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March, 2021 | VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 3
BY BART MENDOZA © MUSICSCENESD // MUSICSCENESD.COM
MARCH 2021
RICHIE “LABAMBA” ROSENBERG
Grapefruit Moon Originally released in 2008, Southside Johnny With LaBamba’s Big Band – Grapefruit Moon, recast the songs of Tom Waits in a big band setting. It’s a perfect match with Southside’s soulful vocals set against band leader / trombonist Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg’s wonderful arrangements. This month the album is reissued by San Diego’s Pacific Records, particularly fitting in light of Waits status as a local legend. Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his nearly 25 year run with Conan O’Brien’s house band across several iconic television programs, including Late Night and The Tonight Show, taking part in numerous skits and in the process becoming one of the most familiar faces on late night TV. He’s also played on many recordings and tours with artists ranging from Little Steven to Diana Ross. For LaBamba’s Big Band, he leads a thirteen-piece horn section. “The concept to create an entire CD of Tom Waits music was Southside’s vision,” Rosenberg said. He was equally up to the challenge of arranging and conducting. “Everything about Tom’s music appeals to me. Deep lyrics, Deep composition, absolute Genius!” With so many players, how hard is it to coordinate a band like his for recording? “If you mean filling chairs
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with the right musicians, booking rehearsals, ordering pizza for 20+ people, not hard at all when you have so much fun to look forward to,” Rosenberg said. The band and
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Southside Johnny were all in the studio together for recording and getting the basic tracks down. “I was conducting. There were some overdubs in post production like cello, organ, accordion, background vocals, percussion, tuba etc.” The current reissue came about through a friend. “I presented the CD to (keyboardist) Martin Guigui over a breakfast hang,” Rosenberg recalled. “He said, let me send this to my partners at Pacific Records. I was a bit shocked. I knew he had his hands in a lot of different things both music and film, but I had no idea Martin was President of A & R of the company. That’s just the way my life seems to roll from time to time.” Producer Dan Gralick enlisted legendary engineer Doug Sax to master the original recording. “For this release, Dan Gralick reached out to friend/ engineer Sascha Peterfreundt who remastered it and kept all the integrity of Dougs work. I’ve heard the original “Grapefruit Moon” on the radio placed in between a Miles Davis cut and a classic Sinatra recording and sonically it’s right there, melted together. It was quite a moment. This effort is outstanding and deserves to be listened to.” Rosenberg is happy to see this project getting attention once more. “The other side of the coin is the wonderful respect and effort that Pacific Records has put into this,” he said. “It’s a true joy for me to be able to be involved with the Pacific family and to see the progress for myself.” The album’s bonus track, “Straight to the Top,” is from a concert held to promote the original albums release, at the Nokia Theatre on October 24, 2008. “It’s from Tom’s opera “Frank’s Wild Years,” Rosenberg said. “South-
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