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Joe Schlesinger - Family Dinner

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01 - Watermelon Man & Big Chief

01 - Watermelon Man & Big Chief
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When we gathered in Muscle Shoals to record, I was not planning to make a personal statement. I simply wanted to capture music that mattered to me. But as the sessions went on, I realized that every track carried a piece of my journey. Some parts were joyful. Some were heavy. Some were quiet. All of them were honest. These songs are the story of my life. They hold more truth and explanation than I could ever speak, and possibly more than I even knew myself before this album.

This project idea began in the summer of 2024 when I visited Muscle Shoals with my uncle, Robert Friesen. By the end of the trip, we knew we needed to record here. Robert would become a major presence, inspiration, and support for the project. In addition to Robert, my cousin, Gary Talley, not only lent his excellent musicianship but also his experience as a studio musician and touring artist. Gary is featured on guitar and vocals but became the Assistant Producer, has an unmatched ear, bestowed immense creative input, and brought some of his friends (Spooner Oldham) to record with us. Gary is not only one of the best living guitarists, but he is also my family - thus bringing together both sides of my family. Robert and Gary truly embody the name of this album.

I was first exposed to jazz when I was in 6th grade, living in suburban Dallas, TX. We were members of Columbia House (the CD/tape scheme) and I miswrote the serial number for a Nirvana album and received Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage in the mail instead. The album contains the song Watermelon Man. While I couldn’t explain why, I was hooked. At the same time, Chris Winston, a fresh graduate from the University of North Texas, started teaching jazz piano lessons where I was studying piano. This was the genesis of my identity formation as a New Orleans jazz pianist. Herein, I’ll walk through the chronology and meaning of the song selections.

Watermelon Man & Big Chief takes me back to the moments as a freshman college student in New Orleans where I saw the streets, the parades, and the feeling of finding my rhythm in a world that felt enormous and full of promise. I went to college at Loyola University, New Orleans. The teenage kid that moved from Wisconsin was now gigging in New Orleans six days per week (because I wanted Mondays off)! I included Watermelon Man as the first track to lead this album, with a nod to New Orleans by bookending the song with “Big Chief” with an underlying NOLA street beat throughout. I chose Watermelon Man & Big Chief to lead off this album because I don’t identify as a jazz pianist; I identify as a New Orleans jazz pianist. And that essence will always permeate my playing.

I composed Deep Ellum when I was 18 years old, reflecting on my parents’ recent divorce. My dad stayed in Dallas, while my mom moved my sister and me to Wisconsin. On visits, my dad would take me to jazz clubs in Deep Ellum. These were the years I learned how to navigate uncertainty. Deep Ellum is the sound of trying to grow into myself before I knew what that meant, with all the restlessness and grit that comes with becoming an adult. It is the only song I have composed. I recorded this song on the 1967 Wurlitzer, original to the Aretha Franklin songs recorded at FAME.

Wisconsin never felt like home to me. Yet somehow, I found a place playing piano in an Afro-Cuban band based in Chicago. I was a teenager and the only Caucasian in the band. I would have to watch the bass player’s foot tap and aggressively tap my foot so I didn’t “turn the beat around.” Immersing myself in piano and the rich music traditions of the Afro-Cuban literature gave me hope and passion that I would leave and develop my sense of self and further hone my musicianship. Son Cubano represents the sunlight breaking through the blinds. These tracks are the sound of curiosity and travel and the joy of being lifted by a groove. They remind me that life is wider than whatever room I am standing in. In the first recording Charlie Schmitt and Omar Adada held space for solos from Gary Talley and Jeff Coffin; however, these were more than placeholders, as they capitulated to Arturo Sandoval and Paquito D’Rivera. Also, at the risk of sounding ostentatious, my unplanned solo would make Michel Camilo proud. I made an executive decision that the first recording (which became the alternate take) deserved a place on the record, too. In the final recording, Gary and Jeff would likely give Carlos Santana and Nestor Torres FOMO.

I moved from Wisconsin to New Orleans for college. Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans is my memory of choosing a home for the first time. A home built from color and culture and sound. That city shaped me. It taught me who I could be. Every note of that song feels like walking back into a room I never fully left. Although I lived for only four years in New Orleans, I would still have my 504 number if Hurricane Katrina didn’t make it inoperable. Katrina forced the city into a timestamp, a city that will never exist in the same way. This solidified my identity as a jazz pianist that happens to be a doctor. The “City that Care Forgot” will never be forgotten in my soul; it permeates my being and my playing. I would end every gig with this song. Colin and I spent countless nights playing music together at the Bombay Club in the French Quarter, a room that felt like a second home. After each set we would sit at the bar with Sazeracs in hand, still buzzing from the music. Through the open doors we could watch the life of the Quarter move in its own rhythm, a blend of elegance, noise, and charm. I remember seeing Mayor Marc Morial there more than once, quietly taking in the scene while the city carried on around him. Those nights were small snapshots of New Orleans itself, a place where music, community, and history all seem to share the same breath. After most gigs, I would sit on the front porch of my home on Prytania Street, letting the night settle around me. Honeysuckle and jasmine hung heavy in the thick summer air, and the magnolia tree in the front yard gave off its quiet perfume. I would listen to the street breathe, the distant rumble of the St. Charles streetcar and the soft music drifting from open windows. Those nights were my reset. They were the place where I could feel the pulse of the city moving through me, reminding me why I played piano and why New Orleans will always live in my bones.

