Angela Vicari is an entertainment professional specializing in management, production, development, music supervision and creative direction. Most recently, she was a producer and the music supervisor on the drama series, The Eddy, which premiered on Netflix last month.
The original series takes place in the vibrant multicultural neighborhoods of modern-day Paris. Once a celebrated jazz pianist in New York, Elliot Udo (André Holland) is now the co-owner of a struggling club. Elliot’s life spins out of control when he discovers that his business partner may be involved in some questionable practices. To make matters more complicated, his daughter (Amandla Stenberg) suddenly arrives in Paris to live with him.
The series was brought to the screen through a collaboration between Emmy winner Alan Poul (Six Feet Under), Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle (La La Land), BAFTA Award winner Jack Thorne (National Treasure) and six-time Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard, who wrote the songs and established The Eddy’s band which is composed of real-life musicians Randy Kerber, Ludovic Louis, Lada Obradovic, Jowee Omicil and Damian Nueva Cortes.
On May 29, 2020, Angela Vicari spoke with NOIAFT founder, Taylor Taglianetti, about her experience making the show, her career, and the entertainment business.
You studied history and Italian in college. How did you get into music?
I grew up in the music business. My father is a sound engineer and has done live sound for Bobby McFerrin for the last 32 years. My parents also own LAFX, a recording studio and an audio equipment rental business in Los Angeles. My uncle Tommy has been very successful as an in-studio recording engineer and works more in the Film & TV world now. He’s worked with some pretty incredible artists including Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, and Billy Idol.
I didn’t think I’d be in the music business myself. As I got older, I started to get more interested in developing artists. For me, it was always about being on the artist side of things: managing, developing, and working with creative artists. I’ve always looked at myself as being an artist advocate. Growing up, I thought that I was going to be a historian, archeologist or a lawyer, maybe something even in the NGO sector.
I studied at UCLA and UCSB. I went to Italy for a year, learning Italian. I came back and didn’t really know what the next step was. I was working for a lawyer as a copyist to make some money until I figured out what I wanted to do. I wound up finding a job listing for a Studio Assistant at MusicBizJobs.com. I had done that at my parent’s place before, answering phones and performing general office duties. That seemed a little bit more in the right direction instead of copying files in a lawyer’s office. The position turned out to be with Glen Ballard and Dave Stewart’s office and their joint creative studio in Hollywood, which is called the High Window. They had been looking for someone for a really long time and it clicked. I fell into managing them and their projects day-to-day, in addition to producing. That’s where it started.
Glen Ballard is the executive producer of The Eddy so you’ve worked with him a long time!
Yes. I quickly moved up from an office assistant to then an office manager and project manager.
Dave and Glen’s building threatened to develop it into private residences so we found separate offices in a different building for them. I chose to focus on developing projects at Glen’s production company. He was at a point in his career where he was shifting from making records to wanting to be more of a producer.
I took over managing his production company in 2008. The Eddy was a project that we started working on and Glen wrote some of the music for the project then. In 2016, I chose to step back from full-time management of his company and decided to explore other opportunities. I worked at Fender Guitars and did artist relations for them, working on developing and increasing their female roster. In the background, I continued developing The Eddy because it was an ongoing project I was heavily involved with and it was already in development with HBO, at that point, and then Netflix.
It’s interesting that the music came before the story. That’s very rare.
Yes. Glen was very clear making this transition from recording albums to project-based music. He felt that in order to advance music that was different from mainstream music, you had to tie it to a story or some larger vehicle. Dave Stewart was doing the same thing. We were all on the same page; we wanted to advance music that was out of the pop space. So, the music came first.
Shortly after, Glen developed a concept around a jazz band in Paris. There were definitely crime elements weaved into that. He had the basics of what The Eddy would eventually become. We wrote some outlines to set up the concept and put together a band.
One of the musicians was Christian Scott, a very well-known and incredible trumpet player. He was one of the stars of the project early on and then we put different iterations of the band together over the years. I don’t think it really coalesced until we found Julia Harrimond, a young singer. Christian left the project at a certain point to pursue his own stuff, but Julia stayed and we put together a whole new band that included her, Randy Kerber, Ludovic Louis, Eugene Owens, and Kyle Crane. This was our core band from 2013. It was the band that Damien Chazelle saw and that HBO saw. When we first pitched The Eddy to Alan Poul, we brought in a CD, pictures with the band, and photoshoots I had done, styled and put together.
