FIVE QUESTIONS
Rippingtons having fun with Latin music
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| From left, Dave Karasony, Scott Breadman, Russ Freeman, Bill Heller, Kim Stone and Eric Marienthal of The Rippingtons, performing Saturday at Turtle Bay. Marienthal also gives a solo performance Saturday.
The Rippingtons, featuring Russ Freeman |
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
The Rippingtons became smooth jazz pioneers almost by accident.
Cooked up by guitarist and current leader Russ Freeman as a one-shot side project for him and a few L.A. studio musician friends to have some fun in, The Rippingtons have instead stuck around for almost two decades.
The Rippingtons' Latin-flavored 11th CD "Wild Card" bowed at No. 1 on Billboard's contemporary jazz chart last month. Liberally sprinkled with Freeman's new-to-disc classical and flamenco guitar stylings, "Wild Card" is a part spicy, part smooth-as-sangria addition to the band's jazz catalog.
With The Rippingtons set for a Saturday performance at Turtle Bay Resort's annual Honu Festival, I called Freeman at his Florida home for Five Questions.
Q. "Wild Card" is The Rippingtons' fourth Billboard chart-topping album since 1987. What do you blame your continued success on?
A. I think people appreciate the quality of our music and the musicianship. ... ('Wild Card's' Latin sound) was something we'd been developing ... actually, since we started touring. When the band was born, we started touring Caribbean countries and getting more into Latin music. I live down here in Miami, so there's that influence as well.
(Latin music) is fun to write and play.
I think that the only time that you can really grow is if you experiment and try different things. ... So my goal has been to try and incorporate things that we've never done, work with people we've never worked with. And that's why I wanted to (have) some Spanish vocals and play this kind of music.
No. 1, it helps my growth as a musician. No. 2, I love the sound of it. It's inspiring to me.
Q. Ozomatli is a longtime Honolulu concert favorite. How'd you hook up with Raul Pacheco and Asdru Sierra for background vocals on the "Wild Card" track "El Vacilon"?
A. We know them through (Rippingtons' label Peak Record's) affiliation with (Ozomatli label) Concord Records. They were kind enough to come in and sing and it was a fun session ... a blast. I liked their slightly Middle Eastern influences and just the kind of things they brought to the table that was so different from our influences. Any time you can get with an artist and exchange ideas, it's a fun thing.
(I wasn't) hugely familiar with (their music), but I was aware of them and I dug their sound.
Q. Not that every aspiring musician raised in Nashville is required by law to have George Jones- or George Strait-style career dreams. But exactly how does a Nashville-raised teenager like you grow up to be a jazz musician, anyway?
(Laughs.) You know, people don't realize how much jazz there was in that town. There's a lot less now than there was then. But there was a huge amount. They had clubs. They had great guitar players.
The level of musicianship is really high in Nashville. The people play country to make a living. But they can play anything there.
My dad was way into music, and he made friends with all of the local studio players. So I was immersed in that kind of culture at a very young age.
We'd go to the clubs, and I saw Dizzy Gillespie play. It was totally cool.
Q. The Rippingtons' music has always been grouped into the "contemporary jazz" or "smooth jazz" genres. Two decades on, are you cool with that or put off by it?
A. I don't mind it. I just think that the music that we started playing had much more diversity than what people might associate now with this kind of (music). ... I just think that we have more to offer than what some people might otherwise think.
And again, our (being) diverse may be one more component of why we've been successful over the course of time.
Q. Peak Records, the label you co-founded in 1994, has had its share of notable jazz signings. Among them Lee Ritenour, David Benoit, Gerald Albright, Regina Belle, Eric Marienthal and Paul Taylor. More recently, Peak signed "American Idol" finalist LaToya London. How'd that happen?
A. She was working very closely with Peak co-owner Andy Howard. He had some great discussions with her. And I think she felt that creatively Peak would be a good place for her. And it was a wise decision because ... probably one of the strongest things, I feel, about the label and kind of our mission statement for founding it was that we wanted a place where artists would feel comfortable creatively.
(London's CD) is just about finished. I can't tell you much about it yet, but it should be coming out very soon.
She's a great vocalist. A very personal vocalist. (We) love her.
Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.
