Smooth Jazz Now.com :

Praful - Yes, I was surprised and I'm still surprised because it's just one of those things you can't plan. It was just a good choice by the label to pick that song as the first single. I talked to a few radio stations in the States this week and they told me that even now people always call the stations when they play it, so it's really amazing.

John - I like the mysterious feel to the song and it's a little bit haunting.

Praful - You know the song is just one of those mysteries. It was the first song that we made for the album and when the label heard the song they decided to sign the contract with me.

Praful - I don't know how it really happened but we were just playing around in the studio with a few samples and sounds that we had. We started with a basic track and I just started playing sax on it in a really relaxed way and then the guitar helped but there isn't much of the guitar left on the North American radio edit. Listen to the album version, there's a lot more guitar and it gives it a very unpredictable twist.

John - When you first listened to the finished product did you know you had something?

Praful - Yeah, you're too close to it. It's like children you know you love them all but it's always hard to say this one or that one is better so you don't think in those terms when you're working on something. Maybe years later you can tell a difference or at least pick out parts that you like and parts you didn't. No, I didn't know I had something because I really didn't know what I had. I just did my best knowing I'm doing what I love. That's all you can do.

John - I've had some of my colleagues from the U.S email me asking if The Breeze, the station I work for, had added the song and double that when it comes to this site. We've had a lot of inquires about you. We've had people here in Canada having problems finding your album, not because it wasn't available but they got your name wrong since it doesn't sound like it looks. Do a lot of people screw up your name?

Praful - There have been a lot of questions on how to pronounce it. (laughing)

John - Well, interestingly especially in the beginning months I'd spell your name as well as say it. (laughing)

Praful - No. Actually, we've never released that song as a single up until now just based on the success in North America. We don't have this Contemporary, Smooth Jazz format on radio here though. We released another song on the album as the first single.

Praful - I'm not really familiar. I was in the United States twice in the fall to tour so I did get to see some things and hear a little radio.

John - Growing up you must have listened to a lot of styles of music judging from the many genres living on your album?

Praful - I like to explore new things to keep it fresh and I'm a curious person so at different times of my life different kinds of music touched me. If I was going to do a list someday you could see it was an amazing journey.

John - I hear you. Where did it all start? What was the first album you ever bought?

Praful - The first album I ever bought I think was America's "Greatest Hits." I must say I haven't really followed them too much since. I was fourteen at the time.

John - Is that right. We have both Gerry Beckley who's still with America on the site as well as former member Dan Peek. There both great guys.

Praful - Really? Back then I'd listen to America and Earth Wind and Fire and overall a lot of music from the States. I think everyone was like that growing up. I think if we go into our CD shelves we'll see all kinds of sections from Pop to Jazz to World music. I think every shelf should be that varied. I get the impression that in some parts of the world some people just listen to one thing.

John - Or just one track on an album - the hit! When I was talking to your label boss, Dave Koz, he mentioned that some of his younger relatives will listen to just one track and put the album away. How serious of a music fan were you back when you were a teen?

Praful - I was a very serious music fan. I remember sitting with a friend in a room listening to things like one of the early Pat Metheny albums like, "As Fall Wichita Falls So Falls Wichita Falls" or Keith Jarrett's "Khon Concert." I remember we only had a candle lighting the room (laughing) and we would sit there through the whole album. You know that's how I got into Jazz through Pat Metheny and Keith Jarrett. I got deeper into Jazz from listening to them. That was the seventies and times change back then there was a certain depth in the music and now it's different I'm not so sure it's better or worse. (laughing) I'm still amazed when I listen to old Pink Floyd albums on that huge fantasy that went into the music and it wasn't so formatted as it is these days.

John - Pink Floyd gave me an appreciation for the moody stuff that I now listen to - that sense of mystery.

John - I haven't hear your album "Touched By Love" that you released in 1999 but I did hear that it was more laid back and more New Age.

Praful - Yes, it was very New Age, an album that really slows down time. I was going to say it was made for chill but it's even below chill. It was made to be used for massage or any kind of body work.

