Photos and memories from 2006 NY/NJ trips by Peter Lerner
January 2007
Memories of the 2006 trip by Peter Lerner
How the journey began:
In early 2003, I had just returned to Chicago from visiting the N.A.M.M. show in
Anaheim. I had made some pretty good contacts at the show. I met Kenny Burrell at one
of the booths where I had been playing. He was impressed and said some very kind things
about my playing. Needless to say when one of my heroes gave me that kind of affirmation
I came back to Chicago brimming with confidence. At that time I was inspired to write
several tunes. As you may recall, early 2003 was a time when our country was moving ever
closer to war. My sense of dread and anger that we were headed towards catastrophe like a
runaway train that could not be stopped led me to write the song “Cry for Peace.”
Around that same time I determined to redouble my efforts at developing my self as an
improvising musician. On the advice of pianist Ryan Cohan, whose playing and
musicianship I admired, I sought out David Bloom as a teacher. David taught me many
great things, the essence of which could be summed up by what he told me the first day:
“The improvising musician should seek to express not impress. No one is bigger than the
music.” This philosophy was a revelation to me as I was and still am rather insecure and
sometimes overplay in the hopes of getting house or simply impress people. I determined
to bring my playing to a higher level of true expression: my true, real voice.
David would often talk of a friend of his in New York, a great producer named Don
Sickler, or “Sickler,” as he called him. I had recorded a CD called “South Side” in Chicago
in 1998, and was bound and determined to do another. I had changed my focus and was
now going to pursue what I felt was a purer sound, not so many overdubs and a more
spontaneous feel. I wanted to use Herbie Hancock’s recording “Speak like a Child” as a
template. I felt the textures of the horns, and the whole sensibility of that recording would
fit really well with my style of playing and sound.
In summer of 2004, my wife Naoko invited me to go to New York with her for a week long
trip she was taking. I had never spent much time in New York so this essentially would be
my first time going. I brought my guitar and a demo of “A Cry for Peace” and some other
tunes. I made an appointment to see Sickler.
Sickler's Place/Production
Sickler’s place is a second story loft in Midtown Manhattan that just reeks with jazz
history. On his wall is the original lead sheet for Horace Silver’s song for my father, next
to it five Grammy awards he won for producing Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter. I
couldn’t vision all these heroes of the music rehearsing for their sessions in Sickler’s
funky little rehearsal space.
I went by his place and played my stuff for him. He seemed like he dug it well enough.
He asked me what I wanted from him. I responded I wanted him to produce my next
record. I explained to him my “Speak Like a Child” concept. He was slightly
noncommittal but seemed positive. I then used the rest of my time in New York to sit in
at a few clubs, Heat, and the Lennox Lounge in Harlem, where I had one of the most joyful
experiences that I’ve ever had playing for an audience.
The next 2 years was a slow burn of back and forth phone calls to Sickler, trying to get
the project off the ground, woodshedding, writing tunes, and arranging as best I could for
horns. It became painfully apparent that I didn’t have the arranging chops to do a record
like this, so eventually we enlisted the help of a very talented arranger and reed player Jay
Brandord. Back in Chicago, my friend and trombonist Andy Baker helped me to through
my horn arrangements for the 2 songs “Stretch” and Herbie’s tune (one of two covers on
the record) “Dolphin Dance.”
After what seemed like an eternity working out different issues, Don finally was able to
nail down a stellar line up of musicians: Victor Lewis on drums, Ed Howard on bass, David
Hazeltine on piano & organ, Eric Alexander on tenor sax, Jim Rotundi on trumpet & fugal
horn, Steve Davis on trombone, and as luck would have it the man who played alto flute on
“Speak Like a child” Jerry Dodgion. Not only was I fortunate to have all these great
musicians lined up, but I also had the tremendous fortune of being able to record at the
legendary Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Rudy's Place/Recording
Finally in late August of 2006, at long last it was happening. I flew to New York with my
young friend, a former guitar student of mine at Columbia College, named Matt Mullen. I
had just introduced Matt to Nichiren Buddhism, which I’ve been practicing 25 years now.
Having someone to chant with was a great benefit to me and helped me center on what I
was hoping to achieve, which was to use my music to uplift people’s hearts and as a cause
for peace.
I was a bit nervous. Don had contracted all these great musicians whom I had never met
let along played with. We had one rehearsal at Don’s place. Everybody was very congenial
and professional, but when we rehearsed “Cry for Peace” one of the musicians joked
“Yeah, I cry for a piece.” I thought to myself, “Whoa, this is going to be different than I
thought.”
