My 2003 conversation with stage and film director Roger Michell, who died September 2021 at the age of 65. Emotional truth was Roger’s focus, whether directing Shakespeare on stage, a television comedy, an edgy, intense film like Changing Lanes or his most famous film, the romantic comedy Notting Hill.

Roger loved jazz and felt it shared his focus on emotional truth. Throughout his career, he used his favorite jazz recordings to inspire his stage and film projects.

I met Roger Michell on a QEII crossing from England to NYC, where I was performing and he was lecturing. We became friends and agreed to meet during my next U.K. visit to have the following conversation for Jazz Inspired, which we recorded at the BBC studios in London.