Have Groove, Will Travel - the stories behind the songs
My 'blog writer's block' has finally gone away......a lot has happened since March of 2005, when I had my last post.....my father, Lawrence Stowe, passed away after a long illness, I had a 'semi-ugly divorce' from the two bands I was playing with, and I changed jobs.....but on the upside, I recorded my album!
As anyone who has made an independent CD knows, the project can get pretty expensive.....although I stayed within my budget, there were some things that I wanted to do in more detail, like my liner notes.....although I had the opportunity to thank everyone who either played/sang on the CD or inspired me to do the CD, I wanted to write more about the songs chosen for the CD ......so here goes.....
First, I'll start with the album cover photo - this was taken by Chas Maher and Chris Demeo of Positive Image Photography, and Chas and Chris are two of my former colleagues at Vanguard. Chas had the idea for taking the photo in the Frankford section of Philadelphia underneath the "L" train......we shot this on a VERY COLD December night right before Christmas....I say very cold, because we had to keep waiting for the trains to go by every 15 minutes or so (for four hours!) until we got the right shot. Chas and Chris were great to work with, and they did an incredible job of capturing the image and concept that I had in mind for the cover!!
The Star-Spangled Banner - I used to play in a band called "Hollywood" when I lived in Northeast Pennsylvania....as this was a five-piece band, and everyone in the band could also sing, I asked my brother Lee to write out a five-part arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner that we could learn and perform for the local semi-pro baseball and football teams....although we never had the chance to do so, I didn't want this great arrangement to go to waste!
Imagine - I used to work with Willis Hickerson at Vanguard.....for one year, we overlapped as members/co-directors of The Vanguard Group Mutual Fun Band and Crew Notes Choir. Willis was the co-director my first year, and I took his place as co-director when he left Vanguard to do music full-time. The year that Willis and I worked together (September 2001, right after the WTC attacks), Willis composed a tune based on the United Way's campaign slogan for that year, "Imagine", which he wrote for the Vanguard Choir, and which I played the flugelhorn solo for our performances. As I fell in love with the tune, I had asked Willis if I could record this song if/when I made my solo CD....I was truly honored and blessed to have Willis come in and play keyboards on the track, as he brought 'the real deal' to the track, as only he can do!
Sweet Angel - Steve Brown was my jazz professor at Ithaca College (where he still teaches today), and he composed this tune for his daughter Randi. He recorded this as an instrumental track on his "Good Lines" CD (on the Cafe Records label), and Tish Sommers added beautiful lyrics to the tune. Tish was a guest artist with the Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble at our performance at Town Hall in NYC in 1988, and once I heard the tune with vocals, it became one of my all-time favorites.....Steve, I hope I make you proud with this track!
Ghetto Heaven - I have always been a Hiram Bullock fan, from his days as the original guitarist in the Letterman band in the early 80's (he was the one with the broken leg!) to his work with David Sanborn, Spyro Gyra and numerous other artists, as well as his outstanding (and very underrated) solo records, which also feature his rich baritone vocals.....as I've been told numerous times that I sound like Hiram, I thought it would be cool (or should I say 'way kool'....inside joke) to pay tribute to one of my musical inspirations......he recorded this track (originally written and recorded by the group Family Stand) with Lalah Hathaway (daughter of the late Donny Hathaway) on his "Color Me" album.....this was one of my favorite tracks to record, as the challenge of matching the background vocals and harmonies really pushed me to the limit, but in a really good way! It was also a lot of fun to bring in my good friends to help me record this track (and yes Marsha, the bright lights of Hollywood will soon be calling you!!)
Have Groove, Will Travel - When I first moved to PA back in '94, I remember sitting in my apartment watching Tom & Jerry, and the name of the cartoon episode was "Have Mouse, Will Travel"....not long after this, I ordered my first music business cards, and I wanted to have a slogan.....this just popped into my head, and its been with me ever since.....the concept of the track was based on the old Earth Wind and Fire records where they would have a short musical interlude between tracks, usually not longer than 1 minute in length.....I actually wrote this in the shower two days before my first studio session, and this was the second track completed on the album.....(and for those of you who can't get the thought out of your head of me standing naked in the shower writing this song - ENJOY THE VISUAL!)
Sack Full Of Dreams - Donny Hathaway was an outstanding singer/songwriter who left us way too early.....I always loved his work with Roberta Flack, and really began to appreciate the full body of his musical work over the last few years.....on his "Live" LP (originally recorded in 1972) he performed this song, originally written by the late Gary MacFarland, a brilliant jazz composer. One of the highlights of recording this tune was the opportunity for me to get to know Gail MacFarland-Benedict, the widow of the composer, an incredibly gracious person. I dedicate this track to her, as she has given me incredible support and encouragement throughout this project.
