What Happened To love

What Happened to Love, released in 2021, is my first record of all original compositions.

These songs have been described as “soulful rhythm and blues,” but actually cover a range of styles and feels. I wrote all the tunes, other than Urban Solution (Remix), between 2013 and 2018 in my studio here in the high country of Ojo Sarco, New Mexico working on my Nord Electro 4 HP Piano. Urban Solution dates way back into the 1980’s with the Bud Green Orchestra and first appeared on The Pleasure Pilots inaugural disc, Pilot Project. 

All twelve of the tracks were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jono Manson at his Kitchen Sink Studios in Santa Fe, NM.  I had first met Jono at his previous studio in Chubadero, NM while recording the first Soul Deacons CD. Several years ago, Polly and I went to a gig Jono had at La Boca in Santa Fe where we asked Jono if he would help us produce this record. Happily,  Jono signed on and thus began a several year series of recording sessions at The Kitchen Sink. The project began with cutting the rhythm section tracks with Paul Pearcy and Mo Roberts on drums, Terry Bluhm on bass, and my co-producer, Fred Spencer, on guitars. I sang all the lead vocals and played piano and organ. The record is filled with Fred’s creative guitar solos. Eventually, I brought in the horn players to play the backing charts. Later, Ray Griffin did a lot of the solo work on tenor and baritone saxophones and Lee Taylor also played solos on alto saxophone. Ryan Finn, who played trombone, created quite a few of the horn charts.  Ryan is an amazing musician and often created and wrote horn charts as the sessions were rolling. Ray Griffin, Lee Taylor, and Ryan Finn were the primary horn section. We dubbed the horn ensemble parts onto the rhythm section tracks over several sessions. This was, of course, a departure from playing some of these tunes live with a horn section with my band, the Pleasure Pilots. Of all the tracks on the record, only One Wintry Day is a first take vocal. 

Who Do You Want To Be was inspired, in part, by the Walter White character in Breaking Bad when he hides out in a remote cabin in New England. It may also be about someone looking for a new life.

Jono Manson, who recorded all the tracks, also co-produced along with Fred Spencer and myself. It was a total joy working with Jono, who kept the vibe mellow with his patience and great sense of humor. I’d like to thank my partner, Polly, who coordinated the delivery of delicious food into some of these long nights of recording sessions.

As time went on, Jono, Fred and I worked on refining the tunes, especially with the addition of some background vocals sung by Gus Spencer, Melody Hett, and Danielle Amendosa.

Jono Manson also sings back up on several tracks, including  One Wintry Day, Open Up Your Heart, and Baby What’s Wrong.  When the Covid pandemic hit, it really slowed down progress on the record. Eventually, after Jono worked out a very strict socially-distanced protocol, we finished mixing the project. Jono, Fred, and I worked in our own isolated rooms, masked up entering and leaving.

When it was time to put the CD art together, Jono suggested using the very creative Chris Kro at his studio in the Detroit area. During this process, Fred Spencer, who is a fine artist in his own right, thought about an old charcoal drawing he had done called “Distressed Heart,” which featured a  heart slowly sinking into a stormy, tempestuous sea.  Fred did a new charcoal drawing that he digitally colored and this beautiful image became the cover art for the album. A photograph shot from behind the Santa Fe Bandstand Stage by Bandstand Director Michael Delheim graces the back cover of the release. Photos by Daryll Custer and Polly appear behind text on the inside panels of the CD.

I would be remiss in not thanking the musicians who recorded Urban Solution. Most of the rhythm tracks were recorded at our late friend, Earl Rosner’s living room in Santa Fe, NM by members of the Pleasure Pilots. Fred Spencer engineered these tracks on a  Nuendo system, that featured Fred on guitar, Zeke Severson (and later Terry Bluhm) on bass, Graham Binette on drums, and of course, yours truly on piano, organ and vocals. Later we dubbed the horn section parts and re-recorded some vocals with Doug Geist at Santa Fe Center Studios in Albuquerque. Lee Taylor tracked on tenor saxophone, Glenn Kostur on baritone saxophone, and Kent Erickson on trumpet. The version of Urban Solution appearing on What Happened to Love is a remix created by Jono Manson and myself where we revamped the vocals and re-imagined the overall mix of the tune.  The record was nominated for six New Mexico Music Awards in Spring, 2022.  At the New Mexico Music Awards Banquet held at Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, NM on May 22nd, 2022,  the album won three NMMA awards.  They were for best R&B production ("It's Been Fun"), best cover art and layout, and best engineering (thank you, Jono Manson.)

