[music]

Alison Stewart: This is All of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. In our run up to the Grammys, we've been featuring artists who were nominated. We've had Orrin Evans, Lakecia Benjamin. Now our next guest, pianist Donald Vega has received his first Grammy nomination as a band leader. He's described his album As I Travel as a musical autobiography. Vega's story includes his childhood surrounded by music in Nicaragua.

As a teenager, he immigrated to Los Angeles, and it was in LA where he discovered jazz. He later came east and studied in New York at the Manhattan School of Music at Juilliard. That education led to an opportunity to back the legendary bassist Ron Carter, and it's a gig Vega has held onto ever since. We'll get into that a bit more in a story. For now, As I Travel is nominated for a Grammy in the Best Latin Jazz Album category. Donald Vega is here now to perform. Welcome to WNYC.

Donald Vega: Hi, Alison. Thank you for having me here.

Alison Stewart: We're going to hear our first song. What are you going to play first?

Donald Vega: I'd like to do ¡Baila! Dance Like No One's Dancing. This is a song that I wrote for my son when he was little, and I catch him dancing when he was not looking. As a parent, when you see your kid happy, it's a beautiful feeling. I just saw him very joyful. The idea for this song came about also as I look back on my home country. I see that the people, even though there's so much poverty, the people are joyful. This is a celebration of that. This is called ¡Baila!.

Alison Stewart: Donald Vega.

[MUSIC - Donald Vega: ¡Baila! Dance Like No One's Watching]

Alison Stewart: That was Daniel Vega performing his composition ¡Baila! Dance like no one's Watching from his album As I Travel. You smiled when you were playing that. What were you thinking about?

Donald Vega: I was thinking about my son when he was little and joyful, having that joyful spirit, and also Nicaragua. I remember once I immigrated to the United States, I did not go back home until maybe 20 years later.

Alison Stewart: Wow.

Donald Vega: Then when I went there, I don't-- I went to my neighborhood and I saw the kids. They had no shoes, but they were happy. They played baseball on the street, but they were happy. Coming back, just thinking about, "Man, I didn't have much, but I was happy." I don't remember being sad or anything like that, and here I got everything. Sometime I said, "I can't find this, or I can find that," but that concept of how happy I was just being in a third world country.

Alison Stewart: You've described this album as a way of people knowing you. It's an autobiography in many ways. Why did it feel like the right time to tell everybody your story?

Donald Vega: I think the right time, obviously, I think I just wanted to document. I wanted to document my journey. Also, I've come so far, and I wanted to share that story with a lot of people that have actually supported me along the way as well.

Alison Stewart: I've read that there were some late nights in making this record. You had a couple long nighters. First of all, is that usual that you have those all nighters? [crosstalk]?

Donald Vega: Usually I do, but this time was a lot more. Part of it because I was really busy teaching and also just daily life stuff. Also, this project was very important to me and I kept on changing it. I'm a perfectionist as well. You want it to be just right. Even the night before the recording, I was still making changes.

Alison Stewart: You were born in-- Is it Masaya?

Donald Vega: Masaya.

Alison Stewart: Masaya, Nicaragua. You were there till you were 14. I understand you come from a musical family in some ways. What did you learn from your family?

Donald Vega: I come from a musical family, like you said. My grandfather was the composer there. What I learned is that music, it was like-- For example, when we had parties and holidays, they were really fun. I learned that music, it was a connection with everybody that connected the family, that we all-- A lot of my family, they play more than three instruments.

Alison Stewart: What?

Donald Vega: It was a little fun. That's because my grandfather believed in the music education, and he taught all his kids to learn how to play more than three instruments.

Alison Stewart: Donald, you started playing on the drums.

Donald Vega: That's correct. Yes. I tell my students something interesting that I noticed is that in Nicaragua, we start with the drums, we start with percussion, but in the US really, you start learning the notes and stuff like that. We don't do that. We do that later. We just do the rhythm. I think rhythm is part of life. You find that all over the place. I noticed that that's one of the difference.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Donald Vega. He's a pianist, a Juilliard professor, I should say, as well. His album As I Travel is nominated for a Grammy this year in the Best Latin Jazz Album category. Where were you when you heard you were nominated for a Grammy?

Donald Vega: I was at home. [laughs] It was so exciting. This is so incredible to be acknowledged. I tell my students that we do this because we love it. We love music, and if we get an encouragement like that, it's a plus.

Alison Stewart: Will you play another song for us? I would love to hear one.

