge (08:51):
No, because I have the character to hide
behind.
I mean, it's never a 100% thing.
Right, you're finding thosethings in you that you can bring
to a role.
I'm not going to say it doesn'ttake courage, because I think
there's a lot of people who maynot want to be honest with
themselves.
I've never had that problem.
(09:12):
The things people know about meare whatever you know, the
things people know about me arewhatever.
Jay Franze (09:19):
Well, I can only imagine especially being younger
.
When you're younger, it seemslike the things that are going
on in your life personally areharder to expose.
I feel like the older I get,the easier it is to just lay it
all out on the table.
Ann Kittredge (09:33):
Boy, I think you're so right about that.
The older you get, you're justlike I'm sorry, I don't care,
I'm just gonna say it, I'm justgonna do it.
You know, very true, becauseyou know, when you're younger
you're thinking about the nextjob, or the next director, the
next casting director, like, oryou know, if you, if you make a
(09:53):
scene in some way, or you, youknow you don't want to create
any waves and I'm past that, butI did go through it.
Jay Franze (10:01):
Well, we're always thinking like that.
We're always thinking aboutwhat comes next and what
impression we leave on people.
So, if you open up and put yourwounds on the table, there's a
chance somebody might reject you.
Oh yeah.
But the older you get the lessyou care about it.
Oh, yeah, but the older you get, the less you care about it.
Ann Kittredge (10:26):
So do you enjoy performing, acting or singing
better?
I 100% enjoy storytelling.
Either way, I do think thatit's my gift.
You know there was a.
You know the the song, mrTambourine man.
Jay Franze (10:42):
Yes.
Ann Kittredge (10:44):
So when we were putting together the album
Romantic Notions, I liked to usethe term notions to really go
well beyond just the male femaleor male male, female, female,
you know romantic thing.
I wanted the romance of agarden, you know the romance of
(11:06):
a baby, you know all thesedifferent things.
And I wanted to find a songthat I thought was a love song
to music itself.
And I looked for quite a whileand then I was listening to Bob
(11:31):
Dylan, tambourine man, and Iwent oh my gosh, this is it.
And the way my team and I worktogether is we get together, we
all have song ideas.
We must go through I'm notkidding you a couple of hundred
songs and it ends up with 13 or14.
So I come in with this.
I said this is my song, this ismy love song to music itself.
(11:54):
And my team looked at me like Ihad three heads and they're
like I don't think so.
And so what?
The way it works is we come inwith ideas.
People say yes, no, we throwthem away, we continue on.
I couldn't let this song go.
I brought it in.
(12:15):
I brought it in three moretimes over the course of four
months and the last time Ibrought it in and they really
were very kind to me, but theywere just like it's just not
going to work.
I went home and I was crushedbecause for some reason I just
(12:37):
couldn't let go of the song andI'm not usually like that.
And I realized and I wrote anemail to my team and I said I
have to do this song.
I have to do it.
I've got arrangement ideas.
I'm open to more ideas.
I said but I can't not do thissong and if you really don't
(13:03):
like it, you have my permissionto not be involved.
I will get other people, but ifyou want to do it with me,
you've got to be all in.
I'm not going to.
You know I don't want any.
You know like oh, I hate thissong, why are we doing this?
He said I don't want any.
You know like, oh, I hate thissong, why are we doing this?
He said you either got to giveinto it or be honest with me and
I'll find someone else.
(13:23):
And they decided to stick withme and we tussled.
I mean, it was not an easyarrangement to find.
(13:50):
When we found it, can I justsay that I think that my team
really really struggled withseeing how it spoke to a love
song about music itself, whichis what they're.
You know, sing Tabor, rima allyou want, but how is that a love
song to music itself, which iswhat they're?
You know?
Sing tambourine all you want,but how is that a love song to
music itself?
And when we finally found thearrangement, I saw, I saw in my
team, I saw this like thisrevelation, like, oh my gosh,
(14:11):
and it's one of the proudestcreative moments I've ever been
through, that I fought so hardand that, even though my team
was reluctant, they decided togo in on it with me and now it's
become one of the one of thestrongest things from the album
(14:32):
and it's we were constantlyrequested to do it and stuff
like that.
Yeah, so it's courage.
It's courage to to reallybelieve, sometimes, even when
the people that you respect themost think you're crazy.
Jay Franze (14:50):
Well, there's a few things in there that you
mentioned.
I want to make sure that wetouch on one of which.
You're talking about your teamand you guys start off with a
couple hundred songs and youwhittle it down, and you're
talking about the battle thatyou had of getting that one song
to make it to the finish line.
Ann Kittredge (15:07):
Yeah.
Jay Franze (15:08):
Do you feel like that's similar to what we were
talking about earlier, whereyou're putting something on the
table that you might be afraidthat others are going to not
like and shoot down?
Ann Kittredge (15:19):
Oh, 100% as a matter of fact.
Not that I think my team neededto hear this, I really don't,
because they're just magnificentmusicians and friends.
But I did say to them I'm goingto take the hit.
If this doesn't work, I'mtaking the hit, I promise you.
(15:41):
Everyone's going to know.
And if it does go well, we allget the credit.
And we were scared.
I'm not going to lie.
I'm not going to tell you thatI was so sure people were going
to love this I didn't.
I just was sure that I loved itand I was so sure that this was
(16:01):
a true love song to musicitself.
Whether Dylan meant it or not,when you slow that song down and
really listen to the lyrics andreally take in the imagery, it
is about a person who spent thenight overwhelmed with the
(16:24):
beauty of music and he didn'twant it to end.
He just wanted it to keep goingand going.
And if that isn't love, right.
So it was really rewarding whenit worked out.
But until it was released I'mnot gonna lie, I, I, I was I
(16:45):
wasn't sure what I was gonna bepresented with well, you're
talking about Dylan who's?
Jay Franze (16:51):
an amazing songwriter known for his
songwriting abilities, andyou're talking about yourself as
a storyteller.
So do you think thatcombination of the two and your
ability to interpret a storyhelped you with the arrangement
and coming up with the ideas youhad to present the song that
(17:14):
every song I sing it's going tobe a jazz tune.
Ann Kittredge (17:17):
Do you know what I mean?
If it's going to be jazz, it'sfor a reason.
So it is so rewarding to findthe right style, the right
(17:39):
approach to bring out ourreimagining of a song, and
hopefully the goal is for it tofeel organic, right, like it's
completely different fromanything you've heard before.
And I'm not just talking abouttimbre, I'm talking about
anything like our, like the, the, the songs that we choose.
Some of them are are you knowthem, but we have have something
(17:59):
different to say, and so it'sgoing to be really different
from what you're used to.
But hopefully it's so honestthat it's okay.
It's like it's so honest thatyou're not going.
What are they doing?
Because it still works andthat's the goal.
That's the goal, because whybother just doing covers?
(18:22):
I don't get that at all.
I am 100% bored with just doingstraight covers.
You'll never see me do it.
I don't understand.
I don't get it.
Jay Franze (18:33):
Yeah, they need to be reimagined, in my opinion as
well.
You're talking about your teamand picking these songs.
Can you give us a few of thehighlights of, maybe, how that
selection process went in someof the songs that were
considered?
Ann Kittredge (18:47):
Well, my music director is Christopher Denny
and my someone who collaborateswith us on the album.
His name is Barry Kleinbort, myproducer is Paul Rolnick and my
album is Jazz Heads.
But I want to talk about BarryKleinbort.
I have him in as a collaboratorbecause he directs all of my
(19:08):
shows, all of my solo shows, andhe's brilliant.
And I'm not going to say thathe knows a lot about recordings.
I don't have him there for that.
What I have him there for is heso understands me.
So, literally, the way we putthis album together is, we'd say
(19:30):
, for instance, he said to meAnn, I want this album to be
more mature than your firstalbum.
I want it to reflect more whoyou are and what you've
(19:52):
experienced.
And then from there we wouldsay okay, I'm trying to think.