Summertime is the most heavily arranged song on this album. It is the moment where the world slows. Life has seasons that weigh on you, seasons where your breath gets shorter and your spirit feels tired. Summertime is the exhale. It is the hope that rests beneath the ache. It is the reminder that even in heaviness, beauty still exists. The feeling is the juxtaposed struggle I had when I transitioned into medicine, the heaviness of death and dying while fervently maintaining my identity as a musician, first in Houston, then in Nashville. We start with a short rubato but then get into a driving funk groove. I challenged Omar (sax and clarinet) to write a “Muscle Shoals meets Tower of Power” horn line for this, and he delivered. I pushed Akash, last minute in the studio, to sing a scat solo and harmonize with himself. This is the magic of recording music in a temple of music history. In Watermelon Man and Summertime, you hear Spooner Oldham on Hammond B3. Spooner is on countless records but recorded the famous work with Aretha Franklin at FAME in the 1960s. The musicians spanned from 22 years old to 82 years old. Living music history captured in a timeless jazz classic.

The Weary Kind and Get Used to the Night live in the spaces where words usually fall short. They reflect nights that were long and moments that required more strength than I thought I had. They are not about one person or one event. They are simply honest. I recorded these songs because they helped me face myself in a gentle way. They allowed me to say what I had never said out loud. For those that know me best, I have had many personal struggles, which I have endured, learned from, and grown from, and I am purposely leaving this entry the shortest. I don’t want to look back; I want to look forward. In fact, I created my own music label with this project - Joe Bingham Music. Bingham is my dog, my Olde Mountain Doodle, that helped to nourish my soul during some of my darkest days.

The album finishes with Solar. Clean. Bright. Forward. It rises at the end of the album the way light rises at the edge of morning. It is confidence without force. Movement without urgency. It is the sound of me stepping into the next chapter with clarity. As background, growing up, my family would have a Christmas gift lottery name-drawing system (big extended family). My Uncle Robert got me. He asked my mom if he could give me Miles Davis’ autobiography. The book is 448 pages long but would be a couple hundred pages shorter if the word “fuck” were removed (hence the need for permission during childhood). When I first made the song list for this project, Solar wasn’t on there. Uncle Robert challenged me: with such a great group of musicians, why don’t I have more challenging songs? Why don’t I push us as a group? He was right. As a homage to this, I chose Solar. You hear the far-off cry of the Harmon mute from Charlie Schmitt; the introduction was an in-studio decision. Listen closely at 41 seconds; you can hear the wood from the hammers resetting. That is the absolute mastery of the recording engineer, mixing engineer, and my new friend, Spencer Coats. I had the pleasure of recording on a 1978 Yamaha C7, utilizing the absolute best room and microphone technique imaginable. Additionally, all the tracks were digitally mixed, and then sent to the 1982 MCI JH-24 2-inch 24-track tape machine for that “fat & warm” sound, before being returned to the computer for digital mastering. Turn off the lights, close your eyes, and turn the volume up. I decide to close out the album with this song, as it circles back to my transition into jazz in middle school, reading Miles Davis’ autobiography and listening to my boombox in my bedroom playing “Kind of Blue” on CD. We recorded in Studio A, the music history mecca that recorded and produced (including but not limited to): Aretha Franklin – “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” (1967), Percy Sledge – “When a Man Loves a Woman” (1966), Wilson Pickett – Multiple hits (mid-1960s) including “Mustang Sally” (1966), Etta James – “Tell Mama” (1967), Duane Allman (his guitar work here helped define what would become the Allman Brothers sound), and the Otis Redding Sessions (1960s). FAME is not known as a jazz studio, but we changed that, and now we are part of the Muscle Shoals sound, and the Muscle Shoals sound is a part of us.

All of the musicians stayed at the late 1800s Victorian homes of Don and Diane Kruse in Sheffield, Alabama. Both worked a lifetime in the music business as a recording studio architect & sound engineer and an accountant & manager, respectively. We truly had a “family dinner” one of the nights where we were all together, and the experience was the motivation for the Robert Hakalski designed album cover depicting a timeless and inclusive seat at the table. Don and Diane were sous chefs for Robert, preparing a multicourse meal for everyone. My cousin Mary Talley made a delicious Southern dessert, and I curated the wine. Robert also served as the mixologist, crafting old-fashioneds with his homegrown rosemary and a maple syrup reduction. It is only fitting that everyone is on the CD insert, as the eighth notes could not be swung without this sustenance.

