Episode #64

This was the second of two different sessions we taped at Forge Recording Studio that day. It featured three musicians who also appeared on the first session…drummer Rocky Bryant, bassist Keith Horne and guitarist Dean Brown. That said, they had the luxury of having already established a rapport of sorts. New to the mix was the great Tom Schuman on keyboards. Tom is perhaps best known as one of the founding members of the jazz super group Spyro Gyra. Also with us for this one was saxophonist Elan Trotman. I first met and recorded with Elan back in 2012 while on a production trip to Los Angeles, CA. With these five guys on fire and ready to go, I knew we would have a good session. Interestingly, when Elan arrived, he pulled me aside and mentioned that he brought a friend with him – a wonderful young musician named Kareem Thompson who played the steel drums – and that he was available to join in if I wanted. Due to somewhat limited studio space and not wanting to throw the audio engineer such a “curve ball” in the eleventh hour, I basically told Elan, “Thank you…much appreciation, but let’s see how things go. Perhaps we can add him after a few songs are in the can.” (More on this later.)

Once everyone got situated, to start the session, someone (I’m not sure who) called out the song “There Is No Greater Love.” And what a great call it was. Rocky suggested they give it some gas on off they went. We recorded a single take of the tune, with some great solos from Tom and Dean. Very cool indeed. Elan then suggested they play a song that he recently started performing with his own group, “Every Breath You Take,” written and originally recorded by Sting. Elan and Tom worked through a quick arrangement and after but a few minutes of rehearsal, we were ready to record. And so we did. Next, someone (again, I’m not sure who) called out “Freedom Jazz Dance.” After very little rehearsal as a group, we recorded a terrific upbeat version of this popular jazz standard. We three tunes recorded in a relatively short period of time, we nevertheless decided to take a short 10-minute break.

When we all returned to the studio, Tom thought it would be nice to record “Beauty and the Beast,” a song written by the great Wayne Shorter. Of all the songs we recorded that day, this one required the most rehearsal. We recorded a single take of this tune. We all felt pretty good about what we had recorded and there was a general vibe that we were beginning to wind down. I sensed that Rocky, Keith and Dean were pretty much ready to end it, as they were probably the most tired, having just recorded two back-to-back sessions. Then, I looked into the control room and saw young Kareem, the steel drum player sitting there enjoying what all of us were doing. So, (why not, I thought), I turned to Dean and casually mentioned how I had hoped to include steel drums on at least one song…as I had never before included steel drums on an episode of Studio Jams. Much to my surprise and delight, Dean said ”Then, let’s do it! It’ll be fun!” I said “Are you sure? I know it’s been a long day for you.” He replied “Heck, we’re musicians. This is what we do!” I was floored. It is moments like those that seem to stick with me the most. I have found that the truly great musicians, more often than not, have a spirit about them that dwarfs their incredible musical skill. Dean Brown is certainly one of those guys. In my mind, a truly great musician.

So, we took a quick 10 minutes for Kareem to wheel in his drums (that he had already set up in the hallway) and to allow our recording engineer Ron DiSilvestro to mic them and get a decent sound. The guys then came back into the studio and Keith suggested “Cissy Strut”…a frequently requested jam tune written by The Meters. With no rehearsal whatsoever, we recorded a single take of this song, with wonderful solos from both Kareem on steel drums and Keith Horne on bass. Nice.

– Tom Emmi / Producer