When we came up with RomanticNotions as the title, there's a
song called Romantic Notions, sothat was an easy one.
But then there was this onesong called when have you Been?
(20:15):
Do you know it?
No, you might recognize it.
It was a big hit back in the80s.
I think I had not heard it.
I didn't remember it.
I was like I didn't you know,but it was about a couple who
lived their lives.
They married, they stayedtogether forever and it ended
(20:39):
with the wife gettingAlzheimer's and forgetting
everyone except her husband.
It's the one person that sheremembered, and I didn't know
the song.
My collaborator, barry, knewthat my mother was living with
(21:00):
me and she had Alzheimer's andthat that was a pretty major,
significant portion of my lifeat that time and he brought that
song to me and he said I reallythink you need to do this, is
(21:21):
looking at my life and he'sgoing ah, okay, this is going to
really resonate.
Neither the audience is goingto know this, because I know and
and I know that this is whatand is going to be able to bring
something very personal to it.
But then there'll be anothersong where it's like, like Randy
Klein, that the head of JazzHead said I really want you to
do some John Prine and I'm likewhy?
So what we did is Chris and Isat down and we just listened to
(21:48):
a bunch of John Prine and wefound one that we really liked.
But I'm not that kind of acountry singer.
There is some country music onmy album, but I'm not that kind
of a country singer.
There is some country music onmy album, but I'm not that kind
of a country singer.
We made it into a swing, we madeit into a swing song, but it's.
It began with because someonesaid, hey, you should do John
Prine.
We listened to a whole bunchand we went, oh, I like this
(22:09):
song, I don't like the versionthey're doing, let's do it as a
swing number.
And all of a sudden we had aswing song.
So then Barry Barry would sayto me no more swing songs on the
album, you've got your oneswing song.
So then it's like okay, well,can I, can I infuse this with
jazz?
Yes, cause you don't have jazzon this album.
Yet there isn't a single genrethat repeats itself on my album.
(22:31):
But that's that is ispurposeful and it is.
It is generated by mycollaborator, barry, knowing
that about me.
He's got these.
You know he goes all right.
You filled that.
Now this is the hole that'smissing.
How are you going to fill that?
I just love him.
I just love that.
He knows that about me.
Jay Franze (22:51):
So All right.
Well, you mentioned Paul,christopher and Barry, and I
want to touch base on all ofthem, but first I want to touch
base on Barry, because you callhim a collaborator, but one of
the things you mentioned thatperked my ears up a little bit
was that he directs your soloshows.
So go ahead and explain to methen what somebody would do as a
(23:12):
director for a solo show.
Ann Kittredge (23:15):
Oh, wow.
So I'm sure that Barry worksdifferently with different
people.
I think that you know he workswith everyone's strengths, right
?
So with me, the way we work isit can take us quite a while.
(23:40):
This last show that we justcreated, called when In Love.
We had no idea what we wantedto do.
None, we had no framework, wehad no concept.
So we just started looking at,I mean, oh my gosh, hundreds of
lists of songs just to try andget an idea of what do we even
want to create this night, aboutright.
(24:01):
And then what would happen isI'd go, I've always wanted to
sing this song.
I've always wanted to sing it.
It's a 110-year-old song, butI've always wanted to sing it.
So I want it in the show, allright, so it's in the show, all
right.
So what does that tell us aboutwhat the show is going to be
like?
I don't know yet.
It takes three or four moresongs for me to say that.
(24:22):
And then we suddenly go oh, thetitle when in Love comes from
my Broadway debut was King David.
It was written by Alan Menkenand Tim Rice.
Tim Rice wrote Jesus ChristSuperstar.
Alan Menken wrote he writes allof these Disney things and he's
quite brilliant, but anyway.
(24:44):
And there's a song in the showcalled when in Love, and my
Broadway debut was decades agoand so but I've always, always
wanted to sing that song and itwasn't my song in the show, and
so this show when In Lovestarted to be songs that I've
(25:05):
always wanted to sing but Inever had a chance to.
That actually could have beenthe theme, that actually could
have been the title, right, butthat's actually what we ended up
doing because we had no otherideas and I said, well, let's
just do things that I've beenwanting to do for a long time.
I did a show, um, at 54 belowin january, a concert of a show
(25:26):
called high spirits.
Again, actors, we always likeeveryone else's music.
There was a great song in theshow.
I didn't get to sing it and I'mlike, let's do that, I want to
do that one.
So it did.
It ended up being a show thatcertainly weaved when in love,
(25:48):
but ultimately it was just mylist, my to-do list.
I'm getting up there in age.
I want to do these things.
I haven't done them yet.
You know, and you know what Ihave to tell you, jay, I didn't
realize that until now I meanI'm just looking at it going
that is literally what happened.
It's crazy.
Jay Franze (26:09):
I'm a pretty good therapist, so you're creating a
theme, so it still is sort of atheatrical performance overall.
Ann Kittredge (26:19):
Oh sure, I mean.
There's there's patter, there'sthere's, you know, there's text
, there's dialogue, the, the,the uh.
The mastery that I think younever fully get in a solo show,
though, is that you can't fullyprepare yourself for the
(26:43):
dialogue, because you have toengage the audience, and the
audience can take you indifferent places, like, for
instance, the last show I didjust in May.
I was telling a story about myhusband, and the audience went
crazy and they just took me in atotally different direction.
(27:06):
I was like, oh my gosh, like itwas fun for me.
It was really fun for me.
I was like, wow, they reallyliked that story, they really.
For me, I was like, wow, theyreally liked that story, they
really, you know.
So you have to be a lot morepresent and you have to be less
stuck to your, your prepareddialogue.
That that that'll keep youconnecting things, cause that's
(27:29):
the other beauty that Barrygives me is, he really helps to,
you know, connect how one songleads to the next.
He's also a fabulous writer andhe writes specialty lyrics for
me.
He, oh my God, he wrote me this, an entire new verse to
(27:52):
accentuate the positive to me.
That was written by JohnnyMercer.
I dare anyone to be able tothink that Johnny Mercer didn't
write it.
I mean, it sounds 100% likeJohnny Mercer.
He's just.
He's really amazing.
Jay Franze (28:10):
That's pretty cool.
So you're taking some artisticliberty to go along with this,
oh yeah.
And then the other thing youmentioned too is the ability to
think on your feet.
I think kind of more like acomedian.
So do you make that connectionyourself and add a little bit of
that comedy to your performance?
Ann Kittredge (28:29):
You know, if you, if you met Barry, one of the
first things he would tell youabout me is If you met Barry,
one of the first things he wouldtell you about me is I am the
one In rehearsals.
I'm like, okay, where's thehumor?
I said I got to have humorConstantly, constantly.
Come on, we've got to injectsomething here Absolutely,
because I'm there to entertainyou guys.
(28:51):
I'm there to entertain you andyou, yes, I hope that you want
to be moved by a ballad, but youknow, I also want you to get
energized by an upbeat and toget into those things.
You kind of I have to surpriseyou.
You know, if you, if, if, if,if it's too obvious, you know
what I mean Then then thenyou're going to lose interest in
(29:14):
the show.
So it's just so much fun to youknow, throw curve balls to the
audience and you feel it.
You feel the audience go oh,wow, I didn't expect that.
And oftentimes that comes fromthe humor, like where did she
where?
did she?
Where did she go with that,Like, where did that come from?
Jay Franze (29:36):
You mentioned the story.
You were talking to theaudience and you mentioned the
story about your husband andthey took you in a different
direction.
So what direction was itsupposed to go in and what
direction did it end up going in?
Ann Kittredge (29:47):
All right, I'll have to tell you the story.
My husband's fine.
I wouldn't have told the storywithout his permission anyway.
But going back to King David,my husband is a Jesus Christ
superstar fanatic Fanatic.
He has the entire showmemorized.
(30:07):
He can sing the entire show andI wanted to tell the audience
about what happened between heand Tim.
