A Conversation with Brian Culbertson – HuffPost 4.4.14

Mike Ragogna: You’ve been pretty musically active lately, Mr. Culbertson! Do you want to give us a little summary of what you’ve been up to?

Brian Culbertson: Well, I’m releasing a new record independently. It’s been a great experience, it’s my first time doing this, so there are a lot of learning curves here, but now we’ve spent our third week at number one on Billboard, so I’m ecstatic.

MR: You’re calling it Another Long Night Out. Just how long was this particular night out?

BC: Well, this record was a lot less of the late nights from the first one. I named Long Night Out record because I ended up having to pull lots of all-nighters to finish it. When you’re twenty, you don’t know that you can move deadlines, so I was like, “Oh my god we have to finish! I’m not sleeping!” Nowadays it’s like, “Oh, okay. It’ll get done when it gets done.” I don’t want to kill myself anymore.

MR: This time out–I don’t even know where to begin–you’ve got everyone who’s ever breathed oxygen and played jazz on this album.

BC: [laughs] Yeah, that was really the whole concept–to get guys that were literally inspiring me, that I was listening to when I was making the first one. For instance, one of the first sessions for this new version that really blew me away was with Will Kennedy and Jimmy Haslip from the Yellowjackets. I was programming the drums on the original album on a drum machine and I was thinking, “How would Will Kennedy play this part?” So now I’m hearing WIll play it in the studio and it’s just a total goosebump moment. It’s fully surreal, like, “Holy crap, that’s what I wanted it to sound like. This is cool.”

MR: Were there any surprises to you, in terms of the sonic changes these songs went through?

BC: The bottom line is that I just wanted it to sound great. I always like the arrangements in general on the first record, I feel they still hold up, but production-wise and sonically I was like, “Man, it is so dated.” It almost sounds like a demo tape now, just because of the technology that I was limited to. I just didn’t have access to all these great players and studios and equipment. So fast forward twenty years and I have some decent gear and I got to know a lot of people. You put those two together and it had better sound better. I couldn’t be more pleased with the whole outcome. I’m loving the sound of it.

MR: And you really do let your players experience their musical moments. You allow them to take front and center. I wouldn’t put this in a duet category as much as a “truly featuring” style. Is that the intention?

BC: In a way, yes. You have to remember when I first started out I was not a piano player. I was a trombone player. That’s what I was known as. I was writing music as a piano player and I know I needed to become a piano player, but at that moment I neeeded to feature other, better players than. Fast forward to this version, I just kept the arrangements the same but I let these other great players be featured. I have no ego. These are these songs, these are the arrangments, let me do that. I don’t need to take over all the solos because now I’m more practiced, but in the same light I think that the piano player that I do on this record is a lot improved from a musical standpoint. Actually, my wife had a lot to do with that, she actually co-produced my piano tracks with me on this record, and the reason for that, I know it may sound weird, but she really has been listening to that record since the very beginning. We met right after it came out, she’s always like that record, and she’s a huge fan of jazz piano fusion. She listens to it all the time and always influences me and plays new records coming out of Europe and different places around the world. That was really cool. She’d be in the control room saying, “Hey, listen to this!” or, “Why don’t you do this differently?” She was kind of pushing me to push my boundaries as a piano player as well.

MR: How does the relationship work in that way?

BC: She grew up as a violinist and also as an opera singer for many, many years, we’ve done a lot of projects together. She’s extremely musical, she has a great ear and a lot of great ideas. It’s a lot of fun working with her in the studio because she knows what she’s talking about.

MR: In addition to your relationship with her as a couple, is it also built on your musical relationship with her?

BC: It’s fully intertwined. We met at music school at DePaul University, we were both music majors there. We’ve both gone into careers in music, so our life is music. What can I say?

MR: What are your thoughts on this as a song cycle?

