Whatnot

#1 Whatnot

• Erik Charlston - vibraphone
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Tim Keiper - drums and percussion
• Danny Louis - Hammond B3 organ
• Steve Elson - baritone saxophone

I am playing baritone sax on several of these tunes. I thought I’d mention how I became a baritone sax player. I always loved the deep rich sound of this big horn, so I bought an extremely used old baritone in Oakland California. I took it apart and got it in working condition and used it occasionally, mostly for my own music. In 1982, having been in NYC for five years, I got a phone call from my friend, (and future Borneo Horn co- saxophonist) Stan Harrison. He asked if I played baritone and I replied, rather shamelessly, “I am the best bari player ever”. Chutzpah. Stan was assembling a horn section for a Nile Rodgers recording session. It turned out it was for David Bowie, and it became Let’s Dance. The recording went well and on the second day I was asked to play a baritone solo on the song Modern Love. It happened on the first take, or perhaps second. That song and that record became enormously popular. Thus, I became a baritone sax player and much of my subsequent studio work has featured that horn. Love playing it, hate schlepping it.

#2 Ceci-Cela

• Steve Elson - tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet, contralto clarinet
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Patrick Simard - drums and percussion
• Erik Della Penna – guitar

Recorded at Steve Elson’s Lips and Fingers Studio and remote locations. Listening to playback and hearing myself intaking air on about 6 clarinets on Ceci-Cela reminded me of the first time I recorded in multitrack digital format. Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison, and I, known as the Borneo Horns, were recording on a Nile Rodgers session for the British singer John Waite. We had just double tracked a song, so there were six saxophones. We came back to the control room to hear playback. The engineer solo-ed the section, meaning, that we were only going to hear the horns. He started the “tape” a few seconds before we entered. It was completely silent, instead of the normal hiss as the tape played. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I heard six saxophonists take a deep breath and then just pure saxophone sound. There are folks that prefer the analog days, but I was taken by the clarity and remember that feeling to this day. Ceci-Cela was also the finest patisserie on the Lower East Side. Had a sense of neighborhood and the best croissants from an incredible French baker.

#3 Hannah

• Erik Charlston - glockenspiel
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Danny Louis - Hammond B3 organ
• Steve Elson - Eb clarinet

The song Hannah was named for both my sister Margaret Hannah, and my great-grandmother Hannah. Two exemplary women of my family, and who doesn’t love a name spelled the same forward and backwards.

#4 Then Again Again

• Erik Charlston - vibraphone
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Tim Keiper - drums and percussion
• Danny Louis - Hammond B3 organ
• Steve Elson - tenor saxophone

Most of the music on this CD was recorded in the first several “takes”. This tune required multiple tries, and I learned that if you name a song “Then Again Again”, you are asking for trouble.

#5 It Is What It Isn’t

• Steve Elson - tenor and baritone saxophones, Eb, Bb and contralto clarinets
• Erik Della Penna – banjo

Recorded at Steve Elson’s Lips and Fingers Studio This is just me on a bunch of different instruments with the addition of fellow Hazmat Modine band member Erik Della Penna, playing banjo.

#6 Fall Springs Internally

• Erik Charlston - vibraphone
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Tim Keiper - drums and percussion
• Danny Louis - Hammond B3 organ
• Steve Elson - tenor and baritone saxophones

When I played the demo of this for Danny Louis, he imagined a tap dancer in the mix. So, we had Tim Keiper add castanets. It reminded me of the time, many years ago, that trombonist Ray Anderson and I were taking tap dance classes from his wife Jackie Raven in my loft. I remember going downstairs and having to explain the “bad news” to my neighbor.

#7 Comeback

• Cliff Korman - piano
• Joe Fitzgerald - bass
• Norbert Goldberg - percussion
• Steve Elson - alto flute

Recorded and mixed at Second Story Sound by Scott Lehrer This song and Eb Clarinet Soliloquy were originally recorded for the filmmaker Jonathan Demme and his producing partner [and poet and author] Daniel Wolff. They were making a series of short films about the devastation of the storm Katrina on New Orleans called “Right to Return”. I am happy to give this music a chance to be heard again.

#8 Undone Melody

• Erik Charlston - vibraphone
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Tim Keiper - drums
• Danny Louis - Fender Rhodes piano
• Steve Elson - tenor saxophone

Undone, not in the “not-finished” sense, but more in the doomed sense of the word.

#9 Girth

• Erik Charlston - vibraphone
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Tim Keiper - drums and percussion
• Danny Louis - Hammond B3 organ
• Steve Elson - baritone saxophone

When I first showed this tune to keyboard phenom Danny Louis, he, as I expected, saw the title, and asked “Hudson?”

#10 Winsome

• Erik Charlston - vibraphone and glockenspiel
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Tim Keiper - drums and percussion
• Danny Louis - Hammond B3 organ
• Steve Elson - piccolo

As a journeyman saxophonist I’m expected to double on clarinet and flute at least, and nowadays playing double reeds is very desired. Piccolo, bass clarinet and several other instruments are asked for on occasion, and best to be up on these if you are looking for certain kinds of jobs. I played piccolo, albeit not terribly well. Some years back, I was on a recording session for incidental music for Saturday Night Live, along with Lou Marini. He was playing the piccolo on one cue and played so beautifully, that it sparked an interest to take it more seriously. I went out and bought a decent instrument and played it wherever I could. It hasn’t helped the tinnitus, but so much fun.

#11 One More Last Dance

• Cliff Korman - piano
• Steve Elson - Eb clarinet

Recorded in Rio de Janiero by Darius Korman and at Steve Elson’s Lips and Fingers Studio My long-time friend Cliff Korman recorded his piano part for this tune in Rio de Janeiro his home of many years. We happened to be in Rio together, each for our first time, in January 1988. I was playing with Duran Duran on their first trip to Brazil, and Cliff was investigating music that clearly had made a strong impression on him. Cliff in some ways never left. He lives, performs and teaches music at a university there for most of the year. Though he was in Rio, and I was in NYC, the piece feels like an intimate conversation.

#12 Sublingual

• Erik Charlston - vibraphone
• Randy Landau - double bass
• Tim Keiper - drums
• Danny Louis - Fender Rhodes piano
• Steve Elson - tenor saxophone

Meaning under the tongue. Also, subtones are an aspect of playing the saxophone, mostly the tenor saxophone, best exemplified by Ben Webster. It’s that sound on the bottom of the horn, airy and fuzzy. Plus, I just like the word sublingual.

#13 Eb Clarinet Soliloquy

• Cliff Korman - piano
• Joe Fitzgerald - bass
• Steve Elson - Eb clarinet

Recorded and mixed at Second Story Sound by Scott Lehrer On the higher-pitched instrument in the clarinet family here. I first really heard this instrument as Lenny Pickett played it so brilliantly on some of his compositions for the Borneo Horns. It has such sweetness to it.

My hope is that you will listen to this entire CD from top to bottom, at a healthy volume, on great speakers or high-end headphones. Enjoy!