Smitty: Yeah, so talk to me a little bit more about East Bay Soul, man. I mean, what’s the vibe like?
GA: Well, by no means at all is this a jab or a dig on Tower of Power. It’s not about Tower of Power. I mean, it happens to be that Lenny and I were in the band at the same time and there’s a rich history there, and because it gets requested so much from me and Lenny at his live shows, it makes sense. It would be kind of stupid not to do the hits and so it’s kinda—it’s just out of an age with my style of writing that I did in the 70s and Lenny sang in the 70s but now it’s moved into 2008. It’s gonna be a much more modern sound and it’s not gonna be retro, it’s not gonna be in the day. You know, we’re gonna hip it up, we’re gonna make it a little more current, but it will have the elements that people will recognize and, of course, we do my sort of smooth jazz stuff, which is thought oriented, and Lenny’s riding on being urban. It’s gonna appeal, I think, to a big spectrum of listeners.
Smitty: Yeah.
GA: I think it’s gonna fly.
Smitty: Yeah, I totally think so too. When you think about those great years with Tower of Power and what you cats accomplished and what you’re getting as far as responses to those songs now, I applaud you for doing this because it’s a rarity these days to listen to what the fans are asking for and giving them what they want, and I think that is just incredible, it’s beautiful, and that’s why I think it’s gonna be sucucessful because you’re giving them what they want and I wish more people would embrace that.
GA: Well, let’s hope they do. (Laughs)
Smitty: Yes indeed.
GA: And hopefully we can lead the charge.
Smitty: Yes, absolutely. So talk to me. What is Metro, Metro Jazz, my friend? Give me a little snippet of Metro Jazz.
GA: Well, you know, Metro Jazz is a thing that I kind of incorporate at all times in all my records and I think that I kind of brought that to the table since my first record. It’s very urban, it’s not so sugary and sweet and la-dee-da like a lot of the stuff is. It’s more edgy and it has a thing that’s—you know, Tower of Power has always been a very urban group and the ethnic sounds are of the trials and tribulations of our thoughts and histories, the sweetness and the sadness that comes with that inner city experience.
Smitty: I can dig it.
GA: It’s got a lotta grease to it, you know, and a lotta jazz, and so it’s like I think I’ve always had that, it’s always been in my writing, and so we’re bringing more of the same, with my sound and Lenny’s writing is very urban, and so it’s a natural, I think it’s a natural joining of musical forces and I think it’s gonna go good. It’s so funny the way radio is. Radio plays one thing and then the artist goes out and plays something else when they do it live.
Smitty: (Laughs)
GA: And that’s kinda the thing too where it kinda got us into full circle by honing a live performance without a record to support it.
Smitty: Yeah, absolutely.
GA: We’ll go from there when we’re ready. There’s no hurry. None of us are putting any of our careers on hold. I mean, I still have gigs both with my seven-piece and, of course, this new East Bay Soul is gonna be a ten-piece band, and I’m head for Jakarta, Indonesia for the Java Jazz Festival next month and I’m gonna be doing Berks Jazz Festival in March. So we’re all over the place, and Lenny, he’s in a stage play with Billy Dee Williams. It’s a road show and they’re out on the road all of February and the early part of March, and he covers the song “Because I Love You,” which was a big hit for him. And we’re gonna do that, absolutely, and that’ll be killer. I’m arranging all the material so we’ll use the full band and it’ll be killer.
Smitty: Yeah.
GA: So everybody has something going. We’ve got 12 dates for the year and that’ll be kinda cool because that would give us enough time to pursue everything else we have to do, but we’ve got 12 dates in the first week.
Smitty: (Laughs)
GA: So we’ve put out a press release, so working like this is gonna be a pretty big part of our year.
Smitty: Yeah.
GA: And we’re happy about it. I think we could start a new trend. I was saying before about bundling. Some of the time these bundles, they may be good for a promoter because you get a lot of names in there, but a lotta times I think, well, I’ve heard from fans that it leaves the listener disappointed because there’s just a tease of maybe their favorite artists they’ve come to see and they only hear three songs because they have so many personalities on the stage and then it’s kind of a big jam here and then. There’s three things that we’re out to get done and it’s like it’s a combination of the instrumental/soul/funk and Rhythm & Blues vocals and we’re gonna try to discover new achievements rather than extend the past.
Smitty: I like that. Very cool.
GA: So we’re looking to the future, not dwelling on the past, but we’re gonna borrow because music is cyclical, and what goes around comes around, you know what I mean? That’s why I was saying earlier before that the instrumental jazz, contemporary jazz, it always will have its roots in R&B.
Smitty: True.
GA: It just has. That’s where it came from like with Quiet Storm before Smooth Jazz came along. And so you kinda have to reinvent your wheel, so come to see our live shows as opposed to hearing a record and crossing our fingers and trying to get play.
Smitty: Well, I think that’s a great approach and the other part of that is you’re reaching out to those that matter so much to the musicians and that’s the fans, and I know you talk about the spirit and commitment of East Bay Soul in relation to your fans in that you recognize that they pay hard earned money to come see your show and that they deserve the very best that you can offer, and I think that’s a beautiful approach and attitude toward what you’re doing as far as your career.
GA: Well, you know, one thing that I’ve learned in the last few years, and I know that this term has been around forever, but if you start with an original statement, then you gotta have a tenet of where you wanna take it. It can open the door and show you where you wanna take something and it grounds you to where you kinda keep your nose to the grindstone and you don’t err too much and, of course, erring, you wanna have the freedom to go where you wanna go during the live performance and that’s the beauty of the live performance because it’s jazz and it’s R&B and you can do a million things. But that original statement sets them up and lets people know where you’re gonna come from.