So In Love With You - Yes, I wrote this for Michal......during Super Bowl weekend in early February 2005, I was rehearsing for a showcase with The All-Night Band at Pat Cerello's house in North Jersey. After rehearsal, Pat asked me to come downstairs to his recording studio, as he wanted to test out a new microphone.....as he didn't have any recorded tracks for me to sing over, I asked him to give me a drum beat, and I started coming up with the basic sections and melodic ideas for this song. What I totally forgot was that I was supposed to meet Michal for dinner right after rehearsal, so needless to say, I knew that this song would be for her even though I didn't have the lyrics yet! I really didn't begin to think about the lyrics until that April, when I knew I had to record the background 'doo-wops', and I wanted to have a melody that didn't get lost in the five-part harmony. While on our cruise in the Carribean (before cruise ships caught on fire), I had been hanging out on the upper deck, drinking more than my share of margaritas and rum fruit punch....waking up the next morning feeling 'inspired' (or hung over, depending on how you look at it) I sat out on our room balcony and just started writing lyrics, which to this day I have no idea how they just came to me......perhaps for the next album, maybe I should record it on a cruise ship?
Happy Go Lonely - My brother Lee wrote this track a few years ago.....when I told him I was recording a CD, I asked him if he had any material I could record, and he gave me a CD of songs that he recorded in his home studio - this song jumped out at me, as both the chord changes and lyrics showcase Lee's incredible musicianship and brilliant imagination! It was also really cool to have Jonathan Ragonese (a 17 year-old musical prodigy) come in to record the soprano sax solo....this was his first-ever studio session, and believe me, it won't be his last!!!
Remember - John McGovern (my producer/engineer) wrote this track.....when we first started recording the CD, John played this for me to see if this was something I would be interested in recording.....at first I wasn't sure, as the story of this song has a character who is very dark in nature (which is very much the opposite of my outgoing, sunny personality?)....I was reminded of the track on Sting's "Brand New Day" album where the song is sung as the character of a French prostitute, and I figured that if Sting could pull that off, I could sing the character of a street person, and it wouldn't be that much of a stretch! What I like most about this track is that it speaks of redemption, and that no matter what 'demons' we have in our lives, it is important to remember the positive things that make us who we are.
Flight of the Bondage Penguin? - This song is all about experimentation....Chuck Wilson was my college roommate and my roommate in Northeast PA....we used to have a band called "Bondage Penguin" (its great to be a Frank Zappa fan!), and one of my favorite memories was that one club would not book the band because we had the word "Bondage" in our name (ironically, this club used to book a band called the "Pee-Pees".....go figure). I remember telling a friend about our dilemma, and his response was "that club is keeping the Penguin from flying!" Even though I've never seen a flying penguin, I thought it would be fun to goof on the imfamous "Flight of the Bumble Bee" title with this title....Chuck teaches high school instrumental music in Northeast PA, and he has incorporated numerous world music instruments into his music program. He's even formed a 'pow-wow' group with his music students, where they perform on all world-music instruments, and he has guest artists of third-world heritage come in to instruct his students on the proper technique of playing these instruments. Although the concept of this track is to be another "EWF-inspired" interlude track of short length, it was fun to have Chuck come in and record a loop pattern on the didgeridoo and djambe, and it was a challenge to record vocal background tracks, additional percussion and a 'scat' vocal track that complimented Chuck's instrumentation.
Amazing Grace - This was the song I absolutely had to record - I've always been asked to sing this song at weddings, and this is one of my all-time favorites.....originally I was going to record this as an a cappella track as the last song on the CD, but once I mentioned to Willis that I was going to record this song, we put our heads together and came up with a dynamite arrangement! As my mom has always sung gospel music, I am truly honored to dedicate this track to her, as she was the inspiration for this track - I recorded a 'scratch' version of this right before my father died, and then I sang Amazing Grace at his funeral. My mom's courage and strength during that time motivated me to go back into the studio and record this song the way it should be recorded - with a lot of heart and a whole lotta soul! I called Jerry Swalla (formerly the sax player with Wilson Pickett, and now a Lancaster resident who I have gigged with locally) to come in and give me a sax solo that makes you want to say AMEN - to say that Jerry rose to the challenge is an UNDERSTATEMENT!!
Please let me know what you think of the album....I know that it won't touch everyone the same way, so I welcome all feedback.......thanks for listening!!
Peace
Lane
posted by Lane at 8:57 PM
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