Praful - That was one of those crazy coincidences. About two years ago there was a conference in Amsterdam called the Amsterdam Dance Event and my label was there with all the artists. So, two years ago there was a DJ there that had contacts with Rendezvous Records and he heard the song "Sigh" at the conference. He heard it on a panel when someone was trying to illustrate something, I forget what it was but he heard it and he loved it. It did take a year and a half to get it released in North America. The album was released originally here in 2001. Remember if you want to release something in the States you want to do it right, it's a big investment so you can't just do it overnight there has to be a lot of thought put into it. We were looking for someone who would invest a lot into the promotion and Rendezvous really felt that they had a jewel there so we went with them.

Praful - Yeah, it's a vinyl LP and a CD with many different mixes of "Sigh" and Rendezvous is releasing it. They are all dance remixes for the clubs.

Praful - I'm talking to the people involved right now. I'm talking to the producers that I work with so I could be in the studio by February. I don't think the album will be ready before the fall because there are a lot of things to do in between like touring again in the States and hopefully in Canada in the summer. For me, the summers are always busy since I play at a lot of festivals. I think my music has that sunshine kind of vibes so it's perfect for the summers.

John - If you were not doing music what do you think your occupation would be?

Praful - Maybe a DJ but if I did that I would be doing my own tracks so it would just go back to music. (laughing) When I was twenty years old I spent a couple of years just looking around looking for something to do. I was playing music of course but I really wasn't thinking of being a musician

Praful - Well, that's the point I couldn't come up with anything. (laughing) So since I couldn't come up with anything else and music was my passion anyway, I figured I better go for it. (laughing)

Praful - There have been lots and on many different levels. For me it doesn't have to be a saxophone album if it's well produced, interesting and new or whatever that'll make me want to go into the studio and work harder. Pat Metheny has been a great source of inspiration, his narrative way of playing a solo. I also love Wayne Shorter and Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon. Some radio station in the States asked me last year to make up a desert island list of albums. It almost broke my head, I mean listing thirty albums is easy but ten is really hard. (laughing).

Praful - Albums like "Songs in the Key of Life" from Stevie Wonder, a compilation of my favorite Sting songs or an album from Gilberto Gil, a Brazilian singer songwriter.

John - Ok, if someone gave you buckets of money to start a radio station what would you play?

Praful - (laughing) Well, if money wouldn't matter that would be fun. I don't think money should ever be the force in radio but unfortunately it is. If I could play just the music that I wanted to hear then it would have everything from Jazz to World music. There would be New Age on there too and of course Brazilian music. I could go on and on it would feature chill, pop and dance. (laughing) That's what my record collection looks like. You know there are only two different types of music, there's good music and bad there's music. (laughing)

Praful - Well, I think it's a little bit of a shame on what happens in the United States sometimes. I don't know if it happens in Canada but twenty, twenty five years ago radio started to go into formats and now some kids just listen to only one kind of music because they only listen to one radio station. A couple of days ago I found a quote from Sting and he said that in 1982 or something American music was dead for him because of the sectarian nature of how things develop there. I hope things have gotten a little bit better.

Praful - No, I don't really think of my music as Smooth Jazz. There might be two or three songs on the album that would work for Smooth Jazz radio but the album is getting played by the college stations a lot and the album was in the top Ten Billboard Electronica charts.

John - Well, I don't know too many Smooth Jazzers who also go on the Electronica charts. (laughing)

Praful - Well, It can happen and it happened to me. I'm not saying everyone has to make music like that. I think if your interests are spread and you like a lot of different things why not make your own sound using elements from different styles. I think it's hard for an artist to survive if his music isn't Smooth Jazz enough or rock enough so then artists make compromises in that sense. It's a shame but it's also understandable. I think it's a shame if you have forty-five different Smooth Jazz radio stations and they all play the same music just because there's a central organization that tells them what to play. Again it's understandable, I'm not criticizing it but it makes it more difficult for the musicians to come up with anything that they think is fresh and good. I'm not living in the States but there's so much great music that came from there, they've influenced everyone on the planet. It's an amazing achievement maybe the greatest of all American achievements but it's easier to live in Europe if you want to try our new things.

Praful - You know John, I really hope I can come to Canada this year. I was in Canada two years ago touring around with a band and I really loved Canada. It was a crazy cross over kind of band. We played at the Atlantic Jazz festival in Halifax and also at the Harbour front in Toronto. We were in London Ontario, two gigs in Montreal and the Vancouver Folk Festival. It was beautiful. I really love Canada.