But instead the audience wantedhim to sing.
They were like no, let him sing, let him sing the show.
And I was like, oh guys, hecan't sing.
(30:27):
I mean he can, he knows thewhole show, but you really don't
want to listen to him sayingyou know, and so we just had a
great time.
But I will continue and tellyour audience the story with Tim
Rice, which was at a cast party.
I introduced my husband to Timbecause my husband was just you
(30:51):
know, and he's like oh, you know, tim, I just have to say I love
Jesus Christ Superstar.
And you know I got to say thatmy friends and I used to get a
little high and listen to JesusChrist Superstar.
And Tim said I got to say star.
(31:17):
And Tim said I got to saythat's how we wrote Jesus Christ
Superstar, it all makes sensenow.
So my husband's dream come true.
That's very cool.
Jay Franze (31:29):
All right, let's take a step back for a second.
You talked about Paul earlier,and he's been a producer and
arranger for you.
Ann Kittredge (31:38):
Describe his work style to us.
I have to be honest with you,paul actually is the person who
changed my life and brought meinto this world of recording.
My first album was a responseto the pandemic and just this
(31:59):
feeling that, if not now, when?
And I had zero aspirations togetting it out to the public,
zero aspirations to getting itout to the public.
(32:19):
But I thought just one album ofmy favorite arrangements from
multiple music directors thatI've worked with, all of whom
did their arrangements on thefirst album with me.
So they all came in and it wasreally for my kids and I just
thought what a wonderful gift.
You know I'll be dead somedayand they can listen to this
album, right?
And I knew nothing.
(32:41):
I knew absolutely nothing.
And so I started planningthings and stuff like that, and
I was just so clueless, and so Iasked my music director, chris
Denny.
I said, chris, I don't knowwhat I'm doing, I just need
somebody to hold my hand so thatyou know whatever.
And he said, well, you need toget in touch with Paul Rolnik.
(33:02):
So I didn't think Paul knew me,we had met, but I did not think
that I had, did not think I hadmade an impression.
And so when I called him and Iwas like, oh, this is Ann
Kittredge, we met da, da, da da,and he's like I know who you
are, what are you talking about?
I was like, oh, okay.
(33:23):
And then I told him I wascalling because, you know, I was
working on this album and Ididn't know what I was doing and
could he, could he help me?
And I don't know what it was.
But this man believed in mebefore I believed in myself.
I mean, I just I could notbelieve what happened after that
.
He took me under his wing, hebelieved in me and this album
(33:51):
that was literally just a lovething to my kids that I just
wanted to do one, ended up beingstreamed over a million times
on Spotify and has been out onthe radio worldwide, worldwide.
(34:23):
There's no word to describe howabsolutely I just I never and
it was all Paul.
I mean he just believed in me.
And then, when the first albumdid so well, randy Klein from
Jazz Heads was like you got toget back in the studio, you've
got to, you've got to, you know,take advantage of this momentum
.
And I'm like I have no ideas.
(34:44):
I'm like what are you talkingabout, I don't you know.
But I agreed with him.
I thought, yes, you know, I'vegot to take advantage of this
momentum.
And so, whereas Reimagine, thefirst album, was literally just
a bunch of songs that I liked,the arrangements, there's
(35:05):
nothing else that makes it analbum, except that's why we
called it Reimagine, becausethere was nothing.
You just couldn't find anyrhyme or reason for why these
songs were on the same album.
But Romantic Notions that wasthe one that, oh my gosh, we
actually had an idea.
We had the idea from thebeginning.
We created this thing thatactually had a beginning, a
(35:29):
middle and an end and it wasjust really, really rewarding.
And I got hooked.
I just got hooked.
I got hooked.
I was like, oh my gosh, I loverecording and I and you know
Paul, he just continues toencourage me.
(35:53):
He's a fabulous mixer.
He mixes all of my recordings.
He offers arrangementsuggestions.
Chris and Barry and I prettymuch do most of the arrangements
, the three of us.
But Paul brings in oh, I thinkyou need a clarinet on this one.
(36:18):
Or oh, this would be reallynice with a Jimmy Webb type of
guitar solo and the.
You know, I mean that that'swhere he would provide his
musical instincts, but hismixing is incredible, really
(36:43):
incredible all right.
Jay Franze (36:45):
Well, we're talking about your albums, putting your
albums together and working withsuch great people, your ability
to perform shows at some ofthese amazing venues or on
Broadway.
So it seems like everything isfalling into place with you.
Can you tell us about some ofthe challenges you may have had
along the way?
Ann Kittredge (37:02):
Confidence.
Confidence has been a bigchallenge.
I took time off from my careerby choice to raise my kids
simply because, really honestly,I wasn't making enough money to
justify a nanny.
I just it was.
(37:22):
It seemed like I was makingjust enough money to pay for a
nanny and I was like, what, whyam I a parent If I just it just
felt wrong.
And so I never in a millionyears, in a million years,
(37:45):
imagined that I would stopworking.
And then I did it of my ownvolition.
It wasn't easy I will not sayit was.
It was very, very hard.
It really kind of messed up myidentity, honestly.
And when and then I spent thoseyears, I was a huge volunteer.
(38:11):
I spent those years doing musicwith children, whether it was
elementary or middle or highschool.
As my kids grew up and and Ihonestly just got sick of doing
it with everyone else and notwith me, I just got sick of it.
I was just like, oh you know,but I didn't know if I could
anymore.
(38:31):
It had been 10 years since I'ddone anything professional, plus
the fact that I have neverpresented myself as Ann
Kittredge the singer.
I'd always presented myselfprior as Ann Kittredge, the
actress who sings right.
So I was just so desperate tohave a creative outlet that I
(38:58):
just went for it and I didn'tknow what I was doing and, uh,
it was crushing sometimesbecause at first I knew.
I wasn't good.
I mean I, at first I knew Iwasn't good.
I mean I, I have pretty goodradar and, uh, I was rusty, I
(39:22):
was trying something I'd neverdone before and I was certainly
didn't have the skills yet.
But of course, how do you getthe skills?
You had to do it right, youjust could keep doing it.
But it didn't help my ego verywell.
When, when, uh, I knew I justwasn't delivering what I knew
the audience deserved.
So it, it took a lot tocontinue, because I also knew
(39:48):
that if I didn't continue, howwas I going to learn?
How was I going to get there?
Right now, I'm never going tostop learning.
I am never going to be as goodas I want to be, but I do now
feel that my audiences aregetting their money's worth.
(40:14):
I do.
I really love what I do now andI you know I may not always um
trust that I'm worthy all thetime.
(40:36):
But I know it's weird to saythis, jay, but I do believe in
myself.
But I also, you know, I allowmyself the doubts.
How's that?
Jay Franze (40:50):
I think that's a challenge a lot of creative
people go through.
Right Is believing that you'regood enough, believing that what
you have to say is worthy ofsomebody spending their money or
their time to get involved.
So I can understand that.
Ann Kittredge (41:04):
But while we talk about challenges I know you
said your mother had somestruggles- Can you tell us about
the relationship you had withyour mother and how that
affected your career?
Oh, wow, okay, so that theaudience has a certain context
(41:26):
to what I'm about to tell you.
My parents lost their firstchild when she was three years
old.
She was, at the time, an onlychild and it was an accident.
And three years later, threechildren later, I was born on
(41:47):
the day she died.
So so I think that that playeda huge role in my relationship
with my parents and, I think,with my father.
(42:08):
It brought us closer.
And I think with my mother, Inever, never, questioned her
love for me, but I think she hada little bit more difficulty
being vulnerable with me and she.
(42:34):
So I think it was about 20years ago that she really
disappointed me about somethingand I was so upset.
I didn't speak to her for aboutsix months and I realized this
(42:58):
is going to sound so crazy toyour audience.
I realized that in order tohave a joyful, rewarding
relationship, relationship withher, I had to grieve the loss of
my mother while she was alive.
