March 25, 2007
Interviewed by Anne Aufderheide
SmoothViews (SV): Jeff, we welcome you again to smoothviews.com and appreciate the time to talk with you today. Congratulations on your amazing new record He Had A Hat on Narada/Blue Note. It is due April 3rd. There’s so much I want to ask you, but let’s start with key elements of the production: It’s an original and diverse body of music on 13 tracks; produced by Blood, Sweat & Tears original member drummer Bobby Colomby; mixed by Paul Brown… and a few tracks mixed by Jeff Lorber; the horn ensembles are so powerful and tight; an All Star lineup with Gerald Albright, Brian Bromberg, Chris Botti, Randy Brecker, Tom Scott, Kirk Whalum, Eric Benét, Paula Cole, Hubert, Laws, Dave Weckl, Alex Al, Russell Malone, Paul Jackson Jr., Lenny Castro, Vinnie Colaiuta, and the drummer Abraham Laboriel Jr., son of the great bassist. I was thrilled to see him on the album.
Jeff Lorber (JL): Actually we tried to get him on my last album with Steve Dubin but he’s been very busy traveling playing with Sting and Paul McCartney. We were lucky to get him this time. I was really pleased.
SV: I’m a big fan of his dad.
JL: The first time I saw his dad play bass I was at the Berklee College of Music. He was going there too. And he had become sort of a star even at Berklee. There was an ensemble considered the best at the school and he was a member of it. Also, I had a chance to work with him on one of the first high-profile projects where I was an arranger - “Rhythm of the Night” recorded by DeBarge. Abraham Laboriel Sr. played on that session too.
SV: In my opinion, Jeff, this is your best playing ever! It is free, open, inventive, expressive, unencumbered, soulful. Let’s talk about that…what was it like to play on this project?
JL: I like to collaborate with different people. I worked with Steve Dubin on the last couple of CD projects. There was a more consistent style. We focused more on writing then. Although we put a lot of energy into writing on this project too, we were way more diverse stylistically. Working with Bobby Colomby, the overall vibe of the experience was completely different. With Steve, he and I tend to be real nerds when it comes down to working inside the computer environment. Bobby doesn’t really participate that way at all. He’s a musician, primarily a drummer, but he doesn’t actually play anything. He’ll sing things. That made the whole process a lot different. Dubin is more of an expert drum machine programmer and gets real involved, very “hands on” with the music. Having Bobby there it was like having a coach. He was there with me the whole time. He made suggestions, offered opinions on whether he liked something or if it was going in the right direction. The whole process was more spontaneous and more of a playing situation. Everything was recorded live with very organic instruments, not very much synthesis at all. That whole approach lent itself toward moving the action out of the computer screen and into the studio, playing and interacting with live musicians. That’s why it comes off like that.
SV: The music itself is very diverse, from contemporary jazz to hard bop to Hancock cool, and yet is very cohesive as an entire album. Even though the songs don’t sound alike, it really hangs together. What were the inspirations for you writing this album?
JL: One of the fantastic records Bobby has been involved with, and to this day it still stands out as a jazz milestone, was the first Jaco Pastorius solo album which Bobby produced in 1976. It’s such a wonderful record, talk about something diverse and yet the level of excellence is so high. The level of playing and of the collaborators make the record is so wonderful. I can’t think any record that has done such a fabulous job of exhibiting someone’s talents in so many styles. It was produced so well, resulting in a very musical and very entertaining record. To me, that was the model of what I want I wanted to create by working with Bobby. I wanted to come close to how great that record was. So that was our idea going into the project. As a drummer, Bobby is versant in all things rhythmic, but his real love is harmony. He was really pushing me at all times to make sure that each song had some substantial chord changes and harmonic movement behind it. I think that’s one thing that makes the record hang together. Behind each composition are some really interesting chord changes. We spent quite a bit of time on melodic content. Though some of the songs were already quite melodic, we really did write and revise many, many times to come up with just the right kind of melodic movement. Everything else was pretty spontaneous. It became obvious who we’d wanted to have play on different songs. They’d come in to play. In terms of playing in the studio with the musicians, nothing was overwrought; nothing took a lot of time to create. We just got the best guys we could find and they came with wonderful performances.
