Episode #31

This session featured a very nice and funky mix of musicians…Richard Elliot on saxophones (Tower of Power, The Yellowjackets, and others), Jef Lee Johnson on guitar (George Duke and others), Ron Reinhardt on keyboards, Chico Huff on bass, and James “Biscuit” Rouse on drums.

This was interesting in that both Richard and Ron work together regularly, as do Jeff Lee and Chico…so it was like joining together two unfamiliar couples, and then adding a drummer for them to collectively be creative and build upon. For those of you who do not know Richard Elliot, he is one of the most soulful tenor sax players on the planet. He has worked and/or toured with The Temptations, The Four Tops, Natalie Cole, Melissa Manchester and The Yellowjackets; besides being part of the famed Tower of Power horn section for 5 years. He currently headlines as a touring solo artist. Our guitarist, Jef Lee, in my opinion, is one of the truly unknown “funk-masters” on the scene…a musical genius. His approach is always so fresh and original. I had no doubt that he and Richard would beautifully connect musically that day. As you will see, Chico, Ron and James were all rock solid as well.

Together, they chose to start the session with a nice, relatively unrehearsed rendition of Equinox, followed quickly by an interesting take on Eddie Harris’ Listen Here. But the musical highlight for me clearly was their collective arrangement and first take performance of Monk’s classic ‘Round Midnight. Each solo connected beautifully and kept the bar held high. One of my personal Studio Jams “favorite cuts” – for sure.

The session was extremely collaborative, although Richard always kept things moving forward at a nice pace. You couldn’t ask for a more gracious and positive professional. He is someone I most certainly look forward to working with again.

We taped this episode at Milkboy Recording Studios in Ardmore, just outside Philadelphia, PA. Our time there that day was tight, but very productive…and a whole lot of fun! All in all, we cut 4 tracks. There wasn’t a lot of time to hang afterwards, as not only did everyone have a gig somewhere that they had to make happen, but my crew and I had to quickly tweak our studio set-up a bit, so as to accommodate a second taping of Studio Jams that day – with a whole new group of musicians. (back to back sessions)

– Tom Emmi / Producer