June 8, 2005
Interview by Susan Johnson

Working his magic once again, Brian has just released It's On Tonight which is a “12-song seduction suite” with guest artists, Patti Austin, Will Downing, Marc Nelson, Boney James, Kirk Whalum and Chris Botti. Touring to promote his new record, Brian talks about the story the CD tells, his wife Michelle's new CD and their new puppy.

SmoothViews (SV): You've just released your 8th CD, It's On Tonight. What makes this your best CD yet?
Brian Culbertson (BC): That's a good question. I think it's definitely a different CD in terms of the… kind of the concept of it was totally different for me. Pretty much from the beginning I decided to do a whole record that was in the vein of the track that I had done before, the slow tracks. I'd always do one or two on the CD and people always responded well to those. So I decided… Hey you know what? It would be cool to do the whole album that is in this mood that doesn't break the consistency. So that's one thing I really wanted to do. That's kind of the main difference between this and all of the other records. There's a consistent vibe that remains throughout the whole CD that doesn't detract from whatever it is that you got goin' on! (laughs)

SV: It's On Tonight has been described as “ultra-sexy.” Even the song titles give off that vibe… “Sensuality,” “The Way You Feel,” and “ Touch Me. ” Is this a CD you'll be able to perform live or will it need to be music piped into hotel rooms?
BC: Well, I've actually done about five or six different songs live already and it works quite well. I'll probably do about two, sometimes three, new songs on the show. I've been kind of mixing them up, depending on where I'm playing. It works well actually. The first release is “Hooking Up” which is track two. Reaction at the shows has been good, very good. As with any new songs, everyone kind of… it's a little more quiet because they're listening… they're like, “Ooooh, what is this? Okay. This is new. Cool!” Then at the end it's like, “Oh yeah. We love it!”

SV: You played just about every instrument! I've seen a list of piano, trombone, trumpet, keyboards, bass, drum programming, percussion and you even sang! Did I miss anything?
BC: No. [I'm a perfectionist] to a point. But I know when to stop. That's the difference between a crazy perfectionist and a good perfectionist. (laughs) It will [bog me down] for awhile but then at some point I'll get it to be as good as I think it should be and then I let it go. In the past, I've kind of scrutinized a little bit more but now it's like… okay, nah… it's cool. The vibe is right. It's coming down nowadays to… “Is it groovin'? How's the vibe? Is it cool? Great! Let's go on.” Not everything has to be totally perfect. You listen to a lot of older records and there's so much stuff that is not perfect but it's part of the charm of it. I mean, hey it's musicians that's playing. We're humans. Live is never going to be perfect.

SV: How do you determine when to use live music as opposed to programmed on your CDs?
BC: It depends on what I'm going for. A synth bass as opposed to a real bass has a completely different sound and tone and feel to it. Synth bass is a lot of time more smooth and has more low end. It'll rumble your speakers a little bit more. A real bass can be a little more choppy. A little more funky. So really depending on what you're going for, that's how I decide.

SV: Your live performance has become so much funkier in the past couple of years. You seem so relaxed up there. How did you develop your stage presence?
BC: It took awhile! I gotta say, in the beginning years… '94, '95, '96… I was very uncomfortable onstage… very apprehensive going up there. I was very shy. Kinda nervous. I was actually more nervous talking on the mic to people than playing. It was kinda weird. I think it's, for a lot of people, normal when you first start doing your… you know, if you ever do public speaking or something, it's kind of the same. Whoa, all these people are looking at me! I hope I don't mess up! But thankfully, over the years as the music kind of starting speaking for itself, people started coming more and more just because they knew the music and they were already on my side at the beginning of the show. In the beginning, in those early years, they didn't really know who I was. They were coming… they just happened to be at a concert and were like, “Okay, who's this guy?” What's he going to show us?” It was really hard. Like I said, over the years people started to get to know the music and that really helps with confidence onstage if they're already “with” you. From then on, I just decided, “You know what? I'm going to go out and have fun!” And I think that's what we do these days. Go out there and have as much fun as we can and hopefully that translates to the audience. Being on stage and a personality on stage is definitely… I'm not as shy in all aspects of life… if I know you.

SV: You are receiving the 2005 “All That Jazz Award” from the American Society of Young Musicians. Congratulations! Tell us a little about your involvement with that organization.
BC: I've actually not been involved. I haven't as of late [worked with young musicians], but when I was younger I always taught music lessons to other kids, but it's gotten so crazy around here I just haven't done it. I was nominated by a committee that was made up of recording artists and record company executives. I believe there were five nominations. Out of those nominations, all of the members of the ASYM voted. Pretty cool. I had no idea! [It's a red carpet event] and I think I get a trophy or something like the Smooth Jazz awards gives that I will set on my mantelpiece.

SV: I read awhile back that you and your wife, Michelle, are working on a CD together. Is that still in the works? She writes music too, right?
BC: Yeah. We're actually back in the studio. I had to kind of take time off of that to… I actually built a recording studio over the past year. Then when I finished that, I had to go right into doing my record ‘cause the record company wanted to release it. But I just, as we finished that, am kind of rolling into her project again and looking to finish it by the end of the year. We'll see what happens. It's a collection… a melting of pop, classical and me. (laughs) She [writes music] too. I will not be singing. I'll be playing all keyboards and piano. I don't know if it calls for trombone but if it does, I will [play]. I actually play trumpet on it already. I play some muted trumpet. We did a remake of the Habanera from Carmen, and I put a little trumpet on there, and it sounds pretty cool. It's a classical cross-over genre, and it's definitely very unique. I think people will enjoy it. It's big. It's powerful. It's inspirational. It's moody. It's relaxing. Kind of all those things wrapped up into one. This will be her first CD.

