John Beaudin - Hi Peter. Welcome to Smooth Jazz Now.com and thanks for getting a hold of us. In your first email you mentioned that people sometimes think you're unattainable but you answer all your own emails. Hey man, you have to start acting like a big rock start and get your Aunt Betty to do it. (laugh)

Peter White - I don't have an Aunt Betty and if I did she'd want to get paid for doing that! Most rock stars have people to answer mail for them but I like doing it myself and the volume of correspondence is not so great that I can't handle it myself right now.

John - You got in that 'big time' area early with Al Stewart. What were you twenty?

Peter - You know John just playing in a band with someone that had actually made records that were released was a thrill for me as a young man. When I first started touring with Al Stewart he was quite well known in the UK but still a cult figure in the US. That was early 1975 and I was twenty. The 'big time' came a little later when we released 'Year of the Cat' in late 1976. Within a few months we went from playing in little clubs to playing three thousand seaters every night and whenever you turned on the radio you heard that song. By then I had just turned twenty-two. and it was a very exciting time and lasted for about three to four years.

John - Daryl Stuermer of Genesis told me that getting up to that level so fast was great but almost overwhelming.

Peter - Oh yes and we were kind of unprepared for it. We didn't have much of a show, in fact we didn't have a sax-player to play the big solo in 'Year of the Cat'. So halfway through the tour we had the guy who played on the record, Phil Kenzie, who came over from England and joined us just to play that one song. The saxophone solo had become so well known that we couldn't do the song without him. He used to spend the whole show backstage blow drying his hair and then came up to play the last three minutes of 'Year of the Cat' to wild applause. He really was the star of the show back then! We always made sure to do 'Year of the Cat' at the end of each show to end on a high note. Gradually we worked Phil more into the show and by the time we started the next tour "Time Passages" in 1978 he was an integral part of the band. I was playing more guitar (I had originally joined Al as a keyboard player) and we had our own sound and light system and carrying around our own nine foot piano at this time. Yes, the big time! (Two years later we were back playing small clubs.) (As a post-script to this story, Phil Kenzie, having become the star of the Al Stewart show left the band a few weeks into the "Time Passages" tour to join Rod Stewart and Bryan Savage took his place.)

John - How often do you talk with Al these days? You still do the odd show with him right?

Peter - Yes, I still do the occasional show with Al usually unannounced and it's fun to play the old songs, but after twenty years together I'm glad to be finally out on my own playing my own music.

John - One last thing about Al Stewart and maybe you can dispel what could be an urban legend? I hear that Al wasn't that crazy about his hits that the pop side of his career wasn't his main goal. In other words it wasn't that important for him to be a big Pop star.

Peter - Well really Al enjoyed being a big Pop star. Many nights in the late 70's you could find him at the legendary Rainbow Bar in West Hollywood just up the road from the Whisky a GoGo meeting rock stars and other famous people and living the life. Artistically, however, he felt that many people were coming to the shows only to hear the hits and they were not interested in his more lyrical songs that didn't have the driving beat or wailing saxophone. So success became a double-edged sword for him. Fame and fortune yes, but at the cost of one's musical integrity? In a way when Al's career declined in the early 80's it became more fun to play smaller places again to people who were the real fans and liked to hear the quieter more obscure songs as well as the known ones.

John - You took the scenic route to finding the guitar starting with the recorder then clarinet, cornet, trombone, violin, harmonica, and piano. What was it that made you stick with the guitar since it was the only instrument that you didn't have instruction in?

Peter - After seeing the Beatle's Shea stadium show on TV I was gone! I was about ten years old then and I just wanted to play guitar in a band from that moment on. Seeing the reaction of the mostly female audience to the Beatles made me realize the power of music and the electric guitar. I knew a few chords that I had taught myself so I figured how hard could it be?

John - (laugh)Hey that's what a lot of kids said but they didn't make it - you did! Could you have ever imagined when you were twenty that of all genre's you'd end up in Smooth Jazz?