I chose to have the records pressed at Memphis Record Pressing. As a lagniappe (pronounced “LAN-yap” - a Louisiana French term for “a little something extra”), Memphis, like New Orleans, sits along the Mississippi River, a moving spine of water that has carried people, songs, grief, joy, and memory from north to south for centuries. Pressing this record there felt like releasing the music back into that current, letting it travel downstream in spirit, bound to the same river of culture, history, and place that shaped it.

When I listen to this record from beginning to end, I see my life gathered around one table. Joy sits next to restlessness. Memory sits beside hope. Weariness sits next to renewal. They are all part of the same story. They all belong here. I realize that this group is my family; we didn’t grow up under the same roof, but we can choose the people we surround ourselves with. This music is excellent (bias aside), but every millisecond of this project is a dear memory of mine.

Family Dinner is not a concept album. It is a conversation between the person I used to be, the person I am now, and the person I am still becoming. It is music as memory. Music as truth. Music is the home I carry with me.

– Welcome to the table –

Personnel:

Joe Schlesinger - Piano / Wurlitzer / Producer

Joe Schlesinger is a pianist, composer, and recording artist whose work blends jazz, blues, Afro-Cuban tradition, and a lifelong commitment to musical storytelling. Trained in jazz piano performance in pre-Katrina New Orleans, Joe brings a strong sense of harmony, feel, and authenticity to everything he creates. Alongside his musical life, Joe has built a successful career doing research in music & medicine. The discipline and perspective from that world shape his approach as an artist, adding depth, clarity, and intention to his writing and performance.

Whether in the studio or at the piano, Joe plays with a focus on connection. His sound reflects years of musical exploration, an ear for collaboration, and a belief that music should feel both personal and inviting. Joe has been a showband pianist for Carnival Cruise Lines and has also performed on every continent except Antarctica.

Joe continues to record, compose, and perform with a clear artistic identity and a dedication to creating honest and enduring work. He admonishes his mentees to “shed” their “two-fives” and swing their eighth notes.

Gary Talley - Acoustic & Electric Guitar / Steel Guitar / Lead Vocals / Background Vocals / Assistant Producer

Gary Talley is a musician, songwriter, and teacher best known for being the lead guitarist and vocalist for the Grammy-nominated Memphis group "The Box Tops." Their biggest hit songs were "The Letter" and "Cry Like a Baby." Gary is a member of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and has played with over 100 major label recording acts, including Billy Preston, "The 5th Beatle." He created the first instructional guitar video for songwriters, "Guitar Playing for Songwriters," in 1999 and wrote a regular column, "Guitar 101," for American Songwriter magazine for 14 years.

Colin Williams - Acoustic & Electric Bass

Colin Williams’ professional career really began in New Orleans when he and Joe Schlesinger, full of New Orleans food, walked into as many French Quarter jazz clubs as they could find, searching for a gig. They found two steady gigs and played together for years. After graduation, Colin moved to San Francisco, where he played a bizarre assortment of gigs, backing up such eclectic leaders as a rock cellist, a Middle Eastern accordion player, and the Poet Laureate of the United States.

He is the founder of the Bay School of San Francisco’s music program, where for more than twenty years he has been teaching high school students to listen to others, to challenge themselves, and, for the love of god, to bring their sheet music. Colin plays a bewildering array of musical styles, and you’re equally likely to find him in a symphony orchestra or a rock band. He has toured to Israel, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, and several countries that don’t start with “i” with crossover group Dirty Cello. He lives in North Beach with his wife, two cats, and 40,000 ants.

Spooner Oldham - Hammond B3 Organ

Dewey "Spooner" Lindon Oldham Jr. (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman", Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally", and Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)". As a songwriter, Oldham teamed with Dan Penn to write such hits as "Cry Like a Baby" (the Box Tops), "I'm Your Puppet" (James and Bobby Purify), and "A Woman Left Lonely" and "It Tears Me Up" (Percy Sledge).

Jeff Coffin - Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax, Piccolo

Jeff Coffin is a saxophonist and composer who has earned international acclaim for his work with Dave Matthews Band (https://www.davematthewsband.com/) and Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, as well as his 23+ solo projects. Coffin’s approach to the saxophone is marked by a fearless sense of exploration, fusing elements of jazz, funk, world music, and rock into a style that is uniquely his own.

