Steve Parisien is captivating audiences with his originality, distinct lyrical style and edgy jazz production, on full display in his new radio single ‘As Time Passes’. We wanted to find out what drives this dedicated Jazz artist to push the limits of the genre.

You can generally tell when an artist is ready for the next stage of their career. It shows up in timing and tonal certainties, and there's a sense of conviction that just can't be faked. Steve Parisien's catchy new track ‘As Time Passes’ has that audible conviction, but its sheer inventiveness and mainstream digestibility fulfill the other half of the equation that determines who gets radio time and who goes home unheard. It also doesn't hurt that the critics have raved about his award-winning work: ‘'As Time Passes' makes an unhurried way through a clever campaign of guitar gambits to deliver one of the most intricately executed jazz padsages the year has produced.’ Independent reporter Alexis Adams recently caught up with Steve Parisien to talk about his new single and the passion for home-grown jazz that gave rise to it.

ALEXIS: What has your experience been like working with the other people on your team?
STEVE PARISIEN: Basically, I’m a one man show so to speak. However, I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with wonderful artists such as Laurel Moore about whom you people had written when won an Akademia Award for Best Jazz Album back in October of 2014. The unique thing about that story was the fact that we had never met. She lives clear on the other side of the globe. It took a while emailing music files back and forth, but we built a wonderful rapport during that whole procedure and in fact I am still in touch with her periodically. There could be future collaboration at some point down the road. I’m also in contact with other artists who would like to write and perform lyrics to my tunes. Cool things are going to happen soon and I always get excited when new projects such as that are in the works.

ALEXIS: Did you come from a musical background? Are there other musicians in your family?
STEVE PARISIEN: As mentioned earlier, I grew up in a musical environment. My father actually is the one that really taught me how to use what I had learned through the Royal Conservatory of Music. I think he knew from the time I was a young child that I had the ability to play by ear and create my own arrangements of tunes. He also gave me every opportunity to learn other instruments which I seemed to have picked up on rather quickly. Also, other family ranging from grandparents to cousins played instruments. In fact getting back to Puerto Vallarta, I have a cousin that lives down in that area who gets a variety of amazing musicians to come down and hang out with him. That’s a great experience.

ALEXIS: What do you find most rewarding about being an artist? What do you find most challenging?
STEVE PARISIEN: The thing I find most rewarding which I briefly touched on in the last question, is when other people are playing my music. Some of those wonderful musicians that my cousin introduced me too, started playing some of my tunes. My cousin and his wife are my best fans when we're down there and they really push my stuff to other artists. I think it’s a family pride thing and I thank them for that. They’re great. The thing I find most challenging, is trying to compete with what the ‘music industry’ expects these days. It seems particularly true of the ‘pop’ scene, that a strong music video and beats are all that count. The advent of the music video which certainly serves a purpose, unfortunately has led to weak music writing. Under some of these genres, the music is not timeless because there’s no passion in the writing. For many of the producers, it’s about quick dollars which typically end up in their pocket. Thank goodness there are still many producers, radio execs., etc. that do know what a good song is all about. But as with anything, you have to concentrate on the masses and if the majority of people want beats and videos, so be it. This however makes it tough for a lot of those great writers out there to compete.

ALEXIS: Who are your role models in music?
STEVE PARISIEN: My role models that have influenced my music extend to a variety of different instrumentalists. These would be such people as Oscar Peterson, Chet Atkins, Lenny Breau, Miles Davis, Julian Bream... the list goes on and you can see that the genre is wide. Again because of my upbringing, I’ve been exposed to a variety of different performers.

ALEXIS: Describe your best or most memorable performance.
STEVE PARISIEN: The most memorable performance I think would be when I was younger because of it being a new experience. The one that sticks out in my mind at the moment would be of me performing a solo of the theme song to Romeo and Juliet on my classical guitar. That shows you how far back that is, around 1975. I was 19 at the time and was teaching guitar in my dad’s business. A show production was in the works for top students and some of the guitar teachers to be held at a concert hall which I can’t recall. The place was packed, the students started off playing followed by a combination of students and teachers and so on. I was asked by the coordinators of this production if I’d play a solo to which I agreed. Anyway after performing that piece, there was this big thunderous roar of clapping and yelling from the audience. Unfortunately the stage lights were so bright, that I couldn’t see what was going on. My girlfriend at the time was in the audience and because it was the last act, she came back stage to see me. I told her that was quite a response from the crowd but couldn’t see what was up. She looked at me and said “Well dear, that’s because you got a standing ovation”. I have to tell you, that gave me a rush that night.

ALEXIS: What advice would you give to young, aspiring artists out there who are unsure and need guidance?
STEVE PARISIEN: My advice to others who want to become artists and/or writers is to stick to two things. The first is to write or perform music that connects with you. Doing this would convey the passion in your music that it would otherwise lack if one were to only write or perform based on commercial demand. The other thing would be not to ever give up on your dream. There will always be music critics out there who will try to knock you down, but the important thing is what the fans think. If you keep pushing and marketing your product, it will eventually reach the ears of those you aim for. Be patient.

ALEXIS: What's next for you as an artist? Is there a new single in the works? If so, what can you tell us about it?
STEVE PARISIEN: As mentioned earlier, there are a couple of wonderful artists who are very interested in writing and performing lyrics to my music. One of them is in Africa somewhere and is at this time working on some of my material. Another one is a wonderful singer by the name of TC Eckstein who is busy with radio shows and will be co-hosting the Poze Production awards show in August. With all that on her plate, she’s finding time and is very excited to collaborate with me. I’m of course just itching to get that in the works. I’ve just released my latest single called ‘OverLoad’ and it really moves right along. It was challenging to write but was fun to do. You can hear it on the following sites along with other songs of mine. Hope you enjoy it. https://www.reverbnation.com/steveparisien https://soundcloud.com/steve-parisien

ALEXIS: Sounds great! Thank you so much for letting me get to know more about you as an artist. I wish you continued success in your career.

http://www.reverbnation.com/steveparisien