A Conversation with Jeff Lorber – HuffPost 1.18.12

Mike Ragogna: Jeff, how are you today?

Jeff Lorber: Great, thanks. How are you, Mike?

MR: Well, thanks. Lately, you’ve been to performing as the group “Jeff Lorber Fusion.” What brought you back to that name and when did you feel it was time to start recording your new album, Galaxy?

JL: Well, a little over a year ago, we recorded the album Now Is The Time. That was the first time that I’ve used the name Jeff Lorber Fusion in about 20 years or so. I really wanted to get back to the idea of “fusion” music. When I stopped using it, fusion music had become one of those things that people thought had seen its day, you know? Everything is cyclical in the music business. Now, all of a sudden, the idea of music that is harmonically more adventurous and rhythmically jazzier made everyone seem to think that the change back was a good idea. We did a tour of Europe and they called my band the Jeff Lorber Fusion, because I guess that’s what they know me as there, that’s how we came up with the idea of bringing the name back. So, we recorded Now Is The Time and it was very well received. We even won a Grammy nomination. Galaxy is part two of that record, in a way. It even technically has the same band members — Eric Marienthal on sax, Jimmy Haslip on drums, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums. The last album actually had vocals as well. We had a woman by the name of Irene Bee that added some vocals to about four different songs. This one is a lot more instrumental, that’s the big difference between the two.

MR: There was a long period of time when lots of jazz moved toward the smooth jazz side of the spectrum, whereas now, people are starting to return to listening to and producing more of the fusion sound.

JL: Well, I think the loss of a jazz radio presence or of any sort of record label support has a lot to do with that. It sucks, but at the same time, it gives jazz artists more freedom to get back to creating their own sound without worrying about being radio or record company friendly. There’s really no reason why any jazz musician shouldn’t feel free to explore the type of music they put out now. It shocks me when I see a lot of musicians continue on in their careers as if nothing has changed. They’re still kind of making corny smooth jazz type of music and there’s no reason for it. I think you should make music that’s exciting and makes people say, “Wow.” That’s the main thing that I look for. You have to have something in your music that makes people sit up and take notice. If it’s just wallpaper, there’s no reason for it.

MR: Yeah, it seemed that for a while, we had strayed so far away from the essence of jazz and more towards the formula of smooth jazz that improvisation in a performance was almost unheard of.

JL: Exactly. I agree.

MR: Now, for Galaxy, you re-imagined some of your older tracks, one of them being the song “City” from your Wizard Island album. Can you tell us how you approached some of these revisited tracks?

JL: Well, I did the same thing on the Now Is The Time record. I feel like I’ve learned so much since the early days of the Jeff Lorber Fusion. That was exciting music, but now I’m working with real world-class talent and I know a little bit more about production and studio technique. That helps so much. In addition, I wanted to revisit some of my old tunes — the ones that hold up and that I think would still be really fun to play live — and give them a new look and feel. It’s kind of my way of keeping those songs alive so I can keep playing them. Luckily, I think I have some songs from my early incarnation that hold up pretty well and are fun to play.

MR: I also think it’s great that each song’s revisit expands on the original version. Differing from pop music, in jazz, when you redo a song, you’re adding years of experience, a better understanding of the genre and your own growth as an artist, making the song that much more interesting and, as you say, fun to play.

JL: Yeah. It’s funny because there is something magical about those early incarnations of a song too. Even though I now have this experience and am working with amazing talent, there was something special about the song at the start. So, it’s a challenge sometimes. One of the things that I have been fortunate with is that one of my songs, “Rain Dance,” was sampled by Notorious B.I.G. and Lil’ Kim and became a huge hip-hop track called, “Crush On You.” I just like the idea of giving the younger generation a chance to hear this type of music and keep it alive.

MR: Let’s jump back and chat a bit about your album Wizard Island where you introduced a now very famous artist by the name of Kenny G, right?

JL: Yeah, we were good buddies. He’s a talented guy and it was a lot of fun working with him. I mean, his music since then has become very narrow compared to the stuff that we did. Obviously, what he does these days is still technically challenging, but from a harmonic and a rhythmic standpoint, he’s more into the smooth jazz kind of thing than fusion jazz.

MR: Though, I would imagine if you let him loose on a more fusion type of style, he could still really let go, right?

JL: I would hope so. I know he occasionally takes himself out of his comfort zone and plays with new people. I think he has the ability to do that.

MR: Can you tell us about Galaxy‘s “Horace,” which is dedicated to Horace Silver?

