Spin the BeaTles
In December 2019, I had just finished a tour with The Steve Gadd Band. We had recorded a live album at the Blue Note in Tokyo, Japan. (BTW, It was up for a Grammy - Lucky us!) The Covid pandemic showed up in March. I was home like everyone else and wondering what to do to keep myself productive. For some, or no reason, I started to think about Beatles songs. I was imagining them being done instrumentally with a big band treatment. So, I started writing arrangements for this imaginary band. I never really thought I’d actually get a chance to do it with live musicians. Before I knew it, I had about four songs completed. I called my friend Frank Dickinson, who is an excellent drummer and recording engineer and told him about it. He loved the idea. So, like all good ideas, the question was: How do we accomplish this when all our musician colleagues are at home? Covid had brought live gigs to a screeching halt.
I decided to call musicians who not only play well, but know how to record themselves at home. To my surprise, many of them were able and willing to record their parts. I think we were all looking for something to do. Frank and I began recording our rhythm tracks and we would make a stereo audio file to send the players to play against. I also sent the entire score and the individual parts, so everyone had what they needed to work with. Without getting too technical about it, they would send their audio files back to us and we would sync everything up and make it sound as though we had all played live together. It was a time consuming process, but well worth the effort. We now have eleven Beatles songs completed. The band consists of four trumpets, four trombones, and five saxophones. The rhythm section is guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and percussion. Toss in some featured solos and you’ve got Spin the Beatles!
The personnel is quite a notable bunch:
Trumpets - Tony Kadleck, Barry Danielian, Nathan Eklund, Kevin Cobb
Saxes - Dave Mann, (Blue) Lou Marini, Lawrence Feldman, Ed Salkin, Kris Jensen
Trombones - Dan Levine, Birch Johnson, Dave Taylor
Soloists - David Spinozza (guitar), Andy Ezrin (piano), Dave Mann (sax)
Rob Paparozzi (harmonica), Walt Fowler (flugelhorn)
Barry Danielian (flugelhorn), Chris Palmaro (organ)
Rhythm section -
Guitar - David Spinozza
Bass - Steve Morris
Drums - Frank Dickinson
Percussion - Fred Walcott
Piano & Melodica - Andy Ezrin
Piano - Deirdre Broderick
Organ - Chris Palmaro
Produced by David Spinozza & Frank Dickinson
Live at the cutting room
Click below to watch the full concert at The Cutting Room ~ November 17, 2024!
Interviews
“Talk More Talk” Mind Games and More - interview with David Spinozza and Kenny Ascher -
“The Right Key” Henry Hey - interview with David Spinozza -
Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum - interview with David Spinozza -
