Fact #98456
When:
Short story:
Saxophonist Steve Elson adds his parts to tracks including Where Are We Now and Dirty Boys for the David Bowie album The Next Day at The Magic Shop, New York City, USA.Full article:
Steve Elson (saxophone) : It's a great studio, just a great vibe in the room. It's also not far from where I live, which is nice. It's quite compact. You walk in, there's an office, then a control room and then the studio. there's no kitchen or catering or anything fancy.
I got there about 10.00am and I was done by about 5.00 in the afternoon. One of the best things about it was that David had no deadline, so it was very leisurely.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Sept 2013)
Tony Visconti : Dirty Boys, the second song on the album, is very sleazy.
It's dark and it's sexy. There's a fantastic sax solo. You know, David plays baritone sax, but he invited his friend Steve Elson to do the baritone on this album. He's a little guy, and he's got a huge baritone sax, and he plays this dirty solo in it that sounds like stripper music from the 1950s. Old bump-and-grind stripper music . . . It wouldn't be out of place on Young Americans.
(Source : http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowies-the-next-day-album-a-track-by-track-preview-20130115)
Steve Elson (saxophones) : I was only in the studio for one day. I ran into him in a shop, because we live quite close to each other, and also close to the studio we used.
As we parted at the shop, David told me he'd like to have me do something on a project he was working on, and then sometime later, I got a call from Tony Visconti, asking me if I was up for it, but he was quite secretive about exactly what it was. Then there was another phone call from David's long-time business manager, Bill Zysblatt, who said, 'Before I tell you anything, you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Kabir, who was the project manager, actually came over to my house and helped me carry my saxophones to the studio. It was too close to take a cab, but quite a long walk with all of my instruments, so Kabir came and helped.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Oct 2013)
Steve Elson (saxophonist) : I said to him, 'You know, David, this is gonna be a hard thing for me to keep under my belt. This is something I wanna boast about.' And he said, 'Yeah, but just think how good you'll feel when the record comes out.' And he was right. I could tell that this was something that he really needed to be kept quiet, so that he could work the way he wanted to work.
(Source : interview in the NME, March 2013)
Steve Elson (saxophone) : It wasn't until I actually got to the studio that I found out what David wanted. He wanted low horns, he was looking to fatten up the bottom end of the sound. David thinks of me as a baritone sax player, probably because I did the baritone sax for him on Let's Dance. He is a sax player himself, so he knows a thing or two about the instrument.
So he started playing a couple of tracks for me and we started fooling around. At that point there were no vocals at all on the tracks. They had working titles only.
His instruction to me was basically, "Just go for it." We'd do maybe a couple of passes at each one, and that was it. He was just looking for licks that he liked.
I think the first song we did was the one that became Dirty Boys. David was sometimes in the studio with me and his guitar, sometimes he was in the control room, and he had ideas of what he wanted and I got some good sounds. He is attracted to the idea that the first idea is maybe the best idea, and I really like that attitude. I don't like when things get too refined. So he wasn't looking for the perfect take, more just the spirit of it. He likes a certain kind of grittiness.
The day went by very quickly, but I remember we stopped for lunch, there's a local place that does very good sandwiches so somebody got sent out, and we watched some old sax players on YouTube, not specifically to get ideas for the session, but just because he thought it might interest me. I think he would loved to be a sax player in Little Richard's band.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Oct 2013)
Steve Elson (saxophones) : Frequently in the studio you spend time trying to figure out this line and that line and where it should go. Not this time. You can tell within the first couple of minutes how the day is going to go. And you could tell this was going to be a good day.
They were interested in early takes. Often in session work time is spent refining solos, making them smooth. They weren’t interested in smooth.
(Source : feature by K. Webster, Counterpunch, online blog)
Mario J. McNulty : David and Tony both want the recording to sound like a record on playback, so dynamics go to tape all the time. There are times when a special sound is called for - if so then we will talk about it and change what might be my usual approach. Mostly though, it’s about not missing anything and getting all the performances to tape.
(Source : http://www.sonicscoop.com/2013/03/11/engineering-david-bowies-the-next-day-inside-the-magic-shop-sessions-with-mario-j-mcnulty/#sthash.b3dnmSaC.dpuf)
Steve Elson (saxophones) : Tony and David have done a bunch of records over the years. Tony has ideas and gives direction and was handling the technical side of the day with the engineer. He creates the ground on which this gets built. He knows Bowie well enough to interpret when needed,
Steve Elson : We stopped for lunch and watched/listened to some Rhythm and Blues players on YouTube. We talked about Johnny Otis a little bit and about Dr. John and Little Richard.
Steve Elson : A recording studio can be a sterile environment, but there was something about having the headphones on, David in the control room, singing ideas kind of back and forth. It felt as spontaneous as it gets. Not contrived. And I don’t think it’s ever ironic. Playing R & B with Johnny was never ironic or coy and I don’t think it is with Bowie. It’s never “playing at playing music”. You’re playing music.
Steve Elson : At one point, listening through my headphones, I was thinking, ‘Here is this beautiful voice I’m hearing’. It’s very intimate, we’re singing ideas and he’s a few inches away from his microphone. He’s playing his guitar. He’s singing, you're playing, he’s giving direction.
Steve Elson : When we finished the last song, Tony said how well it had gone. I had no idea whether any of it would make it on the record. But in a way, I thought, it didn’t matter. I get to be alive making music with a brilliant mind.
