ON THE GIG: "Many Hats" with SJW Faculty Akira Tana
Shortly after the close of the Stanford Jazz Workshop season last month, ongoing SJW faculty member Akira Tana was at the legendary Fantasy Studios complex in Berkeley recording with Dena DeRose, Benny Green, Dominick Farinacci and Ray Drummond. The yet-unnamed project, to be released in Japan for the Christmas season, should also be available on both Akira and Dena's websites here in the US. We asked Akira to tell us about his experiences as a session player and producer.
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I’ve worked with a vast range of musicians, producers, groups, and studios during the more than 150 recording sessions I’ve participated in over the years, and have been involved on the production side of many recording projects as well. Playing on sessions and observing the process has been invaluable in learning about the role of the producer: a recording session is challenging, but is very different from being a producer of a project. It is even more challenging to play and also be the producer of a recording session. In a way that is very similar to being an actor and director in a film: one has to be able to wear many different hats simultaneously.

Planning and coordinating a recording session requires significant negotiation and discussion. After budgetary considerations, the most important decisions involve determining the personnel and the material to be recorded. In addition, the logistics of scheduling - booking flights, hotels, recording studios, engineers - also come into play. It can be a headache at the time, but it all seems to work out in the end.

At the end of August, a group featuring Stanford Jazz Faculty of recent vintage - Dena DeRose (vocals and piano), Ray Drummond (bass), Benny Green (piano) and me (drums) - convened at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley for an all-day recording session. The session also featured a relative newcomer in the jazz world who has been making quite a name for himself recently, Dominick Farinacci (trumpet). Dominick is originally from Cleveland, but now resides in New York City and is a graduate from the Julliard School of Music. (Based on the accolades he’s been receiving and the reputation he is establishing, I’m sure he will be invited to participate in future SJW activities before too long!)

The sessions were recorded for a new Japanese label that is part of the Vega Group, owned by Nobuyuki Asahina. He is executive producer of this project along with Keiki Kugo (a.k.a Titi), and this CD will be the yet-to-be-named new label‘s first release. I previously worked with Vega Records, a Vega Group subsidiary, in 2004 on “A Night in Claremont,” another recording featuring Dena and Ray.

One of the most important challenges as a producer is choosing the material and determining how it will be recorded. When Mr. Asahina described the current project, he already had a theme in mind: songs that included “stars” or “moon” in the title or lyrics. Some songs had to be eliminated for various reasons - lyrics weren’t strong enough or didn’t align themselves with the “stars and moons” concept of this session. In general however, it was difficult to choose from so many quality songs, both well known and more obscure, as well as a few which weren’t familiar titles in the jazz repertoire.

Since Dena would be singing the vocal selections, it was important to consult with her about the material. Asahina-san and Titi-san requested two that they definitely wanted—Michel Legrand’s “What Are You Doing the Rest Of Your Life?” and the Disney classic from the movie Cinderella, “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.” Neither have the word “stars” or “moon” in the title, but have definite astrological connotations. We also recorded the standards, “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” (which featured Ray), “Star Eyes,” “Stardust,” “I Wished On The Moon,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” and another Disney classic, ”When You Wish Upon A Star,” which Dena and Benny recorded as a duo. I adapted and arranged a jazz version of the popular tune written and performed by Corrine Bailey-Rae, “Like A Star,” and Dena brought in another song, “Stars,” written by Fred Hersch with lyrics by Norma Winstone. Finally, we recorded a beautiful Bill Evans composition entitled “Turn Out The Stars,” a song with lyrics, but which we recorded as an instrumental. With so much great material from which to choose, it will be a challenge to include everything we recorded on a single release.

As a producer, I can take many different approaches to managing and organizing a session. I have the final word on the feel of the arrangement (including the tempo), determining who solos where and for how long, and whether to repeat a take or go on. The producer usually sits in the control booth to direct traffic, but since I was playing, it was essential to have an experienced engineer, in this case Phil Edwards, manning the controls to get the highest quality sounds.

With such highly skilled, creative and experienced musicians in the studio, a strong sense of community was established with everyone having input throughout the date, which made my job easier. Additionally, because of my confidence in everyone’s ability, I didn’t feel it was necessary to rehearse before entering the studio. Dominick was someone we collectively had not played with before, so there was some excitement at the start. After hearing him perform on the first rundown of the first song, we all knew how magnificent his contributions would be.

When the recording is done, the listening phase begins, which signals the start of the post-production process. Once my playing responsibilities are finished, I can concentrate on organizing and managing the recorded sound, of which the most crucial parts are the mixing and mastering sessions. Deciding what songs will make it to the CD, and the sequence of the song order, are also part of post-production and the final step before the recording gets pressed and packaged for release. At first listening, I noticed that this is not an outwardly “burning” recording. There aren’t any fast up tempo songs with pyrotechnical solos. There are however, moments of “slow burning” in the context of the various tempos. The recording is in essence a mellow, lyrical, textural, and romantic expression of moods that only the moon and stars could evoke.

A final task was to choose someone who would be sensitive to the vision of the project to write the inside cover or liner notes. For this recording, we were able to get the highly esteemed critic and jazz entrepreneur with whom SJW fans are very familiar, Dr. Herb Wong, to contribute his impressions of the project.

The producer’s role is seemingly never ending. It starts with the planning process and isn't complete until the final mastered sessions are sent to the company for mass duplication. It is extremely gratifying to see a project which began as an idea come to fruition and on its way to becoming a CD for release in the near future. It requires a lot of energy to wear the many hats worn throughout this project as a producer and player, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to the next opportunity. The hats are hanging on a rack nearby!