JL: It’s funny because when I was just getting into jazz as a senior in high school and through my first couple of years at Berklee College of Music, Horace Silver was the only jazz pianist that I could listen to and sort of understand, so I learned a lot from him. He was sort of my entryway into figuring out the basics of blues, be-bop, and jazz piano playing. Later, I began to understand more about the great piano players like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Red Garland and so many other guys. Horace was like my training wheels, in a way. His songs were so melodic, compelling, and catchy. Actually, the melody on the song “Horace” reminds me of one of Horace’s tunes called, “Cooking At The Continental.” I recently decided that it would be a good time to pay homage to Horace and write a song in his honor.

MR: Was it invigorating to you to get the Jeff Lorber Fusion back together?

JL: Well, the thing that’s incredible is that everyone was so excited about it — the musicians, the record company, our management, even promoters. Everybody seemed to like the idea. When you get feedback like that, it’s kind of obvious that you’ve hit a nerve and can assume you’re doing something right. These days it’s just tough to survive in the music business, period. So, you’re really lucky if you can find a project that everyone actually gets excited about.

MR: Let’s talk a bit about some of the other artists that joined you on this album. You had Randy Brecker join you on “The Underground.”

JL: Yeah, that’s right. That’s actually one of my favorite songs to play live. It’s fun to play live because it really focuses on whoever is playing the drums, it’s a Latin song. That was kind of a special tune because the song had come such a long way since I first recorded it and I wanted to capture that. We were very lucky to get Vinnie Colaiuta who is such an incredible musician and so incredibly busy. (laughs) It’s kind of hard to get him sometimes, but the timing was right, he was available, and he really set the tone for the album and that song in particular. The drum part on that is just perfect.

MR: Speaking of your music with a Latin feel, you also included “Samba.”

JL: Oh, yeah. That’s another one that I love to play live. That song’s actually very popular in Europe. There were a couple of dance music DJs that took the music from that song and had some pretty big hits. In fact, Pete Tong, an English DJ, plays this version of the song by a group called The Pasta Boys that sampled it and made a big hit out of it.

MR: Also, Michael Brauer was involved in the making of Galaxy.

JL: That was actually a really lucky thing. A lot of people don’t know who Michael is because he works behind the scenes as a mixing engineer, but he’s someone who I’ve always been a huge fan of. I remember in the ’80s, he did a bunch of r&b records that, when they came out, all listed him as the mixer and they all sounded incredible. They were really imaginative, interesting, and different — almost like sound sculptures. Then I sort of forgot about him until the last record was nominated for a Grammy and we were at the awards show and there Michael was getting an award for Best Engineered Record of the Year for his work with John Mayer. Turns out he’s stayed in the business and has been really successful — he mixed the last Coldplay album, Colbie Caillat, Ben Folds, and a lot of other pop artists. Anyway, we started talking through email and turns out he knew who I was. At the very end of the project, I was in Europe, and I was going to head home to start mixing the album. As it turned out, he had a day off where he could help me mix and I had a little bit of money left to pay him. So, I flew back from Germany to New York and we spent from 10 am until 2 am in the studio working on six songs. It was so great, very spur of the moment. He did a great job. I thought I was going to have to mix everything like I did the last time, but it made my job a lot easier this time mixing only five of the songs by myself.

MR: Of course, your “sound” employs funk and r&b elements. Is that something that you aim for when you enter the studio, or is it something that happens naturally as you’re creating?

JL: I think both. What you described is basically my musical personality. If you listen to my music from way back in the beginning, there are really strong elements of r&b, latin, jazz, be-bop, and even hip-hop. Hip-hop didn’t really exist then. But in terms of modern music, a lot of innovation happens in hip-hop. I’ve absorbed a little of that. There’s not a ton of it on this record, but it’s something that I listen to and piece through here and there. Another thing that’s key for me is collaboration. When I listen back to some of the earlier records I’ve made, about four records in a row that I produced and wrote, I think are pretty good. Then the rest tend to fall off a little bit to be honest with you. I think I ran out of good ideas the same way your favorite TV show loses you after the fifth season because of the writing. (laughs) So, what I’ve found is that it really works for me to find somebody to collaborate with. The last two records I’ve done, I’ve collaborated with Jimmy Haslip who is a great bass player and producer. He’s got great intuition. I also worked with Bobby Colomby on theNow Is The Time album. He was one of the founders of Blood, Sweat & Tears, and he produced Chris Botti’s records. He’s a guy that I really respect. Unfortunately, he was pretty busy when I was working on this record but he was still involved a bit. I was able to play some of the album at various stages and allow him to weigh-in on what he thought was good and bad. He had a little bit of influence. I love to collaborate. I don’t try to do anything myself because I only tend to fall into the type of style that I very much like.

MR: Do you have a favorite song on Galaxy?

JF: Well, I think most artists may say this but in my case it’s really the truth — this is definitely one of my favorite albums that I’ve ever made. I enjoy listening to the whole thing. I really enjoy listening to “Montserrat” and “Singaraja.” We just started playing some of these songs live and they’ve been getting a good response. I think the entire album is pretty solid, but those are the songs that seem to hold up really well live.