I needed to let go of anyexpectation of a mother figure,
(43:29):
and it took me a couple of years, but I succeeded.
My mother was a beautifulperson, she was caring, she was
thoughtful.
She was caring, she wasthoughtful, she was duty
(43:50):
oriented, which I thinksometimes kept her from being
truly happy.
But she was very religious butsaid about my mother she never,
never broke.
She always bent, you know, andsometimes it would take her a
(44:14):
while to bend.
Okay, but she always bent.
And so when she started to getsick, I had already been pretty
much caring for her day to day.
You know her finances and youknow food and stuff and all that
(44:35):
stuff with the pandemic andstuff.
I had already been doing it foralmost 10 years.
So but the problem was I livedin New York and she lived in
Massachusetts and my motherabsolutely refused to move in
with me.
We tried, we said just come fora few months.
She came for a few months andshe said I'm still going home.
She just would not.
She needed to be inMassachusetts.
(44:56):
So at first, when she startedto really show signs, she moved
in with my brother and after awhile, you know, we decided that
mom was going to come and staywith me.
And at this point she was lessaware, you know it person she
(45:20):
was and I just thought you'vegot Alzheimer's.
(45:43):
You're 97 years old.
You have no mask left.
This is who you are Like.
This is my mother.
My mother is the sweetest thingand I didn't really think of
her as my mother I meantechnically, of course she was,
but I just saw her as abeautiful, beautiful person and
(46:07):
I had the the incredible gift tobe able to give her at least
some of what she wanted at theend of her days, which was she
did not want to go to a nursinghome and she did not want and
she wanted to be around family.
Sorry, mom, it happened in NewYork.
(46:28):
She wanted to be around family.
Sorry, mom, it happened in NewYork.
But she had her daughter, shehad her grandchildren.
My husband was wonderful to her.
I don't blame anyone for notdoing it.
It's a lot, but it's probablythe greatest thing I've ever
(46:50):
done for my life and I amforever grateful to myself that
we did it that we did it as afamily.
Jay Franze (46:59):
That's awesome.
That's a very amazing story.
Thank you for sharing.
Ann Kittredge (47:09):
To be fair, Bostonian moving to New York is
probably a tough thing to do,yeah she was pretty adamant for
the majority of her life.
Jay Franze (47:20):
But hey, you know, all right, my friend, we do this
thing here we call UnsungHeroes, where we take a moment
to shine the light on somebodywho's worked behind the scenes
or somebody who may havesupported you along the way.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Ann Kittredge (47:31):
Oh my gosh, my husband.
I'm not kidding.
We've been like I said, we'regetting ready to marry our 40th
anniversary and every step ofthe way that I lacked confidence
, he didn't.
That I lacked confidence, hedidn't.
He was always like no, you know, every time I would be like,
(47:54):
especially when you're firststarting out, there's a lot of
self-investment, right, and soI'm like I can't believe we're
wasting money on me.
And he's like this is not awaste.
This is not.
Are you kidding?
This is exactly what we shouldbe doing.
And and my husband, we met incollege.
He was a directing major, so hegot his master's in directing
(48:17):
and I you know he's my biggestcritic, but he's also my biggest
fan.
And, um, I trust him because Iknow he will not just tell me
what I need to hear.
He will, just as a matter offact.
Sometimes I wish he would, buthe won't.
I am very lucky that I havepeople around me that know that
(48:42):
I don't want to be lied to.
Jay Franze (48:46):
Fair enough, did he stay in the business fair enough
.
Ann Kittredge (48:54):
Did he stay in the business?
He did, but he went to theother side of the business.
He is, uh, he works for theschubert organization.
The schubert organization youprobably know this, but maybe
your audience doesn't.
They are the largest theaterowners on broadway and they also
produce shows, once in a whilesometimes, but yes, so he has
been with them for over 20 years.
Jay Franze (49:13):
Very nice.
Also very impressive, all right.
Well, we have done it.
We have reached the top of thehour, which does mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed the show,please tell a friend, and if you
have not, like we say, tell two.
You can reach out to both of usover at jfranzycom.
We will be happy to keep thisconversation going.
And, my friend, I cannot thankyou enough for being here
(49:34):
tonight.
Ann Kittredge (49:35):
It was a pleasure , thank you.
Jay Franze (49:37):
It has been an absolute pleasure.
I would like to leave the finalwords to you.
Ann Kittredge (49:41):
Oh my, Go out and listen to independent artists.
You'd be surprised how muchgood music is being done.
And all these independentartists out there.
We need your support, so pleasego out and look for us.
Jay Franze (50:06):
All right, folks On that note have a good night.
Tony Scott (50:10):
Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show.
Make sure you visit us atjayfranze.
com.
Follow, connect and say hello.
Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a
behind-the-curtain look at theentertainment industry, with
insights you can't pay for andstories you've never heard.
Now here's your host, JayFranze.
Jay Franze (00:33):
And we are coming at you live.
I am Jay Franze and this isyour source for the latest news,
reviews and interviews.
So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any
questions, please head over tojayfranzycom.
All right, folks, tonight wehave a very special guest with
us.
I said it once, I will say itagain we have a very special
guest.
We have an actual singer, anactress and a performing artist
(00:56):
Hailing from the great state ofNew York.
We have Ann Kittredge.
Ann, my friend, how are you?
Ann Kittredge (01:02):
Hey.
Jay Franze (01:03):
So good to have you here tonight.
I'm very excited about this.
Ann Kittredge (01:06):
I'm looking forward to it so am.
Jay Franze (01:08):
I, so let's just jump right in.
Ann Kittredge (01:10):
Tell me what is your favorite type of vocal to
(01:33):
sing?
That is such a good question,because the reality is I
absolutely have none.
What really intrigues me iswhat does this song need?
And the album that I releasedlast year, romantic Notions I
mean, I've got country, I've gotfolk.
I've got jazz, I've got swing.
You know, I've got a hundredyear old song.
I've got swing.
You know, I've got a hundredyear old song.
I've got, you know, a 2013 yearold song.
(01:54):
You know, I mean it's justbecause I don't, I don't ever
want it to be about my voice.
I always wanted to be about thestorytelling, so I kid you not,
it's always about, always aboutwhat do I have to bring to this
song in the storytelling?
And then I use it, whatever Ican do, to do that.
Jay Franze (02:12):
Do you think that comes from the theater
background?
Ann Kittredge (02:14):
Totally.
Oh my gosh.
Yes, you know, I thinksometimes my creative team just
stares at me, like you know,where is this coming from?
Creative team just stares at me, like you know, where is this
coming from?
It is impossible for me to.
You know, one of the things youhope that you are doing when
you're on a stage is it's not,it's never about you.
(02:35):
If you're doing a play or amusical, it's about the
character and the relationships,right?
And if you're doing a concertor a cabaret show, then it's all
about the audience.
It is never about you, right.
And so you know, having spentall of those years hiding behind
(02:55):
a character which I loved doing, I thrived doing it, I loved it
, and then, you know, decidingto explore the concert world and
things like that, I didn't knowany better.
I literally didn't know anybetter.
All I knew is how to tellstories.
(03:16):
The only difference was Iwasn't hiding behind a character
.
Jay Franze (03:21):
So what did you learn from it?
Ann Kittredge (03:24):
That it's harder to be yourself than a character.
So what did you learn from it?
That it's harder to be yourselfthan a character.
Jay Franze (03:30):
Nobody telling you what to do.
Ann Kittredge (03:32):
Well, yeah, and and also, you know if you're not
vulnerable I mean, that's whatpeople respond to whether you
know, if you're doing a theaterproduction or something, your
job is for people to connect to,whatever it is the story you're
telling, right, but if you havea character to hide behind,
(03:55):
that is so much easier.
But when, all of a sudden, thestorytelling is exposing you,
you really have to be honestwith yourself.
You know, I think it's temptingto put on a show, right, but it
(04:15):
doesn't.
Audiences are too smart, theydon't buy it.
