https://musiciansreveal.com/podcast/chance-howard-brien-nielsen-interview/

From the Musicians Reveal Radio Vault: Joe Kelley sits down with funk maestro Chance Howard (Prince, NPG, The Time) and jazz virtuoso Brien Nielsen to discuss their dynamic collaboration—the Howard-Nielsen Project. Recorded in 2012, this rare conversation dives into their shared roots in funk, jazz, soul, and electronic music.

Hear how they blend classic samples with fresh compositions, approach songwriting, and keep their sound authentic in a fast-changing industry. From early jam sessions to the energy of live performance, Howard and Nielsen share laughter, inspiration, and insight into their unique chemistry. A must-listen for fans of Prince, Minneapolis funk, and genre-bending innovation.

🎙️ Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley features legendary and emerging funk, R&B, and Prince-associated artists. On air since 1982 and now spanning five decades, the show was personally spotlighted by Prince on his website in 2004. He also gifted us the One Nite Alone box set in 2002 — before any other media outlet.

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That's a standout track from a very talented musician, singer and producer, multi instrumentalist, Mr. Chance Howard.

You know, Chance Howard, as keyboardist, bassist, drummer, singer, performed in the bands Prince and the New Power Generation, Morris Day in the Time, and currently playing in Candy Dolpher's band. And he's joined up together with an outstanding musician as well from the Twin Cities and Mr. Brian Nielsen. They're with us tonight.

It's an honor to have them on the show. Chance Howard and Brian Nielsen. How you doing, guys?

Hey. Hey, what's up, man? How you doing? Yeah, going on.

We're doing good on a Monday night. And what's happening in the Twin Cities Monday night? Are you guys just gonna kick back after the show? Are you going out to Bunkers, or what do you.

What do you guys do, man?

We are in the lab right now. We're just. We just been in the lab pretty much, man.

Just trying to knock out all these tunes for these projects that we got going on and stuff, you know, so trying to do all of that. I got my project. I got the Boom Boom Rooms project. I got. We got the Howard Nielsen project, you know, so we got a lot of stuff going on.

So we just trying to just get it all knocked out, you know.

Now, Brian Nielsen and Chance Howard, How. How'd you guys first get affiliated and want to work together? Oh, sorry. Brian's laughing.

Yeah, because I'm recounting back when I first met Chance.

I was actually playing at a club with a blues singer, Barbara Lashore, out of Chicago, and I just hooked up with Chance to hear me playing, and we just immediately hit it off, you know, I mean, and ever since then, that was about 12 years ago, we've had the pleasure of working with each other. I've got a lot of admiration and respect for him. Hopefully, he's got the same for me, definitely. You know, you have to be able to work together.

You know, your personalities have to gel. And he's. Chance is a rarity. You know, he's a rare musical genius in my mind.

Wow.

Because.

Keep talking.

Yeah, that's right. We got the tape rolling, Chance.

Thank you, bro. That's documented well.

He's very melodic, you know, because he's a singer, so that's how he approaches the music very melodically.

And I'm more.

I come from more of a jazz academic background, so he's always. He's always got me on point, always checking me out.

Funny thing. The funny thing about Brian is, you know, he's just like. He's this Jazz cat. But he's funky as hell, dude. He's just so funky, man.

And he doesn't really think he is. But I. You know, here's another thing, too. A lot of people don't really understand this. I think a lot of musicians listening will get it.

You know, it's like. It's hard to find a keyboard player, not.

Not a piano player, because the majority of bands consist of guys that play piano, but they just happen to have a Yamaha motif or Triton keyboard, you know, this big keyboard. So people, you know, they look at them as being a keyboard player. A keyboard player is Monty Moyer.

Right.

You know what I'm saying? I am a keyboard player. Keyboard players are like that.

Prince is a keyboard player, you know, person that can, like, manipulate a sound in a keyboard, you know, and somebody that can, like, just take that sound and take you places with it.

That's an entirely different discipline than being a whole different.

It's a whole different game than a piano player. Than a piano player.

Thinking in terms of parts.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, Chance's music, you can approach it. It's like the parts line up vertically, you know, they stack up, you know, so that there's space. But that's what I like about working with him is he.

He helps me think like that, you know?

And, yeah, this dude, he's a funky cat. Joe.

Yeah. We've got. We're going to get into some music right now from the Howard Nielsen project, which is well underway. You guys have.

How I know you gave us about five or six songs. How many songs have you recorded or plan to release officially?

What it is. It's funny, because the way that it all came up, it was. We just.

