Smitty: That’s the Jeff I know. (Laughs.)
SC: So it turns out that kinda by accident I’ve got some of the hippest guitar playing to ever be recorded on this kind of record just because Jeff was nice enough and he’s a good enough buddy to do me a solid like that. Man, his playing really….it took the record and elevated it to a completely new level, man. I can’t even describe to you how thrilled I was to have him on it.
Smitty: Oh, man. That’s a great story because that’s vintage Jeff Golub. He’s that kind of guy.
SC: Oh yeah, yeah. Jeff is just….he’s all about….he’s a great guy, he’s a really great friend, and he’s about the music too.
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: I mean, he’s just, you know, he had heard what I was working on and dug it and he was just like “Man, I’m turning around. I’m gonna hook you up. I’m gonna play on this stuff.”
Smitty: That is so cool. Man, wow.
SC: Yeah, it was awesome.
Smitty: Well, I tell ya, man, you’ve got some great stories here with this record because another Chicago cat, my boy Mike Logan….
SC: Oh, God, yeah. Mike’s one of my best friends.
Smitty: Yeah, man, what a great cat and can he lay it down or what? (Both laugh.)
SC: There was a time when Mike Logan wasn’t too hard to get on your gig because he was just kinda like playing in Chicago and everybody knew he was the best player around here, but not a whole lot of people knew him outside of Chicago. And, man, I knew the minute he started hitting nationally that this guy’s phone was not gonna stop ringing for one second, and that’s exactly what happened. (Both laugh.)
Smitty: I’ve gone to shows everywhere and there’s Mike. I’m like “Well, there’s Logan. He’s up there with somebody else.”
SC: I mean, there are certain kinds of players who you like. You know what? I know if this cat’s on my gig, everything is gonna be fine, right?
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: But then there’s players….and those are the safe bets and you just know it….they’re gonna be prepared, they’re gonna play the parts, everything is gonna be cool, right?
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: Then there’s players….and this is the kind of players I like to surround myself with….which are the guys who you know are going to bring something special to the music every single time. Something unique, something different, something creative, something exciting every single time. You could go out on the road and play 30 nights in a row, play the same songs over and over and over, and Mike Logan’s the kind of cat who’s gonna bring something different every single night.
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: And that’s why I love Mike, that’s why I love players like that, because he’s excited about music and he never squanders a chance to create.
Smitty: Yeah, you gotta love those kind of cats, man.
SC: Yup, yup, absolutely.
Smitty: Absolutely. Well, talk to me about the live show a little bit here, just to kinda deviate a little. Now, I’ve seen your live performance many times.
SC: Yes.
Smitty: And, man, I mean, I think you and Euge Groove, you guys blow hard, dude, you know? I mean, it’s that strong, you know, that Richard Elliot kind of thing working, you know? Where you’re giving it everything you got.
SC: Yeah, I mean, I like to trace my kind of style back a little bit further than that and I like to think of it as more grounded in cats like Cannonball Adderley…
Smitty: Grover (Washington, Jr.).
SC: …all the way through kind of Junior Walker, Hank Crawford, through to Grover and (David) Sanborn and that type of school.
Smitty: That’s a lotta blowin’ there, man.
SC: Yeah, you know, I mean, listen, I didn’t get into this business to phone it in. (Both laugh.) When I get up on stage, I mean, first of all, how many people are lucky enough to be able to stand on stage and look out and people actually showed up to see them?
Smitty: Yeah, yeah, that’s true.
SC: So when I look out, I don’t care if it’s five people or five thousand or fifty thousand. I feel very privileged to be in the position that I am and my responsibility is to deliver something powerful and meaningful.
Smitty: Yes.
SC: And when I get there and play, I mean it.
Smitty: Yeah, man, I love that.
SC: (Laughs) I’m gonna dig deep every time out, you know?
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: That’s what I wanna try to do, and not to blow people away or it’s not self-indulgent.
Smitty: Oh, it’s the heart, you know?
SC: It’s just that’s it’s just heart. I think people like artists, people follow artists and enjoy their music when they feel that they know a little bit about what’s behind all of it.
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: And when you’re able to connect what’s in your heart to your instrument and translate that to the audience, I think it’s a very powerful thing, so that’s what I strive to do every single time out, is just to really create that link from heart and soul through the instrument and to the audience, and that’s what I’m about.
Smitty: Well, amen, brother, because each night out you bring it, bro.
SC: (Laughs.)
Smitty: And we love it, you know?
SC: Thanks, man.
Smitty: Talk about after the show, you know, just for the fans and…. After the show, you know, because some players say “Hey, man, I left everything on the stage” and then rightly so.
SC: Yes.
Smitty: And when they come off they say “Man, I’m exhausted” and then you’ve got some players that say “Hey, man, I left it out there, but now I’m charged up because now I wanna talk to the fans and I’m ready to sign autographs,” whatever the case may be.
SC: Yes.
Smitty: Talk about what you go through after that last note and now you’re off the stage and you’re interacting with the fans or whatever it may be or running for the plane. (Both laugh.)
SC: Well, I mean, I think the first thing that I feel after a performance is actually a little bit bittersweet.
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: Because you build up the whole day around this very short period of highly concentrated energy, okay? You know, the performance.
Smitty: Yeah.
SC: I mean, traveling to checking in to sound check to all the events that go on even before you leave town, and you have all this going on and you’re buried in a myriad of details and time constraints, right?
Smitty: Yeah.