A 3x Grammy Award winner, Coffin has toured the world, captivating audiences with his powerful, emotive playing. In addition to his work as a performer, Coffin is deeply committed to music education, teaching at Vanderbilt University and presenting well over 400 workshops and clinics around the globe. He is also the founder of the independent record label Ear Up Records (https://www.earuprecords.com/) and co-founder of AfricaNashville (https://www.africanashville.com/) - which promotes cross cultural relationships between celebrated African and American artists in Nashville, TN. Coffin’s passion for sharing knowledge has made him a respected mentor to aspiring musicians everywhere.

On October 19, 2024, Dave Matthews Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Jeff is one of a handful musicians to attain this incredible musical honor!

Jeff is a Yamaha Performing Artist & Clinician, a Boston Sax Shop Ambassador, and a JodyJazz Artist.

Omar Adada - Alto Sax, Baritone Sax, Clarinet, Auxiliary Percussion

Omar Adada is an aspiring physician as well as a classically and jazz-trained saxophonist based in Nashville, performing across chamber music, big band, and wind symphony settings. A versatile woodwind doubler, he brings a flexible, stylistically fluent approach to every ensemble he works with.

Based in Nashville, Omar is immersed in a vibrant community of musicians, performing regularly across a wide range of ensembles and creative projects. His experiences in chamber music sharpen his precision and sensitivity, while his work in big band and jazz settings fuels his sense of spontaneity, groove, and interactive musicianship. Whether interpreting contemporary classical works or navigating a fast swing chart, Omar brings clarity, intention, and a strong sense of musical identity to every performance.

Alongside his musical life, Omar pursues a career in medicine with an interest in music-related medical research. His experiences learning in both the hospital and on the stage shape a perspective grounded in discipline, curiosity, and connection. In either context, Omar is committed to thoughtful artistry and meaningful, enduring work.

Charlie Schmitt - Trumpet & Auxiliary Percussion

Charlie Schmitt is a trumpet player and composer currently residing in Miami, FL. Born in Orlando, he first found his passion for music amidst Central Florida's vibrant education programs and while learning from his trumpet teachers, John Almeida and the late Dan Miller.

Charlie recently graduated from Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, where he studied classical trumpet performance with soloist Jose Sibaja and wrote extensively for Vanderbilt's Blue Note jazz combo, latin jazz combo, and Blair Big Band under the direction of Dr. Ryan Middagh.

In addition to his musical studies, Charlie has conducted group research on archival materials from the estates of trumpeter and jazz pioneer John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie and the multi-instrumentalist, composer, and pedagogue Dr. Yusef A. Lateef, in an attempt to highlight each of their lives, works, and culminating legacies. Charlie is currently pursuing a master's degree in jazz trumpet performance at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, under the tutelage of Etienne Charles and Brian Lynch.

Akash Gururaja - Violin, Lead Vocals, Background Vocals

Akash Gururaja is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist based out of Nashville, TN. Akash has a background in both Western and Indian classical music, regularly performing at venues in the US and India. Akash is a co-founder of the ‘Carnatic for A Cause’ non-profit initiative, which has hosted several events and raised over $60K towards multiple community projects. Akash is also an IndianRaga fellow for Carnatic Violin and has been featured in 25+ IndianRaga productions. Akash is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the pop/hip-hop group 'Gold Revere' - their Lavender EP was released with SONY ARISTA, and their projects have garnered over 25 million streams across platforms. Akash majored in Neuroscience at Vanderbilt University and is currently a second-year medical student at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine.

Clayton Rothwell - Drums, Cymbals, Congas, Auxiliary Percussion

Clayton is a drummer and percussionist who hails from Dayton OH. His favorite part about music is the friendship and collaboration to create something beautiful and original. His musical journey started from a young age, raised in a musical family and devoted to classic R&B, fusion and hard bop which have grounded his approach to the drums around deep pocket and nuanced expression. In high school he was recruited to play drums in the Wilmington Youth Jazz Orchestra and headlined at the Clifford Brown Jazz festival.

Over the years, he has performed/recorded with Tracy Silverman, Sarah Schachner, Maestro Lightford, Raffeal Sears, Jason Dyba, the Belmont University Percussion Ensemble, and many others. He has been incredibly grateful for the rhythmic mentorship of Chester Thompson and Waldo Latowsky, opportunities to perform at PASIC and win multiple battle of the bands with different groups. He has applied his love of sound and teamwork to a PhD in Human Factors and a successful career designing user interfaces for aviation and medical software for the past 15 years.

Ansley Moe - Viola

Ansley Moe is a violist and violinist based in Nashville, TN. Classically trained, she is also expanding her musical studies into folk and jazz genres. Ansley enjoys performing in orchestral settings and previously served as Principal Violist of the Vanderbilt University Orchestra while studying at the Blair School of Music. She has appeared twice at Carnegie Hall as a violist with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. Ansley earned a degree in Viola Performance from Vanderbilt University and will be starting dental school this year.

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