You had a lot of bands back then who really went in on the horns. Sam: That’s interesting because you go back to the era of Kool And The Gang, Earth Wind and Fire and The Commodores. I wanted to capture that in this project. I thought that was important because I wanted to recreate that feeling and joy of playing live and the spontaneity. We went into the studio and just let the music come out of us, recording as we wrote. We didn’t have rehearsals or writing sessions. We just went into the studio and we wrote, arranged and recorded the music live. The way I did that was to bring in my band that I tour with year after year. I knew that if I was going to make a record like that, it would really have to be a joyful process. I leaned more toward the fun and aggressive side of music which was Funk which is all about horns. I wanted to pay tribute to that day and time because in many ways that’s how what we call Smooth Jazz today started. Back then it was common to hear a Bob James song or a Ronnie Laws or David Sanborn featured in those situations. Another thing that was significant about that period of time was that you would frequently hear instrumental songs make it on to pop radio, which you never hear nowadays. The kind of music that I was really into at that time, which was around the mid to late 70’s, was all about Funk and R&B music. One of the approaches was to kind of go back to my influences and defining moments for me as a young man who was striving to be a professional musician. Richard: The concept was to take a slightly different approach than what I’ve done with my last few records. Sam: What was the concept for your current project? I tend to complete projects every one to two years. Richard: Last year I celebrated my thirtieth year as a recording saxophonist. That’s amazing! How long have you been a recording artist? Richard: I think I’m right around album twenty-three releases now. How many albums projects have you completed including your latest one? Sam: Yes! I looked you up online to check out your discography, yet I haven’t counted. I first remember seeing you perform years back on the Arsenio Hall show. Thank you for taking the time out to speak with me today.
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