This is the Groovin Smooth album interview with Ghost Jazz Trio guitarist, founder, composer, producer and recording artist James Morgan and guitarist, producer and educator Dean Brown.
In this entertaining video, James and Dean discuss how they met, and the concept and recording process for the latest album Groovin Smooth on Guitar One Records. This is the fourth album release by James Morgan’s Ghost Jazz Trio.
In this interview you will learn a bit about the background of both James and Dean, as well as how they composed the songs, selected the personnel to record the album and the concept of designing a body of work where each song stands on it’s own, and all work together as a collection of songs for the listener to enjoy.
The background music in the video, are songs from the album in addition to clips from recording sessions and comments and insights from recording engineer Alan Sanderson.
Many thanks to Carly Lackey, owner and operator of Black Shutter Media, for all her creative work on the music videos and interview, filming, formatting, sequencing and editing the videos.
Thank you to Dean brown for his excellence as a guitarist, composer, producer to help make this album something special.
We hope you enjoy the interview and please feel free to leave comments below, and please subscribe to the Ghost Jazz Trio YouTube channel for future videos to be posted by James and Dean for upcoming singles and album releases.
You can meet the Ghost Jazz Trio at theghostjazztrioband.com and find Dean Brown at deanbrown.com
You can follow the Ghost Jazz Trio on the links below.
James Morgan-Guitarist, Bandleader, Composer, Producer, Recording and Performing Artist
7 albums recorded
Four ‘Best Jazz Album” Nominations by the San Diego Music Awards
in 2013-2021-2022-2023
James Morgan Discography
1994-The Cage
1995-Absolute Black
2009-Dialog Project-Listen Up
2013-Dialog Project-Artistry of Jazz Fusion-Nominated “Best Jazz Album”
2020-Invisible Time-Nominated “Best Jazz Album of the Year”
2021-On the Level-Nominated “Best Jazz Album of the Year”
2022-Dreams Above-Nominated “Best Jazz or Blues Album”
2023-Groovin Smooth to release March 24 2023
Where are you based?
San Diego, CA USA
How long have you been making music?
50 years
What genre would you consider your music to be?
West Coast Contemporary Jazz
What inspired you to pursue a career in music?
At first playing guitar was a refuge for me to step outside the turbulent childhood I found myself in. Later it became and still is a tool I can use to create my own reality based and filled full of joy, and happiness. It is also a language I can master and use to commune with other artists when improvising and playing songs.
What are your biggest musical influences?
My main influences were the jazz fusion bands of the 1970’s including Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever and of course the album Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. The guitarists that I listened to as a teen were John McLauglin, Bill Connors, Larry Coryell, Icarus Johnson, Al Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth and John Abercrombie.
Are you signed to a label or are you an independent artist?
Signed to Guitar One Records
What have been the biggest challenges in your music career?
It used to be finding other musicians that can tell a story with their instruments. I have been fortunate to have overcome that obstacle.
How many songs or albums have you released to date?
seven albums
Can you tell us a few things about your latest release?
I would have to say the concept of new album Groovin Smooth is about playing a box of wood with strings, stripped of most artificial effects to allow the listener to hear the wood of the instrument. To me, this is new, because so many guitarists use effects that overpower the organic sound of their instrument to where the instrument itself becomes secondary to the effects. On this album, the guitar wood sound comes first and is very much present in the recordings. Dean Brown, my producer on the album was adamant about capturing the natural sound and clean tone of the guitar, with string inflections and all, and I think we accomplished that.
Any plans for new music or upcoming projects we should know about?
I am recording a solo album under my name as a guitarist to release next year.
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