Jay Franze (04:20):
You know I've never done theater, but to me, I think
, for me personally, I thinkbeing myself would be a lot
easier than trying to act and besomebody else.
Ann Kittredge (04:31):
Well, you know, I don't even think I'm like this
anymore, but I used to be veryintroverted and I think hiding
behind a character was theperfect place for me to be for
the longest time.
And I was just talking to mydaughter about this.
It's interesting how we chooseour careers, right, and, and a
(04:54):
lot of, you know a lot of peoplechoose to be therapists because
they went through a lot oftherapy.
You know what I mean.
And so they're like okay,that's, that's, I understand
that and you know, and they gofor that.
And and I was telling her how,interestingly, when you're
working on a character, you'vealways got to find the truth of
the character in you, even ifit's not a dominant feature,
(05:17):
right, it's not.
Maybe it's not something thatyou you know doing, like you
know being a murderer orwhatever, but we all have it
right, we all have it in us andso we have to tap into that.
And I found, when I was reallyheavily doing a lot of theater
productions, uncannily I wouldfind myself working on
(05:39):
characters that were forcing meto deal with a part of my
personality that needed work,that needed some attention.
And sometimes I'd be doing ashow and I'd be like this is
creepy, like why am I doing thispart now?
Jay Franze (05:56):
Give us an example.
Ann Kittredge (06:02):
Oh boy, I guess I would bring up O Pioneers.
I was doing oh Pioneers and ithappened to be happening at the
same time that my husband and Iwere separated.
Now my husband and I aregetting ready to celebrate our
40th wedding anniversary, but wedid go through a difficult time
and we were separated foralmost two years, through a
(06:27):
difficult time, and we wereseparated for almost two years
and I got cast in the showcalled oh Pioneers and the woman
is, you know, in a lovetriangle and all these different
things, and I'm like, oh my god, like why, why am I?
Why do I have to do this role?
Why do I have to really behonest here, like you know, and
and it was, yeah, but that washappening all the time I can't
(06:47):
even you know so many differentexamples, but that would
probably be a really good one.
Jay Franze (06:52):
Is it really tough to get through something like
that?
Ann Kittredge (07:14):
it's actually really rewarding, if I do allow
myself to be honest, becausethere is nothing more rewarding
as a performer than, especiallywhen you're being vulnerable,
than complete silence, becauseyou know that you've connected,
(07:38):
you know that they know thatwhat you're doing is true and
you're affecting them, even ifit's just for an hour or
whatever.
And when that doesn't happen,it's like damn, like what's
wrong with me?
Why aren't I, you know?
But, boy, I can't even tell you.
I love the silence.
(07:59):
I love sometimes, how,sometimes you could tell me that
I'm making this up and say,well, maybe you just sucked, and
that could be true.
But there are times sometimeswhere a moment has been so
captured that the audiencepauses before it applauds.
(08:20):
It's like it's not even surethe audience isn't even sure
they want to interrupt themoment.
It's that kind of stuff thatreally really gets my juices
going is knowing that they'relike, oh wow, that's everything.
Jay Franze (08:38):
So, when this is going on, when you're working
through one of these roles thatrelates to your life, what's
going through your mind asyou're performing it?
Are you ever concerned withwhat people will think or how
it's coming across?
Ann Kittredge (08:51):
No, because I have the character to hide
behind.
I mean, it's never a 100% thing.
Right, you're finding thosethings in you that you can bring
to a role.
I'm not going to say it doesn'ttake courage, because I think
there's a lot of people who maynot want to be honest with
themselves.
I've never had that problem.
(09:12):
The things people know about meare whatever you know, the
things people know about me arewhatever.
Jay Franze (09:19):
Well, I can only imagine especially being younger
.
When you're younger, it seemslike the things that are going
on in your life personally areharder to expose.
I feel like the older I get,the easier it is to just lay it
all out on the table.
Ann Kittredge (09:33):
Boy, I think you're so right about that.
The older you get, you're justlike I'm sorry, I don't care,
I'm just gonna say it, I'm justgonna do it.
You know, very true, becauseyou know, when you're younger
you're thinking about the nextjob, or the next director, the
next casting director, like, oryou know, if you, if you make a
(09:53):
scene in some way, or you, youknow you don't want to create
any waves and I'm past that, butI did go through it.
Jay Franze (10:01):
Well, we're always thinking like that.
We're always thinking aboutwhat comes next and what
impression we leave on people.
So, if you open up and put yourwounds on the table, there's a
chance somebody might reject you.
Oh yeah.
But the older you get the lessyou care about it.
Oh, yeah, but the older you get, the less you care about it.
Ann Kittredge (10:26):
So do you enjoy performing, acting or singing
better?
I 100% enjoy storytelling.
Either way, I do think thatit's my gift.
You know there was a.
You know the the song, mrTambourine man.
Jay Franze (10:42):
Yes.
Ann Kittredge (10:44):
So when we were putting together the album
Romantic Notions, I liked to usethe term notions to really go
well beyond just the male femaleor male male, female, female,
you know romantic thing.
I wanted the romance of agarden, you know the romance of
(11:06):
a baby, you know all thesedifferent things.
And I wanted to find a songthat I thought was a love song
to music itself.
And I looked for quite a whileand then I was listening to Bob
(11:31):
Dylan, tambourine man, and Iwent oh my gosh, this is it.
And the way my team and I worktogether is we get together, we
all have song ideas.
We must go through I'm notkidding you a couple of hundred
songs and it ends up with 13 or14.
So I come in with this.
I said this is my song, this ismy love song to music itself.
(11:54):
And my team looked at me like Ihad three heads and they're
like I don't think so.
And so what?
The way it works is we come inwith ideas.
People say yes, no, we throwthem away, we continue on.
I couldn't let this song go.
I brought it in.
(12:15):
I brought it in three moretimes over the course of four
months and the last time Ibrought it in and they really
were very kind to me, but theywere just like it's just not
going to work.
I went home and I was crushedbecause for some reason I just
(12:37):
couldn't let go of the song andI'm not usually like that.
And I realized and I wrote anemail to my team and I said I
have to do this song.
I have to do it.
I've got arrangement ideas.
I'm open to more ideas.
I said but I can't not do thissong and if you really don't
(13:03):
like it, you have my permissionto not be involved.
I will get other people, but ifyou want to do it with me,
you've got to be all in.
I'm not going to.
You know I don't want any.
You know like oh, I hate thissong, why are we doing this?
He said I don't want any.
You know like, oh, I hate thissong, why are we doing this?
He said you either got to giveinto it or be honest with me and
I'll find someone else.
(13:23):
And they decided to stick withme and we tussled.
I mean, it was not an easyarrangement to find.
(13:50):
When we found it, can I justsay that I think that my team
really really struggled withseeing how it spoke to a love
song about music itself, whichis what they're.
You know, sing Tabor, rima allyou want, but how is that a love
song to music itself, which iswhat they're?
You know?
Sing tambourine all you want,but how is that a love song to
music itself?
And when we finally found thearrangement, I saw, I saw in my
team, I saw this like thisrevelation, like, oh my gosh,
(14:11):
and it's one of the proudestcreative moments I've ever been
through, that I fought so hardand that, even though my team
was reluctant, they decided togo in on it with me and now it's
become one of the one of thestrongest things from the album
(14:32):
and it's we were constantlyrequested to do it and stuff
like that.
Yeah, so it's courage.
It's courage to to reallybelieve, sometimes, even when
the people that you respect themost think you're crazy.
Jay Franze (14:50):
Well, there's a few things in there that you
mentioned.
I want to make sure that wetouch on one of which.
You're talking about your teamand you guys start off with a
couple hundred songs and youwhittle it down, and you're
talking about the battle thatyou had of getting that one song
to make it to the finish line.
Ann Kittredge (15:07):
Yeah.
Jay Franze (15:08):
Do you feel like that's similar to what we were
talking about earlier, whereyou're putting something on the
table that you might be afraidthat others are going to not
like and shoot down?