That’s so cool. I read an interview where Glen said the show is really about “redefining what jazz can be,” which you alluded to. He also said that you’re the person who takes that mission statement and makes it a reality. What were some of those responsibilities in doing that on a show like The Eddy that differed from some of your other experiences working on shows, films, and in theatre?
Prior to The Eddy, we worked a lot on doing songs and music for film. We had done three or four films with Alan Silvestri and Robert Zemeckis, including The Croods, A Christmas Carol, and Beowulf. We would come in as more of a traditional music team, crafting something that somebody else had already created.
With The Eddy, we were really the architects of that entire project. For me, I wore a lot of different hats in different phases of the project. In the early days, it was helping Glen put together a package to pitch to people. We spent years pitching. We spent a lot of time making the music real, meaning putting together a band and finding musicians that fit the roles, not only as the musicians, but also as the actors. Our idea was that they’d be the actors in the show as well. By styling, booking shows, and managing a band, I made it a real band.
I think translating that to making the show informs such a deep well of what this show is, what this music is. I think it would have been tough for anyone to walk in and do this show because it’s such a family-oriented project. Glen and I had been doing it for twelve, thirteen years. I worked with Randy Kerber on this project for eight years. I knew where all the bodies were buried, ha! I knew all the songs and all of the intentions of what we wanted it to be and what it should be.
For me, it’s hard to walk into something as a music person and you just have to fix a bunch of stuff. There’s plenty of that on this project, but I think there’s something about being a part of project from day one that really informs your ability to do the job in a different way. I like the producer side as much as I like facilitating the music. I think it will inform future projects that I do. I don’t know if I just want to walk in as the music team after the fact. I like developing work from the beginning. Not only is there a lot more investment, but also a lot more creative control.
For sure. Plus, you worked on The Eddy since 2008 so seeing your baby born after all of those years, it has to be so exhilarating. You put every ounce of yourself into this and the payoff is even sweeter. You mentioned how you’re using the medium of television to bring about a new age of jazz. It makes me wonder if Damien Chazelle hadn’t become the director of Whiplash and La La Land, would The Eddy have ever found its place? I think he has promoted jazz in popular culture for the last couple of years.
He came about this project at a really interesting time. In the early 2010s, there had been a few artists coming out and receiving attention as a new wave of jazz. For me, I was really influenced by these younger jazz artists who were doing this sort of fusion. I introduced Glen to Hiatus Kaiyote. I grew up with Taylor McFerrin who is plugged into that scene with Robert Glasper. I think Kendrick Lamar blew that scene to the next level as far as awareness.
I knew at the time that there was a resurgence happening in jazz music. Glen has his own flavor and style, which I really appreciate and I think viewers and listeners of The Eddy music do, too. It’s vocal-based jazz. Glen is coming from more of a pop background, but he is so skilled, talented, and versed in all different types of music, he’s able to take that pop sensibility and make jazz music accessible to a wider audience. I think what Glen does very successfully is taking the complicated, high-level musicality art form and putting it into a digestible package for the masses, exposing them to more advanced music that they might not otherwise be exposed to.
That’s a great way to put it.
Jazz has been sidelined to a very niche audience for so long. People are brought into this music and these complicated concepts, without realizing they’re listening to it. They just like it because they like it and it’s pleasing, but it’s challenging, as well. For me, that’s a really attractive concept because I’ve always been a huge fan of Stevie Wonder; he’s done this so well as a pop artist.
I’m always interested by pop artists who take seemingly complicated concepts or important messages and wrap it into a pop medium to make it accessible. Glen is doing that in his own way which I really respect. For me, there was a larger mission. It’s not just that I want to be in the music business. I have to have a sort of political endgame in all of this. I didn’t really care about being in the entertainment business. I don’t care about Hollywood in that sense and maybe that’s because I grew up around it. It’s not seductive and sexy when you see behind-the-scenes. I have to have a purpose going in. I have to like the people and like what they’re doing.
