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Between Sets with Bob Baldwin
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Posted by: editoron Monday, December 10, 2007 - 12:48 PM |
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Karl Stober
Moments in the Key of Baldwin…
Exceptional multi-directional minds in the sphere of the music industry are rare; Bob Baldwin is one of those rarities. Bob’s consistent drive for perfection in sound, innovation in arrangements, and overall charismatic personality in and out of studio, substantiates the success he has accumulated thus far. Bob Baldwin simply is a dynamic intellect with an unshakable fashionable flair for life and sound! His music from which ever direction it comes, whatever stage it launches from, never can be deemed mundane…it is what it is…cool!
"All a man's got is the integrity of his work,” is what is referenced too so many times by this animated pianist and he earnestly lives by it. Bob’s music, composition, and style are all encompassed by the sincerity he demands of himself. This is why his fellow musician’s, fans, and students all grasp the opportunity to be in his corner.
Encased in his new venture, the DVD “Memoirs from the Hudson” offers that “up close and personal” introduction to Bob and his craft. The music and on stage approach of the artists stands alone in quality and performance. The monologue after each performance offers the viewer the understanding and relationship between the methodology and history of each song. Allowing rare insight into the birth and production of the music... A wonderful addition!
From a guest appearance from long time friend Marion Meadows to an innovative American anthem tribute, the live performance just allows the viewer that “on stage” experience!
For all of his magic and flair Bob Baldwin is pure entertainment with that dynamic personality mixed in. His jazz is fresh, the innovation of his process speaks out through the music, now between sets Bob Baldwin will do the same about life, theory, and those that surround him.
Karl Stober: The best place to start at the beginning, so with that said your father Bob Baldwin Sr. was a pianist. What impact other than his teachings on the keyboard did he have in setting your musical course?
Bob Baldwin: Dad heard I had a great ear at age 4 - perfect pitch was on the radar and he exposed me to my talent, a great gift from pop who was a great pianist himself. He got sick before he was 50 and never explored his own gifts before such time, so he lives vicariously thru his offspring, mainly, me! (Laughs) His root was jazz, but then got me into classical lessons for 7 years, which gave me the discipline. His inspiration as a hard worker is my mantra today, having survived all of the nastiness of the business, record label rip-offs, companies folding, corporate bankruptcies, I’ve survived them all, with a smile on my face! Pop gave me the foundation I needed to have stamina and that's why I'm still standing tall today! – I have a song on my CD called, “Third Wind,” which exceeds that all-important Second Wind, which speaks of that stamina.
Karl Stober: You had numerous inspirational mentors through your life, however who in jazz had that profound “outside the box” impact on your talent, outside of the genre of jazz who was that same impact artist?
Bob Baldwin: Grover (Washington, Jr.) exuded longevity and I rubbed hands with the master himself. Showed class and everybody wanted to be in G's band because of his classiness and fairness - outside the genre, Prince is my man. He's the most innovative cat out of them all. His business creativity is the only thing keeping the pop genre interesting...him and Madonna, changing his name to “symbol” to shake contract rights not withstanding.
Karl Stober: In experiencing the highlights so far in your career which one had the most impact on you? Was there any single performance or event that made you sit back and take the preverbal deep breath in amazement?
Bob Baldwin: I used to perform a Sunday night gig between 1985-1986 in New Rochelle and the guys that came thru there were ridiculous!! Drummers Joel Rosenblatt, Dave Weckl, Sax man Fred Vigdor (AWB fame), James Robinson - who replaced Luther in the group Change when Luther went solo in '81//the club only held 50 people!! - one Sunday on a day where there were only FIVE people due to a terrible storm in the area (two of those five were the people from the Bottom Line) came thru and asked me to open up for Tom Browne at the Bottom Line in 1986...I did that...Tom asked me to play in his band right after that...dug my version of "What's Going On?" - Produced a record for him - one of the first gospel jazz records (No longer I - Malaco) before Kirk Whalum made it fashionable nearly 10 years later...that led to my 1st production under my name. The disc was titled, I've Got a Long Way to Go - 1988 - Roberta Flack selected me out of the final 5 of 250 applicants as the winner...this led to Sylvia Rhone signing me at Atlantic Jazz in 1989....all of that happened from a little gig I was doing 10 minutes from my house, which at the time was owned by Vinny Pastore, who went on to be an actor on the Sopranos.
Karl Stober: Let’s digress; moments where you are as I, a radio broadcaster. Jazz always seems to have a short life span for the most part as a format. What do you see as a catalyst in taking jazz to the next level outside the usual markets in radio? Do you think the New Urban Jazz sound has a strong future in radio either commercial or satellite?