SV: It’s interesting that you both work at such a level of complexity and excellence, yet it sounds so comfortable and flows so well. You really “clicked” working together, didn’t you?
JL: Years before I met Bobby, I was a huge fan, big fan, of Blood, Sweat & Tears. I actually got a chance to see that band play a few times in my youth. Of course, I was a big fan of the Jaco project. And I got to hear the band Pages, a musician’s favorite. That was Richard Pages’ band before he became Mr. Mister. Bobby was involved in the early Pages project, and they had some positive things happen. There are a number of other records Bobby was involved that I really enjoyed. In recent years, I helped him out on a couple of Chris Botti projects. Those records are real jazz success stories. It’s been a long time since a few CDs created a big breakthrough for a jazz artist. Seeing what was happening to Chris obviously made me very interested to work with Bobby.
SV: Since you worked on the projects, you had first hand experience seeing him in action.
JL: You know watching him on that first Chris Botti project, you had the feeling that something really great is happening. Everyone shows up at the studio, feeling that they are part of something special; everyone is really glad to be there. There’s a vibe where everyone really wants to give. We accomplished that on my record too.
SV: Yes, you definitely did! I was really impressed with the horn sections. They are so tight. You arranged and recorded some of the horn sections?
JL: There were two songs on which Tom Scott did the arrangements. There was a slightly more complex ensemble, an 8-piece group modeled after Miles Davis’ SKETCHES OF SPAIN horn section. There are 2 French horns, 2 trombone, 2 flutes, a trumpet, and a clarinet. I did one too, wrote a little arrangement and used that orchestration on “Super Fusion Unit.” It was rather fun working with these guys who make up the current version of the Blood, Sweat & Tears horns. They flew out from the East coast and we spent a rather long day in the studio - from noon to 2am. These are truly great musicians. I want your audience to know that we actually started out recording 19 songs for this project. There were a few extra songs on which we did horns arrangements that didn’t make the final record. We worked hard on things that may never be heard! While I have done some horn arranging, this was a challenge for me because but its not something I do everyday or that I feel I’m super experienced at.
SV: That’s why I was so impressed! I wasn’t aware of these talents until now.
JL: Bobby was involved too, pretty extensively. He put his two cents in. I ran everything by him. One of the real saving graces was modern technology. Because back in the day, if you do this kind of arranging, it would take so many hours to make music copy. Luckily, I had an associate that was very good with music notation technology. He was able to input everything and transpose it. We didn’t have to deal with copying out all the parts again and again. His name is Adam Barber. He’s actually a young, aspiring, film composer working on “Spider-Man 3” score with a composer Christopher Young. In fact, they are finishing up this weekend. To have his experience was an inspiration. He actually helped in a few spots when we used some synthesized sections with the horns. Adam helped with samples to beef up a few things here and there.
There are two songs that Jeremy Lubbock orchestrated, a world class arranger who has worked with Barbara Streisand and Chris Botti, and you name it! Everyone! He’s a friend of Bobby’s - that’s why we were very lucky to get him. He did the orchestration on “Anthem for a New America” and “The Other Side of the Heart,” the Paula Cole and Eric Benét duet.
SV: One of the songs I love a lot is “Surreptitious” with Randy Brecker’s hot trumpet, tight horn arrangements, and your incredible playing. It has a Herbie Hancock vibe. How did some of the other band members contribute?
JL: Herbie-esque, definitely! I’m a huge fan; in fact, if I had to name my number one influence as a piano player Herbie would be it, by far. Just this morning, I was just listening to his music. I just love the whole scope of what he’s contributed as a player, as a writer, and as an artist. I get so much pleasure listening to his music and so much inspiration from hearing to him.
That song, “Surreptitious,” unlike some of the others, was done piece by piece. We had Dave Weckl come in to my studio and play on top of the basic track we had put together. The song is really perfect for him. He’s just wonderful with that sort of fusion, polyrhythmic, uptempo kind of thing. He plays with so much precision; you can actually hear more space in between, more so than any other drummer I’ve worked with. I’ve also had the pleasure of playing with him quite a bit live. I have some upcoming gigs where he’ll be playing with me. it’s a delight to work with him in the studio and live. Dave is a fantastic musician.