We just decided to do something like when I'm off, when I'm not working with Candy or whatever, and I'm at home, we just wanted to do something that we could do that would make some quick, easy money. We were actually going to call the band Easy Money at one point, you know. So what we decided to do was we decided to take samples from some of these.

Some different records that you might recognize, and then put our own actual music to the record, you know. So, like, when you hear Georgie Porgy, the only actual drumbeat or samples from those records are the drumbeat and the. That's a sample from Total.

Everything else is me and Brian.

Okay.

You see what I'm saying? So. So we did. We started doing that, and then we just, you know, we just decided to just put a whole, you know, gambit of songs together.

You know, we haven't like thought about releasing anything. We just, I just put it up on Facebook and got some pretty cool feedback.

Right.

But if it takes, if it takes place, we might wind up doing it, you know.

Yeah, we'll get into it right now. Chance Howard, Brian Nielsen are our guest. You can connect with Chance, Chance Howard on Facebook. Brian, you're up there as well, right?

I'm up there, yeah.

Right. Connect with Brian as well and definitely check out the music and we'll talk more about their project and the guys individual things.

But right now, Chance, I'll preface this song. Georgie Porgy right now. This is the Howard Nielsen project right here on wvof.

Great.

From the Twin Cities, the Howard Nielsen project. Chance Howard, Brian Nielsen, Georgie Porgy doing their own style on a classic. Georgie Porgy. And we're going to get into some more.

We're going to get in a feel like making love a little while. That's another great version you guys have done. So Chance, let me ask you. I know a lot of people know you from the time and Prince and the mpg.

Last time I saw you, you. We saw the Musicology tour with Prince and I gotta ask you because as a fan I actually had front row seats and was able.

I actually talked to you real briefly when you came off stage during the show. It was that close. But it was tough to see parts of the stage. I didn't think I saw Renato Neto for the whole show because he was on the other side.

But as a musician playing in a stage configured like that on Musicology tour with Prince, was it difficult for you?

No, no. I mean, you know, a stage is a stage. As far as that, as far as that goes.

And you know, playing with Prince, you know, that's always been, that's always been a blessing, you know. You know, I guess. I mean you got your good days, you got your bad days and whatnot.

But as far as playing with him and everything, man, that was, that was like a once in a lifetime kind of thing, man, you know, it was so much fun, man. I really, I was blessed to be able to be on that tour, that's for sure.

When, when you get the call or whatever, how Prince communicates for you to join his band, what's that scenario like for yourself?

Basically it's like, you know, I think everybody that's been in his band goes through this and it, it kind of works like, you know, you get a phone call and it's not him. It's some go between that just says, prince would like to talk to you. He'll be able to be available. Will you be available at such and such time?

You know, you say, yeah, yeah, I'll be available at 5 o'. Clock. And they say, okay, well, he'll call you back at five. And then he doesn't call you back till about six.

And then they put you on the phone and they say, well, okay, can you hold on for one second? He'll be. He'll be with you in a minute.

And that minute is about 10, 15 minutes, you know, and then he gets on the phone and we just kind of just go through things, you know, this is cool. You know, you just got to know that. You got to know what you're dealing with, you know, you got to know that from the gate.

And once you know that and everything else is what it is, it's cool.

Now, as far as keyboards for that tour, what responsibilities were you given specifically? I know you also sang as well.

Yeah, I mean, I had background duties basically, and a lot of.

I guess you could call me the co signer of the show, you know, like, I had to make sure that everything had that kind of had that James Brown thing to it, you know, where I was, you know, I was just put in the place of just getting the crowd pumped and all that stuff, you know. But I mean, as far as keyboard duties, it was funny because when I first started playing with him, my job was.

He told me my job was just to just make it funky.

Just like that.

Just like that, you know, When I got in the band, it was one of those kind of things. Come on in, let's just make it funky. Put that bubble, do what you do, you know, which was cool, you know.

And then once we got into the show, he's very meticulous, you know, so he wants it to be the way he wants it to be, period, you know, that's what makes a band tight. It's not about you playing, you know, a whole bunch of stuff and this and that and that and this. It's about what you don't play, you know, Silence.

I always tell people, silence is a part of the band, you know, and that's what made that band so tight, was we stayed close to what we were playing. We didn't really jump outside of that unless he gave you a solo. Then you did your thing, you know.

And you guys have. And you could see the YouTube clip up up there, your version. No diggity. Great song three. Yeah, that's a. You, you Tore it up there.

Oh, yeah, man, that was. That was a lot of fun, man. That was a lot of fun.