Bob Baldwin: New Urban Jazz is the sound in this genre...Smooth jazz is not moving product like it's supposed to and labels are dropping like dead flies...some stations have done great with it and made lots of money, but sales stink genre-wide and Contemporary Jazz needs to be re-energized....sales in Jazz are down percentage-wise MORE than other genres because this genre has not developed a face, no TV presence, no visual impact....label officials need to get off their butts, invest in more DVD product, and force a paradigm shift and get jazz on the tube....it's not just a bunch of cats with suits in a smoky club.....there's a lot of artists that can give some pop stars a run for their money.......and given the chance, that will come to fruition....look at Botti... one minute, he's selling moderately, then BOOM goes on Oprah and becomes a star overnight.....sales the following week go from 2,500 to 20,000 within couple of weeks....somebody with some juice needs to step up and make this genre the A-class it's supposed to be...New Urban Jazz will make that happen…mark my words!
Karl Stober: You seem to relish in live performances. Do you prefer live over studio? Why?
Bob Baldwin: Studio gives me the chance to tweak to my heart's content and give me the control I need in an arrangement, which is why my CDs have a certain quality and sound...the live thing is different because there's no control...everybody has knowledge of the charts and they do their thing...its a different bag.....I love them both equally for that reason.
Karl Stober: Where do you get the fever or shall we say if you will, pulse to generate the excitement in your live performances? You seem to extremely animated while on stage. Does that come naturally or what influenced that technique?
Bob Baldwin: I've been told I make a lot of faces...that's directly from my dad...when I would go to his gigs at age FIVE and sit in the piano bench while he was doing his gig, I would look up and see the mugs he'd make, so I have to credit/blame him for that one...as far the rest goes, nobody wants to spend 20/30/40 bucks to see some dude sit on a bench all night and tickle the ivories with his back to half his audience.....pianists have to compete with saxmen, guitarists and bass players jumping off stage in a wireless world....try that with a 80-pound keyboard wrapped around your neck, and I guarantee you, there will be a concussion or two amongst my peers...so I have to do what I got to do on stage, standing behind a keyboard, which provides a nice energy between me and my audience...one day a company will figure it out and let us keyboardists roam the theatres wirelessly without a glitch...technology hasn't gotten us there...yet!
Karl Stober: You say from time to time that Marion Meadows reminds you of Grover Washington Jr... Can you expand on that? In the same breathe you have worked with both of these premiere talents. What if anything did you take from these relationships musically?
Bob Baldwin: In the right setting and with the right groove, Meadows can take a groove, start it with a chill, and escalate that thing to an explosion at the end and bring people to their feet. Out of all the solos I've seen him do, I feel he does it best on a tune I wrote for him called "South Beach"......I have a FOURTEEN minute version on the DVD and his solo is one of the best I've heard on record in this genre and we take him and the audience on a serious ride – From that experience is a learning lesson...I have to always re-create myself and re-study how I solo....Herbie knows how to take a solo, stretch it for 10 minutes and still keep it interesting in any genre....he's the best at it...but Grover on the contemporary side in his heyday was one of the best.
Karl Stober: Bob, you state that jazz is 2% music, 8% business, and 90% crazy. Explain if you will “crazy!”
Bob Baldwin: You're the first one to ask.....Since 2000, I dealt with one label that ripped me off for over 6 figures and we're still battling that out even though the writing is on the wall. In 2002, I had a radio station tell me that the reason they wouldn't play my single "The Way She Looked At Me" after 42 of 45 stations were playing it in HEAVY rotation is because “the guitar isn't loud enough”?? 1st of all, I don't play guitar, 2nd of all, who made a PD (Program Director) the MP Music Producer?? Folks need to stay in their lane....after that in 2004-2006, one label filed bankruptcy and the other went out of business....I had to scramble to retain my rights to my material and own over 7 CDs, which I can re-distribute at any time, no strings attached....
In my career, 11 recording's on 7 labels......I've had more label mates than the law allows.....I produced a hot festival in NY and one of the artists received nearly 90% of their money and they didn't take the stage, stole the money and left the park without performing, thereby breaching the contract.....a multiplicity of scenarios where people sign contracts and have no intentions of fulfilling them....I think that gives you a birds-eye view of why I say it's crazy...it’s the egos and the thieves that make the business crazy, but it's the music that keeps me in, not the business. I hate the way the business is run....too many people destroy it from the top. There needs to be a mass-abolishment of these people who lack integrity so that the music can flow a lot smoother throughout the universe.
Karl Stober: Now let’s talk about your new DVD called “Memoirs from the Hudson” which is a fantastic evening of entertainment I must say. How did this concept come to be? What took it to the Hudson?
Bob Baldwin: That's the event I produced...I wasn't the money guy, just the one who brought together the talent, conducted a major marketing campaign, did the contracts, etc.....6000 people showed up. It was the HOTTEST thing ever to go down in Westchester County for jazz in its history. It's a sleepy community but they came out in droves. I'd like to do again with some clientele that have a little more bank. It would be great...that day, Pieces of a Dream performed, I produced a tribute to Grover with Gerald Veasley, Pieces and Doc Gibbs, all Grover sidemen over the years, Phil Perry blew the roof off and Stephanie Mills was a no-show.....if you see the DVD, you'll check the vibe. It was a great event and needs to happen again.....
