Smooth Jazz Now.com : Interview Paul Lamoureux

Paul Lamoureux
John Beaudin - Hi Paul, I'm glad to have you part of Smoothjazzcanada.com. You mentioned to me before that you were actually thinking of doing this kind of site but because of time constraints you couldn't. Is the music a full-time gig for you?

Paul Lamoureux - Definitely. Music is my full-time profession but it's definitely a 'combination career' for me. On any given day I might be a sax player for live gigs or recording sessions, a teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Music where I invented all their 'Pop Music' courses, a composer/producer for film, television, corporate projects and even a booking agent of sorts. I have a company that provides live music of all kinds for corporate and special events.

John - Lam-Chops Records is your own label, so is it easier being your own boss?

Paul - I enjoy having total creative control over my music but it can also be very limiting financially to be your own Executive Producer. However, owning the label means you can set your own schedule as far as travel, gigs, etc. You're not at anyone's beck and call and I think I take that for granted sometimes. If I was suddenly signed to a label that needed me to be on the road at a moment's notice for weeks at a time it would wreak havoc with the rest of my life. If I wasn't my own boss I would probably go through withdrawal. Still, I'd like to find a manager who would be willing to take on some of the administrative and promotional duties so I could be free to concentrate on music.

John - The sax seems to be the instrument of choice in Smooth Jazz. Are there any favorite Sax colleges out there that you listen to?

Paul -There are a lot of good schools out there now. When I went to North Texas State back in the 80's there were only 3 or 4 well known jazz/pop schools; Berklee in Boston, North Texas and University of Miami. In Canada there was Humber College in Toronto and Grant MacEwan College (where I went right out of high school) in Edmonton. Now there are a lot more and some terrific small programs too but tuitions have also gone through the roof. If my kid (imaginary) wanted to go to Berklee, it would cost $100,000 Canadian for 4 years and I'd be very reluctant to support that. Music in Canada is not an easy way to earn a good living.

John - Yeah ain't that the truth. You can go gold and ride the bus in Canada. Has being fully bilingual helped in your music career?

Paul - Definitely. When I moved back to Canada from Nashville in 1989, I hooked up with a CBC French radio producer in Edmonton called Ron Tremblay. He was producing a local annual pop song competition for Alberta called le Gala Albertain de la Chanson; a live show that was kind of like "Star Search" en francais! I became its Musical Director and that led to many studio recordings as well. Having that exposure some of the people in the French community in Edmonton became supporters of my original music and some of them are even investors in my last album, for which I will be forever grateful.

Paul - Oui/Yes (laughing). My mom is from Lachute, Quebec; best known as the home town of Kevin Lowe, the former Edmonton Oilers defenseman and my father grew up in Alberta speaking French, yes, it's possible. Northern Alberta has a great French Canadian community, very tight and very organized. Look on a map of northern Alberta and you'll be shocked at the number of small towns with French names. My two brothers and I both went to bilingual programs all through school. The French presence in Toronto where I live now is minimal and I miss it.

John - Backing up Robert Goulet and Mickey Rooney in dinner theatres and musicals must have been kind of cool. Do you have any interesting stories? I hear Rooney is quite a character.

Paul - Although I played 'Sugar Babies' with Mickey Rooney, I never got to meet him in person. The stage manager told me that Mickey's contract stipulated that he needs to travel in a deluxe motorhome with a satellite dish that can receive ESPN, so he never misses the sporting events he likes. I do have a story about Robert Goulet. I called my mother to tell her I was backing Goulet in a dinner theatre in Dallas, and she told me that she knew his mother! In fact, when he was a young boy he lived across the street and two doors down and attended our church! Anyway, one night on the show Robert's manager left his diamond-studded gold cufflinks back at the hotel, so he asked the orchestra members if any of us would lend Robert theirs for the one show. I agreed and later as Robert gave them back to me in person I told him about my mom and he remembered the house. "We didn't live in the house we actually lived in the garage at the back of the house!" he said. I asked him later to autograph a napkin for my mom and I gave that to her for Christmas that year. Me and 'Bob' we're like this.(laughing)

John - I know you're connected to a lot of the Smooth Jazz acts in Canada. How are we doing as a country in that genre? Do we make the grade?

Paul - Smooth Jazz in Canada is in its infancy. Every music genre needs infrastructure in order to be heard; radio stations, festivals, concerts, TV coverage and we don't have it yet. Right now, we have tworadio stations with a Smooth Jazz format in Canada which is The Wave 94.7 FM in Hamilton and a second one in Calgary that I'm very excited about. The existing jazz festivals are often reluctant to broaden their scope to include Smooth Jazz and that's okay. Somebody has to preserve mainstream Jazz. So what we need are entrepreneurial people who see the viability of dedicated Smooth Jazz festivals and events and new ones need to be created. In my mind, Smooth Jazz has a lot more commercial appeal than mainstream because of its lifestyle association. Advertising execs take note. Corporate sponsors -check it out!
As far as the music goes, I don't like the term 'making the grade' as if we were being evaluated by the U.S.-we are not. In Canada, we have fine creative composers and players but very few of us have the budgets to make slick productions like those you hear on the American Smooth Jazz stations. By the way, last time I checked there were about eighty Smooth Jazz stations in the U.S. So, if a Canadian Smooth Jazz artist wants to make enough money to pay for his next album he needs U.S. airplay and really should tour there as well. I also think that Canadian Smooth Jazz artists do not generally format their music for airplay which is almost a necessity now, thanks to the market research done by companies like Broadcast Architecture in the States. We can be proud of our individuality but if we want to keep it we have to grow our own industry and promote like crazy.