SV: You’ve been touring quite a bit with your band, Super Fusion Unit. Is Dave Weckl part of it?
JL: Yes, in fact, we’re just back from the East coast. It’s funny, we have this band but we change it up quite a bit. We put it together with Brian Bromberg and play each other’s music. Randy Brecker and Gary Meek are also involved. We’ve played the West coast with Rick Braun.
SV: You played quite extensively on Brian Bromberg’s new record Downright Upright, on 7 of the tracks, I believe.
JL: That was one of those collaborations in the studio that are so much fun to do. We were lucky to survive that East coast trip. We had to drive from Boston to Reading, PA to play the Berks Jazz Fest. There was a huge snow storm. The trip normally would take 4 or 5 hours, but it took us 12. We were really lucky to make it. One of those harrowing road adventures where you hope you don’t end up in a ditch, I’m glad they don’t come too often. We ended up going on about an hour and a half late.
SV: The fans at the Berks Jazz Fest really appreciate good music. They would have waited much longer if necessary. On track 5, “All Most Blues” with Tom Scott, it harkens back to jazz of the early ‘60s with great horn sections, like the great work Miles Davis was doing at the time.
JL: That Tom Scott orchestration with French horns I described earlier, this is the song with the 8-piece horn ensemble. It’s a good example of Bobby and me working in the studio. He wanted me to do a bluesy kind of song. It was very unusual: there was an original approach he had suggested; then he wanted me to do the melody in a different key. I tried that along with a few other ideas. Then we thought “what about some of those crazy cluster chords like McCoy Tyner used to do?!” I started playing some of that and we both lit up! And it became something very special.
SV: On “Orchid,” Chris Botti composed and performed?
JL: Yes, he came up with the melody on the spot. It’s such a delight to see his success. He’s been on the road nonstop for the last 5 years. He’s playing so much, and he’s become so focused and “on his game.” I’ve been a friend of Chris for a long time and watched his career. We’ve worked on a lot of records together. I thought it was pretty special to have his participation. He gets such a great sound out of his instrument. To hear that sound coming from his trumpet creates a mood that is really compelling, really great. It puts you in a certain space.
SV: On “BC Bop,” you are playing so well on that track. Is that a Fender Rhodes?
JL: Yes, it used to belong to Herb Alpert. It’s a great sounding Rhodes. It’s much better than any of the synthesized Rhodes sounds that don’t have as much dynamic as the real thing. This track has another real nice contribution from Blood, Sweat & Tears horn section. It also includes participation from Brian Bromberg on bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.
SV: I understand “BC Bop” was inspired by Charlie Parker’s chord changes on “Confirmation.”
JL: Yes, in the same way the early bebop songs often took chord progressions from popular Tin Pan Alley songs of the time, for example, “Back Home in Indiana” became “Donna Lee.” Our chord changes are from “Confirmation.” The “BC” stands for Bobby Colomby, by the way. It was the working title. You know, when some people are working on their albums, they give the songs names like “Tuesday #5.” I actually come up with some kind of title that gives the song an identity early on. Many of them stick around. This song harkens back to an earlier era.
It just crossed my mind “What would it be like if I put out an album of all straight ahead jazz?!” Wouldn’t that be great?!
SV: The opening track ‘Anthem for a New America” struck me as a really optimistic mood.
JL: We were working on this record a lot when the elections were going on. Politics were in everyone’s mind. On this song, there are wide open spaces, Aaron Copeland-esque, major chords with movement to it. At the time, it seemed that title fit nicely.
SV: And that’s the first track you’ll take to smooth jazz radio, I understand?
JL: They seem to be liking it so far. There are a quite a number of stations adding it. So far, so good.
SV: I think you will also get significant airplay at the traditional jazz radio stations.
JL: This is my first time ever recording anything like this for one of my own CDs. I’m a huge fan of more straight ahead music and I’d be delighted to be able to reach out to those audiences as well.
SV: Traditional jazz audiences are looking for what’s fresh, new, and original in music today. I think you’d have a lot of success crossing over there. New topic… Eric Benét. Eric and you go way back. You were label mates in the ‘90s.
JL: And he’s a Milwaukee native!