That methodology sounds very down-to-earth. It’s not just a show, it’s not just music, it’s a movement in some way. I truly think the show is going to revive a lot of that interest in the genre so my next question for you is: you focus so much on the music, but do you feel responsibility as a storyteller? Narratively, do you prevent yourself from putting in fluff, per se, and ensuring that you’re not just putting in something because it’s enjoyable music, but that it also serves the story? In some of the reviews of the show, people criticize that there are a lot of diversions simply to showcase the music. I actually love that. I love feeling like I’m right there, at the club. I enjoy the breaths the show takes. I don’t feel like I’m watching a show, I feel like I’m a part of a world. Particularly with the opening scene, you have that Goodfellas Copacabana-feel. There’s also a John Cassavetes feel to it. Are you thinking about storytelling as much as the musical aspect?
Because we were involved in the show and I’m an associate producer, we definitely weren’t a traditional music team. We were involved in developing the show, characters, and the music as a vehicle for these characters. There’s no divorcing advancing character development and the music. It’s the same thing in this show because all of the music is tied to how the characters evolve and unveil themselves. Every song was chosen for a purpose. None of it was just thrown in there. Some of those got in there really easily and some of those song choices were really painful to get in. Ultimately, I’m really proud of every sequence that we did.
We had meetings where some of the songs were put into the script already by Jack Thorne. We knew certain songs were going to be in certain episodes. Our showcase song, “The Eddy,” was always in the pilot episode. A lot of the other songs were written as music moments when you have to figure out what’s supposed to go here, what are we trying to say, and what are the characters trying to say. A lot of the music was recorded live on set which is just insane.
I can just imagine. Didn’t A Star Is Born do that also?
They did! There’s not many shows that have done this. In our research for The Eddy, we referred to A Star Is Born on how to execute the music live on set. This was a whole dance we really had to figure out. No one else had ever really done that. Most of my supervisor friends said we were crazy. For A Star Is Born, they did this thing where they performed live on set, but they didn’t amplify any of the music to the audience so the audience at Coachella had no idea what was going on onstage; they couldn’t hear the music being performed. I think that also came from a privacy situation where they didn’t want people videotaping that music and putting it on the internet before the movie was out.
You had mentioned before that the musicians and the actors are one and the same. What was that like? When they’re trying to perform, are you having to constantly give them direction or are you just letting them lean into whatever their intuition is? Jazz is improvisational, as well, so I’m just curious what that process is.
All of these musicians were not actors prior. For us, it was a tough battle because there’s definitely tension of not wanting to cast non-actors in acting roles. We just couldn’t negotiate on that point. There’s no way we can fake this if you want to do live music on set and that was always the goal with Damien.
I was on set for all of the music and many non-music days. I helped the actors with navigating being an authentic musician, but also with musicians, I was there to support the acting part of it. Since we were the music experts on set, I think a part of our role was educating the crew and creative team about what it’s like to be a real musician. Myself, Randy, Glen, Danny Wirick who was our vocal and music coach, and Scott Campbell, our recording supervisor, were all there to be helpful to The Eddy crew to say what’s authentic, what sounds good, and so on. We were really involved in consulting the music aspect of this. Not only for the musicians themselves, but also the characters who are musicians and singers. Not everyone who is playing those parts work in the music business full-time or for their whole lives. We were involved in creating the look, feel, and authenticity.
For the musicians, they had amazing help on set because of the incredible directors we worked with. We had an incredible dialogue and acting coach, Dany Héricourt, who is very well known in France. She was an incredible asset to our production, and coached all of the musicians so she was really heavily involved in prepping them as far as getting them comfortable with the acting part. I do think, for the most part, it’s easier for musicians to act than it is for actors to play music. You can’t learn to be an incredible musician. You can learn so much, but to really have that “it” factor to be at a certain level that I’ve had the privilege to grow up with, you just know you can’t teach someone to be a star. You have it or you don’t have it. You have that charisma or you don’t. I think when musicians are put into positions of having to act, they already have that charisma to a certain degree. It’s a shorter distance to jump. Actors have the charisma, but having to hone skills of a musician, that takes years.
Absolutely. Musicians, like you said, they have a stage presence. They’re comfortable in front of an audience. Stage presence is a big deal. It sells the music. You have to learn how to act when you play music. You have to rile that audience up.
Being a performer is being an actor. That’s why you can see an artist like Lady Gaga make that transition so easily and seamlessly. Clearly, she’s been an actress for a long time. Whitney Houston, too. There are so many examples of musicians making that transition because they already have that innate aspect. We see some incredible performances. I was so blown away. Randy Kerber is an incredible piano player, but he’s never truly acted before. You just want to see more of him. Jowee, Ludo, Damian, and Lada carried whole episodes by themselves.