SV: Do you go into the studio with a certain vibe in mind for your new CDs?
BC: With this one I definitely did, and it made the process go a lot quicker. We wrote, recorded, and mixed this entire record in three months, which was by far the fastest I've ever done it. Typically I would be about five months. Six months. But I sort of put a schedule together and said, “Hey, I want to release this record in the summer.” So the construction of the studio took longer than expected, like normal! So I kept pushing back the time that was allotted to record, but it kind of made it for a whole exciting whirlwind of a three months there. You get up in the morning, go to the studio and work all day until you fall asleep, three months straight. It's crazy! But good times!

SV: Where do you write your music… sitting at the grand piano at home or do tunes pop into your head while you're at the grocery store?
BC: I pretty much write it in my studio when I'm in the head space of “okay, time to write music.” I'm not one of those guys that walk around and write in my head. Just doesn't happen for me. That was partially some of the training I had when I was doing jingles in Chicago. There was never time to… “Well, I don't feel creative right now.” No. The clients are coming over in two hours. Get creative! So, you know. That sort of really forced me to just dive in and start something, whether it be good or bad, and you can always throw something out. Do something.

SV: The list I have of the tunes on It's On Tonight include a song titled BFO. Want to tell us what that stands for?
BC: That is a working title that is no longer the real title. I waited until the very last possible minute to title it because I couldn't think of a title. I don't think you could publish [what it stands for]. (laughs) No one was really supposed to see that. They ended up writing it somewhere and then woops. The actual title is called, “Let's Get Started.” Now conceptually here's how it works. The first song is obviously “Let's Get Started” and it's kind of the most up-tempo, funky song because of… here's where I was coming from… the first song is where you're getting ready to go out on the town. You're getting ready and you're going out to let's say the club or wherever. Then track two slows down a little bit and has a little bit of playful vibe in it and that's called, “Hooking Up.” So you're trying to hook up with somebody. Then by track three… this is where the consistency starts… from track three all the way to the end is… you'll never have to hit the skip button! So from then on out… you know, track three is called, “It's On Tonight,” and then it goes into “Sensuality” and “The Way You Feel” and so on. There is a bonus track that is only on... in the United States you can only get it on the iTunes music site. It's a download, so it's going to be on the International release, which is Japan and Europe. It'll be a bonus track, track 13, for them. But on the U.S. commercial CD release, it will not be included.

SV: Will there be an extensive tour into the fall to promote the CD?
BC: Yes. Touring is a little tough right now. There are not a lot of dates to be had, believe it or not. We're going to book as many as we can that are feasible and travel possible. And the cruise, of course.

SV: You've given some young sax players great visibility by bringing them on the road with you. How do you hook up with them?
BC: The most recent, Eric Darius… his name came up because I was trying to think about new cats, you know, because Michael Lington… we did two great years together, and that's kind of the typical time. Do a couple of years and, “Okay, I'm moving on to other things.” So it came time to find someone new, and I basically just put the word out there. “Hey, I need a new sax player.” Eric's name came up. I actually called him, and it turns out that right when I called him, he was going to be in LA the very next week playing at The Garden of Eden for The Wave. So I went down and heard him play, and the next day I invited him over to the studio. He played on my record, and then I invited him to go on tour for the next couple of years. Timing is everything. Isn't that amazing? He's taking off school. Doesn't get credit for extra curricular activities. No extra credit for touring with me!

SV: Everyone knows the important role your dad, Jim, has played in your musical career. What has your mom done to encourage your career choice?
BC: My mom was always extremely supportive. She was actually the one originally who helped me learn piano. She actually played a little bit of piano herself and in my early piano lesson days was the one always helping me with the fingerings and the “okay, try this here and that…” Not a lot of people know that actually. And you know… remained 100% supportive throughout.

SV: You're terrific on piano/keyboards, but you on the ‘bone… wow! In my opinion, it's the highlight of your live shows, and I hit repeat on my CD player. Do you have kids come to your show who discover how cool it is to play trombone and maybe be in a band?
BC: It's a whole ‘nother energy, isn't it. Sometimes, not in general. Most of the time you have a kid come up, and [you] say, “What do you play?” and the kid says, “Saxophone!” “Aww, get outta here!” Believe it or not, now and then a kid will come up and say, “Hey, I play trombone.” Actually a lot of girls come up and say, “I play trombone.” That's cool!

SV: Where would we find you on a day off?
BC: Day off? I'm thinking about the last one. My last day off we got a puppy, so we've been dealing with that. Cutest thing ever! He is a shaded cream colored long-haired Miniature Daschund. Eight weeks old. His name is Cappuccio (ka-pootch-o). My wife speaks Italian. It's actually an abbreviation, a shortened version, of cappuccino. It Italy you would order a cappuccino by saying, “Un cappuccino.”

SV: What one thing can you tell your fans that they might not know?
BC: There's probably a lot! What do you want to know? We've got the dog and got the Mom playing the piano. That's a good question. Hmmm… I'm thinking. Trying to think of something that people would actually care about. I always joked that the most used piece of equipment on this record was the Espresso machine! My assistant, Micah, used to work at Starbucks. Then he came over and started working for me, so we basically have our own Starbucks in the studio. It's fantastic!

SV: Any final thoughts, Brian?
BC: I just hope that once the record comes out that people get into it and enjoy it as much as I had fun making it. It's definitely a different vibe for me, but I think not a huge departure. You'll definitely know it's me! That's for sure.

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