Ann Kittredge (15:19):
Oh, 100% as a matter of fact.
Not that I think my team neededto hear this, I really don't,
because they're just magnificentmusicians and friends.
But I did say to them I'm goingto take the hit.
If this doesn't work, I'mtaking the hit, I promise you.
(15:41):
Everyone's going to know.
And if it does go well, we allget the credit.
And we were scared.
I'm not going to lie.
I'm not going to tell you thatI was so sure people were going
to love this I didn't.
I just was sure that I loved itand I was so sure that this was
(16:01):
a true love song to musicitself.
Whether Dylan meant it or not,when you slow that song down and
really listen to the lyrics andreally take in the imagery, it
is about a person who spent thenight overwhelmed with the
(16:24):
beauty of music and he didn'twant it to end.
He just wanted it to keep goingand going.
And if that isn't love, right.
So it was really rewarding whenit worked out.
But until it was released I'mnot gonna lie, I, I, I was I
(16:45):
wasn't sure what I was gonna bepresented with well, you're
talking about Dylan who's?
Jay Franze (16:51):
an amazing songwriter known for his
songwriting abilities, andyou're talking about yourself as
a storyteller.
So do you think thatcombination of the two and your
ability to interpret a storyhelped you with the arrangement
and coming up with the ideas youhad to present the song that
(17:14):
every song I sing it's going tobe a jazz tune.
Ann Kittredge (17:17):
Do you know what I mean?
If it's going to be jazz, it'sfor a reason.
So it is so rewarding to findthe right style, the right
(17:39):
approach to bring out ourreimagining of a song, and
hopefully the goal is for it tofeel organic, right, like it's
completely different fromanything you've heard before.
And I'm not just talking abouttimbre, I'm talking about
anything like our, like the, the, the songs that we choose.
Some of them are are you knowthem, but we have have something
(17:59):
different to say, and so it'sgoing to be really different
from what you're used to.
But hopefully it's so honestthat it's okay.
It's like it's so honest thatyou're not going.
What are they doing?
Because it still works andthat's the goal.
That's the goal, because whybother just doing covers?
(18:22):
I don't get that at all.
I am 100% bored with just doingstraight covers.
You'll never see me do it.
I don't understand.
I don't get it.
Jay Franze (18:33):
Yeah, they need to be reimagined, in my opinion as
well.
You're talking about your teamand picking these songs.
Can you give us a few of thehighlights of, maybe, how that
selection process went in someof the songs that were
considered?
Ann Kittredge (18:47):
Well, my music director is Christopher Denny
and my someone who collaborateswith us on the album.
His name is Barry Kleinbort, myproducer is Paul Rolnick and my
album is Jazz Heads.
But I want to talk about BarryKleinbort.
I have him in as a collaboratorbecause he directs all of my
(19:08):
shows, all of my solo shows, andhe's brilliant.
And I'm not going to say thathe knows a lot about recordings.
I don't have him there for that.
What I have him there for is heso understands me.
So, literally, the way we putthis album together is, we'd say
(19:30):
, for instance, he said to meAnn, I want this album to be
more mature than your firstalbum.
I want it to reflect more whoyou are and what you've
(19:52):
experienced.
And then from there we wouldsay okay, I'm trying to think.
When we came up with RomanticNotions as the title, there's a
song called Romantic Notions, sothat was an easy one.
But then there was this onesong called when have you Been?
(20:15):
Do you know it?
No, you might recognize it.
It was a big hit back in the80s.
I think I had not heard it.
I didn't remember it.
I was like I didn't you know,but it was about a couple who
lived their lives.
They married, they stayedtogether forever and it ended
(20:39):
with the wife gettingAlzheimer's and forgetting
everyone except her husband.
It's the one person that sheremembered, and I didn't know
the song.
My collaborator, barry, knewthat my mother was living with
(21:00):
me and she had Alzheimer's andthat that was a pretty major,
significant portion of my lifeat that time and he brought that
song to me and he said I reallythink you need to do this, is
(21:21):
looking at my life and he'sgoing ah, okay, this is going to
really resonate.
Neither the audience is goingto know this, because I know and
and I know that this is whatand is going to be able to bring
something very personal to it.
But then there'll be anothersong where it's like, like Randy
Klein, that the head of JazzHead said I really want you to
do some John Prine and I'm likewhy?
So what we did is Chris and Isat down and we just listened to
(21:48):
a bunch of John Prine and wefound one that we really liked.
But I'm not that kind of acountry singer.
There is some country music onmy album, but I'm not that kind
of a country singer.
There is some country music onmy album, but I'm not that kind
of a country singer.
We made it into a swing, we madeit into a swing song, but it's.
It began with because someonesaid, hey, you should do John
Prine.
We listened to a whole bunchand we went, oh, I like this
(22:09):
song, I don't like the versionthey're doing, let's do it as a
swing number.
And all of a sudden we had aswing song.
So then Barry Barry would sayto me no more swing songs on the
album, you've got your oneswing song.
So then it's like okay, well,can I, can I infuse this with
jazz?
Yes, cause you don't have jazzon this album.
Yet there isn't a single genrethat repeats itself on my album.
(22:31):
But that's that is ispurposeful and it is.
It is generated by mycollaborator, barry, knowing
that about me.
He's got these.
You know he goes all right.
You filled that.
Now this is the hole that'smissing.
How are you going to fill that?
I just love him.
I just love that.
He knows that about me.
Jay Franze (22:51):
So All right.
Well, you mentioned Paul,christopher and Barry, and I
want to touch base on all ofthem, but first I want to touch
base on Barry, because you callhim a collaborator, but one of
the things you mentioned thatperked my ears up a little bit
was that he directs your soloshows.
So go ahead and explain to methen what somebody would do as a
(23:12):
director for a solo show.
Ann Kittredge (23:15):
Oh, wow.
So I'm sure that Barry worksdifferently with different
people.
I think that you know he workswith everyone's strengths, right
?
So with me, the way we work isit can take us quite a while.
(23:40):
This last show that we justcreated, called when In Love.
We had no idea what we wantedto do.
None, we had no framework, wehad no concept.
So we just started looking at,I mean, oh my gosh, hundreds of
lists of songs just to try andget an idea of what do we even
want to create this night, aboutright.
(24:01):
And then what would happen isI'd go, I've always wanted to
sing this song.
I've always wanted to sing it.
It's a 110-year-old song, butI've always wanted to sing it.
So I want it in the show, allright, so it's in the show, all
right.
So what does that tell us aboutwhat the show is going to be
like?
I don't know yet.
It takes three or four moresongs for me to say that.
(24:22):
And then we suddenly go oh, thetitle when in Love comes from
my Broadway debut was King David.
It was written by Alan Menkenand Tim Rice.
Tim Rice wrote Jesus ChristSuperstar.
Alan Menken wrote he writes allof these Disney things and he's
quite brilliant, but anyway.
(24:44):
And there's a song in the showcalled when in Love, and my
Broadway debut was decades agoand so but I've always, always
wanted to sing that song and itwasn't my song in the show, and
so this show when In Lovestarted to be songs that I've
(25:05):
always wanted to sing but Inever had a chance to.
That actually could have beenthe theme, that actually could
have been the title, right, butthat's actually what we ended up
doing because we had no otherideas and I said, well, let's
just do things that I've beenwanting to do for a long time.
I did a show, um, at 54 belowin january, a concert of a show
(25:26):
called high spirits.
Again, actors, we always likeeveryone else's music.
There was a great song in theshow.
I didn't get to sing it and I'mlike, let's do that, I want to
do that one.
So it did.
It ended up being a show thatcertainly weaved when in love,
(25:48):
but ultimately it was just mylist, my to-do list.
I'm getting up there in age.
I want to do these things.
I haven't done them yet.
You know, and you know what Ihave to tell you, jay, I didn't
realize that until now I meanI'm just looking at it going
that is literally what happened.