My first real band experience was with a group called The Outsiders in Manhattan back in 1964 and 1965. This was not the band that had the hit Time Won’t Let Me, but an assortment of guys from Music and Art High School and me from Stuyvesant High School.  Hank Alberle was the lead guitarist. We played gigs and parties in Manhattan and a couple in Connecticut. This was during the British invasion and young girls would be screaming in the audience. At the time I didn’t possess a portable keyboard and mostly functioned as a lead singer. I remember playing a concert at a Junior High School with an audience filled with hysterical young girls. As we loaded out, these girls were trying to tear our clothes off. I remember trying to protect my dad's 1955 Pontiac convertible! We played mostly British covers, including the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Attending George Washington University in DC, I was a member of a little band that featured Ned Phillips on guitar and Ricky Mink on drums. Later we formed the Fifth Column (“Sabotage of Silence”) with Jon Milton. Jon and I would walk around the GWU campus singing and harmonizing Beatles’ tunes. We mostly played fraternity parties around campus. At this time I had a Lowery console organ that was really meant to adorn a living room. I remember once in a snowstorm (they always paralyzed DC), we had a fraternity gig and five guys carried the organ through the snowy streets. Our big move was playing Louie, Louie while sitting on the floor playing our instruments. The next year I heard about a guitar player named Neil Portnow who had enrolled at GW. Neil and I talked music and began hanging out. We had late dinners in DC’s Chinatown, which was kind of a one block affair. We used to joke that we should have our own table at our favorite place – with a telephone!  Neil and I eventually formed the Foggy Bottom Blues Band. We had Ricky Mink on drums, Neil on bass and guitar, Steve Brooke on saxophone and blues harp, and Johnny Klate on guitar and lead vocals. Neil and I also sang and harmonized.  We practiced in Jim Chanin’s basement near campus. We were kind of a folk-rock band at this point and I remember covering Bob Dylan’s “Ain’t Gonna Work On Maggie’s Farm No More” among others. I also remember some pretty good Byrd’s covers including, My Back Pages (of course another Dylan composition).

We became the “go-to band” on campus and played gigs around D.C. and the Virginia, Maryland area. I remember playing a party in Virginia that had a huge fountain in the middle of the ballroom. At one point in the evening, the party organizers introduced several strippers who began gyrating in front of the band. I remember asking the party goers to move out of the way so we could better accompany them! As the ladies danced, the fountain began overflowing  and water made its way to the bandstand, really just a space on the floor. The entire band had to get up on chairs to avoid getting shocked. I remember another gig at Chapel Hill in North Carolina where we played in a battle of the bands. After the gig, we raided the cafeteria and grilled hamburgers.  Unfortunately, the rest of the band and light show who were travelling back to D.C. in a van, wrecked on the way back to DC, severely injuring several people. 

In 1967, we moved the band to Hudson Street in the West Village in New York. We proceeded to play clubs around Manhattan and Greenwich Village, including  both Trude Heller's clubs, Café Wha and assorted Village venues. This was a period of times when go-go dancers in raised booths would dance while the bands played. There were times when they would give up and just stop dancing while we played folk-rock tunes. I do remember them in their mini-skirts and go-go boots. We finally began to play Mustang Sally which would roil the clubs up into a frenzy. We had a booking agent who was getting us gigs and auditions around Manhattan. At one point, he presented us with a managerial contract. When Neil and I took a look at the contract, we were shocked to see that the fine print gave the guy ownership of all our creative output for the rest of our lives! We chose not to sign and suffered fewer bookings.  Obviously this was many years before Neil would become the CEO of the Recording Academy. 

We had an in with two top record producers through my dad that got us a shot recording at RCA Studios in Manhattan. We recorded several tunes there, including surprisingly, Neil doing a cover Sandy Shaws’ version of Always Something There to Remind Me, yet nothing came of the session. I remember taking the train from Manhattan out to White Plains to rehearse at Johnny Klate's house.

