When the Blue Note location in Hollywood first opened, it was during difficult times. Like almost all of Los Angeles, the location was affected by the January wildfires and the March opening was delayed until August.
However, since the Southern California location of the beloved jazz club franchise opened its doors, it has kicked off with a memorable run of sold-out shows and iconic moments, like Stevie Wonder joining Robert Glasper on stage last week. So, given everything that has happened in this unique inaugural year of 2025, the Blue Note team knew their first New Year's Eve show had to be noteworthy.
On Wednesday, Los Angeles resident and R&B legend El DeBarge will perform at the club to ring in the year 2026.
The Times recently spoke with DeBarge about his relationship with jazz, why he'll never retire and why he loves playing New Year's shows.
We're talking about your New Year's show at Blue Note. Will it be with the full band?
The New Year's show at the Blue Note in Los Angeles with [be with] half of my band. The place is a little small but it is a big powerful place. I sat down with Robert Glasper on location in New York and I feel very honored to do Blue Note again.
It's a big problem because this is the clubs First New Year's Eve in Los Angeles, how do you deal with it? Is it special for you to be the first?
It's very special for me to be the first person to play Blue Note NYE because it's an honor. Robert Glasper called me and said, “Hey, El, I was instrumental in helping launch Blue Note in Los Angeles.” I said, “Great,” because he told me they were going to get one. The next thing I know, I get a call from my manager saying, “Hey, they'd love for you to do New Year's Eve at the Blue Note.” I was like, “What? That's cool to me.” I've heard nothing but wonderful things about it. I love the acoustics there. [in New York].
Have you had any memorable New Year's shows over the years?
Every time I've done a New Year's show it's been just great. Like you said, people are in great spirits, everyone has made their resolutions and is happy and eager to do it and we just have a great time. Nobody wants to go home (laughs).
“I think this New Year's is very special for many reasons, but especially for all the people who were suffering, hurt by the fires,” DeBarge said. “I even want to take a moment, if I can, on stage and just honor them.”
(Courtesy of El DeBarge)
What is the best song to play at midnight?
“Rhythm of the Night” is one of my favorites to play. People really request it. If I say, “What do you want to hear to ring in the New Year?” Most will say “Rhythm of the Night.” It's just a fun, dancing, happy time. It brings back a lot of memories for people.
When you play smaller venues like City Winery or Blue Note, are there songs you'd like to revisit?
Yes, I find that I can get away from the usual way of playing and singing a song and that I can extend the song a little bit and maybe slow it down, take my time and stop. Then there are a lot of people in the audience who let loose and just sing with you and I can hear them because it's up close. Sometimes I'll even go up and take the microphone to someone and just sit and sing with them on the edge of the stage because they're so close. It's fun that way.
As someone who lives in Los Angeles, you know this year has been very difficult since it started with the fires. Given how difficult this year was, do you feel like this New Year has extra meaning?
I think this New Year is very special for many reasons, but especially for all the people who were suffering, who were hurt by the fires. I even want to take a moment, if I can, on stage and just honor them. It's just a moment of silence. Just remember them, those who lost things, those who lost lives. And I am very grateful like never before to be here. And it is a great honor to have been selected to ring in the new year.
Blue Note is a historic jazz club. Talk about your relationship with jazz.
I have a very deep association with jazz since my childhood, thanks to my brother Bobby, may he rest in peace. And a gentleman named Ricky Calliar, who I talk about a lot lately because he was an important mentor in my life growing up. When I met him, I was about 9 years old and I played the piano and he taught me a lot. He took a special interest in me and always played Thelonious Monk, Joe Sample of the Crusaders, and referred to them and Miles. Ricky also plays the trumpet. Like I said, I've been talking about him a lot lately because he's been instrumental in my musical learning experience. But he and my brother Bobby were instrumental in connecting me to jazz. And I recently received the Joe Sample Award. I flew to Houston, Texas, and they honored me with that. I won't say I played piano as well as Joe Sample, but it was an honor to receive it.
When you go back and listen to your own work over the years, are there jazz influences that you hear in your music?
It's funny you say that. I was listening to a lot of Joe Sample and the Crusaders, like I said, and also Earth, Wind and Fire. I didn't realize how much of an influence he and Philip Bailey's producing and writing had on me. I started to slow down the music and just listen. It just hits you at a point in your life and you think, “Wow, when I wrote this song I didn't realize I influenced it that much.” Because it becomes so much a part of you, it's automatic. Just by sitting down and writing, I'm writing songs like I'm sitting there with Joe Sample or Earth, Wind and Fire. If I sat down and represented it to you, you would see it and hear it.