It's crazy.
Jay Franze (26:09):
I'm a pretty good therapist, so you're creating a
theme, so it still is sort of atheatrical performance overall.
Ann Kittredge (26:19):
Oh sure, I mean.
There's there's patter, there'sthere's, you know, there's text
, there's dialogue, the, the,the uh.
The mastery that I think younever fully get in a solo show,
though, is that you can't fullyprepare yourself for the
(26:43):
dialogue, because you have toengage the audience, and the
audience can take you indifferent places, like, for
instance, the last show I didjust in May.
I was telling a story about myhusband, and the audience went
crazy and they just took me in atotally different direction.
(27:06):
I was like, oh my gosh, like itwas fun for me.
It was really fun for me.
I was like, wow, they reallyliked that story, they really.
For me, I was like, wow, theyreally liked that story, they
really, you know.
So you have to be a lot morepresent and you have to be less
stuck to your, your prepareddialogue.
That that that'll keep youconnecting things, cause that's
(27:29):
the other beauty that Barrygives me is, he really helps to,
you know, connect how one songleads to the next.
He's also a fabulous writer andhe writes specialty lyrics for
me.
He, oh my God, he wrote me this, an entire new verse to
(27:52):
accentuate the positive to me.
That was written by JohnnyMercer.
I dare anyone to be able tothink that Johnny Mercer didn't
write it.
I mean, it sounds 100% likeJohnny Mercer.
He's just.
He's really amazing.
Jay Franze (28:10):
That's pretty cool.
So you're taking some artisticliberty to go along with this,
oh yeah.
And then the other thing youmentioned too is the ability to
think on your feet.
I think kind of more like acomedian.
So do you make that connectionyourself and add a little bit of
that comedy to your performance?
Ann Kittredge (28:29):
You know, if you, if you met Barry, one of the
first things he would tell youabout me is If you met Barry,
one of the first things he wouldtell you about me is I am the
one In rehearsals.
I'm like, okay, where's thehumor?
I said I got to have humorConstantly, constantly.
Come on, we've got to injectsomething here Absolutely,
because I'm there to entertainyou guys.
(28:51):
I'm there to entertain you andyou, yes, I hope that you want
to be moved by a ballad, but youknow, I also want you to get
energized by an upbeat and toget into those things.
You kind of I have to surpriseyou.
You know, if you, if, if, if,if it's too obvious, you know
what I mean Then then thenyou're going to lose interest in
(29:14):
the show.
So it's just so much fun to youknow, throw curve balls to the
audience and you feel it.
You feel the audience go oh,wow, I didn't expect that.
And oftentimes that comes fromthe humor, like where did she
where?
did she?
Where did she go with that,Like, where did that come from?
Jay Franze (29:36):
You mentioned the story.
You were talking to theaudience and you mentioned the
story about your husband andthey took you in a different
direction.
So what direction was itsupposed to go in and what
direction did it end up going in?
Ann Kittredge (29:47):
All right, I'll have to tell you the story.
My husband's fine.
I wouldn't have told the storywithout his permission anyway.
But going back to King David,my husband is a Jesus Christ
superstar fanatic Fanatic.
He has the entire showmemorized.
(30:07):
He can sing the entire show andI wanted to tell the audience
about what happened between heand Tim.
But instead the audience wantedhim to sing.
They were like no, let him sing, let him sing the show.
And I was like, oh guys, hecan't sing.
(30:27):
I mean he can, he knows thewhole show, but you really don't
want to listen to him sayingyou know, and so we just had a
great time.
But I will continue and tellyour audience the story with Tim
Rice, which was at a cast party.
I introduced my husband to Timbecause my husband was just you
(30:51):
know, and he's like oh, you know, tim, I just have to say I love
Jesus Christ Superstar.
And you know I got to say thatmy friends and I used to get a
little high and listen to JesusChrist Superstar.
And Tim said I got to say star.
(31:17):
And Tim said I got to saythat's how we wrote Jesus Christ
Superstar, it all makes sensenow.
So my husband's dream come true.
That's very cool.
Jay Franze (31:29):
All right, let's take a step back for a second.
You talked about Paul earlier,and he's been a producer and
arranger for you.
Ann Kittredge (31:38):
Describe his work style to us.
I have to be honest with you,paul actually is the person who
changed my life and brought meinto this world of recording.
My first album was a responseto the pandemic and just this
(31:59):
feeling that, if not now, when?
And I had zero aspirations togetting it out to the public,
zero aspirations to getting itout to the public.
(32:19):
But I thought just one album ofmy favorite arrangements from
multiple music directors thatI've worked with, all of whom
did their arrangements on thefirst album with me.
So they all came in and it wasreally for my kids and I just
thought what a wonderful gift.
You know I'll be dead somedayand they can listen to this
album, right?
And I knew nothing.
(32:41):
I knew absolutely nothing.
And so I started planningthings and stuff like that, and
I was just so clueless, and so Iasked my music director, chris
Denny.
I said, chris, I don't knowwhat I'm doing, I just need
somebody to hold my hand so thatyou know whatever.
And he said, well, you need toget in touch with Paul Rolnik.
(33:02):
So I didn't think Paul knew me,we had met, but I did not think
that I had, did not think I hadmade an impression.
And so when I called him and Iwas like, oh, this is Ann
Kittredge, we met da, da, da da,and he's like I know who you
are, what are you talking about?
I was like, oh, okay.
(33:23):
And then I told him I wascalling because, you know, I was
working on this album and Ididn't know what I was doing and
could he, could he help me?
And I don't know what it was.
But this man believed in mebefore I believed in myself.
I mean, I just I could notbelieve what happened after that
.
He took me under his wing, hebelieved in me and this album
(33:51):
that was literally just a lovething to my kids that I just
wanted to do one, ended up beingstreamed over a million times
on Spotify and has been out onthe radio worldwide, worldwide.
(34:23):
There's no word to describe howabsolutely I just I never and
it was all Paul.
I mean he just believed in me.
And then, when the first albumdid so well, randy Klein from
Jazz Heads was like you got toget back in the studio, you've
got to, you've got to, you know,take advantage of this momentum
.
And I'm like I have no ideas.
(34:44):
I'm like what are you talkingabout, I don't you know.
But I agreed with him.
I thought, yes, you know, I'vegot to take advantage of this
momentum.
And so, whereas Reimagine, thefirst album, was literally just
a bunch of songs that I liked,the arrangements, there's
(35:05):
nothing else that makes it analbum, except that's why we
called it Reimagine, becausethere was nothing.
You just couldn't find anyrhyme or reason for why these
songs were on the same album.
But Romantic Notions that wasthe one that, oh my gosh, we
actually had an idea.
We had the idea from thebeginning.
We created this thing thatactually had a beginning, a
(35:29):
middle and an end and it wasjust really, really rewarding.
And I got hooked.
I just got hooked.
I got hooked.
I was like, oh my gosh, I loverecording and I and you know
Paul, he just continues toencourage me.
(35:53):
He's a fabulous mixer.
He mixes all of my recordings.
He offers arrangementsuggestions.
Chris and Barry and I prettymuch do most of the arrangements
, the three of us.
But Paul brings in oh, I thinkyou need a clarinet on this one.
(36:18):
Or oh, this would be reallynice with a Jimmy Webb type of
guitar solo and the.
You know, I mean that that'swhere he would provide his
musical instincts, but hismixing is incredible, really
(36:43):
incredible all right.
Jay Franze (36:45):
Well, we're talking about your albums, putting your
albums together and working withsuch great people, your ability
to perform shows at some ofthese amazing venues or on
Broadway.
So it seems like everything isfalling into place with you.
Can you tell us about some ofthe challenges you may have had
along the way?
Ann Kittredge (37:02):
Confidence.
Confidence has been a bigchallenge.
I took time off from my careerby choice to raise my kids
simply because, really honestly,I wasn't making enough money to
justify a nanny.
