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Drummer Boy, Craig Pilo and Christmas |
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The songs that comprise Craig Pilo’s new Christmas album
Drummer Boy at first glance
look like the same classic Christmas tunes that we grew up listening to
and singing along with, well for our entire lives, but an interesting
thing happened on the way to the studio, because Craig Pilo breathed new
life into songs such as “What Child Is This?” and “God Rest Ye Merry,
Gentlemen,” with arrangements of his own, plus he adapted Michele Weir’s
arrangement for “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” the album opening song. Was
the decision to focus on traditional Christmas songs deliberate on the
part of Craig Pilo?
He says, “Not really, it just sort of ended up that way.
There were two or three others that I really liked, but either
they didn’t fit or they really needed vocals to get the point across.
It ended up being mostly classic Christmas songs because the ten
that made it on to the CD are somewhat cohesive and they sound like they
can follow one another on a CD.
That being said, I think we did a pretty good job running the
full gamut since we have a few cuts that are pretty straight ahead, a
couple that border on smooth jazz, and I think “The Little Drummer Boy,”
was more of a fusion approach.”
Pilo’s description of his album is how we hear the songs as well. “O
Come, All Ye Faithful,” is breathtakingly beautiful and subtle. Chris
Smith is exquisite on keys. Bart Samolis lays down an emotive foundation
with his bass and of course Craig Pilo demonstrates once again why he
has become one of the most highly respected drummers out there today, as
his plays his drums with a warm, sensitive approach that compliments the
other musicians and allows the music to shine rather than yielding to
any temptation to participate in instrumental gymnastics.
We love the introduction to “What Child Is This?” It is the kind of
arrangement to which you will bob your head and find your hips and
shoulders moving to the music. When was the last time you did that to
“What Child Is This?” At the same time the song remains respectful.
The musicians are spritely and at times the music swings.
Sticking with Vince Guaraldi’s original arrangement for “Christmas Time
Is Here,” Pilo, Smith and Samolis recreate the magic and some magic of
their own. Our minds floated back to that snowy scene with Charlie Brown
and Linus in the 1965 television special
A Charlie Brown Christmas,
for which Guaradi and Lee Mendelson wrote the song. Samolis lays down a
very nice solo, Chris Smith is incredible and Pilo is awesome. For 4:56
this writer remembered what it was like to be a child again, waiting for
Santa to arrive, drinking hot chocolate, hanging stockings, seeing the
streets decorated and my parents taking us to look into the decorated
and animated storefront windows. When a song and musicians can stir
those emotions and memories from within us then we applaud them and
simply say, well done!!
Craig Pilo talks about creating the album Drummer Boy. “I produced the
entire CD, but as you know, anyone that does a CD has a team of people
and rarely is any album the result of the effort of a single person.
There is a huge list of people who made the record great, but I will
mention just a few. First and foremost are my wife and daughter who had
to endure listening to Christmas music for all of 2014, since (creating)
the CD began between January and March. Neither one of them is a
musician, so it really provided a nice audience perspective. My wife
would say things like, ‘I think I could bake cookies to this.’ Believe
it or not, musicians do not always think like that, so it was nice to
have that perspective.”
As for creating the actual music he says, “In January I started
gathering arrangements and making “dummy
tracks” in my computer.
Basically what that means is that I would play the bass and the piano
(virtually) to get an idea of the tempo, the feel, and the arrangement.
I gathered arrangements by Michelle Weir, Randy Waldman, Bob
James, Robby Robinson, and the immortal Vince Guaraldi, who probably
made the best Christmas Jazz album of all time. So a huge mention and
thanks to these people for letting me record their music.
Next would be the core rhythm section Chris Smith and Bart Samolis.
I cannot say enough about how talented these guys are and how
fortunate I am to have them on my team.
Each of them also contributed an arrangement
(“White Christmas,” by Smith and
“Little Drummer Boy,” by Samolis) and weighed in on the approach of
all the others. They are
great musicians and great people. I am truly blessed and I could not ask
for anything more.
Also on the team were the guest musicians who really went over and above
the call of duty in every direction Ric Fierabracci (bass), Mitch Forman
(Fender Rhodes), Robby (organ) and Rex Robinson (bass). All of these
guys played hard, they were super cooperative, and as we did multiple
takes and they definitely contributed to the overall sound we achieved
with this recording.
Brad Sharp snapped the cover photo, Angela Carole Brown did the graphic
design and layout and Les Brockman mixed and mastered the CD. Angela and
Les logged countless hours bringing everything together and I am so
grateful for their talent.”
The album cover for Drummer Boy
has a photo of Craig Pilo in a Christmas hat, drumsticks in hand and
what appears to be his snare drum case beside him. There is not one
single flake of snow to be found and that would be expected since Craig
Pilo lives in Los Angeles, but there is a twist to the story behind the
album cover.
“The CD cover was shot in August, but in New Orleans in between the
sound check and performance of a Frankie Valli show at the Segerstrom
Center (In addition to his solo
career, Craig Pilo tours as the drummer for music legend Frankie Valli).
Anyone who has been to New Orleans in August knows that it is hot and
muggy. One of the singers and I walked around the French Quarter and
took pictures hoping to get a few for the CD. The motivation was to keep
that “Jazz” element since it’s widely accepted that New Orleans was the
birth place of Jazz,” he says.
Christmastime is extra special for Craig Pilo, “Absolutely! I think
anyone with kids really cherishes this time of year.
My wife and I are like minded in that we both value tradition at
Christmas. Spending time
with friends and family, gift giving, and music will always be important
to both of us.”
Craig Pilo’s new Christmas album
Drummer Boy rekindles all of those memories for those of us who have
been lucky enough to experience them during out lifetime and for those
who get to cherish those moments in the here and now. This is not your
everyday Christmas record. In the fifty-eight Christmases that this
writer has experienced there have not been many Christmas records that
can match this one. Make room in your Christmas album collection now for
Drummer Boy, by Craig Pilo.
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