John - You grew up in Edmonton but you live in Toronto. Do you get back often for family or for gigs?

Paul - I get back to Edmonton as often as I can and I go a couple of times a year. My parents are in their 80's and their health is declining so I'll probably visit more often in the near future. I'd like to line up some Smooth Jazz events with the new Calgary station and I would combine that with visits to my folks. I also miss the mountains.

John - Years ago John Jarvis (who used to be a New Age artist) told me that Nashville was an inspiring town but it certainly wasn't for everyone. He said that some prolific writers go there and get writers block on the spot but other just get energized by the vibe and the history of the place. How was your time in Nashville?

Paul - I enjoyed it very much and have many fond memories of 'Nash-Vegas' as we sometimes called it. It is a small city about the size of Edmonton but with a vibrant music scene and a terrific community of musicians. There weren't that many sax players so we all got to know each other and would sub for each other on gigs. The real action was in songwriting but I was just starting out as a songwriter then. Mostly, I was a sax player and did a lot of Oldies Rock & Roll concerts. I played two seasons at Opryland, which was a music theme park and a seasonal employer of many, many, musicians. In fact, working at Opryland was the way that many players got their start in Nashville but unfortunately it's gone now. I left in 1989 and since then Nashville has acquired an NFL football team, an NHL hockey team, and lots of other big city amenities. I'd like to go visit and see how different it feels now. I still have friends that I keep in touch with. One thing hasn't changed is that most horn players still need to go on the road to make money. There's very little live work in town and even less now that Opryland is gone.

John - I know you worked on the music for Jake & the Kid. I don't want figures but is it profitable to work in TV and have you done other stuff?

Paul - Composition is a great passion of mine, and yes, TV composition can be quite lucrative but you have to win over the

confidence of many different people before they entrust you with the music for their project. This means being as much a business person as a musician and this is where many composers fall down. I have to work at it every day. Music never came easy to me but at least I had a passion for it. Business is even harder for me to learn because I am less emotional about it but I like the satisfaction of doing a great job for my client. I've done a variety of one-off projects in the past few years. The most fun I had was scoring an episode of 'Freaky Stories' which airs on YTV. I love animation and I've always enjoyed cartoons and the music that goes with them. The music in Bugs Bunny cartoons is incredible especially when you consider that they didn't have any computers just score paper, live musicians and recording tape.

Paul - Yes I was. In 1991 I was in an original music group in Edmonton called 'Grace under Pressure' that was asked to represent Canada on Ed MacMahon's Star Search at Disney World in Florida. It was a very quick trip but I met a lot of nice people. We lost to a group of street performers from Russia, wild and crazy guys that I still run into from time to time because they make the rounds of the Street performer's festivals in various cities.

Paul -That it is only background music. My favorite Smooth Jazz has hum able catchy melodies, infectious grooves, creative chord changes, simmering energy, terrific performances and extremely high production values worthy of the slickest pop records. That's way too interesting to be relegated to the background! Put it on a concert stage with a dynamic visual performer and you have great 'foreground' music!

John - Do you have a list of dessert island CD's? They don't have to be Smooth Jazz but give me a list of your all time top ten CD's?

Paul - I was afraid of this one. I've been thinking about this for a long time but I never made one up. Here's my first draft in no particular order:

1) Cannonball and Coltrane
2) Earth, Wind & Fire's Greatest Hits
3) The Eagles Greatest Hits
4) Stravinsky -the Firebird
5) Chick Corea -Three Quartets
6) Vivaldi-The Brandenburg Concertos
7) John Williams -The Empire Strikes Back Soundtrack
8) The Brecker Brothers-Heavy Metal Bebop
9) Maurice Ravel -Pictures at an Exhibition
10) Chicago -Greatest Hits

John - How much studying have you done? I know it can be a long road to playing at your level.

Paul - I have both a Bachelor's and a Master's in Music from North Texas State (now called University of North Texas). While in school I took lessons on sax, flute, clarinet and oboe. I also studied arranging and composition but everything I've learned about computers and music I learned on my own by buying gear, experimenting, reading manuals and asking a lot of questions of people who knew more than me. Now, I depend on computers for about half of my livelihood and it's a nice combination. I enjoy technology but I'm strictly a user and not a code warrior.

Paul - I love it. I really enjoy the mix of artists they play and the fact that they are not oversaturated with Kenny G. and Anita Baker. I love those artists but give some others a chance especially us Canadians! I'm also enjoying hearing some of my friends from Toronto being played. It creates a kind of friendly competition which is healthy for the scene. The Wave has also been out in the community, mostly Hamilton but sometimes in Toronto sponsoring events. Bravo! More, more, more!

John - We received some nice feedback from playing your stuff in Vancouver at QM-FM. Any new stuff on the way?

Paul - Yes! I'm working on a new tune as we speak for a Smooth Jazz project called Adagio Smooth Jazz with Paul McGrath in Oakville, ON. I can't promise a new album anytime soon (unless unexpected funding comes through) but I'm very excited about working on original stuff again, most of the time I'm working for someone else.

Paul - The Caribbean, any island with a nice sandy beach and warm blue green water. I lived in the Cayman Islands from 1987-88 and I can't get enough warm weather. I love snorkeling and swimming with the tropical fish is my idea of fun. My business card has a picture of a beach on it. I'd like to buy some property there but I haven't found 'the island' yet.

Paul - That's a tough one. Part of me wants to spend time with a musician that I admire but I already know a certain amount about music. What I really should do is spend time with someone who can help me with other aspects of my life like business, relationships or spirituality. Outside music: Robert Schuller. Inside music: Quincy Jones