MR: So, what is your creative process like? What inspires you?
JL: Generally speaking, I’m kind of in writing mode all of the time. I’m always looking around for ideas and sounds that appeal to me. I have these music books that I have carried around since the ’70s, so when I get ideas, I just jot down chords and melodies and such. Also, with digital recording, it’s so easy now to just turn on your computer and record something. There’s really not a huge separation between demos and master recordings now. Back in the day, you’d make a demo at home, then you’d go into the studio and make charts and play the real thing. Now you can just turn Pro Tools on and start playing and if it’s recorded well, you can capture that initial inspiration. If that holds up, you can keep it until the final product. So, there are some very nice advantages to the modern recording process.

MR: Do you prefer live performance or studio work?

JL: Well, when I’m in the studio, I do prefer to use live instruments — I don’t use a lot of synthesizers. Most of what you’re listening to on my albums are real instruments. Sometimes, it’s a real performance, but we like to overdub quite a bit, so it’s not always all of us playing at the same time. But in terms of performance, I like both. I think they’re both really important. One thing I find interesting is that when you spend more time in the studio, you become more focused and everything that you do in the studio becomes easier. Then once you’ve been on the road and you go back into the studio, sometimes it takes a while to make the transition back to that kind of focus. They’re definitely two very different states of mind. I just love being creative, and I love the writing and production process. I also happen to love performing too, so it’s all good. We’re about to do a three-week European tour, which I’ve done for the last five years, or so. I think we might just play this album from top to bottom. I really think these songs will translate well to live performance. I don’t even know if I want to do any of my older songs. (laughs) I think it’s just going to be so much fun playing this record.

MR: As an artist, you have been nominated for a total of four Grammy Awards, right? You’ve been flirting with winning that award for some time now.

JL: (laughs) Yeah, I’m ready to actually win one. Last year, we were nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, which unfortunately, no longer exists because they’ve narrowed the categories. But I was glad to see that Stanley Clarke, who also made a very fine album, won. At least I didn’t lose to someone who didn’t make a good record. I’m glad to see that someone that deserved it won.

MR: You all sort of know each other, don’t you? Is there a sort of camaraderie there?

JL: Yeah. A lot of those guys, like Herbie and Chick, are my idols, so I’m very lucky to have been able to get to know them and work with them.

MR: You also did a little bit of work with Playstation on Castlevania, isn’t that right?

JL: Yeah, I guess so. (laughs) That was great. You know, when you’re a studio musician in LA, sometimes the phone rings and you get to do some kind of interesting things. I guess that’s what happened that time. I got a call from someone who produces music for Sony and got asked to do that project.

MR: May I ask you something personal?

JL: Sure, go right ahead.

MR: You suffered from a kidney disease and had a kidney transplant, right? How’s your health?

JL: Well, it’s something that runs in my family. It’s called Polycystic Kidney Disease and my mother and my sister both died younger than they should have. It’s a disease that actually affects a lot more people than you might think. There are about 600,000 people affected in the U.S. and around 2 million people worldwide. Oftentimes, you don’t hear about it because a lot of people who have the disease are on dialysis, so they’re still alive but they’ve had kidney failure. So, there needs to be a little bit more attention on making people aware and getting the government to spend a little more money on finding a cure for this, though there are scientists working on a cure that have some promising ideas right now. I was very lucky to have gotten a kidney transplant and I’m very close to my seven-year anniversary of the surgery. I’ve been very fortunate, and since I’ve had that transplant, I’ve led a fairly normal life.

MR: Congratulations, Jeff. It’s also a very touching story because it was your wife who donated the kidney to you, wasn’t it?

JL: Yeah, that was a very nice Christmas and birthday present. (laughs)

MR: Jeff, do you have any advice that you’d like to share with new artists?

JL: I used to halfway tell people that they should really want to pursue a life in the music business because it’s a really tough business, which it is. But now with the economy being in the shape that it’s in, I think the music industry starts to look better than it used to because at least if you’re really good at it, passionate about it and willing to put the effort in that it takes to excel, you’ve got about as good a chance at making it in the music business as you do in any other field. But it takes a lot of passion, work, and practice. Another thing to consider is the fact that there are a lot of jobs in the music industry in general — there are jobs for executives, engineers, recording artists. Then you have film and TV where there are areas of a lot of work for engineers and producers and writers. It’s a big industry with a lot of levels, so if somebody loves it, I think they should go for it.

MR: Jeff, thank you so much for spending some time with us today, and best of luck with your new album, Galaxy.

JL: Thanks so much, Mike. I enjoyed being here.

Transcribed by Evan Martin