Smitty:  Oh, man.

MB:  So while he’s being a superstar and you’re thinking, oh, “Gimme the Night,” oh yeah, “Masquerade’” and all that, it’s like, okay, that’s great, but this guy can really play too, so it’s scary on two different fronts.  But he was really cool! He made me nervous, and I didn’t think I played well, but he was still very complimentary.  We met and he says to me, he says “Look, I’m gonna do this record with Al Jarreau and I want you to play.”  (Both laugh.)  Now, Smitty, you know what I’m talking about, man.  I’m like “All right, man, okay.  You’re George Benson, you’re coming in here, you get to be big man on campus when you come up in the club.  I get it. I saw him two or three times, and after maybe four or five months had gone by, I hadn’t heard anything. Then one weekend and he comes in to the club again and he mentioned Marion Meadows tune called “Sweet Grapes”. He said “Is that you playing?”  And I said “Yes, it is.”  He said “I knew that I was right.  When I came here the last time, I came here to make sure that that was you.” 

He says “I meant what I said.  This thing is gonna happen with Al Jarreau and I really want you to be a part of it” and so I said “Okay.”  Now, this time I believed him a little bit more, but it was still like “Oh, no, I know that I’m not gonna get on a George Benson and Al Jarreau record that easy!”  I mean, the sidemen that are gonna be on that record are gonna be ridiculous. At first, George wanted me to go to L.A. I said to him, “Well, I’m pretty militant about not going on the road.  I don’t travel because I want to be home with my son.  I take him to school every morning, I’m home with him after school, and if doing this means that I gotta leave town, I can’t do it because I promised my son that I wouldn’t.” And George blows me away because he respected it. He says “Okay, well, however we’re gonna work it out, we’ll work it out.” Then a few weeks later my Mikey B. called and said “Man, John Burke hired me to produce this tune for George Benson and Al Jarreau, and George wants you to play.” I couldn’t even believe it. Well, Mikey B. ended up doing Mornin’ and another tune on that record, a cover of a John Legend tune called “Ordinary People,” and sure enough, Michael called me a few months after the project had come out, the album was No. 1, and the first single was Mornin’ and it was No. 1 too! Another little great side story about that is that I’m pretty sure that Abraham Laboriel was the original bass player on the original “Mornin’,” Al Jarreau did back in the day.

Smitty:  I didn’t know that.

MB:  So he’s on the record and that was just cool. There were all kinds of benefits on this record, and then later I get this call.  Michael says “Are you sitting down?”  I said “Yeah, what?  What’s going on?”  And he says “No, you gotta sit down, Mel.”  (Both laugh.)  And so I sat down. And he says “We’re nominated for a Grammy.” And I said “What?!”  I can’t even believe it.  A few weeks later I sat in a chair watching the Grammy Awards Show on TV with my son on my lap. It came across the screen that we had won! It’s an amazing feeling to win it, but what was the most amazing and when I was cutting that track, my son was sitting on my shoulders messing with me and all kinds of stuff. It was chaos here in my studio.  The best thing was that at that moment in my life I was with the person that mattered to me the most, doing what I really should be doing with most of my time, and that’s kickin’ it with my little boy! So that made it really cool.  Later I found out that the sidemen don’t get the statue, only the artists do.  Sidemen get a certificate.  But hey, I’ll take it any way I can get it.  It still opens doors for me.

Smitty:  But the other cool thing is you had been to the Grammys before.

MB:  Uh-huh.

Smitty:  And so you knew what that feeling was like being there.

MB:  Yup.

Smitty:  And receiving a Grammy.

MB:  It’s the bomb man.

Smitty:  And so you still had that full import to a degree by having been there before and yet you were at home with your family, which is a cool thing.

MB:  Yeah, it really was, and as a sideman, I’m proud of this accomplishment and I’ll try to use it to my advantage.  Membership has it’s privileges. Not everybody can really go around and say that they played on a Grammy winning track.  But again, as you know, there’s nothing scientific about it.  The fact that it won doesn’t mean that particular music is any better or that I’m any better as a player.  It just means that it spoke to someone at the right place and at the right time, and that award came through.

Smitty:  Right, you were recognized for that accomplishment.

MB:  Absolutely, and I’m happy to take that out in the world and try to do with it what I can as a sideman.  See if it’ll open some doors and get me on some more records and help me keep it moving.

Smitty:  Yes indeed, my brotha.  (Both laugh.)  Well, speaking of that, because it’s an excellent segue.

MB:  All right.

Smitty:  One of the things that in spite of everything you’ve accomplished, which has just been fantastic—you’ve had a stellar career, man, I mean, it’s one to dream of—one of the things that I am equally excited about is the level to which you have taken your appreciation and your knowledge and talent of this business.

MB:  Ah, thank you.

Smitty:  Yes, and I’m speaking of something that you talked to me about sometime back about doing a book that really talks about the business and how to get started in the business and how to not only get started, but how to remain in the business, how to keep yourself ready for those opportunities, all of those things.  You have produced this great book.  It’s called From Zero to Sideman in Five Steps.

MB:  Yes.

Smitty:  And I want to thank you once again for sending me the book.

MB:  Ah, you’re welcome.  (Both laugh.)  Thank you for taking the time to check me out.

Smitty:  Yes indeed.  I read the book, couldn’t put it down, and so many times as I’m reading, I’m saying to myself, you know, I had this thought but I didn’t take it to the level that you took it to in this book.

MB:  Cool Smitty!