I just it was.
(37:22):
It seemed like I was makingjust enough money to pay for a
nanny and I was like, what, whyam I a parent If I just it just
felt wrong.
And so I never in a millionyears, in a million years,
(37:45):
imagined that I would stopworking.
And then I did it of my ownvolition.
It wasn't easy I will not sayit was.
It was very, very hard.
It really kind of messed up myidentity, honestly.
And when and then I spent thoseyears, I was a huge volunteer.
(38:11):
I spent those years doing musicwith children, whether it was
elementary or middle or highschool.
As my kids grew up and and Ihonestly just got sick of doing
it with everyone else and notwith me, I just got sick of it.
I was just like, oh you know,but I didn't know if I could
anymore.
(38:31):
It had been 10 years since I'ddone anything professional, plus
the fact that I have neverpresented myself as Ann
Kittredge the singer.
I'd always presented myselfprior as Ann Kittredge, the
actress who sings right.
So I was just so desperate tohave a creative outlet that I
(38:58):
just went for it and I didn'tknow what I was doing and, uh,
it was crushing sometimesbecause at first I knew.
I wasn't good.
I mean I, at first I knew Iwasn't good.
I mean I, I have pretty goodradar and, uh, I was rusty, I
(39:22):
was trying something I'd neverdone before and I was certainly
didn't have the skills yet.
But of course, how do you getthe skills?
You had to do it right, youjust could keep doing it.
But it didn't help my ego verywell.
When, when, uh, I knew I justwasn't delivering what I knew
the audience deserved.
So it, it took a lot tocontinue, because I also knew
(39:48):
that if I didn't continue, howwas I going to learn?
How was I going to get there?
Right now, I'm never going tostop learning.
I am never going to be as goodas I want to be, but I do now
feel that my audiences aregetting their money's worth.
(40:14):
I do.
I really love what I do now andI you know I may not always um
trust that I'm worthy all thetime.
(40:36):
But I know it's weird to saythis, jay, but I do believe in
myself.
But I also, you know, I allowmyself the doubts.
How's that?
Jay Franze (40:50):
I think that's a challenge a lot of creative
people go through.
Right Is believing that you'regood enough, believing that what
you have to say is worthy ofsomebody spending their money or
their time to get involved.
So I can understand that.
Ann Kittredge (41:04):
But while we talk about challenges I know you
said your mother had somestruggles- Can you tell us about
the relationship you had withyour mother and how that
affected your career?
Oh, wow, okay, so that theaudience has a certain context
(41:26):
to what I'm about to tell you.
My parents lost their firstchild when she was three years
old.
She was, at the time, an onlychild and it was an accident.
And three years later, threechildren later, I was born on
(41:47):
the day she died.
So so I think that that playeda huge role in my relationship
with my parents and, I think,with my father.
(42:08):
It brought us closer.
And I think with my mother, Inever, never, questioned her
love for me, but I think she hada little bit more difficulty
being vulnerable with me and she.
(42:34):
So I think it was about 20years ago that she really
disappointed me about somethingand I was so upset.
I didn't speak to her for aboutsix months and I realized this
(42:58):
is going to sound so crazy toyour audience.
I realized that in order tohave a joyful, rewarding
relationship, relationship withher, I had to grieve the loss of
my mother while she was alive.
I needed to let go of anyexpectation of a mother figure,
(43:29):
and it took me a couple of years, but I succeeded.
My mother was a beautifulperson, she was caring, she was
thoughtful.
She was caring, she wasthoughtful, she was duty
(43:50):
oriented, which I thinksometimes kept her from being
truly happy.
But she was very religious butsaid about my mother she never,
never broke.
She always bent, you know, andsometimes it would take her a
(44:14):
while to bend.
Okay, but she always bent.
And so when she started to getsick, I had already been pretty
much caring for her day to day.
You know her finances and youknow food and stuff and all that
(44:35):
stuff with the pandemic andstuff.
I had already been doing it foralmost 10 years.
So but the problem was I livedin New York and she lived in
Massachusetts and my motherabsolutely refused to move in
with me.
We tried, we said just come fora few months.
She came for a few months andshe said I'm still going home.
She just would not.
She needed to be inMassachusetts.
(44:56):
So at first, when she startedto really show signs, she moved
in with my brother and after awhile, you know, we decided that
mom was going to come and staywith me.
And at this point she was lessaware, you know it person she
(45:20):
was and I just thought you'vegot Alzheimer's.
(45:43):
You're 97 years old.
You have no mask left.
This is who you are Like.
This is my mother.
My mother is the sweetest thingand I didn't really think of
her as my mother I meantechnically, of course she was,
but I just saw her as abeautiful, beautiful person and
(46:07):
I had the the incredible gift tobe able to give her at least
some of what she wanted at theend of her days, which was she
did not want to go to a nursinghome and she did not want and
she wanted to be around family.
Sorry, mom, it happened in NewYork.
(46:28):
She wanted to be around family.
Sorry, mom, it happened in NewYork.
But she had her daughter, shehad her grandchildren.
My husband was wonderful to her.
I don't blame anyone for notdoing it.
It's a lot, but it's probablythe greatest thing I've ever
(46:50):
done for my life and I amforever grateful to myself that
we did it that we did it as afamily.
Jay Franze (46:59):
That's awesome.
That's a very amazing story.
Thank you for sharing.
Ann Kittredge (47:09):
To be fair, Bostonian moving to New York is
probably a tough thing to do,yeah she was pretty adamant for
the majority of her life.
Jay Franze (47:20):
But hey, you know, all right, my friend, we do this
thing here we call UnsungHeroes, where we take a moment
to shine the light on somebodywho's worked behind the scenes
or somebody who may havesupported you along the way.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Ann Kittredge (47:31):
Oh my gosh, my husband.
I'm not kidding.
We've been like I said, we'regetting ready to marry our 40th
anniversary and every step ofthe way that I lacked confidence
, he didn't.
That I lacked confidence, hedidn't.
He was always like no, you know, every time I would be like,
(47:54):
especially when you're firststarting out, there's a lot of
self-investment, right, and soI'm like I can't believe we're
wasting money on me.
And he's like this is not awaste.
This is not.
Are you kidding?
This is exactly what we shouldbe doing.
And and my husband, we met incollege.
He was a directing major, so hegot his master's in directing
(48:17):
and I you know he's my biggestcritic, but he's also my biggest
fan.
And, um, I trust him because Iknow he will not just tell me
what I need to hear.
He will, just as a matter offact.
Sometimes I wish he would, buthe won't.
I am very lucky that I havepeople around me that know that
(48:42):
I don't want to be lied to.
Jay Franze (48:46):
Fair enough, did he stay in the business fair enough
.
Ann Kittredge (48:54):
Did he stay in the business?
He did, but he went to theother side of the business.
He is, uh, he works for theschubert organization.
The schubert organization youprobably know this, but maybe
your audience doesn't.
They are the largest theaterowners on broadway and they also
produce shows, once in a whilesometimes, but yes, so he has
been with them for over 20 years.
Jay Franze (49:13):
Very nice.
Also very impressive, all right.
Well, we have done it.
We have reached the top of thehour, which does mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed the show,please tell a friend, and if you
have not, like we say, tell two.
You can reach out to both of usover at jfranzycom.
We will be happy to keep thisconversation going.
And, my friend, I cannot thankyou enough for being here
(49:34):
tonight.
Ann Kittredge (49:35):
It was a pleasure , thank you.
Jay Franze (49:37):
It has been an absolute pleasure.
I would like to leave the finalwords to you.
Ann Kittredge (49:41):
Oh my, Go out and listen to independent artists.
You'd be surprised how muchgood music is being done.
And all these independentartists out there.
We need your support, so pleasego out and look for us.
Jay Franze (50:06):
All right, folks On that note have a good night.
Tony Scott (50:10):
Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show.
Make sure you visit us atjayfranze.
com.
Follow, connect and say hello.
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