We just, you know, he was just in that mood, you know, he was just in that funk mode and we just ripped it up there. I think we were in dc. I think so. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Because Mike Scott from dc. Yeah.

Oh, that's right. Mike's back playing with the band now.

What's that?

Mike's back playing in the mpg, I heard.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

He was on our show last year. In the last year. Yeah.

Yeah. That's good, man.

So Chance Howard is with us, one of the funkiest cats around. Soulful voice. And Brian Nielsen as well. They are working together on the Howard Nielsen project.

I gotta ask, Brian, tell us a little bit about your background. You mentioned jazz and blues and how did you first get into this crazy music business?

I've been playing out since I was about 19, so I suppose I'll give away my age, but that's about 30 years.

I'm in that era.

Yeah, but I mean, back in that time, if you're a musician, you played out. And so I got to play with a lot of different players over the years. I did get a music degree.

I have all that training and studied with various people. But you really learn how to, like Chance says, what to play and what not to play.

You do that by playing with really good musicians and you get funky by playing with the cats, who are funky, because it's like a culture and there's a whole vibe around all that. And it's something that you. You know, music is a language, and you communicate with each other through that language.

Exactly. Break it down. Break it down, bro. That's right.

You know, and it's rule governed, you know, I mean, there are rules to it, you know, you just can't get up and do a bunch of bs.

I mean, what makes it funky is that, you know, the drummer's playing the rest, not just the parts, you know, and the cats are grooving with each other and, you know, so, I mean, I got to play with several different great players. I never toured with anybody, but I. Over the years I've been. I've had the pleasure working and sharing the stage with all kinds of great.

And you're originally from Minneapolis as well?

No, I'm actually from Milwaukee. So when I was down in Milwaukee, I was doing a lot of stuff with Darrell Sturmer of Phil Collins fame.

And I had a band down there called Oceans, and we did a Lot of touring back in the day, and actually played up here quite a bit. You know, Prince would come down. There was a club called Jasmines. So he'd come down quite a bit. Chance had a band with Mike Scott and Kirk Johnson.

Yeah, yeah. That's basically where I wound up playing with Prince was because he started coming down to jazzing.

Oh, okay. Right.

Yeah. Because he'd always seen me with the time, but he had never seen me in my own element.

Right, right.

And then once he saw me in my own element, then he started, I guess his wheels got to turning or whatever. Next thing you know, I started hearing through the grapevine that he wanted to be in his own in his band. I'm like, whoa. Okay, so.

And I got to give it up. I don't know if I told Chance this, but years back, I brought a fellow musician to go see Morris Day in the Time at BB Kings in New York City.

And he really didn't know. He didn't really know too much about the time and the music catalog and everything.

But right about the third song into the show, he goes to me, he goes, you gotta check out the keyboard player. This guy's amazing with the bass on the keyboards. He was talking about Chance.

Oh, damn.

So right off, you know, he gravitated right to you as a fellow musician. So.

Wow. That's cool. That's cool, dude.

Hey, we gotta get into some more of the Howard Nielsen project. Feel Like Making Love.

Yeah, man.

And we'll come back for one more segment, and then I'll play something with Chance and Candy Dolpher. But this is. Feel Like Making Love. Go to Facebook. Chance, Howard, he's posting new music up there.

You got a song for your mom and your kid up there as well, I think, the other day.

Yeah. Yeah.

What one is that called? What one was that called again?

That's called. I know. Okay. You know, it was basically a thing where I just didn't. I couldn't decide on if I wanted to write a song for my mom or for my son.

Okay.

And then I just decided, well, no one's ever written a song about the both of them in one song. So I just did that, you know? So, yeah, it's a cool song, man. It took me about.

Man, it took me about three weeks just to sing the verses after I wrote them because they kept touching me so much. I kept welling up, and I couldn't get my voice right to sing the song. I kept crying every time I tried to sing the song.

And then I finally Let my mom hear it. And she cried. I was like, okay, I know I did a good job.

So one day you got to release those alternative takes.

Yeah, definitely.

Right? All right, we'll get this going right now. Feel Like Making Love, Howard Nielsen Project.

And come back and talk with Brian Nielsen and Chance Howard in just a few. All right. That is definitely a great version from Howard Nielsen Project. Feel Like Making Love. And the guys from the band join us right now.

Brian Nielsen and Chance Howard. And do you guys have any intentions on going out, doing a duo live?

Oh, yeah, we're gonna do it live. We're definitely gonna start doing something here in the next few weeks. We just.

