Jeff Goldblum on the importance of pursuing your dreams at any moment

Jeff Goldblum begins an interview as only Jeff Goldblum would — with his own question. 

"q, and I must ask, what is, what's q in reference to?" he asks. "Q, I know in James Bond movies there was a Q and he was the funny guy who gave him all the gadgets. Wait a minute, does it have something to do with that? No. Maybe it's q for question man."

"I think it's Q and A, and this is the q side of it all," replies host Tom Power.

"Ohh, so you're doing a show called q, and I'm doing a show called A. … We'll mix them up like chocolate and peanut butter and see how they go together."

When Jurassic Park debuted in theatres 25 years ago, Goldblum had already starred in The Fly, The Big Chill and Earth Girls Are Easy, but long before his adventures with dinosaurs, Goldblum started out as a jazz pianist, learning how to play when he was just 10 years old. He says that it was his "only wish" to be an actor, but he's never forgotten his passion for music or stopped playing.

"I try to fill my days with acting and getting meaningful employment here and there, which luckily, right now is a particularly fertile time, but every day I wake up and I play the piano," says Goldblum. "Thank goodness my mom gave us lessons because it's changed my life and it changes my days when I start by playing and add music to the day."

After decades of playing weekly jazz shows in Los Angeles, Goldblum has now captured a lifetime of music with his band The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra and released a debut album called The Capitol Studio Sessions. In order to capture some of the vibe of his live shows, it was recorded in studio, but they brought in an audience.

At their live shows, says Goldblum, "I don't even know the setlists and they play and I kind of play along and then I talk to the audience, not really even an audience, we just kind of hang out together and play games together and then share this music. And oftentimes we introduce some of this music to them because they've come for one reason or another. But we have a grand old time."

Speaking of grand old times, you can hear the full conversation above, where Goldblum talks about making music, dodging dinosaurs and pursuing dreams at any moment in life. He also sings the words to the Jurassic Park theme song, which you owe it to yourself to hear. 

Goldblum's debut album The Capitol Studio Sessions comes out Friday, November 9.

Listen to the full conversation with Jeff Goldblum near the top of this page. 

— Produced by ​Saroja Coelho

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