Very Important Session

[Craig Garfinkel]

Thank you very much, Bernie.

[Craig Garfinkel]

The first omen that Saturday's session was going to go well was when I got in my car to go to the studio and on XM Radio's "Beyond Jazz" station the first thing I hear is "and today's featured artist is the great jazz drummer Lenny White."

I must admit, cool as this was, it did ramp up the anxiety a bit as well. I mean, here I am heading to a session where I'm going to play with the cat they're featuring!

There were other good reasons for the butterflies in my stomach...the tune we were doing had just been completed days before the session, and I in fact had just heard it myself for the first time the night before. It was a really raw demo with a totally lame drum loop. Nice melody though. Okay. We were bringing in a sax player I didn't know at all, on Frank's (guitarist/composer) recommendation. We would be working with Jason Biggler aka DJ Logic, the first time any of us had worked with a DJ before, let alone one of the best out there. We were bringing in a young cat named Matt Zeigler to do some rhymes, also something completely new to us. This was either going to be very, very cool...or a total train wreck.

I arrived at the studio about a half hour before the scheduled meet time with my co-producer Matt. I'm always early. I called him to let him know I was there already, and he said he'd be there shortly. Then my cell rings and it's Lenny. It's 10 of 11 am and I'm not expecting him to arrive until 12:30-1:00, so right away when I see his name on the ID I'm thinkin' "oh-oh"...problem. He says "Hey man it's Lenny. I'm lost!" Turns out he turned off just one exit too soon and he and Jason (who rode with him from NY) are only 5 minutes away! It's cold and rainy and we've got no way to get into the studio until Matt arrives.

Well let me tell you, any anxiety I had shortly disappeared when Lenny and Jason pulled into the parking lot and we all met. We all jumped into Lenny's car to stay warm and hung out until the rest of the troops arrived. It turned out to be a great pre-session hang, and it really set the vibe for the whole day.

Okay, I know, get to the playing part right? As you can probably imagine locking up with Lenny White is as easy as breathing. Working with him is just as easy. We warmed up a bit together and from that point on everything just seemed effortless. We all tracked live together, and inside of three and a half hours we had a killer track. Lenny made great suggestions throughout, and we all learned a lot from him, especially in regards to making a funk groove swing. He was as gracious as he was brilliant, and gave us four strong takes to work with. I have to say I didn't have my 100% A-game that day, but listening to the track since I can now hear all the changes and fixes I'm going to make. There are a bunch of real "moments" that are going to be keepers though.

All being said, it couldn't have gone better. Sax player was great, Logic kept the vibe very fresh, and Zeigler is really a talent with the rhymes. I think people are going to dig this track the most. I'm a very happy camper.

Oh yeah...while we were warming up we played a bit of "Spain" and then "Continuum". Now that was cool in a surreal kinda way. Right after I thought "OMFG did that really just happen?"

[MAJOR METAL]

Is the Sadowsky getting any more studio play?.

[Craig Garfinkel]

So far, seven out of eight tracks have been with the Smith. I've been using the Sadowsky on some other projects though.

[Craig Garfinkel]

It's been three months since we did the session, but I just got a look at the video we shot. This is the fourth and last take we did. Sorry for the crappy mix. We've done some fixes since...but now that I've seen and heard the raw track as it happened, I just might un-fix a couple of the parts.

Some pretty cool visuals, even with the jittery cinema verite type camera work. Frank making the "stanky face" during his solo...sax player Karl Knox's face obscured in the iso booth by reflections...Matt Ziggs rhyming from the control booth staring intently at Lenny...and my favorite, Lenny getting a splinter and chucking his stick after the take, exclaiming "Finito!" We pushed him a bit to do that last take, but it really was "the one".

http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk_nav...l_id=&skin_id=
Link didn't work. Go to this link and click on "Video". Should work now.

[Bernie Connors]

Very cool, Craig. I'm amazed by the tone on that Smith everytime. Such a powerful tone.

[Bernie Connors]

Craig,

Do you have a release date for the album?

[Craig Garfinkel]

Originally Posted by Bernie Connors

Craig,

Do you have a release date for the album?

We've had several.

But every time I set one, we go wizzin' right past it.

At this point, we haven't even started to mix. We've got sessions booked next week for some fixes, and then we might be ready to mix. Then we've got to think about mastering, artwork, manufacturing, etc.

It's looking like October at the earliest.

But...I'd rather have it right, than soon, if you can dig.

[Bernie Connors]

Originally Posted by Craig Garfinkel

But...I'd rather have it right, than soon, if you can dig.

I would too! Definitely looking forward to it though.

[Craig Garfinkel]

Originally Posted by SMASH

Great video man ! I really like these clips you're putting up.

For me there's too much scratching and while the rapping seems fresh it also rubs me a little the wrong way. That's 'cause I'd prefer just the band, or a whole CD in this style (with less scratching) could sell big to an entirely different market than what you're probably after with this CD. Just ain't like chocolate and peanut butter to my ears, but I understand the importance of mixing things up over the course of a whole CD.

My favourite thing about your playing is your right hand work - my guess is that the way you mute a given note has a lot to do with the tone you're getting. Something I aspire to.

I appreciate the constructive comments, Smash, and I can dig where you're coming from. Logic's scratching will definitely see some editing in the mixdown, and Ziggs actually did some alternate takes on the rhymes...but I dig his energy and he was a part of the original concept of the tune. Once everything is done and we start to mix, things are bound to morph a bit.

On the bidness side, if you're making a "jazz" record these days, it doesn't hurt one bit to think somewhat commercially if you want to sell more than a couple CDs. There are folks who will buy the record because Lenny's on it. There are quite a few peeps that will buy anything Logic is on. Ziggs is building quite a following himself...so is this "selling out"? Certainly not my intention to do so, but I wouldn't mind at least having a smidge of a chance at recouping my costs on this one.

[Craig Garfinkel]

BTW, I didn't mean to imply that you were saying I'm selling out Smash.

There was some famous jazz cat, don't remeber who, when somebody pointed out to him somebody else's success with a record by purportedly selling out, and he said "so where do I go to sell out?"

[Craig Garfinkel]

Originally Posted by SMASH

I didn't even think of selling out. Was just putting in my 2c. Some judicious editing might be just the thing for that track. Best of luck.

My thoughts exactly. Your comments are always welcome Smash, and thanks again.

[Craig Garfinkel]

Wow. March 30, 2005 was the first post I made regarding the sessions for the new album, and now just 1 1/2 short years later the CD has been released!

http://cdbaby.com/cd/mysteryfeet2

The original "plan" was to track, mix and master the whole thing in a month or so.

Well, it was a long road with more than a few bumps, and at times I felt as if we had created a monster that was careening out of control, but at the eleventh hour (we literally tracked the last note just hours before the mastering session last month) we wrestled that sucker into his cage.

So I'm resurrecting this ancient thread as to add closure. I am now at peace.

For a minute.

[JimK]

Nice job(again), Craig.

[Philbiker]

Ordered......