Jazz Monthly: Yeah, I mean, word for word, and so I’m starting to wonder if there’s not triplets instead of twins, you know what I mean? But great friendships in this business is a beautiful thing.
DR: Yeah, I’m so, so fortunate. He is an exceptional human being and a real friend. I mean, Mel was the first bass player I played with out of college and, I mean, I was just spoiled for life because I stepped out of school and boom! My first gig is Mel Brown, one of the greatest bass players on the planet. I was spoiled… I don’t even think spoiled is the right word. Having him laying that foundation on the bass took my playing to another level.
Jazz Monthly: But he just raised the level for you.
DR: A handful of guys in the world that play like that and he’s one of them.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah, yeah, you’re right by a handful. Yeah, there’s only a handful and he’s right there in the mix, that’s for sure, yeah. I gotta talk about my friend Jeff Lorber.
DR: Yes.
Jazz Monthly: When I heard that he was on your project, I knew then that it was a slam dunk too because let’s face it, he’s the Shizznik, you know?
DR: Man, Jeff is the man. That was a dream come true for me. I can’t say enough about him musically and as a person, he was just so cool and he cut the tracks and he took those tunes to a completely different level. Those tunes were never the same again after he played on them and I’m very grateful to him for that. In fact I was so fortunate to have all three special guests—Wayman Tisdale, Jeff Lorber and Dave Koz—I grew up listening to these guys. I mean, heroes of mine, and here all of a sudden they’re on my record and it was amazing.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah, and I really love what Wayman did on “On the Rebound.”
DR: Yeah, that song is totally Wayman. Wayman was my so-called first. Before Wayman, I was just a guy struggling to get a gig and I had been asked by Rendezvous to come out to L.A. and they wanted to meet me. They had heard some of my music and really liked it. And I got out to L.A. and through a series of just extraordinary circumstances Dave Koz and Hyman Katz and Frank Cody asked me to produce the single for Wayman, “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.”
Jazz Monthly: Yes, I remember.
DR: And after that happened, my career completely changed and so I gotta give Wayman a lot of credit. Not only is he the dearest of friends, but he really he opened the door for me and to have him on my record on “On the Rebound” was another dream come true.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah, he’s such a cool cat and he’s just got it, man. He’s on another shelf.
DR: It just comes straight outta him. There’s no manufacturing. You better hit record because it’s coming out. That’s the way Wayman is.
Jazz Monthly: And you know he’s gonna come right.
DR: That’s right, that’s right. Right out of the gates, he’s on it. It’s coming straight from the heart and, yeah, I mean, I sent him that track and he had that thing done so quick.
Jazz Monthly: That’s him, yeah. And the title track with Dave Koz is just fantastic. It’s a fitting track to title the entire project, it really is.
DR: Yeah, I didn’t know what I was gonna call the album and I was almost finished with the record and I was writing, I had a couple tunes left to write, and that whole experience with Rendezvous and Wayman Tisdale—of course, Dave Koz was in the middle of all of that and he kind of befriended me and it was just such an amazing experience, a once in a lifetime experience, hence the title of that track. I wrote that track for my wife and soon to be born son. Dave is the consummate professional and a true friend. He’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life and he, again, is one of the guys that I had been listening to for years and years. I remember back in high school listening to him – what an incredible talent.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah.
DR: And dreaming of doing something like that someday, never realizing that I was gonna get to meet him and gonna get to become friends, and then all of a sudden, once again, here he is on my record, so that was like Dream Come True No. 3 for that record.
Jazz Monthly: Yeah. Now, just kinda switching gears, a lot of fans know you as a great sax player.
DR: Mm-hmm.
Jazz Monthly: And I want the world to know what a fantastic producer you are and you kinda touched on that when you talked about doing the track for Wayman, “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.”
DR: Mm-hmm.
Jazz Monthly: But talk about how you got to that whole notion or vision of being a producer. I know that that started early on.
DR: Sure.
