Inside MusiCast

It’s a rarity these days to listen to a new album where most every track is so good that you end up playing it over and over again. But when it does happen, you definitely realize that a little magic was added during the writing and recording process. Veteran keyboardist, synthesist, and songwriter, Bill LaBounty, has delivered such a project with the release of Back To Your Star. For his seventh...

Bill Champlin is back. And he’s creating music that proves it. After his recent disconnection from his Chicago gig, he talked to Eddy and Rick about his new album, No Place Left To Fall. It is a testament that Bill has landed on his own two feet and has created arguably his best solo work to date, but on his own terms. He’s teamed up with an amazing group of musicians: George Hawkins, Jr. on bass;...

If your last name is Porcaro, you live in Southern California, and you’re in the music industry, you’re name is golden. And if your name is Steve Porcaro, that gold has translated into 15 Grammy’s that you’ve held in your hands over the years. As an original member of the band Toto, keyboardist, composer and songwriter Steve Porcaro has had his share of success. He has written many significant son...

Songwriters are very special people. They’re the ones who battle with themselves and suffer through an amazingly creative process that most take for granted. When you listen to the songs that Stephen Bishop has written over his career, you find an honesty and transparency that has allowed him to deliver hits such as On And On and Save It For A Rainy Day . His career actually began as a songwriter...

To call Brandon Fields a talented sax player is a huge understatement. Ask anyone who he has collaborated with throughout his amazing career…Quincy, Babyface, Los Lobotomys, Elton John, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Jarreau…just to name a few. He has created a reputation that is second to none on the LA session and jazz scene. Brandon’s amazing sound has carried him beyond sessions to touring with Tow...

Once upon a time, a young seventeen year-old guitarist from Philadelphia auditioned for a musical legend - Stevie Wonder. As the story goes, Stevie hired him on the spot and the young man toured with him as his main guitarist and featured vocalist for the next seven years, working and writing with him on numerous projects including Wonder’s most ambitious album, Songs In The Key Of Life. Since the...

Crosby Loggins is no stranger to Inside MusiCast. Since our ‘07 interview, his world has changed – for the better. After winning MTV’s Rock The Cradle competition and a national record deal with Jive Records, Crosby wasted no time in working on his new album, Time To Move , scheduled to release on July 14th. And although the 28-year-old Loggins reveals plenty of modern tastes, ranging from the gru...

Robin Trower is one of the great British rock guitarists. For over forty years, Robin has assembled a critically acclaimed, commercially successful and massively influential body of work that is still expanding today. To list his many achievements would take more space than we have at our disposal, but suffice to say that, in the space of a four-decade long career, he has sold millions of records,...

Eric Valentine is a busy drummer. Since moving to Los Angeles four years ago, he has been going non-stop. It all started with his first tour baptism with legendary singer Patti LaBelle. Today he has racked up a solid resume of collaborations with artists such as Jeff Lorber, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Erikah Badu, Kirk Whalum, Jonathan Butler and of course, Steve Lukather. To say that he’s jus...

As a five-time Grammy and Oscar Award winner, Christopher Cross has definitely left his mark on popular music. Since his self-titled debut Warner Brothers release in 1979, his name elicits memories of when one may have heard Sailing or Ride Like The Wind . For those who have looked beyond Cross’s early pop successes, they have found a body of work that launched eight albums of intelligent, melodic...

One thing we know about West Coast Music is that its following is much, much bigger than the name implies. It’s more like Global-Coast Music, due to the fact that diehard fans are found at every corner of the globe. At the heart of it all you find a man who continues to stoke the fires of a sound that is a sophisticated mixture of R&B, Rock, Pop and Jazz – Grammy-winning Jay Graydon. His name...

Since his arrival in the States from Cuba just a few years ago, 30-year-old acoustic bass prodigy Carlitos del Puerto has quickly become one of the most recognized and highly sought-after session players in Los Angeles. Having performed or recorded with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Ricky Martin, Steve Lukather, Herbie Hancock, Kevin Eubanks and many others, del Puerto is a highly a...

When you listen to tracks that Clarence McDonald has played on, one begins to appreciate the subtle elegance of what a master arranger and keyboardist brings to the musical table. James Taylor’s Shower The People wouldn’t be what it is without our guest’s silky Rhodes playing. Bill Wither’s Lovely Day wouldn’t be the legendary classic without his elegantly executed parts. The Emotions’ Platinum Be...

You may know Chuck Rainey as the legendary Steely Dan bassist that has played on some of the most significant recording projects in history. What you may not know is that Chuck was a bassist in the making from the very beginning. You see, as a young musician he started out as a brass and woodwind guy, playing trumpet and eventually baritone. In the end, the low notes he began playing on his trumpe...

For a young Steve Weingart growing up in Dayton, Ohio, the music of fusionists Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, and Herbie Hancock wooed him as an aspiring young pianist. You might say that it derailed the classical music prodigy, who studied at the College Conservancy of Music in Cincinnati, and placed him on a track that would lead him to becoming a sought after touring and performing keyboardist for t...

Richard Page is back. For proof, go to iTunes or Richard’s web site and you’ll find his most recent solo release since his 1996 solo album, Shelter Me . What’s most unusual is that he chose this holiday season to release a most wonderfully crafted Christmas single entitled, I Always Cry At Christmas . But, this isn’t your typical Christmas track, this is a Richard Page song that delivers what you’...

It seems that we at Inside MusiCast have recently been delivering musical legacy stories. Our next guest is also a legacy artist. His dad was a big band leader for Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra; his Mom, a talentetd vibes player; his brother Michael is a sought-after keyboardist and session player. But, if you’re a fan of the rock band YES, then you’re probably familiar with our guest, Billy Sherw...

For many artists who follow their heart’s desire, the roads that lead to the promised land of musical success can be long and winding. Looking back on the road that Robbie Dupree has traveled, he’s found that he’s been one of the “lucky ones”. From his tough beginnings in Brooklyn, to his Top Ten hits, ‘Hot Rod Hearts’ and ‘Steal Away’, which earned him a Grammy nomination in the early 80’s for Be...

In the music scene there are only a few names that command immediate respect. Sinatra. Foster. Hubbard, Q. Laboriel, Jaco. Goodman. Getz. Corea. Bellson. Armstrong. And then there’s Porcaro…a legacy surname that is renowned in jazz, rock, pop, and classical genres. As owner of this respected surname, Joe Porcaro, a most respected percussionist and drummer, has lived a fortunate life that has invol...

Don’t call Grant Geissman’s music smooth jazz. It’s almost a misnomer to him and doesn’t really capture what his music is all about. Quite simply, the formally trained jazz guitarist is a hybrid musician, having trained on classic jazz standards and improvisation with some serious jazz-cats in the San Jose, California area over the years. As a guitarist with a diverse appetite for new musical expe...

When Take 6 came on to the music scene in 1988 with their self-titled debut album, they started breaking the rules of how music was being created, and as a founding member of the band, Mark Kibble was a key perpetrator. The band calls Kibble the “architect”, due to the fact that he was key in designing and molding the Take 6 sound, and no one else sounds like Take 6…nobody. Together they proceeded...

David Gamson has been messing around with sounds, songs, and arrangements for years. As keyboardist/writer/producer for the 80’s band Scritti Politti, he guided the brightly colored, synth-driven sound that was to create several hits in the UK and the U.S. For a band that started as a punk-based band, the migration to a soulful, yet groove-based sound was designed primarily by Gamson. Today, he wo...