After some time away from the Eyewitness concept, 1988 was coming to a close and I realized that I really missed what we had been doing, and I went back through some of the old rehearsal CSTEs from 1985. I discovered that there were four pretty unique and amazing unfinished pieces of music, compositions in the style of the tune "Casa Loco."
By
this I mean, long extended song forms with lots of room
for improvising but which would also require lyrics and
vocals from Manolo. I contacted Anthony and Manolo and asked
them both IF they'd be interested in doing another recording,
IF I could finished the writing. They both said, "Yes!"
When the pieces were done, I contacted Manolo, and visited
his home in New Jersey to try and make little 'demos' of
the sections which would need his vocals and lyrics. It
took awhile, but, what he came-up with was better than I
could have hoped for. Now, came the big decision, what about
the drum chair? Though it was so difficult to imagine doing
this without Steve Jordan, it just felt to me that we had
drifted apart...that our work habits and musical goals were
now too far away from one another to make recording again
an easy thing to do. It was also apparent that I was going
to have to self-finance this recording as well, and, it
would be a much more huge financial undertaking than anything
before. At the time, the only name which came to mind on
drums was Dave Weckl. We were all friends, and Dave had
as good an understanding about the Eyewitness approach to
music-making as anyone, so it was a logical and good fit.
Though this recording cost me some $38,500, it's important
to note that Anthony Jackson and Dave Weckl did it all for
nothing, and to my eternal gratitude. These are the kinds
of things true friends do for one another when things need
to get done. Yes, if we had hit the 'jackpot', they would
have shared in everything. We also divided all the new compositions
in a 5-way split which acknowledged Steve Jordan's contributions
as well. Highlights for me include: Dave's two drum solos
on "Kamarica" and especially on "Mama Chóla".....the
latter just kills....one of the great drum solos EVER recorded!;
the playing of Anthony and Manolo throughout....and finally,
"PUBLIC ACCESS" marks the first time I had ever recorded
a song of my father's, here "Dedicated to You".....an old
favorite of mine, inspired by the Johnny Hartman/John Coltrane
version. It was very emotional and moving to record this
piece and I think all the guys could feel that. Though it
was no easy task, Larry Rosen picked-up the master, and
it was released by GRP in 1989. Since the beginning of the
CD age, "PUBLIC ACCESS" has been my best selling
recording, and a tribute to the muscle of GRP in those years;
and, this was NOT a particularly 'commercial' CD for them
because of the long tracks. The recording also marks the
beginning of my long-standing friendship and working relationship
with the brilliant engineer, Malcolm Pollack.
|
[1] Sisé(Khan, Jackson, Badrena, Weckl, Jordan)(9:06) [2] Blue Zone 41(Steve Khan)(4:45) [3] Kamarica(Khan, Jackson, Badrena, Weckl, Jordan)(8:50) [4] Silent Screen(Steve Khan)(7:06) [5] Mambosa(Steve Khan)(8:20) [6] Butane Elvin(Steve Khan(5:13) [7] Botero People(Khan, Jackson, Badrena, Weckl, Jordan)(7:06) [8] Dedicated to You(Sammy Cahn-Saul Chaplin)(6:22) [9] Mama Chóla(Khan, Jackson, Badrena, Weckl, Jordan)(10:07) |
Graphic: Ned Shaw pen & ink sketch of Eyewitness for CD cover
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