John Beaudin - Hi Chris. It's great to talk to you again.

Chris Smith - Hi John. I've been enjoying your website and reading some of the interviews on the site and let me tell you that you and I have the same record collection. (laughing)

John - I get that a lot especially considering I interview mostly Smooth Jazz guys and half of them really listen to a lot of the stuff. I hear you changed the name of your new album from "Right Here Right Now" to "The Real Thing" because David Benoit had the former name already in the bag.

Chris - Yeah David Benoit was first in the crunch with it so we decided to change it. It was no big deal for us really to change the title.

John - Are you saying the first version of the album you sent me titled "Right Here Right Now" is a collectors item? (laughing)

Chris - (laughing) Well, I guess you do. I'll send you another copy so you have the set. The new one has a few things that have been fine tuned.

John - Do you still look like one of the Soprano's on the new album?

Chris - (laughing) That cover picture was taken in the early morning. What can I say?

John - I like the packaging of the new album because it has a lot of information. When I was a kid I always liked lyrics printed which you have done etc.

Chris - Yeah, I was the same I always read the credits. I was a huge hound of Creed Taylor and my older brother who's a guitar player had a lot of that stuff.

John - Do you still have a lot of that old CTI stuff?

Chris - Oh Yeah. I worked in a record store in Ottawa for a couple of years and before I was playing I was just a listener who loved to go see my brother's band play. When I worked for the record store I accumulated a huge record collection a lot of which I still listen to today, things that one can't get on CD.

John - Brian Hughes is the same way, he still has a collection of vinyl. I've only kept the things that are autographed or things that will never be available on CD.

Chris - I enjoy taking a record out of the inner sleeve and brushing it off. It's like a ceremony you know. That crackle sound comes with a lot of memories. (laughing)

John - I also kept the first album I ever bought.

Chris - Which was what?

John - "Madman Across The Water" by Elton John. What was the first album you ever bought?

Chris - (long gap) No one has ever asked me that, that's a good question! Man, I don't know. Yeah, it's a song I'll never forget. (laughing) I also loved the Allman Brothers back then. It was really whatever my older brother was listening to. He really exposed me to the ocean of music out there and all of a sudden it hits you and you're blown away. He was listening to John Mclaughlan and Chick Corea "Return To Forever," Herbie Hanbcock, the Crusaders and Billy Cobham. You know, not a lot of people get exposed to that.

John - Yeah, you were not the normal kid.

Chris - I guess you were not the normal kid either. This is not some normal trend that you're following. You know I only played a little bit in high school.

John - Just think of all the dating opportunities that you missed by not playing a lot in high school.

Chris - (laughing) Oh, I played just enough to meet the girls. What I used to love doing was this noon hour music club. I grew up in Ottawa and went to Gloucester which was a big high school. At noon we would roll out a huge speaker system in the main lobby or on nice days we would role it outside and we would play (Lee) Ritenour or (Larry) Carlton. I was so into music and I used to love turning other people onto what moved me.

John - Well, at Miramichi Valley High School in 1977 - 1978 we had to fight for a freakin' jukebox that seemed to always get stuck on Abba's, Dancing Queen. (laughing) Doing that lunchtime show must have been a dream?

Chris - There were three of us and we were in the yearbook as the "Noon Hour Music Club." The kids seemed to love it of course some wished we played more mainstream things. Our goal was not as much to educate them put maybe to turn a few heads.

John - You'd be a natural to do a radio show.

Chris - I've never really thought about it actually.
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John - You should get together with Doug and Mary Kirk over there at the Wave in Hamilton.

Chris - Who knows maybe someday.

John - Let's chat about the new album. My favorite track is "I'll Remember You." You have sort of a Seal sound on that one.

Chris - Other people have said that I sound like Seal on that track. It's in 5/4 and I didn't think it would be everyone's cup of tea so I left it for the end and sometimes you save the best for last. It's also the most live song on the album. If you wanted to play one tune live off that album that would be the one. It's dynamic and it gets intimate and kind of angry so there is a lot going on in there. You know John, it's always interesting to get a reaction of course because I'm so close to it, you kind of lose perspective. You love and hate everything you do and when you put it out there you're kind of unsure of everything. (laughing)

John - Was "Right Here, Right Now" the no brainer single for you guys? It sounds like a single and it's starting to do well.

Chris - Yeah, I thought it was the strongest song to connect with the largest amount of people because it's a very intimate song.

John - I know that Vickie Van Dyke of the Wave in Hamilton is a good friend and fan. Did she give you some feedback on the album yet?

Chris - Yeah, Vickie loves it but she hasn't talked to me about specific things on the album though. Vickie is probably my biggest fan aside from my mom. (laughing)

John - You should look out your window. Do you see a blond with binoculars by the grassy nole? (laughing)

Chris - (laughing)

John - Vickie is just a beam of light. She's very real.

Chris - Yes! If she likes something she wants the world to know about it.

John - I like the first track on the album which I guess will be the title tune on the new version "Real Thing." It's kind of funky.

Chris - You know what, it's a great tune live and it's a really simple tune that was written in the shortest amount of time but yeah it's a groove thing.

John - Yeah and grooves are such a big part of Smooth Jazz these days.

Chris - Yeah. I think the most important part of music is rhythm. Even if you look at classical music some of it is so cool because of the rhythmic feel and we only have so many notes in the scale anyhow. It's all in how you place them.

John - Did you just hang out after high school?

Chris - After high school and working at that record store in Ottawa I just kind of hung out and then I went to Humber College in Toronto and that was the turning point for me because I met so many musicians there and they were young and wanted to do what I wanted to do. It was really easy to find people to gig with. It was a good time.

John - This would have been 1979-80?

Chris - Yeah, I guess I was kind of a late bloomer. I was a listener a long time before I even thought I had anything to follow. Like I said before I was a groupie of my brother's band essentially. When I went to Humber I got a lot more confident and looking back I was into Chicago and then went into the CTI / Creed Taylor stage into the Doobie Brothers and the Police. There was always something new and exciting around. I was a huge Michael McDonald fan when he joined the Doobie Brothers that couldn't have gotten better. I enjoyed them better with him in the band.

John - Genesis did it but really how many bands came change lead singers and become more popular?

Chris - Oh Yeah, they were a great band thanks to people like Pat Simmons so I did like the early stuff like "What Were Once Vices" Captain and Me."

John - Let's talk about some of the Smooth Jazzers you listen to.

Chris - I noticed you talked to Chuck Loeb on your site. I just love Chuck Loeb. He did some things with Michael Franks and his tune "Down in Brazil" was the first tune I learned to sing. It's off "Sleeping Gypsy" I just love that album. I'm also a Jobim fan.

John - Do you like Ivan Lins?

Chris - Yeah but I haven't' heard enough of the catalogue to get more into it. I like the Sting cover.

John - "She Walks This Earth" Yeah, that's a big Smooth Jazz radio tune.

Chris - I also like people like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. Sting really influenced me a lot. I used to be in a band called Regatta and we were the first Canadian band signed to BMG. It didn't last long. (laughing)

John - What happened?

Chris - We signed an international deal and it just wasn't right. It was a David Bendeth project and they wanted me to be a rock n roll singer which I've never been and I've always wanted to be more of an R&B singer.