Smitty: Yes, this is a great band I must add, and would you deliver a message for me?
SM: Sure.
Smitty: Would you tell Guido Basso that I said that he is one bad boy.
SM: Yeah, he is a bad boy. He’s one of Canada’s leading musicians. He’s amazing, oh yeah.
Smitty: Hey, what great work on this record with the Harmonica! Wow.
SM: The band that I’m working with right now is actually not the same band from the record. They are better, believe it or not.
Smitty: Wow!
SM: Yeah, yeah. We jell so well, me and these guys. They’re like beyond unbelievable musicians that add such a fresh energy to this music, it’s awesome.
Smitty: So are you coming south?
SM: Yeah, this summer we’re gonna be touring in various places in The States, more details to follow, I guess, on my Web site, but yeah, there’s gonna be an American tour. I had my roomies at Joe’s Pub in New York, which was awesome. Seriously, I couldn’t have expected such a great reaction, so whenever we can get down south, we will.
Smitty: Joe’s Pub, what a great place, huh?
SM: Yeah, it was awesome, it was totally awesome, and the crazy thing is that I had completely lost my voice and had laryngitis right before I had to come down, and I was so stressed out and I was crying backstage and everything, but as soon as I went up there and I saw those two hundred smiling faces in that little club….
Smitty: (Laughing.)
SM: my adrenaline just pulled me through. It was a really an awesome response from the audience and I’m very, very grateful for that.
Smitty: Wow. Well, we certainly look forward to you coming south and doing some shows in the U.S., and it will certainly be a beautiful thing.
SM: I am too, very much so. It’s the cradle of jazz music. What can I say?
Smitty: Yeah, the cradle, yes indeed.
SM: It was really a great honor for me…. going down and making my little contribution.
Smitty: Yes. Speaking of contributions, talk about your association with Bill King and what he’s contributed to your career.
SM: Bill actually was the one that gave me my first gig, and he kind of sent me out at a time when, I knew songs but I didn’t have any charts, I had no idea as a performer how to sing or how to sound sync in, and he did all of that for me. I went over to his house and I’d sing a song and he’d write out a chart and transpose it into my key and those first few performances together, he’d count in the cues and he’d tell me when to come in and when to stop singing, and I really rely on him a lot and he was very instrumental in making this album, he produced half of it and, a lot of my career I owe to him. And the second producer is Danny Greenspoon and I left him when I was recording the album, but he was really amazing too. He was the second producer. Our stuff was a little later than the ones with Bill, and with Danny I just felt really comfortable in the studio and he really helped me find my voice, so I really owe a lot of gratitude to both those guys.
Smitty: Yeah, absolutely. Great guys.
SM: They’re great.
Smitty: Well, I love this album, the whole layout, and the street date was March 21 right?
SM: Yeah. A few days ago.
Smitty: Yeah, a couple days ago.
SM: Yeah.
Smitty: Are you excited?
SM: Very excited.
Smitty: Yeah.
SM: Smitty, I was like seriously bursting with excitement. It’s so much fun; I can’t believe that it’s being released in The States and soon in Japan as well. It’s just amazing. Seriously, I never expected such a response and I just feel so incredibly lucky.
Smitty: You’re to be congratulated because this is one fantastic project from start to finish.
SM: Oh, thank you.
Smitty: And the artwork, I love the artwork.
SM: Thank you. Well, I wish I could take credit for it, but I was really active and really involved in the entire project from start to finish on obviously, the recording and the picking of the material and the singing and, well, the artwork too. This was very important for me, that it will be a real art presentation of who I am. And I think it comes across that way. I’m very happy with it, of course. My first effort in the music business.
