Behind the BEATS: Brian Culbertson

Brian Culbertson is currently on tour with his brand new album, Day Trip. We sat down with him this week to talk about the album.

Allen Kepler: Tell us about how Day Trip came about.

Brian Culbertson: Day Trip came about as I was just wanting to do some music that was more adventurous, keeping the listener on their toes from song to song. I went back and was listening a lot to the jazz fusion stuff I had grown up on and wanted to try to capture some of that vibe. There were certainly way less ‘rules’ and I had felt that our genre had somewhat fallen into a place that didn’t necessarily encourage risks musically. I suppose I was just at a place where I had to do this and see how the reaction was.

Early on, I called Nicholas Cole and told him about the plan, and he was super excited. So, I then started sending him a lot of this music I was listening to in order to give him the vibe as well. Then we got together and wrote 9 songs in 4 days!! The synergy was amazing, and it continued throughout all the recording sessions, keeping the entire album fully live with real musicians playing everything, no tracks, no computers, no sequencing. Basically, the way they used to do it. It was so much fun and the reaction has been amazing from the fans! 

Allen Kepler: And more A-list musicians were brought on too, tell us about the rest of the band.

Brian Culbertson: In the initial writing sessions, we knew we needed the top of the top in order to make this music come alive like it did. We started with calling Lil’ John Roberts (drummer) who I had never worked with, but was a huge fan of since he played drums on one of my favorite George Duke albums, Face The Music. Next was Nathan East who was the obvious choice on bass. He just has the best tone and is so fluid and musical.

Rounding out the rhythm section is myself and Nicholas playing all the Keyboard parts, plus Paul Jackson, Jr., Isaiah Sharkey, and Ray Parker Jr. on Guitars, and Lenny Castro on Percussion. After the basic tracks were laid down, we then added the horn section, which consisted of Eric Marienthal on Saxes, Michael Stever on Trumpet, and myself on Trombone. As you’ll hear, this album is a very horn heavy production which is just so powerful.

Allen Kepler: You've got a lot of talent there already but there were special guest artists too, tell us about bringing them in.

Brian Culbertson: Then I started calling all of the special guests who added so much flavor and depth to this record. Everyone from the legendary Branford Marsalis playing the crazy horn line along with Patches Stewart and myself on "U-Turn," to fusion guitar icon Mike Stern on “The Winding Path,” the sultry tenor sax of Kirk Whalum on “In The Vines,” to the explosive Marcus Miller & Sheila E. on the lead single “On The Road,” as well as Randy Brecker & Eric Marienthal just destroying the most epic song on the album, “A Hundred Miles.” Every artist just brought it and was genuinely excited about this music as my directive was, ‘Just go for it!’

Allen Kepler: Besides the current single On the Road what other tunes stand out as favorites?

Brian Culbertson: While it’s hard to pick out favorites, I’d say “The Winding Path” is definitely a stand out track for me as it is so different and musically complex and yet still very accessible to the listener. It is constantly changing time signatures bar by bar, and even changes to a completely different tempo in the middle of the song, before coming back to the original one for the guitar solo. It’s a fun ride! The other stand out is the only 'slow jam' on the album, “With You.” It for sure will give you the goose bumps on that chorus hook, then once the funky guitar solo hits, it’s on! 

I hope people enjoy this set of music and can discover new and interesting things upon each listen.

Concert Photos Courtesy: Lisa Eng (Woodruff Arts Center)

Learn more about Brian Culbertson, his current tour, and his latest album on his website: www.brianculbertson.com