We had found a young kid named Steve Miller (not that Steve Miller) who was an amazing lead guitar player. It was as if he knew all our material before we even met him!

Once during a break between sets at a Village club, Steve disappeared for two hours. When he finally got back to the club, he allowed he had been mesmerized listening to Mike Bloomfield down the street. He apparently forgot to come back for the next set.  At this point I was working at my father’s brokerage firm (doing what exactly escapes me) while finishing our shows around 3 AM. Often, not being able to flag down a cab, I would walk home to my parent’s house and fall into bed around 4 AM. Then the alarm clock would go off at 7 AM the next morning… Ah youth!  At the end of the summer of 1967, the FB3 was falling apart and I headed out to San Francisco to check out the summer of love. Walking in Golden Gate Park, I remember hearing The Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead playing while long-haired conga players accompanied them on Hippie Hill.  Having moved to Berkeley, California in 1970, I remember opening for Jessie Collin Young and the Youngbloods with a band called Chambray.

When I moved to Northern New Mexico in 1972, I mostly jammed with friends on an old upright piano that we had in our old adobe house. People would come with their instruments and we would play though the night. Several years later, a guy trudged across the valley through two feet of snow and knocked on my door. His name was Paul and he beseeched me to come and play with his band, The Squealers (!) in Dixon, NM. He told me about a dentist who played guitar named Dick Padberg who was a great player. So one Saturday night, I headed down to Dixon with my recently acquired Rhodes 73 electric piano and jammed with the Squealers. This Dick guy could really play and sing! Thus began my 45 year collaboration with Dr. Padberg that continues to this day playing summer concerts at Vivac Winery in Embudo, NM.  One of our first bands was called The Bud Greene Orchestra and featured Les Elkind on bass, Howard Stoneback on drums, Dick and myself. We had a number of subsequent bands, including,  Rock Art, The Bumpers, and finally The Arroyo Kings. The Bumpers, and later the Kings, rehearsed at Padberg’s house, a mere ten minute drive from a bar called El Quinto Sol. We kind of became El Quinto Sol’s de facto house band where we played all the time to a diverse bunch of people. In the band were Dick and myself, Howard Stoneback on drums, and Kevin “Happy” Compton on lead guitar. At one point we had a kind of residency at Ogelvies Bar and Grille in Taos, NM. with San Sanchez on guitar, (later Regan Wright!) Fred Shumate on vocals and harp, Richard Henton on drums. This was several years before Roy Montoya, Dan Daily, and Irvin Trujillo joined what had become the Arroyo Kings. Roy and Dan alternated between being a horn section (Dan on tenor sax and Roy on tromonbe) and playing bass and guitar. Irvin was a talented drummer and master weaver. Thus we were a local northern New Mexico band from Ojo Sarco, Espanola, Taos, Chimayo, and Dixon! 

Back in the early days of the Bumpers at El Quinto Sol,  the regular audiences contained hippies from the high country, Picuris Pueblo Indians, and as word spread, people from all over Northern New Mexico. The stage had a back door that let out to a concrete banco packed with people - where various refreshments were passed around.  The Bumpers eventually began playing at the famous Line Camp, backed Freddie Fender and opened for national acts. I remember a Valentine's Day performance with Mr. Fender where swooning ladies were tossing colorful underwear onto the stage.  After the Line Camp went under, when we became the Arroyo Kings, we opened for Eric Burdon, Chubby Checker, and the Association at Tesuque Casino. 

One day I got a call from Graham Binette who had drummed with the Kings. Graham implored me join a band in Santa Fe called the Soul Deacons. He mentioned that a cat named Brother E had a great stage presence and that the band needed keys.

The band played every Friday night at El Farol on Canyon road in Santa Fe. Often there would be a hundred people in the club and another hundred hanging outside on the patio. Graham Binette built a wooden platform in a doorway for my throne so my keys could fit in the club. By this point, I was playing a Roland RD700 with a Korg  CX3 organ on top. The Deacons played many venues around town and a few concerts. I realized that my other band, The Arroyo Kings, was languishing in my absence. Although I had always been a lead singer, it soon became clear that Brother E would limit my lead vocals to no more than two tunes in an evening. I sang Ray Charles’ Unchain My Heart and James Brown’s Think.  Several years later after the Deacons imploded and I got a call from Fred Spencer to form the Pleasure Pilots along with saxophonist Trey Keepin. The original name of the band was Aviator Papa and the Pleasure Pilots, but eventually the Aviator Papa part was dropped. We began rehearsing at Trey Keepin’s house in Santa Fe. We had Fred on lead guitar, me on keyboards, Mike Fleming on drums and Zeke Severson on bass. The band fell into the interesting niche of covering obscure rhythm and blues tunes from the 1940’s, the ‘50’s and up to the Motown era. We stayed quite busy playing around Santa Fe.  

