Grammy winner and Maroon 5 keyboard player PJ Morton has spent over two decades releasing solo work — gospel and R&B-inspired pop reminiscent of Stevie Wonder. His new album takes a different direction by incorporating African influences. He wrote Cape Town to Cairo during a 30-day trip across the continent.
Morton says he started experimenting with music at age 8, largely influenced by his parents, who are pastors in the Baptist Church. His dad Paul sings gospel and incorporates music into his sermons. His mom enrolled him in piano lessons as a child.
“My ear was moving so fast that I didn't really have the discipline to sit down and learn the scale,” Morton tells KCRW. “I was already playing stuff on TV and radio, and I was happy with that.”
Then at 14, he got serious about the craft. While he primarily played gospel, especially at church with his dad, Morton dabbled in R&B. He had to sneak around to play the genre which wasn’t considered church appropriate.
L to R: Jesse Carmichael, PJ Morton, Adam Levine, Michael Madden, and James Valentine of Maroon 5 arrive at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA on February 12, 2012. Photo by Lionel Hahn/ABACAPRESS.COM via Reuters.
Morton got his start with Maroon 5 in 2010, when he received the call that the band needed a touring keyboardist and singer. He recalls the whirlwind of events that led to joining the group: “The band had their first audition ever. They've been a band since eighth grade. They had never auditioned anybody.”
He continues, “I played ‘Sunday Morning’ in rehearsal. And they were like, ‘What else do you know?’ And we just jammed out, and they canceled the next day of auditions. I've been there 14 years now.”
Two years into playing with the band, Morton started pulling double duty, working on his solo music and touring. He released new music after signing with Lil Wayne’s Young Money record label.
“I opened up for a tour. Kelly Clarkson was there and then I closed with Maroon. And then we did Europe [where] I opened [and] Robin Thicke played,” he explains. “We've been creative with it. And for me, I just had to learn our gaps and rhythms.”
The idea for Cape Town to Cairo came from Morton’s conversation with his manager about Paul Simon’s studio album Graceland, which was partly recorded in South Africa and included local musical styles like isicathamiya and mbaqanga. However, some critics have said Graceland was cultural appropriation.
Morton decided he wanted to do his own version, but write it entirely while on the continent and collaborate with artists there.
“I didn't really know [it would be such an] undertaking … like going from South Africa, to Nigeria, to Ghana, to Egypt. I maybe thought some of those flights were shorter than they were. But I'm glad I didn't know. Because it became … one of the most amazing experiences in my life thus far.”
He continues, “I've never been to South Africa or West Africa. … That's where my lineage is. And so West Africa, I felt a connection, like Nigeria, Ghana.”
The fourth song on the album, “Who You Are,” features Mádé Kuti, the grandson of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti.
The collaboration happened after Morton landed in Lagos on Fela Kuti’s birthday, which coincides with the annual Felabration festival.
“We immediately dropped our bags and went straight to the festival, and I was just amazed with the energy. Femi Kuti, [who is] Fela’s son, and Mádé, his grandson, performed that night. And when I saw the dancing and the percussion and the horns, it just brought me back home [to New Orleans].”
The next day, Morton wrote numerous songs on the album, including “Smoke and Mirrors,” “Who You Are,” and “All The Dreamers.”
“I was so inspired by Felabration. … I reached out to Mádé, and he was down to hop on it and put his touch on it. And it's an anthem to me. I was discovering who I was in real time in Africa. We're so enamored with material things and likes and follows these days. But I'm like, ‘Do we know who we are?’ I was discovering that and feeling that as I was there in Nigeria.”