Back to what you were saying about authenticity, in today’s world, when there are so many different streaming platforms, I think it shapes what you do and how you proceed. Netflix can pick up any niche genre and make it popular for that audience and beyond. I think what’s wonderful about these platforms is that they have the resources to bring to the fore what people maybe wouldn’t ever look at and adopt on their own. Do you think that these streaming platforms for film and television, but also for music, are changing the way you’re telling stories?
Of course. Streaming platforms are replicating things that we’ve already seen happen in the music business. In the music sector, we were exposed to the pros and cons of streaming and the digital world way before film and television got exposed to it. It’s really exciting to see new types of artists gain popularity and grassroots followings, in otherwise what would have been a tough space with just tightly held outlets of released music. Where if you have more places to release art, you’ll be exposed to other things that you wouldn’t have been necessarily exposed to otherwise with just a few major labels releasing music. I think there’s a democratization of art in a way. The challenge, too, is there’s so much stuff out there.
How do you filter it? How do you break a part and break out from all of the other content and that’s where something like our show comes in. It’s so different. So many aspects of our show are a lot more forward-thinking than others. It’s tough that there’s so much content and options. For independent artists, it’s a lot of work to be an artist. Sometimes you can be an incredible, gifted artist and if the right stars don’t align for you or the right people don’t hear you, people don’t become fans quickly to catapult you to that next level. It can be very tough. I think a lot of people get missed in this new world. I think about: who are the filters and what are the filters? The filter is the homepage. If it doesn’t land on the homepage, you’re probably not going to see it at first.
To that point, because there is so much stuff out there, for people who want to make independent films it’s harder for them to get a well-known star attached. I read in an interview that producer Julie Lynn said, “A lot of these actors can get their artistic passion projects made at the streamers now, they don’t necessarily want to do these indies for no money because they can take their passion project to a streamer, get paid, and know that it’s going to be seen. The possibility of a big movie star taking a chance on a two-million-dollar indie that’s going to go sell itself at a festival has gotten more and more rare.”
I would hope that those artists, if they’re worth their salt, would get a paycheck, do something like that, and then spend time working on a film they really believe in. There’s a time and place to pay the bills, and there’s a time and place to do something that matters. If you’re really not trying to do something or say something and are just producing content to make money, you’re going to burn out at some point. I just don’t know if that’s going to mean anything in the future. If you don’t make a statement or have a purpose to your art, no one is going to remember you. There is so much music that is so popular, but no one is going to listen to it in ten years. Stuff that is going to stick out has to be different and say something to people. I think there’s a lot of fluff out there. Not to say I haven’t participated in some of that, but if that was the bulk of what I was doing with my life and career, I wouldn’t be very happy. As a business, it’s not that exciting to me.
That’s a great point. It almost feels like a luxury when you can only work with things that you feel have a purpose. I’m so happy to hear that this experience was worthwhile and fulfilling. That’s always what you want to hear when someone makes something. Sometimes that’s rare. Some people have the most awful experiences making films!
You’re totally right. It is a privilege to seek and get purpose in your work. I don’t think a lot of people have that opportunity. You have to do things to pay bills, support yourself. I’m definitely a privileged person who can have that sort of freedom. I think everyone can find something and find purpose in what they do by asking yourself how you can inject purpose. I think there’s something to be said for people who make popular art, but also inject purpose into it. I think it’s just about finding ways that make it accessible and intelligible.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I would just encourage people to listen to the soundtrack. There’s a lot of heart and soul there. I don’t think you’ll hear any other authentic expression of music in film and television because this is actually live. I can’t stress that enough. I’m just so proud we did live music on set. It just makes watching the show so much more pleasurable that you know there’s no faking it.
Performing music is such a physically demanding task. A lot of the stuff we get today is very sugary and created solely behind a computer. Music like jazz is highly emotional and involves your whole body. Getting that live, the amount of appreciation for something like that is unbelievable. It’s exhausting to just film something and to film something like that is just so cool. Congratulations!
Musicians are athletes! For the scene in Episode 3 for Elliot’s birthday, the musicians did not stop playing for three hours. No one called cut. It was a marathon.
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For more of Angela’s work, please visit: http://www.angelavicari.com/work