Donald Vega: Yes, absolutely. I would like to play Isabel: The Enchanting Nature of You. This is a song that I composed for my daughter, Isabel. I like to say that she's very creative. The vibe of this song, it reminds me how beautiful she is and our bond. The relationship between son and the father is special, but the daughter and the fathers got some other thing that is special, [laughter] and I wanted to capture that.

Alison Stewart: This is Donald Vega.

[MUSIC - Donald Vega: Isabel: The Enchanting Nature of You]

Alison Stewart: That's Donald Vega. The song is Isabel. It's off his album As I Travel. It seems that family is really important to you.

Donald Vega: Absolutely.

Alison Stewart: I think about you being a kid, and your mom came to the States first. You had to wait till you were 14 before you came to the States. Thinking about that, in hindsight, what do you appreciate about your mom coming first and then you coming to the States?

Donald Vega: I appreciate my mom, number one, she's a very positive force of nature. I was born with a cleft palate. Man, she raised me like I had nothing-- nothing was wrong, and that's so beautiful. I know mothers are like that all over the world. I appreciate her love. I appreciate that she knew that I needed to get out of there at that time. It was at the time of the Iran Contra Affair Sandinista, and she was able to say, "I got to keep him safe." That's what all mothers do.

I really appreciate her. Just to let you know, Alison, I just remember back then, the government would stop buses and they will say, "If you're 15 years old and older men," they all get out. They will go to the trucks, and then you will never see them again. Then when I was in my neighborhood, like around 11 or 12, I remember going to funerals and moms were crying, and the moms could not-- They just had boots and helmet to mourn over. I appreciate my mom being able to see that and come to the US and send for me later.

Alison Stewart: When you got here, you didn't speak any English?

Donald Vega: That's correct.

Alison Stewart: What were your first impressions of the United States?

Donald Vega: It was overwhelming.

Alison Stewart: Yes, I bet.

Donald Vega: It was overwhelming. I wouldn't say I felt like an alien, [laughs] [unintelligible 00:17:06], but everything was different. The weather was really warm in Nicaragua, and then now I had to wear a jacket. The food, that now you have all kinds of things. It was incredible, and not being able to express yourself because I did not speak the language. It was very frustrating.

Alison Stewart: When you studied piano in Nicaragua, you studied traditional classical.

Donald Vega: Yes, I started by year, like around three, and then I have formal training. My father was the first one that taught me how to read music. Then I went to a conservatory and learned the classic.

Alison Stewart: Then you come to the United States. When did jazz grab you? When did jazz say, "I'm going to be your musical style?"

Donald Vega: Yes, absolutely. I was really blessed to have met so many wonderful mentors and teachers. I was living in South Central Los Angeles. I met Billy Higgins at the world stage in South Central, and I heard him play. I met so many people there that got hit me up to recordings. I heard Art Tatum, I heard Charlie Parker, Bud Powell. I was just like, "That's what I want to do." In fact, someone very close to me reminded me that I only knew two words in English, two words. I said, "What were those two words?" Bud Powell.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] That's it. That's all you needed to know at the moment.

Donald Vega: I guess that's all I needed to know. [laughs]

Alison Stewart: My guest is Donald Vega. I want to try to get one more song in. You think you can play one more song for us?

Donald Vega: Absolutely.

Alison Stewart: What are we going to hear?

Donald Vega: I'm going to play one of my favorite compositions and oldest one. It's called Tomorrows. I recorded it on my first album. It's about moving forward, not giving up, no matter what. There will be tomorrows.

Alison Stewart: I love it. This is Donald Vega.

[MUSIC - Donald Vega: Tomorrows]

Alison Stewart: That is Donald Vega, the pianist, Juilliard professor. His new album, As I Travel, is nominated for a Grammy Award this year. I understand you got the Guggenheim Fellow. How did it help to help you finish the album? How did it help you?

Donald Vega: Oh, yes, absolutely. They sponsored it. I used that money to do the recording, which is a blessing, because I think it took 10 years. I didn't record for 10 or 11 years. Then when I got the Guggenheim, I was able to do that.

Alison Stewart: You're still with the Ron Carter band?

Donald Vega: That's correct.

Alison Stewart: That's awesome. The name of the album is As I Travel. It is nominated for a Grammy this year for best Latin Jazz Album. Thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate you being here. I really do.

Donald Vega: Thank you, Alison, for having me.

Alison Stewart: There is more All of It on the way. Gary Gulman is known for turning his experience with mental illness into comedy, like in his HBO special The Great Depresh and his memoir Misfit. Now he's making his Off Broadway debut with Grand Eloquent. He'll join me in just a moment to discuss. There is more All of It on the way right after the news.