BC: I think the songs and the sequencing of the album fully hold up. That’s what I was always impressed by over the years. I was like, “Wow, these songs are really interesting, they’re kind of different and unique and not your typical “smooth jazz,” quote unquote. These are just pieces of music. They cross all kinds of boundaries. You put “Beautiful Liar” on, that was originally written as a pop song with full lyrics. I just took the vocal off and played in on piano. Then other songs like “Fullerton Ave.” have a more fusion vibe going, which I haven’t really done a lot of over the years, so it was fun to play like that and open up some other people’s minds to what I can do.

MR: In addition to your arrangements and contributions your wife made, were there any moments where other musicians came in and said, “Brian, let’s try it this way,” and took it the other direction?

BC: Oh, completely. Ray Parker, Jr. came in and I wanted him to play guitar on “Horizon,” that track with [Michael] Patches [Stewart]. I had Patches record on it before I had the guitar and it was nice, it was fine, but nothing was blowing me away. I also tried different grooves, different drummers, all kinds of things. It finally came together when Ray came over and said, “Brian, I’ve got to tell you, this song is too nice. This needs some nasty guitar on it. So turn up some delay, some distortion, some phaser, all kinds of stuff,” and he was puprosely playing wrong notes to give some edge to this “nice” song. “Let’s put some stankiness on it,” and all of a sudden he started playing this psychedelic guitar stuff, something that I had never imagined and all of a sudden it took a whole turn for the better. I was like, “Wow, this is something now.”

MR: Was that early enough in the project that it gave you a different perspective on the rest of the album?

BC: Actually, no, that was near the very end. I had done the whole rest of the record mostly, but for some reason that particular song “Horizon” was not coming together. The same thing happened on the original version twenty years ago. I don’t know what it was, I just didn’t have the final sound of it in my head. Most of the time I do. I know exactly what I want in advance. That particular song proved to be challenging on both versions, but there was a turning point, which was Ray coming in. All of a sudden I was like, “Wow, okay, I like it now.”

MR: Were you tempted to grab a couple songs you had written during the period between and add them for an even bigger perspective?

BC: You know, I thought about it and people suggested it, but I ultimately decided, “You know what? Let me just leave it exactly the same and let it be what it is.” I had found other songs that I had written during that time, but I didn’t think they were good enough. Honestly.

MR: Now that this album has spent three weeks at number one it’s arguable that this album is now a classic. So you know sometime down the line there may perhaps beYet Another Long Night Out.

BC: Yet Another Long Night Out! [laughs] Hey, you know, who the hell knows? Why not, in another twenty years? You just planted a seed. Now you’ve got me thinking. With a Blu-ray. Well, in twenty years it won’t be a Blu-Ray anymore, it they’ll be on to something else.

MR: You’ll be a hologram, literally be visiting every house in the world.

BC: Exactly.

MR: Let’s get a couple of your other pieces of news here, too, your Napa Valley Jazz Getaway, are you psyched on that?

BC: Oh yeah, every day we’re working on that, I’ve got a great team surrounding me and working on that, I’m really, really hands-on with every detail that goes on with the festival and I’m very excited about the vibe out there. Everybody’s talking about it, it’s got great buzz, people are just excited to get out of town and go to wine country at the top of the summer to when the weather’s always wonderful, knock on wood. It’s just a great time of the year to be in wine country and to have all these wonderful artists joining us this year. It’s definitely going to be our biggest and best line-up yet.

MR: And what does it feel like to have this successful of an album? Were you surprised by how “Sticky” the album was to the charts?

BC: Yes. I’ve got to be honest with you. I think everyone was kind of looking at me wondering, “Hey, can someone go independent and still have something of a success?” It’s just a testament to the great fans out there that I have. I’ve got the best fans in the world, they’re really, really loyal, willing to go with me on whatever musical journey I’m taking at a particular time. I couldn’t be happier. I obviously love connecting with all of those fans as well via social media and all that. That’s been a huge help as well. Five years ago I could not have done an independent project because we just didn’t have that direct to fan contact that now we do. It’s a new world, the music business.

MR: Right. It’s not only surprising, but it seems like it must be a relief to be able to do this on your own and see that there is a paradigm for this to work?