Jazz Monthly: But how did that all transpire?
DR: Well, I never planned on being a producer. I always planned on being a saxophonist and I had no plans to become a producer. I was in grad school and this was about the time I was almost getting ready to leave school and pursue music full-time professionally, and I was in school doing an album, it was a jazz fusion album, and we went to a nice studio with great gear and a good engineer and had really good guys in the band. We went in to record the record, and I remember during the recording process I was totally intrigued with how to create the different sounds on the record and how to do this, but in the end, because of my lack of ability to express what I wanted, I ended up with a record that I was not overly happy with, and I was not able during that process to really figure out how to creatively express myself in the studio.
What was in my head didn’t end up on tape. And so it was at that point that I decided, you know what? I really need to start learning this so that the next time around I’ll have more knowledge, so I bought a little mixer and a little microphone and I started working on stuff myself and it just kind of evolved from there. I kinda got the hang of it and when I started getting better results I thought, wow, I’m really happy with this, and so I thought, well, if I practice hard, maybe I can produce and record my next record. In order to improve my skills, I offered to produce, record and mix some tracks for free for several friends.
Jazz Monthly: To practice.
DR: Yeah, I had nothing to lose. That helped hone my skills and before too long I was at a point where I felt comfortable trying to make my own record. So I started producing records of all sorts for several years – all different genres. I never planned on being a producer full-time. It just happened. The pivotal point was the meeting with Dave Koz and the guys at Rendezvous. I was flying out there and they were looking at the possibility of signing me, and so I thought I was gonna be the artist first, but it didn’t happen that way. They didn’t have a place on their roster for me as an artist. They liked the production on my record and asked me, “Hey, we really like your stuff, if we need you for some production, would you be open to that?”
I said “Sure” and three days later I was in the office meeting Wayman Tisdale, getting ready to produce that “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.” So in other words - I didn’t choose producing. Producing chose me. And I’m grateful. There’s always that side of you that always wants to be out in the spotlight and I’ve had many chances to do that with my saxophone, but I have to say that in this instance, it wasn’t so much about what I wanted, it was more about what I was meant to do. And now, of course, with the production opportunities that I’ve had, the artist thing is really starting to take off for me, so it’s really worked to my advantage more than I could have ever dreamed.
Jazz Monthly: Well, I think this choice that was bestowed upon you is quite interesting because as we speak, you have four productions in the R&R Top 10 and you have two at No. 1 and No.2, and let’s see, they are who? Eric Darius…
DR: and Dave Koz.
Jazz Monthly: And Dave Koz. So now here are a couple of incredible musicians.
DR: Yeah.
Jazz Monthly: And this “backing into” opportunity has become quite the spotlight of who you are.
DR: Well, first of all, I have to say that I am so incredibly ecstatic about what’s going on right now and I feel so blessed for these opportunities and, yeah, I realize now if I had been stubborn and just pursued being a sax player, I could’ve easily overlooked these opportunities and I wouldn’t have these incredible things happening right now so, I mean, I don’t even really know what to say. You can work hard and you can do your best, but I never planned on having four songs in the Top 10. It just happened that way and all I can take credit for is doing the work. The timing of four hitting at the same time is kind of mind boggling and every one of those singles was a blast to do.
Last week Dave Koz was No. 1, this week Eric Darius is No. 1, so I get two of my favorite players and favorite people at No. 1 and it’s back-to-back – and I also got to mix both those tracks too. I’m stoked! And then I’ve got Wayman and Tim Bowman in there who are so incredible and some of my dearest friends on earth so, gosh, it’s hard for me to even—I’m kind of as surprised as everyone else. I’m just buckling down and doing the work to the best of my ability, I could have never expected all this. I’ve been very blessed to have some amazing people to work with also. We’ve already talked about Mel, but there’s also my dear friend Frank Selman, who is just an amazing artist and guitarist in his own right. We’ve done so much music together over the years. Both Mel and Frank are playing on all four of those singles.
