Smitty: Please.
EM: I have Dave Antonow, who’s on bass, and he’s on upright and electric bass, and then I have Dave Mohn on drums, and then I have Nelson Hill, who is on alto sax and flute and soprano sax, and of course he plays all the reeds, but all of these guys are incredible, incredible people. That’s number one. Besides great musicians, these are great people.
Smitty: I like that, man.
EM: And we’re friends besides being band mates and it’s just great that it’s nice to have that kind of relationship too, and I’m lucky and I’m so blessed to have these guys in the group.
Smitty: Well, I will tell you, these guys did some—and I hope everybody gets this record because there’s some killer solos on here.
EM: (Laughs.)
Smitty: Wow! I could not get over the killer solos. I mean, man, Nelson, but he can smoke on the water with that flute, you know?
EM: (Laughs.) That’s right.
Smitty: Whoo!
EM: That’s right. Well, Nelson was with Maynard Ferguson for a few years in the early eighties. And then all the rest of the guys, you know, Dave Antonow has played on and off with different bands over the years and Dave Mohn, and the thing is, this group is like sort of a new—it’s not a new group—we’ve been playing on and off for the last 10 years, but solidly as a group this has been solid now for about two years. And it just keeps getting better and better, and I’ve written a lot of new tunes and we’re already working on the next album, which is gonna be a tribute to Dave Brubeck.
Smitty: Oh, super.
EM: Yeah, so we’ve already got tunes all ready to go for that and I’ve written a bunch of new tunes for the guys in the quartet, and as a piano player, I’ll tell ya, it allows me to be very, very creative and to explore where normally I wouldn’t be able to, because I know I’ve got that cushion under there.
Smitty: Yeah.
EM: That I can explore there and I know it’s kinda like, like I said before, everybody’s listening, and it’s a great environment to create because I can go out there and I can come back home too. (Laughs.)
Smitty: Exactly and that’s a beautiful thing to know that you know where you’re going and know where you need to get to.
EM: Right.
Smitty: And I think it’s beautiful. I wanna talk a little bit more about the band because the bass player, Dave Antonow, he gives me that rock band appearance but, man, he has some improvisational skills.
EM: Yes he does. Michael Moore is Dave Brubeck’s bass player and Dave Antonow has one of Mike’s old basses. So he’s been playing that and I’ll tell ya, he’s also a guitar player, he’s always played guitar, so guitar and bass sometimes go hand in hand, and so he’s, again, a great improviser, a great listener.
Smitty: Yeah, and your drummer, Dave Mohn, I was so impressed with his musicianship on this record. I mean, he can lead, follow, run, walk.
EM: Oh, man. Now you know how I feel. (Both laugh.) I mean, yeah, it’s just a pleasure having Dave in the group. I mean, he is just such a tasty drummer and just has so many different ideas that he and I will both look at each other and be like, you know, we’ll hit on the same rhythmic idea and we’ll be like “Wow, this is unbelievable,” like we’re reading each other’s mind, and he’s just such a tasty drummer, his technique is flawless.
Smitty: Would it be safe to say that you all equally inspire each other?
EM: I think that’s a great way of saying it, yeah. That’s it in a nutshell, yeah, I think that’s it.
Smitty: And you can’t put a price on that. That’s just priceless.
EM: Yeah. Well, we make each other better or we wanna make each other better and better because there is just so much to say in this music that you can play this music for a lifetime and still not say enough. And that’s the thing with the improvisations. Each time we approach a tune, it’s gonna be different. Every time we play jazz, any standard, anything like that, it should be different, it should be approached differently, and that’s the great thing about jazz with the improvisation, so we try to do that every so often and we do a really, really neat version of “Take the A Train” and that’s always different every time we do that, and even when we play “Take Five” or something like that, it’s like we’re not playing these things traditionally like they’ve been on the record. It’s nice to add that freshness to it. It also raises some eyebrows. “Whoa, what’s this? Well, they were taking me here, but now we’re going there.” (Both laugh.)
Smitty: Well, I’ve got several favorite tunes. I couldn’t just go with one on this new record.
EM: Okay.
Smitty: The record is called Times Change, but Track 10, “Alone in the Night,” is one of my favorites.
EM: Oh, well, thank you.
Smitty: Yeah, and Track 3, “Why Not?”
EM: Yup.
Smitty: I love that tune. And there was one more. Oh, “Philadelphia Rush Hour.” Man, that song you could’ve continued with that one another eight minutes if you wanted to.
EM: Yeah, I know. Well, we were in the rush hour at that point. (Both laugh.) We were trying to get out of the rush hour. I always tell people “You don’t wanna know the lyrics to that tune.” (Both laugh.) Yeah, thank you very much. Well, the two that you mentioned, “Philadelphia Rush Hour” and “Alone in the Night,” are tunes that I wrote. And “Why Not?” is by Dave Brubeck. But “Alone in the Night” is a real reflective piece and the flute I wanted to use sort of like the lone voice in the night.
Smitty: Yeah.
EM: And I just like slow ballads and it’s very, very much a retrospective piece and I’m thinking about writing lyrics to it as well.
Smitty: Oh, very cool.
EM: And then “Philadelphia Rush Hour” basically was written in my head while I was in rush hour. (Both laugh.) And that was a great collaboration between the guys in the quartet. Dave Antonow helped out. We came up with that one line toward the end just before you hear the pileup. (Both laugh.) And so it’s a lot of great collaborations and a lot of fun making that album.
Smitty: Yes indeed. Well, you guys are really getting an opportunity to get out and play some of this music because I looked at your tour schedule on your Web site and you have quite a schedule.
EM: Yes we do. I’m very blessed to be working as much as we are too, but again, I wanna reiterate it’s, again, hard work and I’m on the phone 24/7 practically, booking the group. But on the other hand, I’m also getting calls 24/7, which is a good thing.
Smitty: Somehow I know what that’s like. (Laughs.)
EM: Yeah, you know, you know, I hope, I’m telling you. (Both laugh.) But it’s a good thing and people wanna hear good music, and the thing is, we’ve been really connecting with a lotta people across the country and getting a lot of airplay on a lotta different radio stations. We’re getting a lot of airplay on XM Satellite Radio, which has been really great.
Smitty: They’re great guys at XM.
EM: And I’ve been getting e-mails from people all over the country that are connecting with the music. I mean, I’ll share a quick story with you about one of the e-mails.