BC: Oh yeah, completely. One of the coolest things that I’m able to do now is release different versions of the album. I’m putting vinyl out, I’ve never even been allowed to do that, which is silly. I’ve never had vinyl out, so I’m putting that on my website, which is coming out next month, by the way. For all the musicians out there I’ve released “Music Minus One” mixes, meaning a no-drums version, a no-bass version, a no-piano version, so any musician out there can download those and play along. I’ve made all the charts downloadable free from my website. I’m really looking out for all the musicians out there because me, as a musician, I’ve wanted this stuff for my own! But no one ever does it because they’re so controlled by the label who are like, “Nah, we don’t wanna do that.” So you know what? Screw it. I’m doing it. Why not?

MR: Why not! You are taking on a supporting role with the older artists and a mentor role with the younger artists. This is a path that I’m not sure you saw coming, right?

BC: Definitely not. It just sort of evolves and becomes what it is. I really love teaching and talking to young musicians who are especially eager and willing to learn. It feels great and it’s fun to try to pass on whatever knowledge I have. I had a lot of great mentors when I was younger, a great piano teacher, a jazz guy who really inspired me to want to make records, Alan Swain, he was a wonderful teacher in Chicago. I had a great composition teacher and arranging teacher. That’s really important for young people, to have people to look up to and be inspired by. If I can do some of that, I’m going to do as much as I can.

MR: Nice, very nice. For what’s probably the tenth time, what is your advice for new artists?

BC: Ah, yes. It’s obviously a changing landscape daily in the music business. There’s a lot of young saxophone players out there that are trying to get somewhere and I try to tell people, “Hey, you’ve got to have good-sounding material so you have to work as hard as you can to try to make your recordings hold up to anyone that you’re listening to.” With today’s technology it’s definitely doable, you’ve just got to really work at it and put the hard work in. Too many people just kind of slap together demos and it’s like, “Eugh. Not exciting.” You’re not going to turn any heads there. Then, you’ve got to get your local band thing going and create some kind of name for yourself wherever you live. Become that big fish there and then you can slowly start spreading out. Then also try to get in someone else’s band that may be well-known already. I’ve brought on a lot of sax players in my band that have gone on to do their own projects and gone off to tour on their own. That’s another good way to get out there. Don’t be fully one hundred percent focused on your own gigs, play with some other people that have bigger audiences. Guess what? They’ll become your fans.

MR: Very nicely said. I’ve heard that DePaul University is getting a certain visitor.

BC: Ah, yes, April fifth I’m going to go back to the same exact room where I did my very first concert ever and I’m going to do a release part of this new album. We’re going to have a lot of DePaul alum there as well as current music students as well as local Chicago fans. I’m really excited about that, I’m truly bringing it full circle. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m bringing my wine in, we’re going to have a great time, I’ll play some of the songs from the record and talk about my experiences at DePaul and get some local media there as well. I’m keeping the awareness up for music education. That’s really important to me.

MR: I was going to ask you how much the Culbertson Pinot Noir is going to be flowing.

BC: Well at that even a lot! It’s going to be great. I’m excited about that. It’s on my website by the way. Lots of cool things are on my website, like those “Music Minus One” tracks and the vinyl and the charts and the wine. I’m just going direct to the consumer these days.

MR: You’ve got your own 360 Deal going.

BC: Bingo.

MR: I love that. It’s like, screw the majors, you have your own 360.

BC: The 360s work well if they are going to pump the living s**t out of you everywhere, spending millions of millions of dollars. Then okay, fine, I could understand that. They’re going to make you the next thing. But in the jazz world, that just doesn’t exist so that whole old model just doesn’t make sense anymore. It’s the right time to be doing what we’re doing here. I’m feeling good.

MR: Anything we haven’t covered?

BC: We talked about a lot of stuff. Hopefully, people like the new version. If you haven’t heard the original then this will be new to you. If you have heard the original it’s fun to put them side by side and compare and see what’s different.

Transcribed By Galen Hawthorne