Steve Mandel (part one)

Dangerous Amusements: the Elvis Costello playlist

Steve Mandel is an audio engineer, producer and songwriter highly regarded for his work with The Roots.

He first encountered his hero, Elvis Costello, while working on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, on which The Roots were the house band. Steve suggested they perform an old arrangement of Costello’s High Fidelity and took a stash of albums for Elvis to sign.

They would go on to collaborate on a variety of projects, from further performances on Fallon to Mandel-produced recordings of Costello’s interpretations of Squeeze’s Someone Else’s Heart and American Tune by Paul Simon.

Most notably, Elvis, Steve and The Roots worked together on the acclaimed 2013 album, Wise Up Ghost.

In this first part of our conversation, Steve tells me how he came to be a Costello fan, what it was like working together and how Elvis gave Steve his favourite day of his life.