Peter - Playing guitar against a funky beat was something that I first heard on George Benson's 'Breezin' album in the 70's. It was a revelation to me but I didn't know any musicians in England that played in that style. So I remained stuck in my rock and roll world but secretly I was trying to figure out what George was doing. At that time there was very little instrumental music on radio apart for the jazz stations that only played real jazz like John Coltrane. When I first heard 94.7 'The Wave' in Los Angeles in 1987 it was like the final piece of the puzzle. Now you could be an instrumentalist, make your own music, get played on the radio and you didn't have to be a real jazz player to do it. There was world music, nouveau flamenco, hip hop grooves, new age meanderings all spilling out of the radio for the first time. I thought to myself that I can do this!

John - Skipper Wise helped you with your first album. When you started it were you sure about a genre or sound you wanted? I have heard from a lot of Smooth Jazz players who have said that by default they kind of fell into the genre. It's kind of like they woke up one morning and realized that they were a Smooth Jazz player and it just wasn't conscious.

Peter - John, there was no genre back in 1990 known as 'Smooth Jazz.' Radio was playing a mixture of many styles including world music, new age, along with artists like the Rippingtons, David Benoit and Andreas Vollenweider. I had just released my first CD and everyone was experimenting with different styles and no one even mentioned Smooth Jazz. The genre as you say came out of all that was going on then and if you were around at the beginning you helped to create the genre now known as Smooth Jazz. There could not have been a conscious effort to be 'Smooth Jazz' in 1990 because it just didn't exist. For this reason I've never thought of myself as a Smooth Jazz musician and this has got me into trouble with people in radio! To me, it's just music. Musicians describe themselves as being Smooth Jazz musicians because the genre is so firmly established but I've always seen the term 'Smooth Jazz' as a radio term not a musician term. Smooth Jazz radio takes certain works by certain artists then mixes them up and there you have it. So if you are not played on Smooth Jazz radio then you can't say that you are Smooth Jazz because radio dictates what is Smooth Jazz and as I said before, it is a radio term. It has become a musician term I find quite amusing. I have never thought of myself as a Smooth Jazz musician.

How did my first CD come about? There were a few songs that I had written for Al Stewart that were never used so I turned them into instrumentals. I was also playing occasionally with Basia at that time and some of her sound influenced me, mostly the rhythms. My brother Danny was her musical arranger and I even named a song from the first album after him 'Danny Bianco!' The rest was influenced by the Pet Shop Boys-. (To this day their 'Introspective' CD is one of my all time favourites.) It's funny because people say that Al Stewart sounds like the Pet Shop Boys but musically it's much different. So I didn't know what was pop, jazz, R and B or whatever. I was just playing what felt good on the guitar. I just hit the record button, closed my eyes and put my fingers on the strings of the guitar. What you hear is what came out. That's how I still work today!

John - Do you think the genre is strong right now?

Peter - Certainly! 'The Wave' here in Los Angeles where I live has been going strong for fifteen years! It was discovering that station as I mentioned before that encouraged me to try my hand at making instrumental music. So I will always be a friend of Smooth Jazz radio in fact just recently I played at a club in Hollywood called the Garden of Eden that 94.7 'The Wave' is promoting as a local jazz venue. I played with Euge Groove and we had a lot of fun.

John - What do you say to the critics who think Smooth Jazz is not a worthy Jazz format?

Peter - They're right and they're wrong. Luckily, people don't take any notice of critics but the critics are right in that it isn't jazz in the traditional sense. There are elements of jazz in the music but it owes more to rhythm and blues and hip-hop these days. If someone came up with a better name that didn't include the word jazz maybe the critics would be happier. How about 'Smooth Funky Urban Soul?'

John - (laugh)That works for me. It must be gratifying to see yourself on top of the Smooth Jazz charts?

Peter - Well I'm very happy that I'm making a living as a musician, playing the music that I love and that there's an audience out there for me. Every time someone tells me that my music has touched them I'm totally thrilled. Being successful means to me that I can continue to do it a little while longer. I've seen the ups and downs of the music business and I don't take anything for granted!

John - You mentioned to me before that Basia is hard to get a hold of but she wants it that way. What's she up to these days?

Peter - Basia felt the pressure of the music business so much that she backed off and has been living quietly in England and also in her native Poland for the last few years. I'm quite sure however that she will return someday and wow us with some great new songs. My brother has been amassing many song ideas and I have even played on some of them. They just await Basia to feel that she is ready to start recording and performing again.

John - And what's the deal with Swing Out Sister? Where are they?