Steve Elson (saxophones) : At the end of the day, David asked me to "keep schtum" about what we'd been doing. I didn't know what that meant, but I later learned it was a British Jewish word meaning to keep it quiet.
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I got there about 10.00am and I was done by about 5.00 in the afternoon. One of the best things about it was that David had no deadline, so it was very leisurely.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Sept 2013)
Tony Visconti : Dirty Boys, the second song on the album, is very sleazy.
It's dark and it's sexy. There's a fantastic sax solo. You know, David plays baritone sax, but he invited his friend Steve Elson to do the baritone on this album. He's a little guy, and he's got a huge baritone sax, and he plays this dirty solo in it that sounds like stripper music from the 1950s. Old bump-and-grind stripper music . . . It wouldn't be out of place on Young Americans.
(Source : http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowies-the-next-day-album-a-track-by-track-preview-20130115)
Steve Elson (saxophones) : I was only in the studio for one day. I ran into him in a shop, because we live quite close to each other, and also close to the studio we used.
As we parted at the shop, David told me he'd like to have me do something on a project he was working on, and then sometime later, I got a call from Tony Visconti, asking me if I was up for it, but he was quite secretive about exactly what it was. Then there was another phone call from David's long-time business manager, Bill Zysblatt, who said, 'Before I tell you anything, you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Kabir, who was the project manager, actually came over to my house and helped me carry my saxophones to the studio. It was too close to take a cab, but quite a long walk with all of my instruments, so Kabir came and helped.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Oct 2013)
Steve Elson (saxophonist) : I said to him, 'You know, David, this is gonna be a hard thing for me to keep under my belt. This is something I wanna boast about.' And he said, 'Yeah, but just think how good you'll feel when the record comes out.' And he was right. I could tell that this was something that he really needed to be kept quiet, so that he could work the way he wanted to work.
(Source : interview in the NME, March 2013)
Steve Elson (saxophone) : It wasn't until I actually got to the studio that I found out what David wanted. He wanted low horns, he was looking to fatten up the bottom end of the sound. David thinks of me as a baritone sax player, probably because I did the baritone sax for him on Let's Dance. He is a sax player himself, so he knows a thing or two about the instrument.
So he started playing a couple of tracks for me and we started fooling around. At that point there were no vocals at all on the tracks. They had working titles only.
His instruction to me was basically, "Just go for it." We'd do maybe a couple of passes at each one, and that was it. He was just looking for licks that he liked.
I think the first song we did was the one that became Dirty Boys. David was sometimes in the studio with me and his guitar, sometimes he was in the control room, and he had ideas of what he wanted and I got some good sounds. He is attracted to the idea that the first idea is maybe the best idea, and I really like that attitude. I don't like when things get too refined. So he wasn't looking for the perfect take, more just the spirit of it. He likes a certain kind of grittiness.
The day went by very quickly, but I remember we stopped for lunch, there's a local place that does very good sandwiches so somebody got sent out, and we watched some old sax players on YouTube, not specifically to get ideas for the session, but just because he thought it might interest me. I think he would loved to be a sax player in Little Richard's band.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Oct 2013)
Steve Elson (saxophones) : Frequently in the studio you spend time trying to figure out this line and that line and where it should go. Not this time. You can tell within the first couple of minutes how the day is going to go. And you could tell this was going to be a good day.
They were interested in early takes. Often in session work time is spent refining solos, making them smooth. They weren’t interested in smooth.
(Source : feature by K. Webster, Counterpunch, online blog)
Mario J. McNulty : David and Tony both want the recording to sound like a record on playback, so dynamics go to tape all the time. There are times when a special sound is called for - if so then we will talk about it and change what might be my usual approach. Mostly though, it’s about not missing anything and getting all the performances to tape.
(Source : http://www.sonicscoop.com/2013/03/11/engineering-david-bowies-the-next-day-inside-the-magic-shop-sessions-with-mario-j-mcnulty/#sthash.b3dnmSaC.dpuf)
Steve Elson (saxophones) : Tony and David have done a bunch of records over the years. Tony has ideas and gives direction and was handling the technical side of the day with the engineer. He creates the ground on which this gets built. He knows Bowie well enough to interpret when needed,
Steve Elson : We stopped for lunch and watched/listened to some Rhythm and Blues players on YouTube. We talked about Johnny Otis a little bit and about Dr. John and Little Richard.
Steve Elson : A recording studio can be a sterile environment, but there was something about having the headphones on, David in the control room, singing ideas kind of back and forth. It felt as spontaneous as it gets. Not contrived. And I don’t think it’s ever ironic. Playing R & B with Johnny was never ironic or coy and I don’t think it is with Bowie. It’s never “playing at playing music”. You’re playing music.
Steve Elson : At one point, listening through my headphones, I was thinking, ‘Here is this beautiful voice I’m hearing’. It’s very intimate, we’re singing ideas and he’s a few inches away from his microphone. He’s playing his guitar. He’s singing, you're playing, he’s giving direction.
Steve Elson : When we finished the last song, Tony said how well it had gone. I had no idea whether any of it would make it on the record. But in a way, I thought, it didn’t matter. I get to be alive making music with a brilliant mind.
Steve Elson (saxophones) : At the end of the day, David asked me to "keep schtum" about what we'd been doing. I didn't know what that meant, but I later learned it was a British Jewish word meaning to keep it quiet.