SV: He was getting popular when I moved to Milwaukee. Eric and his sister were performing around town frequently. Then he made it big and left town. I am so glad to hear you record the 1971 Bill Withers’ classic “Grandma’s Hands.” It’s a beautiful version, but you changed it up!
JL: Yes, we did! That came from Gerald Albright. That was another spontaneous thing. We brought Gerald in to play on a song that eventually didn’t end up on the record. Just as he was about to leave the studio, Bobby said “Hey! Wait a minute! Before you go, listen to this.” And when Gerald heard it, he said “I’ve got to play on that!” Another thing about Eric, he’s such a great talent. He’s one of the great singers of our time. It’s so awesome - he can sing clusters, perfectly in tune, with amazing interpretation of melody. That’s what people need to think about when they think of Eric Benét.
SV: In the duet “The Other Side of the Heart” with Eric and Paula Cole, she wrote the song with you for this album?
JL: The idea of a duet was in the air early on. It is interesting because Bobby has been working with Paula for a number of years and she’s been guesting on Chris Botti’s records. She’s so great singing standards; it’s just amazing. And she and Eric are very much alike in a sense. They both have amazingly pure voices; they are so in tune. That’s what gave us the idea to do the duet with the two of them. And they are both fans of each other. It wasn’t one of those records where they did their parts separately. They were both in the studio together, feeding off each other. It was really fun. Some of the lyrics were actually about Eric.
SV: I enjoyed the Hubert Laws flute solos on your nod to Apple, “Eye Tunes.”
JL: That was one of the great things to see. He was more into it than I’ve seen him on some other projects. It was really fun to have him. He’s such a wonderful, world-class musician and gets an incredible tone from his flute. He was really into the music. I’m such a fan and when I get these great players in the studio, I have so much fun watching them play. They have so much talent.
SV: In the album credits, I noticed an extra track called “Deep Nights.” Where is it going to be available?
JL: I don’t know exactly, sometimes it goes to iTunes. I’m just not sure when and where it’ll be released.
SV: I wanted to ask you about the album title – it’s from the joke, right?
JL: A grandmother is sitting on the beach with her grandson. While she was sleeping, a wave comes and sweeps him away. She wakes to discover he’s missing. Very distraught, she looks to the sky says “I’ll do anything! I’ll do good works. I’ll devote my life to feeding the poor and taking care of sick people. Please God, I’ll do anything just bring Mikey back!” Just then, Mikey washes up on the beach. She looks up and exclaims resentfully, “He had a hat.”
SV: What does that say?! That despite extraordinary measures, we always seem to want more? At the end of the day, when the CD is launched and you’ve move on to touring and other projects, what do you want people to take away from this record? What do you want them to get from this body of music?
JL: We put so much into it. This is a very ambitious body of music yet musically, it has a spirit of fun, a spirit of lightness. That’s what the title represents - it’s fun! We’re at a place in the music business in general, and in jazz in particular, where it’s life and death: a lot of things are getting consolidated; many people losing jobs. But there’s still a lot of interest in this music. We gave it everything we had, and we hope people are going to love it as much as we do. For me, it’s really so exciting. I’m so excited about this music! I am practicing it every day because we’re going to go out to play it live. I’m more challenged by it and more excited about it than anything else I’ve done in a long time. It reminds me of the music I made in the early ‘80s when we doing some pretty innovative stuff.
SV: I always look forward to your new records. I know it’s always going to be an adventure. I look forward to being taken to a place I’ve never been before.
JL: We made three records with Steve Dubin and we had a nice flow going. I thought it was time to shake it up and try something new working with Bobby. Luckily, I think the results are even more than I could have hoped for.
SV: It is truly a tremendous recording, with such depth. It will resonate for a long time. I’m so glad to hear you’ll be playing it live. How are you celebrating street date?
JL: We have a Borders in-store appearance in San Diego with KIFM. I’m doing a duo thing with Brian Bromberg. Brian is such a virtuoso on his instrument, such a great bass player. With just two instruments, we create a lot of music. To do a store appearance with a whole band would entail more expense and difficulty. Doing it with the two of us keeps it simple and it works!
SV: Jeff, I really appreciate you making such great music and thank you for taking time to speak about it today. Take good care of yourself. |