The first thing I did when we got to New York, was to go to New Jersey to check out the
Amp at Rudy’s. That was on odyssey in itself because Matt and I got off at the wrong bus
stop and had to walk a half mile in the wind and rain. I felt like Frodo in “Lord of the
Rings.”
Walking up the driveway to Rudy’s is like taking a walk back in time. The surrounding
area is a suburban sprawl of corporate parks and restaurants, then, you walk up the
driveway into lush trees that lead to a beautiful, unique structure designed by a disciple of
Frank Lloyd Wright. Maureen, Don’s wife, who is the only assistant Rudy has ever had,
answered the door. The size of the room was unbelievable. I looked up to see beautiful
gigantic arches of wood.
Amazing, Rudy has been here since 1958. Many historic recordings were done here
including the record that turned me on to jazz “Sugar” by Stanley Turrentine that had my
first jazz guitar hero on it, George Benson. I went to the booth where they had set up the
Amp, designated the guitar booth. Rudy has a silver face Fender Super Reverb. I plugged
my guitar in and thought it sounded amazing. I thought, “Well if it’s good enough for
Wes, George Benson, Grant Green, and Kenny Burrel, I guess its good enough for me.”
Matt was extremely helpful in co-coordinating the logistics for the session. It was really
rewarding to see him use his new found faith to develop himself. We chanted a lot for the
success of the session.
Again, I was pretty nervous and stressed out the first day of the session. Listening to the
playback of the second or third tune Eric Alexander came up to me and told me that when
he did a record at Rudy’s we couldn’t tell how it would sound until it was mixed. He
reassured me it would sound great. He also said I wrote and played my ass off. I’ll never
forget his kind words at a crucial moment. David Hazeltine especially liked my tune
“Inner Drum.” By the end of the first day I was more relaxed and much more confident
feeling part of a great group of musicians.
The second day we finished up the “Speak Like a Child,” 3 horn tunes, and then,
recorded the 2 organ tunes: “The Mean Mr. Green” is an homage to groove master Grant
Green, and “Lerner Burner” is another hard grooving tune. I couldn’t help myself: I love
playing in the organ setting, and here was the organ that master Jimmy Smith played on.
Back to reality, I returned to Chicago, and my less glamorous daily routine.
What an amazing experience. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to heave come this
far. Without the care and understanding of my wife, my love, Naoko this would not have
happened. Wish me luck.
Memories of the 2006 trip by Peter Lerner
How the journey began:
In early 2003, I had just returned to Chicago from visiting the N.A.M.M. show in
Anaheim. I had made some pretty good contacts at the show. I met Kenny Burrell at one
of the booths where I had been playing. He was impressed and said some very kind things
about my playing. Needless to say when one of my heroes gave me that kind of affirmation
I came back to Chicago brimming with confidence. At that time I was inspired to write
several tunes. As you may recall, early 2003 was a time when our country was moving ever
closer to war. My sense of dread and anger that we were headed towards catastrophe like a
runaway train that could not be stopped led me to write the song “Cry for Peace.”
Around that same time I determined to redouble my efforts at developing my self as an
improvising musician. On the advice of pianist Ryan Cohan, whose playing and
musicianship I admired, I sought out David Bloom as a teacher. David taught me many
great things, the essence of which could be summed up by what he told me the first day:
“The improvising musician should seek to express not impress. No one is bigger than the
music.” This philosophy was a revelation to me as I was and still am rather insecure and
sometimes overplay in the hopes of getting house or simply impress people. I determined
to bring my playing to a higher level of true expression: my true, real voice.
David would often talk of a friend of his in New York, a great producer named Don
Sickler, or “Sickler,” as he called him. I had recorded a CD called “South Side” in Chicago
in 1998, and was bound and determined to do another. I had changed my focus and was
now going to pursue what I felt was a purer sound, not so many overdubs and a more
spontaneous feel. I wanted to use Herbie Hancock’s recording “Speak like a Child” as a
template. I felt the textures of the horns, and the whole sensibility of that recording would
fit really well with my style of playing and sound.
In summer of 2004, my wife Naoko invited me to go to New York with her for a week long
trip she was taking. I had never spent much time in New York so this essentially would be
my first time going. I brought my guitar and a demo of “A Cry for Peace” and some other
tunes. I made an appointment to see Sickler.
Sickler's Place/Production
Sickler’s place is a second story loft in Midtown Manhattan that just reeks with jazz
history. On his wall is the original lead sheet for Horace Silver’s song for my father, next
to it five Grammy awards he won for producing Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter. I
couldn’t vision all these heroes of the music rehearsing for their sessions in Sickler’s
funky little rehearsal space.
I went by his place and played my stuff for him. He seemed like he dug it well enough.
