a prelude….
I remember my dad first showing me how to spin records at 4 years old and I was introduced to ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and a set of Pioneer headphones. WHOA! My mind was blown as I was introduced to musical candy. I spun what ever my parents had. My mom had the Sgt. Peppers, Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand records. My Dad had an audiophile bug that he bestowed to me as we would record FM Simulcasts onto his reel to reel.
My first opportunity to play music was chosen by my trumpet selection, perhaps influenced by my Uncle Tom whom showed me a trumpet, and also from Doc Severinsen, from the time of “its 10:30 Do you Know where your Children Are?’, and the Tonight Show Orchestra would then blare. I would get to listen to the band and be then sent to bed. As a side note, my mom attended the NAMM ’85 Expo in LA and procured for me a Getzen Prototype made for Doc, which he played at the Expo. As the show was done, my Mom was able to purchase it and I still have my Getzen today.
As a young teenager, I marched in the summertime with the Guardsmen Drum and Bugle Corp. This opportunity gave me all sorts of new experiences enduring new disciplines of corp life on the road. Amazing times indeed.
My Sophomore year of high school presented a void in the bass department and having an interest, I migrated to it for the high school jazz and pep bands. It was in this time I must credit my Band Director with two things, giving me three jazz alums to record for him onto cassette For it was Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and Steps Ahead, of whom Michael Breaker was in great form. Listening to the classic rock of my peers, I found about these artists and their lineages from going to the library checking out and listening to all I could from them. By the way, the inter-Library System is so amazing for discovering music! They even purchased compact discs for me, as it was a new music medium at the time, and I would request titles for purchase. By following each of the albums’ credits and personnel, this led me through to “family trees” of musicians whereas many players in jazz, play on other band leader’s albums. In example, Chick Corea’s ‘Elektric Band’ quickly led me to Miles Davis, and the players in his bands, which sent me in all sorts of directions to follow and discover in jazz, many musicians end up playing together at some point. I took notice of how an artist develops their own signature voice and how one can identify them. One can find people in the darnedest of places! Never did I expect l’d find Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke sitting in on a Seals & Crofts Album, and distinctively, their talents shine through. The other thing I credit my band director, Wesley Warner with, is directing me while playing bass, he didn’t care as much as what note I played, but that I play it in time! (I then practiced all my scales and modes more incessantly with a metronome, still today)
Don Komorski, for me a great mentor through out my life and beginning at age 12 with the organ, Don had introduced fundamental keyboard skills to me and later at 15 taught me how to play bass and form bass lines, amongst other musical facets. My lessons on bass with him included studying F. Simandl method exercises and then sight reading Jazz Standards from the real book as he played along on the Organ. These were my studies with a Jazz Master. Later, I apprenticed with Don learning the skillset of a piano technician, of which I still practice today. I like for people to be able to sit at their favorite piece of furniture and be inspired to make music with it.
There have been bands, Jams and Recordings through the years. First with a Jazz trio that typically featured a horn and or a guitar player. We played a bunch of private or restaurants gigs where my friends and I would play through various jazz standards for a few bucks and fun, we went as ‘Miles Ahead’. As the history goes, ‘Mister Fister’ was a rock project and may find its way through mastering and re-release here. My jazz trio members went on to form ‘Echosend’ with Dan DeRamos on guitar, and Introduce Ivy Gonzalez to the local scene. We were a proudly self-served band through out Chicagoland with some success. I found myself after band implosions, or Hiatus, looking for another avenue to play bass, where as my friend Bill Douglass introduced me to Chris Aaron. Bill Douglass was the assistant engineer to Chris Sheppard where we were fortunate to record Echosend with and I learned a great deal of Studio inter-workings, enhancing what I had heard for years on albums such as the Dark Side of the Moon and… others,HA! I can’t say how fortunate we were for these times and that I absorbed so much from these experiences at Chicago Recording Company. Chris Sheppard and Bill Douglass were very instrumental to how I manage my studio and sessions today.
As I mentioned Chris Aaron, playing with him was amazing. We shared so many great gigs together, many of which we captured because again Chris Sheppard had a similar effect on Chris as well as me, a serendipitous circle indeed. I first met Chris Aaron at Steve Hamilton’s studio in Milwaukee because Bill Douglass was in town from Colorado for few days and he invited me to hang out. Such great People to have the fortune of meeting that day! Chris Aaron’s ‘Bandallamas’ album is an another awesome assembly of players. Through Chris Aaron, I was steered to the Holiday Music Motel and pAt mAcdonald. I was introduced to the Steel Bridge Song Festival and helped out with the Ghetto Studio with Chris Aaron and Billy Triplett that we sprung up, taking over room 237. At the events following, held three times a year, I sat with Billy and helped him run the sessions and players, tag teaming together with Chris Aaron. Steve Hamilton brought portions of his studio up as well as Travis Kasperbauer and Dan O’Stoffels. Together with four Studios set up with a motel filled with forty-plus songwriters, let the mayhem go forth. I could not believe what I had stumbled into. pAt was brilliant in concept, Chris helped with managing recording studios, and Melanie Jane, well enough couldn’t be said of her talents in herding cats, also known as musicians and songwriters for each of the events. A tHankless job that I dearly appreciate her for and for so much more that which of she makes, and for embracing and managing the Holiday Motel in between events as a functioning motel, Go stay there, It’s beautiful!
Summing up to some current ambitions, it’s my intent here to make past recordings I’ve made available for anyone to easily listen upon. Perhaps some recordings will have physical media or pressings as interest presents.