Smitty:  This is a fantastic tool for aspiring artists that are trying to take those steps to get their music out there, to get it in front of people, to be noticed, to get their music into the right hands, and it’s a start to finish thing.  I mean, this is like going from the garage to Madison Square Garden, which is the eventuality, and I’m not kidding you and I said this to Steve Oliver today.  I said “You know, Steve, when I read the book, it was like Mel Brown having a conversation with me, helping me to get out there.”

MB:  I appreciate that a lot man.  That’s the best compliment you could give me.  It’s really meant to be a straightforward, simple, pragmatic methodology from the time that you decide to be a musician in the music business to how to get it going, you know?

Smitty:  Exactly.

MB:  From start to finish, from zero to sideman. The thing that I checked out while I was trying to get my musical career going, Smitty, was that there wasn’t any guidance on how to go about it.  There was really no book that I could go to…. musicians that you go to can sometimes be unwilling to share how they got into things because they don’t really want new competition, or don’t want to give you something they had to earn the hard way.

Smitty:  Right.

MB:  And those that are willing to share, it’s usually based on music, you know, learn how to play this scale or learn how to play that pattern. I didn’t really need music lessons.  What I really needed were some basic job hunting skills in the music business.  How could I take this musical ability that I had and actually transform myself into a commodity in the music business as a sideman?  What I also noticed was that a lot of really great artists started as sidemen, so what they learned as sidemen really gave them a boost in being an artist.  So throughout my sideman career, I’ve just sort of been making notes and keeping track. I had a very detailed plan about how I was gonna go about getting my own sideman career started. I didn’t want anybody to have to just kind of feel their way around in the dark trying break in to the industry anymore.  I put the book out  and you can start there.  If you want to make it, buy the book.

Smitty:  Yeah, and I must say, after reading this book, if I was an aspiring artist or if I was just playing in a garage band, I could get out there and make it.  This book is so inspiring in that you use real world language.  This is not polished up words that a person wouldn’t understand.  It’s not terminology that a person wouldn’t understand.  This is like Mel Brown sitting down after a gig and being real with someone that wanted to get started in the business.

MB:  Well, that’s what inspired the book.  I am very fortunate in that when people come to the performances where I’m playing they’re interested in speaking with me or trying to see if they can further their career through information that I might provide them. But as far as hanging out goes, I have a pretty hectic schedule.  I don’t hang out a lot, I don’t really have a lot of time to just go hang out socially or anything like that.  I’m a workaholic.  (Both laugh.)

Smitty:  I know what you mean.

MB:  Yeah.  I’m always willing to share, but I don’t always have time, so it rarely happens, and with the book, I thought, okay, well, these are the things that people want to know.  They want to know how did you get into the business, how did you get started, who did you talk to, how did your first big break come, what did you do?  All of the things they would ask me if they took me to lunch I put in a book. Now I say “Well, look, don’t spend your money taking me to lunch.  Just get the book and I’m pretty sure all your questions will be answered in here.”

Smitty:  I’m just going to give the audience just a sampling of some of the subtitles.  For example, in the table of contents, first thing, what is a sideman?  The work of a sideman?  And I love the subject about what equipment you should have.  What equipment will work for you?

MB:  Sure.

Smitty:  And you are very open in telling everyone what you use.  This is not about fancy bells and whistles.  It’s about what works, what will get your sound out there, what you can use that’s comfortable for you to do what your style and musicianship is all about.

MB:  Sure.

Smitty:  You explain what an EPK is.  Some people, if you probably tell them, well, you might want to think about an EPK.  The next question would be what is that?

MB:  Sure. The Electronic Press Kit.

Smitty:  You explained it.  I mean, you didn’t use any terms that you didn’t explain, which I think is really cool, and you went so much further about behaviors in the band, how to conduct yourself, how to deal with other members of the band.  Let’s say you’re the new kid on the block coming into the band.

MB:  Sure.

Smitty:  How do you work with that whole thing of group dynamics, working together, you know?

MB:  Sure.

Smitty:  Those are the things and there’s so much more here—I think there are things here—there is something for everyone in this book.  Even if you’re an established artist, I really think that there are some things you can go back and look at and say, hey, you know?  Hmm…

MB:  Oh, I appreciate that very much.  One of the main things that I hope the book can communicate—and it seems like it’s doing it, from the feedback that I’m getting via e-mail and some people in town coming to find me— is that you can actually do this in a simple practical manner. They’re like “Wow, where was that book when I was getting started?” I wanted to take a complicated process like career choice and simplify it. I break it down into a process which is, defining what that job is, choosing to accept the lifestyle that goes along with the job, equipping yourself to do the job, educating yourself about it, creating a demo by using technology to show the world that you know what you’re doing, and then take that out and give it to everyone willing to watch. That’s what the book does. 

I was the first musician in the world to individually market himself with a multimedia CD ROM. When I moved to Los Angeles, I wanted to be able to showcase myself and not wait for the word to get around about me. I was moving to a new city and no one really knew me and believe me, nobody wants to hire a stranger.  So I used this Enhanced CD ROM demo, that I called a Profile. An Enhanced CD will play in your car or home stereo like a regular CD, but if you put it in the computer, it’ll show videos and you can have your own word of mouth on it and all kinds of stuff so people can make an educated decision about whether they want to use you right then.  And it worked.  It worked like a charm. 

Within a month I’d gotten a job playing bass with Gladys Knight. I’d learned that I wanted to be a sideman. So what I saw was that by making a plan, by being specific, by looking at what I wanted to do in the music business, by defining what that was, looking at and accepting all aspects of what living that life and doing that job entails, I’d take the gig with my eyes open, so to speak, and just to be very organized in my approach with it, and it paid off for me. I wanted to put all of that information in one place where someone could read it in very simple language and succeed if they have the willingness to do the work.