Peter - I have always loved Swing out Sister from the first CD. Their 'Shapes and Patterns' CD became kind of an anthem for me and my wife Robin in our first year of marriage. I bought it for her as a birthday present and because we both liked it so much it was played in our house constantly for about a year! I have tried to get a hold of them to possibly work together or just meet them but they are very elusive. I'd love to meet them.

John - You're in a great position right now as a player. What do you want to do next?

Peter - More of the same. I've achieved more than I have ever hoped for. I have played with all my favourite musicians (except David Sanborn) and played some of the greatest venues. I get to pick who plays in my band. (right now our old friend Jaared on sax for my East Coast dates and Michael Paulo for my West Coast dates). I play mostly weekends (check the tour schedule on www.peterwhite.com) and I have a relatively normal home life during the week with my wife and almost 2 year old daughter.. I feel right now that I'm the luckiest man alive! I'd like to one day record a CD of Classical themes, in fact there is one track I did for a CD called 'Golden Slumbers.' It is being released by Dave Koz later this year (Check www.davekoz.com) and I play my rendition of a theme from Dvorak's New World Symphony. Oh, I would like to always have an orchestra to accompany me wherever I go! Is that a big enough dream?

John - I was listening to Dave Koz this past weekend on Hamilton's Smooth Jazz station and it always floors me how natural he is as a host of his radio special. I know you toured with Dave. Do you have any dirt to give us on Dave? (laugh) Like does he collect Three's Company action figures? (laugh)

Peter - Dave's major in college was in radio communications or broadcasting or something of that sort so he went in radio with a lot of background. While I was chasing around the world with a rock'n'roll band trying to meet girls he was studying for his future and it paid off in a big way! He is a very natural host whether on radio or in concert. In fact, he's the best, no one else in Smooth Jazz can touch him. I only ever saw him lose it one time when someone put a heavy case down on top of his beloved curved soprano in the tour bus. It was fun seeing him get mad just for a moment because he's such a nice guy all the rest of the time.

John - Tell me how your fan club started?

Peter - Joan Lynch approached me a few years ago at a show in Houston and asked me if I had a fan club and if not could she start one? I gave her my blessing and she's been doing a great job ever since. They have their own website www.peterwhitefanclub.com and hundreds of members in many countries. I meet with them as often as I can, it's quite a community.

John - Bueno Funk is the hot track right now. Anything you can tell us about the song?

Peter - My producer Steven Dubin came up with the bass line and drum groove. (He used to play drums for Sister Sledge) I added the keyboards and plugged a cheap acoustic/electric guitar in to get a different sound on the melody. Steve Cole honks along in the spaces and Lenny Castro provides the timbales! Altogether quite funky and if you're observant you'll notice that I do a whole lot of Eric Clapton inspired licks in this song. I copied him frequently as a teenager. Warning: This is not Smooth Jazz! More like Funky Jazz!

John - Are you happy with Glow? How are you when you finish an album? Can you let it go or is there always something you could have changed or tweaked ?

Peter - I always feel that there is more I could have tweaked on every CD. There are a few songs that I feel that I got right, like the Marvin Gaye song 'What's Going On' on my Promenade CD but that's rare. Al Stewart once told me that you know when an album is finished because you either run out of time or money. I think he's right because we did run out of time and money on the Glow CD and only then did I know that it was done, otherwise I would still be tweaking it now! But yes, I am very happy with it.

John - You have a really great web site. The groovy long hair pics are worth it alone. (laugh) You seemed to have fun writing your bio and it's very enjoyable!

Peter - The bio evolved over the years. It started off as one page and now it's grown to seven or eight pages. I'm very proud of it because it's very personal and not at all like many artist bios which are written by someone else who just lists the acheivements of that artist. I just talk about my childhood and how I got started in music. Actually, a lot of what I've talked about in this interview is on my website. There are photos that track the development of my hair from one decade to the next. There is a very rare picture of me as a teenager with a guitar that is up on the bio. You should all check it out! (www.peterwhite.com)

John - Canada has been a little slow with Smooth Jazz but we have a Smooth Jazz station in Hamilton and at the end of the summer one will go on air in Calgary so don't give up on us.

Peter - This is great news. Hopefully the music will catch on as it has in the U.S. and more recently in my native England.

John - Thanks so much for connecting with us. Let's hope we can get you to play in Canada in the next year!

Peter - I look forward to it!

(Interview from July 26th/2002)