Karl Stober: In the film you use your broadcasting skills to go into each and every cut. A story for every tale if you will, this provides the viewer with insight to each effort. Was this a preplanned part of the script? Would you use the same format on your next DVD?
Bob Baldwin: I kind of flew off the handle with it, made it fun and applied my broadcasting flavor. I think people will see the fun in what I do (that 2%) and let me host a couple of events on TV as a host...I acquired my FCC license when it was required to go on radio -in 1978, so radio is a very serious hobby, soon to go major within the next few months...it's all tied in?? and yes, would definitely use that concept for the next DVD along with some other tweaks.
Karl Stober: You talk about the inspiration of 9/11 and the aura that inspired you when writing “Star Spangled Banner.” What was the process of taking those feelings and engraving them into the composition/arrangement of this inventive piece?
Bob Baldwin: I sat down that afternoon and penned an arrangement of "God Bless America" and submitted it to CD101.9 because they didn't have any material to speak that tragedy. I arranged that ON 9/11, man, about 3 hours after the attack! I created a whole project out of it, but jazz stations across the board had some unjustifiable issues with it...Kim Waters, Marion Meadows, Chuck Loeb, Chieli Minucci, Phil Perry all stepped to the plate and put down some heartfelt performances...one of my top productions to date....out of that experience a few days later was "Star Spangled Banner" - See, I have the gift of taking something mundane, boring and repetitive as the SSB and God Bless and making it exciting again, like you've heard it for the first time...that fact was validated by Danny Weiss (now at Shanachie) back in the late 80's...he saw the uniqueness of what I did...even though "The American Spirit" was a flop, it was one of my best efforts in my career...
Karl Stober: “Body Rhythm” is such a magical moment in the film. The introduction of Marion Meadows resonance and the integration of your sound were unique for many reasons. You call it sexy; we may call it seductive, either way it defines cool… Talk about the birth of the project and how the arrangement was developed.
Bob Baldwin: “Body Rhythm” (title track to a disc released in 1995) was not written by me, but one of Marion's buddies in Texas. That was a big record for Marion and we wanted to put another spin on it, so his vibe on that tune, so we added two percussionists, who never heard the song in their life…totally unrehearsed, and it came to life...I did 5 other songs on that disc, including "South Beach"...one of the last CDs done by Marion on analog tape and by far, one of his warmest discs in his catalog...one of my Marion faves...
Karl Stober: The next cut “South Beach” was written by you. What was the inspiration for this cut?
Bob Baldwin: Miami Beach - 90 degrees, sun, blue water, chilled people, Latin music, percussion, love, just a great time!
Karl Stober: Bob, you mention the public is not going to have to wait 10 years for the next DVD. That said when should we expect another video event from you….?
Bob Baldwin: I hope that we can scratch another one out within 2 years....these take a while because they are not label-funded, but self-funded...in other words, do a gig, save some dough, get paid to produce, save some dough, etc.....so it takes a while...but let's hope not that much longer...I want to go inside on the next one and find a cozy spot.....
Karl Stober: You have your hands on many plates. From radio to concerts, however, what roads have you less traveled that you would like to trek?
Bob Baldwin: More radio, more programming, another concert production in the right environment. New Urban Jazz Radio concept worked in Bermuda, Atlanta, and Jacksonville, so I will explore that further! I am going to do a record in South Africa in 2008, would love to go to Japan...that's on the wish list....I did get the ultimate compliment recently from QUINCY JONES!! The great Q complimented a song on my next disc, which I did a song attributed to Joe Zawinul.....he dug it...heck that's as good as saying I won a Grammy. Q is the man...I fell in love with him when I was a pre-teen digging on "Walking in Space" - 1970...another great record in my dad's collection.
Karl Stober: Let’s go off the beaten path with the questions. You enjoy the live scene. So if you could put together a seven piece band by name/instrument (Living only) who would it be?
Bob Baldwin: Sax/Kirk Whalum or Fred Vigdor (AWB), Trumpet/Tom Browne, Percussionist/Cafe Da Silva and Chembo Corniel, Drums/Buddy Williams or Lil John Roberts, Bass/Anthony Jackson or Marcus Miller, guitar/George Benson or Phil Hamilton...
Karl Stober: At the same time where would the perfect venue be held and what would you call it?
Bob Baldwin: Don't know about the title, but of course, Westchester, NY man…in my backyard!
Karl Stober: Also just for kicks; give us your top 5 albums you spin when you’re at home just chillin....
Bob Baldwin: It’s been a while since I whipped out the IPod....got 4000 songs on it now.......Love Ivan Lins, Elaine Elias, Djavan....they keep me sexy all day long....
Karl Stober is a freelance critic and journalist internationally. If you wish to contact him for a project or interview please email at jazztrenzz@gmail.com .
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