Euge Groove Q&A
Here are some excerpts from my interview with sax man Euge Groove who plays on Sunday, July 22 at Jazz Fest Fest in San Dimas:
Question: Seven of the tracks on your latest CD were recorded live in the studio. Did those end up with a more spontaneous vibe?
Answer: Yeah, when there are four or five other musicians you’re cutting with at the same time, you don’t want to be the guy making the mistake. So there’s a different intensity level from everyone. As someone is creating, that might spark something, so you’re a little freer to change the arrangements. All the basic tracks were cut live then we’d go back in and add strings and put the sax on later.
Q: Master percussionist Lenny Castro appears on some tracks. Were you pleased with his work?
A: He’s amazing. I’ve used him a couple times before on recordings. He’s like the final piece of glue that cements the tracks all together…he comes in and adds the right little sweetening stuff. There are little things he does with his grooves that give everything this wonderful flow.
Q: You have the Donny Hathaway cover on "Born 2 Groove." Elliot Yamin did a few Hathway songs on “American Idol” the season before last. It got more people interested in the back catalog.
A: We actually reached out to (Yamin) to possibly sing it on my disc, but he was the middle of doing his own record. They weren’t sure and we didn’t want to wait around. Ultimately, I’m so happy we got Ali (Ollie Woodson). His performance is just stunning. You hear so many influences in his voice – so much control and finesse. At the end of recording that, he left and Paul Brown turned to me and said, ‘now that’s a performance you’ll never hear on ‘American Idol.’” I thought, ‘that’s true.’ It is the real deal, not some kid trying to imitate.
Q: It’s great to hear Jeffrey Osborne on the new CD's final track. How’d he enter the project?
A: That's another classic right there too. I had written it originally to perform on sax. It didn’t quite feel right...Paul Brown was working with Jeffrey at the time. He liked it, wrote the lyrics, put it down and I was grinning from ear to ear. It sounds like something from his old LTD days. That era of soul. The positive wooing songs. So much fun to do.
Q: Did you listen to his LTD stuff in high school?
A: Absolutely. I grew up in the D.C. area and the station I listened to played that stuff.
Q: For “Religify,” I had to consult the dictionary.
A: Was it in there?
Q: No.
A: (Jokingly) You have to go to the urban dictionary. That’s where all these phrases are. "Religify" is when you take something that’s not necessarily religious and make it (that way). It was probably the fastest song we did. The guys just nailed it. Unbelievable. If you concentrate on Tracy Carter’s phenomenal piano playing, it’s straight out of church. You couldn’t teach someone to play that way unless they grew up in the church.