One regular haunt was Willy’s Blues Club. Mike was replaced with Ray Ack who had been Ronnie Spector’s music director. When Ray moved down south to Las Cruces, the band brought Graham Binette back into the fold.  Eventually Graham was let go and when Trey rejoined the new Mighty Soul Deacons, the new drummer was Mikey Chavez. Finally Pete Amahl settled in on the drum chair. We added Ray Griffin on tenor saxophone until Ray moved to take a job in Houston. Davo Stanton Bryant would often fill in on the drums.

As Fred and I were keen to have a horn section, we next employed Dan Daily on baritone and Aaron Lewis on tenor saxophones. We started to put together a book of horn charts for all the tunes. Later Fred and I contacted a few of the top horn players and were lucky to engage Lee Taylor on tenor and Glenn Kostur on baritone sax. These two horn players were often unavailable due to other commitments, but when we had them it was terrific. Of course, trying to pay a six-piece band came with its own difficulties. Even our bass player, Zeke had so many other engagements (primarily playing with Michael Hearne) that we had to find subs to play bass for the gigs. Luckily we found Terry Bluhm from Albuquerque who subbed so many times for Zeke, that ultimately, he became the regular bass player in the group. This version of the Pilots played gigs and parties throughout New Mexico, including the Aid and Comfort and concerts at Civic Plaza in Albuquerque.  We immensely enjoyed playing the big blues festivals.  Each summer we headlined on the Santa Fe Bandstand and into the fall we began playing at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Diane Zamost began representing the band and booked many high ticket affairs.

One day, Diane mentioned that she had an “in” at La Fonda Hotel and would we be interested in playing there regularly? Ray Griffin had returned from Houston and held forth again on tenor saxophone. We had heard about a young dude named Ryan Finn who played trombone and was an accomplished musician. Soon after, Ryan joined Ray as the horn section. At our regular La Fonda weekends, we soon discovered we were too loud to feature a horn section - so we ended up going with just Ray on tenor.  We began a multi-year residency at La Fiesta Lounge in La Fonda Hotel right adjacent to the Santa Fe Plaza. When we played concerts, we would bring in Lee Taylor (and sometimes Glenn Kostur) to augment the horn section. We continued to get calls to play parties and shows all around New Mexico, but what we enjoyed the most were the big blues festivals where you would play in front of thousands of appreciative people. We played the Silver City Blues Festival several times, the Trinidaddio Blues Festival in Colorado, and headlined at the Red River and Blues Festival in Red River, New Mexico. We played to thousands of people at Music On The Hill up at St. John’s college and to big crowds at the SF Bandstand.   

When the Covid pandemic hit, everything came to an abrupt halt with thirty five bookings immediately going down the drain. Yet I continued to work on What Happened to Love at the Kitchen Sink Studio with Jono Manson and Fred Spencer.

At the time of this writing, the record containing twelve tracks is uploaded to the manufacturer containing a terrific cover image done by Fred Spencer. 

In the summer of 2021, the Pleasure Pilots, after not having played a note for almost two years, played seven shows in a three and half week time frame.  The gigs included three high-ticket weddings and four concerts at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The band is now preparing for a special blues show at Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque slated for May 12th, 2022. The show, introduced by Putnay Thomas of the Blues Show at KUNM, Albuquerque was a sold-out affair.  In addition to the regular Pleasure Pilot's lineup, the band that night featured Kanoa Kawahila on tenor, Sam Nesbitt on baritone, and the great Lee Taylor on alto saxophone. We played sixteen tunes, some original and some from the greats. After two encores we were delighted to get a "standing ovation" at the end of the performance.  Thanks to Tom Guralnick of the Outpost Performance Space for having the show and to Charles Lowery for sponsoring the event!