We're just trying to get it all situated first, you know, promo and all that kind of stuff. We just got to get the business aspect of it together first. And then we just gonna go out and just get funky. Where.

Where's the. Where's the hotspots right now? I know we. We know back in the day, First Avenue and Dakota. How about some of the current spots?

You guys like to perform or go check out somebody else out in the Twin Cities?

Wow. For me, I haven't really been out too much, man. Cause I've been overseas so much now.

That's right, yeah.

That when I come home, I'm just trying to rest, you know. And then when I rest, then it's like, now I gotta get back in the studio and stuff. So I haven't really been hanging out too much. But.

But the clubs that I do frequent when I go out is the Minnesota Music Cafe out here in St. Paul. And then you got, you know, of course, you got bunkers, you know, that's always hot on a. On a Sunday or Monday. That's always hot with the.

With Mambo's combo, you know, those. Those two places. For me, those are my key places, basically, you know.

How about yourself, Brian?

Yeah, I'd agree. I mean, there's, you know, of course, the Dakota. They have a lot of national jazz acts.

Yeah, Dakota's real cool. You know.

There'S a new venue called the Ice House that caters more to, like, this duo kind of format.

So we're probably going to be playing there, so. Yeah. Yeah. Be. Be knows more about the places he actually plays around town more than I do now because I'm not here.

Yeah. Chances referring to his great buddy Jelly Bean Johnson, a great friend of ours as well. And yeah, he.

He's always out there playing guitar and primarily guitar when he's not with the time. But, yeah, yeah, he loves that.

Exactly.

You know, I mean, he's. That's his. That's his baby, you know? I mean, he's. I think he was it. Well, he was. I don't think he was a drummer.

I mean, I don't think he was a guitar player before he was a drummer, but. But he loves guitar, so, you know, he's got about 8,000 guitars or something like that. Got some ridiculous number, man. It's crazy.

Now also, Chances is a key member of Candy Dolpher's band. They got a. Candy's got a brand new record. And you're going back out on tour? Us Tour? About a month or so. A couple months.

Yeah. Yeah, man. She's got an album out called Crazy. It's Hot, man. There's a producer from the Black Eyed Peas, his name is Prince Board.

He produced like, half of the record. And the other producer was her guitar player. His name is Ilko Bed. Bad dude, man. He's like one of the baddest guitar players I know, you know, bar.

Bar none. He's like one of the baddest. And, yeah, they both produced his records, you know, and. And I produced.

No, actually, I didn't produce anything on this record. I did. I just sang one. One song with her on it, you know, but it's a hot record, man. It's a really hot record.

Yeah, we've been playing it. Yeah.

Oh, really? Oh, that's great. That's great. You know, and, you know, I did the song that.

I think the song that I gave you was a song called Candy that I actually wrote for a friend of mine, Walter Chancellor.

Oh, yeah, He's a great guy. Yeah.

Yeah. I wrote a song for him back in the day called Something. And then years later, I wound up letting Candy hear it, and she loved it.

And I told Walt, I was like, man, I'm gonna go ahead on and let Candy do this song. And, you know, he was like, oh, man, that's an honor right there, dude. So we just. I just went and did it for her, but it was.

I totally flipped it around from what the version was with. With him.

I actually just played with him Friday night.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, yeah.

He just had a birthday not too long ago, I think, right?

Yeah, man. Walt getting old, man. He just. Oh, that's my man. Yeah. One of my best friends, man, here in town, man.

Yeah. What was the band Walt was with? Kirk Johnson, they had a tko, right?

Yep. They just got back together to play a benefit concert a few weeks ago.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Hey, we got to thank you guys. I know we're running on top of a little after the hour here, so we got to make our way for another show coming up. Somebody else.

But, yeah, you guys got to come on, you know, come on before the end of the year, because I'm sure, you know, the way the music business is, you write a song, you can put it up there and talk about it. You don't necessarily have to have the record press and everything like that, so.

Right.

You guys are always welcome to come by.

Yeah, man. We definitely appreciate it, man. Definitely appreciate all the love from. From all the fans, Prince fans, Candy fans, every fan, man.

It's just really cool, man. So much love to all of y'. All.

And we'll have this interview up in its entirety later in the week at Upper room with Joe Kelly.com Brian Nielsen and Chance Howard, Howard Nielsen Project. And thanks so much, guys.

All right, man. Thanks a lot, man.

Pleasure.

We're gonna send things out on a Monday night here in Connecticut with something Chance and his musical collaborator, Candy Dolpher song called Leela. This is real nice, Chance. Yeah. So thanks so much, guys.

All right, man. Thanks a lot.