Smitty: Yeah, and people appreciate that because when we come out to see a live show, we want to be moved, we want to feel that emotional connection, we want to feel the music, not just listen to it.
GA: Exactly, and that’s what, you know, it comes from the heart
Smitty: Absolutely, and I think what you’re doing with your live show and the great musicians that you will have accompanying you with this great live project, I think is just unbelievable, man, and I can’t wait to check it out myself. I will catch you in Las Vegas for sure.
GA: Well, great, great. Well, it’s a big undertaking, a big job, and my management has just put down a great job…Andrea and Richard and they have just moved mountains just to see this happen and get the calls out and the press release out and really chase it. So we’re filling a void of something that’s really missing out there on the concert stage.
Smitty: Yeah, well, I will say one thing, my friend. I am just excited about this whole approach.
GA: Thank you.
Smitty: And the other thing I will tell you is get ready to go in the studio sometime toward the end of the year or beginning of next year because that will be the ultimate response, I think, from the live performances throughout 2008.
GA: Yeah, well, and that’s the thing. Lenny and I have gone through—we’re writing some songs together and, of course, I’ve never had a lack of ideas for writing my own material with the writers that I’ve worked with, and we’re definitely gonna do a record, but we wanna see where it goes with this first, you know? The chemistry is really excellent within the band and we just wanna work that chemistry and see how things develop. It’s gotta grow, you know? And we’re gonna cultivate it and see how it’s accepted and where we can take this. I think we can take it to Europe, I think we can take it to Japan. I work with this big horn section, really, full-time and for me I’ve always had a band with a horn section, and in the last few years we have taken down this rendition to just me on trumpet and Johnny Bamont, my dear old friend on saxophone, so it’s just two horns. We can do a lot.
Smitty: True that. And that great for the band.
GA: It lets the band have somewhat of a free-for-all thing because we’ve got less guys. There’s fewer guys working with me in this band and that has been a lot of fun. We turn it up live. But with a big horn section, it enables you to make so many more different colors and textures in the live performances. We’ve got a great Latin percussionist, Johnny Sandoval, and he can play the salsa charts that I wrote years ago and we used to play live. You can’t play ‘em without a big horn section. You need that. We’re gonna be covering the whole gamut. It’s gonna be nice to get back to some of that stuff and play some new stuff and old stuff and just have a ball.
Smitty: Oh, very cool. Well, talk to me and just on a side note, talk to me about your experience on the Dave Koz Cruise. I understand you had a great time out there.
GA: Oh yeah, we had a great time. It was the first time for me and I’d never been on a cruise ship and I’d never been to the Caribbean and so it was a lotta fun, a lotta fun. I played some shows with Keiko Matsui, which I thoroughly enjoyed. She’s just the best, a real special musician and a wonderful person, and we had a lotta fun. I had one night on stage with Jeff Lorber that was real special. We played some jazz, not Smooth Jazz, Straight Ahead Jazz, and that’s something I really love to do, and we took it out and I don’t think any of us knew what was gonna happen and we had a couple of magic moments that the crowd was on their feet. I had two shows scheduled for the whole week and they encouraged you to sit in with people or invited people to sit in with you.
Smitty: Oh yeah, that’s when it gets hot.
GA: I mean, I ended up playing every night, sometimes twice a night.
Smitty: (Laughs)
GA: Only once with Lorber and Spyro Gyra was a special guest. They played in San Juan while we were in port. And I did several records with Jay [Beckenstein] and Spyro Gyra over the years, but I hadn’t seen them in years, and I popped my head in the dressing room and said hi and they go “Whoa! They let you on?”
Smitty: (Laughs)
GA: And so I sat in with Spyro Gyra, I sat in with Richard Elliot and Richard was so kind, he gave me a wonderful introduction, and I had just a wonderful time and just to see the love, and it was a truly wonderful experience. I hope to do it again.
Smitty: Yeah, Dave and those guys do a first rate job over there with that cruise and some great musicians on board, and isn’t it just a beautiful atmosphere on these cruise ships?
GA: Oh yeah, it was wonderful. We had a great time. And Michael Lazaroff, the man who runs the cruise, he runs a tight ship and it really shows. I mean, it comes off so well balanced and without a hitch. If there were any hitches, they got by me because people would just have a ball all week.
Smitty: Oh, very cool.
GA: I know that you’re doing the All Star Music Cruise sailing down to Cabo San Lucas.
Smitty: Yeah, leaving out tomorrow afternoon and we’re gonna go out and float on the water and take this whole jazz experience out there and have some serious fun on this beautiful floating venue out there with great scenery and great people, and every year I look forward to the great experiences of music and people and people coming together and they’re there for one purpose, to enjoy some great music and people, and I think it’s just a great arrangement.
GA: Yeah, it’s a lotta fun. I’d never been asked.
