Episode #24

This was another fine session…and one long in the making. In terms of the number of participating musicians, it was a bit larger than most of the others I had produced to date. This episode featured 7 different players…Thano Sahnas on guitar, his brother, Demitri Sahnas on bass, Steve Culp on piano, Demetrios Pappas on keyboards, Dominic Amato on saxophone and EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), and both Bob Farina and John Herrera on drums and percussion.

Thano, Demitri, Steve and John and I go way back. It was back in 1996 (I think). I was in Phoenix, Arizona attending a large conference. During a break between conference speakers, the sound engineers put on a CD to simply play as instrumental background music while all the attendees (including me) were standing up and moving around. I was personally drawn to it, so I approached the soundman and asked him who it was I was listening to. He told me it was a CD from a local (Phoenix) band named Turning Point. I made a note of it.

When I returned back East a few days later, it took me 2 or 3 telephone calls to track down the band. I told them how much I enjoyed what I heard and that I wanted to learn a little more about them. Thano, Demitri, Steve and John were, in fact, the band. Thano kindly sent me a number of their CDs and their band’s Press Kit. I quickly because a big fan. That led me to work with them briefly for a concert event I produced in Nashville, Tennessee a few years later. Anyways…fast forward 8 or 9 years from when I first heard them on that CD in Phoenix, and I learn that they will finally be in Philadephia as part of an East Coast tour. When I heard that, I knew I simply had to build a Studio Jams taping session around them when they were here. And so I did.

When they came in for this session, the 4 of them were still together as a band, but had since added Dominic on saxophone. Wow, what a player. A nice addition for sure. To mix it up, I also decided to add two more musicians to the mix…Bob Farina and Demetrios Pappas. Bob is a terrific musician, a heck of a nice guy, and is so easy to work with. He is also a long time friend. We have known each other for over 30 years. Demetrios is another pro, in every sense of the word. Among other things, he has served as Smokey Robinson’s East Coast Musical Director for quite awhile, and has appeared on a few different Studio Jams episodes. So that was the band.

One thing I clearly remember is that I wanted to make sure the guys didn’t simply come into the studio and run through a bunch of Turning Point songs. I wanted viewers to see them all, collectively, create some fresh, spontaneous, new unrehearsed music on the spot. That is part of the magic of the show.

Well, hit it hard they did. Wow…they started off strong and never looked back. They took a few minutes to feel each other out musically and settled on the Chick Corea classic, Spain, as their first song. Although the rehearsal time was relatively short for this one, as I recall, we cut this track on the very first take!

They followed that up with a very spontaneous, totally unrehearsed, spur-of-the-moment Improv Jam – with a ton of great solos. We then took a break and moved to the control room to take a listen to what was just recorded. For the most part, we were all pleased with what we heard.

When we returned to the studio, Demetrios suggested Freedom Jazz Dance, another semi-standard jazz tune. He and Dominic spent a good bit of time working through the head and coming up with a simple arrangement that everyone could easily follow. We then recorded two takes of that song. Again, some very nice solo passages.

To close the session, Dominic called out Blue Bossa…another well-known classic. This, and Spain, were my two favorite cuts that day. Both were tight arrangements, featured some excellent solos, and were full of spontaneous dynamic energy.

– Tom Emmi / Producer