He asked me what I wanted from him. I responded I wanted him to produce my next
record. I explained to him my “Speak Like a Child” concept. He was slightly
noncommittal but seemed positive. I then used the rest of my time in New York to sit in
at a few clubs, Heat, and the Lennox Lounge in Harlem, where I had one of the most joyful
experiences that I’ve ever had playing for an audience.
The next 2 years was a slow burn of back and forth phone calls to Sickler, trying to get
the project off the ground, woodshedding, writing tunes, and arranging as best I could for
horns. It became painfully apparent that I didn’t have the arranging chops to do a record
like this, so eventually we enlisted the help of a very talented arranger and reed player Jay
Brandord. Back in Chicago, my friend and trombonist Andy Baker helped me to through
my horn arrangements for the 2 songs “Stretch” and Herbie’s tune (one of two covers on
the record) “Dolphin Dance.”
After what seemed like an eternity working out different issues, Don finally was able to
nail down a stellar line up of musicians: Victor Lewis on drums, Ed Howard on bass, David
Hazeltine on piano & organ, Eric Alexander on tenor sax, Jim Rotundi on trumpet & fugal
horn, Steve Davis on trombone, and as luck would have it the man who played alto flute on
“Speak Like a child” Jerry Dodgion. Not only was I fortunate to have all these great
musicians lined up, but I also had the tremendous fortune of being able to record at the
legendary Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Rudy's Place/Recording
Finally in late August of 2006, at long last it was happening. I flew to New York with my
young friend, a former guitar student of mine at Columbia College, named Matt Mullen. I
had just introduced Matt to Nichiren Buddhism, which I’ve been practicing 25 years now.
Having someone to chant with was a great benefit to me and helped me center on what I
was hoping to achieve, which was to use my music to uplift people’s hearts and as a cause
for peace.
I was a bit nervous. Don had contracted all these great musicians whom I had never met
let along played with. We had one rehearsal at Don’s place. Everybody was very congenial
and professional, but when we rehearsed “Cry for Peace” one of the musicians joked
“Yeah, I cry for a piece.” I thought to myself, “Whoa, this is going to be different than I
thought.”
The first thing I did when we got to New York, was to go to New Jersey to check out the
Amp at Rudy’s. That was on odyssey in itself because Matt and I got off at the wrong bus
stop and had to walk a half mile in the wind and rain. I felt like Frodo in “Lord of the
Rings.”
Walking up the driveway to Rudy’s is like taking a walk back in time. The surrounding
area is a suburban sprawl of corporate parks and restaurants, then, you walk up the
driveway into lush trees that lead to a beautiful, unique structure designed by a disciple of
Frank Lloyd Wright. Maureen, Don’s wife, who is the only assistant Rudy has ever had,
answered the door. The size of the room was unbelievable. I looked up to see beautiful
gigantic arches of wood.
Amazing, Rudy has been here since 1958. Many historic recordings were done here
including the record that turned me on to jazz “Sugar” by Stanley Turrentine that had my
first jazz guitar hero on it, George Benson. I went to the booth where they had set up the
Amp, designated the guitar booth. Rudy has a silver face Fender Super Reverb. I plugged
my guitar in and thought it sounded amazing. I thought, “Well if it’s good enough for
Wes, George Benson, Grant Green, and Kenny Burrel, I guess its good enough for me.”
Matt was extremely helpful in co-coordinating the logistics for the session. It was really
rewarding to see him use his new found faith to develop himself. We chanted a lot for the
success of the session.
Again, I was pretty nervous and stressed out the first day of the session. Listening to the
playback of the second or third tune Eric Alexander came up to me and told me that when
he did a record at Rudy’s we couldn’t tell how it would sound until it was mixed. He
reassured me it would sound great. He also said I wrote and played my ass off. I’ll never
forget his kind words at a crucial moment. David Hazeltine especially liked my tune
“Inner Drum.” By the end of the first day I was more relaxed and much more confident
feeling part of a great group of musicians.
The second day we finished up the “Speak Like a Child,” 3 horn tunes, and then,
recorded the 2 organ tunes: “The Mean Mr. Green” is an homage to groove master Grant
Green, and “Lerner Burner” is another hard grooving tune. I couldn’t help myself: I love
playing in the organ setting, and here was the organ that master Jimmy Smith played on.
Back to reality, I returned to Chicago, and my less glamorous daily routine.
What an amazing experience. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to heave come this
far. Without the care and understanding of my wife, my love, Naoko this would not have
happened. Wish me luck.
Peter (right), Don and Maureen
Sickler at their office in NYC.
Sickler at their office in NYC.
Peter and Rudy Van Gelder
(right) at his studio in NJ.
(right) at his studio in NJ.
RVG studio, NJ
outside the Rudy Van Gender's
studio.
studio.