Is there a Earth, wind and fire Song you would love to cover?
“September” is the happy song, but the one I would love to do is “I Can't Let Go.” That song had a big influence on me. I would love to even sit down and do that with them if I could. I love that song. I met them many times over the years. And I love to sit. I sat in and played with them at DJ Cassidy's birthday party. He and I, Philip Bailey and Verdeen [White]We were sitting at the piano at his birthday party and we sang “That's the Way of the World.” I played it on the piano, Philip Bailey sang and Verdeen played bass. I was in paradise.
As you said, your association with Blue Note goes back to Glasper. Your music has influenced many people. How fun is it to play with different people?
There is a young gentleman named Lucky Day. He inspired me: I was doing a concert with him and Stevie Wonder at Stevie's annual Christmas show. Just being on stage and listening to him, he's just an extraordinary young man. In fact, I daresay he and I were talking about doing something together in the near future, possibly in '26. I'm really looking forward to that.
If there was anyone you could have gone out and jammed with on New Years, who would it be?
It would be Sting. I would love to just stand there and jam because with the energy we would both bring, I know it would be phenomenal. If I had another choice, it would definitely be Robert Glasper because I want to exchange skills with him. He is very good at improvising. I love his ear and I love when people encourage my ear. I know Sting and Robert, they would really encourage me to listen. It would just be lighting up. And I can't say the same for many people. Those are two people who would really help me be creative.
What songs would you like to do with Sting?
I would like to do “King of Pain” with Sting if it were one of his songs. If it were a DeBarge song, “Stay With Me.”
Are there songs in your catalog over the years that you've really developed a new appreciation for or that are your favorites?
“Stay With Me” really resonates with me. One thing I didn't know when I was younger was the importance of paperwork. I wrote that song with my brother Marty. And I didn't pay any attention to the paperwork when I was with Motown and my name never, to this day, ended up as the writer of the song. And now it's over, it's probably too late to do anything about it. But I didn't understand the paperwork, the importance of it. Because being an artist, sometimes we keep writing, we keep performing and we don't take the time to run the business. That was a mistake I made.
“I would give advice in a minute to any up-and-coming artist: Manage your business, because it's show business and that's all it is,” DeBarge said.
(Courtesy of El DeBarge)
Now that you're older, do you appreciate and understand that and everything that happens in general much better?
Yes. I have a deep appreciation for the entire business aspect of show business. I would give any up-and-coming artist one piece of advice in a minute: run your business, because it's show business and it's everything.
Do you notice that you also appreciate moments differently?
My thing is that I also find it euphoric because I passionately love music. So every time I have a musical experience, whether it's on stage with Robert Glasper at the Blue Note or Stevie Wonder or just in the studio writing with people, I feel so euphoric that, in retrospect, it's often a lot better for me because I get caught up in the moment. It's a lot of ecstasy because I love it that way. And music is really like a high for me. So yeah, a lot of times I look back and that's when I really appreciate things. And I'm like, “Wow, if I could have that moment again, I would have done this or said this or acted like this.”
Since you don't play in Los Angeles often, when you play here, is every show special?
Yes it is. I love Los Angeles and I say it everywhere I go, I love Los Angeles. And every time I get the opportunity to play in Los Angeles, it's usually because someone asked me to, I guess you could say modest or I'm just humble. I just don't expose myself. If I didn't have a manager, I'd probably just be at home. I never expose myself, but I am a sociable person. So, I love playing in Los Angeles and I love every opportunity I get to play in Los Angeles. I always feel honored and always try to do my best when I play in Los Angeles because it's my home. It's like New York. Every time I do those two places, I think, “Oh my God, I have to do my best.”
You say music is euphoric for you. It's impressive that you still have this level of enthusiasm and reverence for it after so many years of doing it.
I don't think I've ever lost my joy, my enthusiasm for music. I don't remember a time in my life when I said I was absent from the joy and splendor of simply making music, singing, playing the piano, writing. I've heard other artists talk about their retirement, I've heard some artists actually planning their retirement. “I'm going to do this until I'm this age and then I'm going to do that.” I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to feel like this. Because for me music is everything. I'm going to do it until I stop breathing. How I feel about music, what I've learned over the years is that I've learned a lot about myself, just through music. I feel like we are one. I feel like we are inseparable. I don't know what I would do without him.
