In the Studio with David Ragsdale of "Kansas" David Ragsdale's contribution to the upcoming Escape from Omaha CD was a wonderful chain of events. I was working on a show for Fox in Vegas and happened to meet him at the Bellagio where he was playing. I introduced myself and we immediately hit it off. He agreed to play on the album, but due to David's busy schedule, we were unable to find a date when he could travel to L.A. within our timetable. Well, If Mohammad can't come to the mountain... I prepared rough mixes along with my arrangements and sent it to David in a digital format that was compatible with his personal project studio. I also wanted him to do a couple of passes using his own ideas. He sent the files back to me and they were great! This method of recording is the reason that he is not on camera with all the others, but at that time, I did not think I was going to produce a full blown DVD. Oh well! He’s on the record & that’s what really matters.
visit David's website here (11.23.2010) |
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In the Studio with Ryo Okumoto of "Spocks Beard" What can you say about Ryo Okumoto? Ryo Okumoto is a solo artist, keyboardist for the mighty Spock's Beard. He is the real deal. All the parts you hear on the CD were recorded at Ryo's studio and using "real deal" vintage keyboards. If it sounds like a Mellotron, guess what, it is!!! If you hear a Minimoog, it's a vintage Model D. That swirling B3 / Leslie is no simulation. Hey, we don't need no stinking samplers??? Ryo’s sound really added a huge layer of sound for us and we are real happy with the results.
visit Ryo's website here
(11.23.2010) |
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In the Studio with Jerry Goodman of "Dixie Dregs / Mahavishnu Orchestra" When David Ragsdale could not due the rest of the songs due to schedule conflicts, he said to me “Why not call up MY hero, Jerry Goodman?” We are all huge Dregs fans and so I contacted Jerry through Dregs drummer Rod Morgenstein. Jerry came in and blew us away! His solos were so good we later opened up the songs to make room for more than one. We just did not have the heart to lose any of it!! His work was very inspiring to say the least.
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In the Studio with Alan Morse of “Spock’s Beard” We are all big fans of the ‘Beard’ and one night we went to their show in Hollywood. Spock’s played a great set, and after the show, we went backstage to say hello. Sean and Steve were promptly ejected from the VIP room for not having the proper pass, and I somehow slipped right through, (I’m good like that). Anyway, I gave Al a CD of some of the songs and a few days later he contacted us saying he liked it. I was honored and so I thought of a way to include him adding a few solos on a few songs. We had a couple of songs that Sean had told me that he was not real sure how to approach and so we started talking to some guitar players to guest as soloists. First we spoke to our friend Neil Zaza, but schedules did not mesh. Next, I contacted my buddy Alan Holdsworth, yet again schedules did not mesh. So, we put those songs on the back burner while we continued to work on other songs. That’s when I met Alan Morse. He was great! His approach is so different from Sean’s that it was a perfect fit. On a side note, It was our album and trading solos with Jerry Goodman that inspired Alan to use Jerry on his solo CD, “Four O’clock and Hysteria” So I hooked Al up with Jerry. Where’s my commission, Jerry?
visit Alan's MySpace here (11.23.2010) |
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