DB: And then a few new players that I hadn’t used before or maybe once or twice like Euge Groove and there’s a couple of others, Paul Brown, of course, we hadn’t actually ever recorded together, and Jeff Lorber.
Smitty: Yeah.
DB: (Laughs.)
Smitty: Man, you totally went full circle with the cats because that goes back. Tim Weisberg, my god, what a cat.
DB: Yeah, now there’s a guy, this is true: I met him, he was playing the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach and I was still in high school. (Both laughing.) That’s how far back we go.
Smitty: Wow!
DB: You know, we’re talking a good 35 years.
Smitty: Yeah, I still have a lot of his recordings. Man, he’s always been a favorite of mine.
DB: Oh yeah and a great friend. So, again, full circle in so many different ways. And it’s funny. When we were at Ocean Way B on the first day and there was just like this big mass reunion, you know, there’s Jeff Weber, who had produced a lot of my early records, and Clark Germain and then, you know, John and Nathan and Tim, and everyone’s all there in the studio and we’re just like having the greatest time, we’re having a party on record. (Both laughing.)
Smitty: What a wonderful feeling that is when you can get together with friends like that that go so far back and you have so many stories and so many experiences that you’ve had together, and I think that transcends into the music because those memories come back and everybody’s remembering the grooves and it’s just a beautiful experience to do something like that.
DB: Yeah, it really is, and what a great opportunity to do that. Yeah, yeah, I’m so glad you like it. You never know when you do something, but I haven’t had this much fun making a record in a long time.
Smitty: (Laughs.)
DB: It’s really nice to get the good reaction on it.
Smitty: Absolutely, you gotta get out and play some of this stuff live too, my friend.
DB: Oh, I’ve already started. I was just in Washington, D.C. We just came back from the Capitol Jazz Fest.
Smitty: Oh yeah.
DB: We played “Monster in the Attic” and that was….
Smitty: Oh no, I missed it!
DB: Yeah, and it was like I got this B3 patch on the organ and, boy, it was quite a reaction.
Smitty: Yeah. I know it was, just speaking of the B3. You know, that’s an instrument that doesn’t get a lot of press. This is a format that’s laden with sax players….great sax players, I might add….and piano players like yourself and guitar players, bass players, but you know the B3 is such a unique instrument that when people hear it, it’s like wow, it’s fresh every time out and it’s just got something that will make every bone in your body get up and move.
DB: Yeah, it’s funny that you mention that, is that you can always hear plenty of B3 in the traditional jazz, the Jimmy Smith style, you know, with Joey DeFrancesco and a lot of the great younger players, but where you don’t hear it that often is in Contemporary and Smooth Jazz, and it’s surprising because it has a real R&B base to it and yet it’s surprising that the B3 hasn’t been used more.
Smitty: Absolutely and I think it’s a wonderful instrument that needs more of that steppin’ out kind of vibe.
DB: Yeah, it’s such a great solo instrument because after being a piano player, piano’s real elegant and nice, but there’s just something about that B3 and that Leslie, get that Leslie going, there is a power about that and a funk, and it just gets people going, like you say, and if you go back to my very first record in ’77, there’s B3 on that. I’ve always felt that….and I’m not really an organ player….but I’ve always felt that the B3 just had this really nice different kind of sound that is always nice to have, especially on a really groovin’ tune, you got a lotta groove going and, man, that thing just cuts through everything.
Smitty: Yes, man, and you could punch that thing, you know?
DB: You can punch it, yeah, oh boy.
Smitty: Yeah. When I think of B3 players in this format, I think of you because of that first album, this new record, and some snippets along the way, and I think of people like Joe Kurasz, and Mike Logan both of whom are monster B3 players. We’ve got some guys out there that can really punch this thing and I encourage you cats to keep doing that. I’m not saying just shower the format with it, but, keep that B3 working, baby….
