Interviews
Interview by Howard Tucker, Jersey Boys Blog Special Correspondent.
Published: June 16, 2007
In a change of pace, Jersey Boys Blog Special Correspondent Howard Tucker spoke with Craig Pilo, the drummer for the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ current touring band. Craig joined Frankie in November 2005 and continues touring with him today. He is also touring with Edgar Winter (“Frankenstein”) and Player (“Baby Come Back”). In April 2007, Craig released a solo CD, Just Play, on Rue De La Harpe Records, which has been met with rave reviews.
Part I: Background and the new CD, Just Play
HT: Craig, when I saw Frankie in New Jersey this past March at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, he showed his ability to maintain an incredibly high standard of excellence. But I was also blown away by you on the drums and lead guitarist Matt Baldoni. I know a bit about Matt’s work as he is associated with my accounting client, a well-known guitar company, but am not as familiar with your work. First, please tell me a bit about your CD Just Play.
CP: It’s a new jazz fusion CD, enhanced and interactive with live video footage. I cover some jazz standards (“Autumn Leaves,” “All Blues,” and “Teen Town”) in new arrangements and feature a number of “Pilo originals.” I also have a Fender Rhodes rhythm section, with many notable guests including Mitchel Forman, Tom Kennedy, Ed Czach, David Enos, and Roman Dudok.
HT: Your reviews have been glowing, Craig. Jazz World Quest labels Just Play as “a highly dynamic jazz fusion atmosphere filled with positive energy” and “an entertaining album of great clarity and power for fusion enthusiasts,” and calls you “an experimented musician whose bold personality is evident throughout the album.”
John Stevenson of ejazznews says that on Just Play, you demonstrate “tight, yet fluent stick work” and says you have a “yen for selecting great tunes and accompanists.” Further, he says you “master of sundry styles and meters shines through and there’s chemistry galore with the likes of featured keyboardist, the stellar Mitchel Forman, as well as saxophonist Roman Dudak.”
CP: We’re not only pleased with the reviews, Howard, we’re thrilled with the airplay we’ve been getting on Kanal Jazz and Bluzz Radio, Fusion Groovin’ Radio, and Attention Span Radio. Furthermore, there are a few reputable radio stations (Fusion Groovin and Attention Span) that have it #2 on their requested playlists for the past month since Just Play became available. That was outright shocking. I’d be lying if I said I expected that. It’s been great.
Part II: Touring with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
HT: How did you get connected to Frankie?
CP: Dave Spurr (the previous drummer) and I got to be pretty good friends while I was subbing for him in Pat Boone’s band. I played with Frankie one time back in 2005. Later that year, Dave decided to stay closer to home as a newlywed and so he, Frankie and Robby Robinson decided to give me a try. It turned out to be a good fit for all of us.
HT: Is being on the road tough for you?
CP: Not at all, but anyone who tells you they don’t get tired after a while is lying! We have a great group of guys traveling with Frankie and I have to say Robby is the best Musical Director I’ve ever had the pleasure of working for. It makes it a lot easier when you have an MD that really has the bases covered in every direction. Robby is a wonderful arranger, a GREAT player, and an even better Musical Director He creates an environment that really encourages your creative talents and makes going to work a real pleasure. Since we all get along really well, it really makes being on the road quite bearable. There is no sibling rivalry between our two sets of brothers. We play basketball together when we’re on the road to keep in shape.
HT: I travel a lot too, Craig, and I find some of my colleagues are day people and some are night people. How do you deal with this?
CP: We all need to adjust to each other’s schedules. As you can imagine, we spend A LOT of time together. We also hang out together on the road and at home.
HT: What have you learned from Frankie?
CP: I’ve learned a lot from Frankie, but what pertains to me the most is how to back up a vocal group. For a drummer, it’s a little different experience than backing up a horn band or say, a rock band with three guitars. For a drummer to play with a vocal group, you have to play a lot softer but with the same intensity. Keeping the intensity at a low volume takes a little more concentration than playing loud all night long. It’s not hard to do, but you have to be conscious of it all the time.
Towards the end of the show, Frankie likes the energy to be at its height, but we can’t bash; it needs to be intense, but musical. With 15 guys on the stage we all have to do our part to stay below the vocals, even during the shout chorus on “Rag Doll” or “Let’s Hang On.”
HT: How does today’s performance of the Four Seasons differ from the earlier incarnations?
CP: Well, I’ve been a fan of all the versions of this band. I’ve also had the privilege of working with a lot of the band members from the past. Aside from the configuration, I think different personalities and musical abilities can really create a difference in any band. We have a really great chemistry on all fronts in the group now. You’ve heard the band yourself Howard, they really sound great, right? I also understand the earlier version of the band had the musicians singing certain parts in addition to playing their instruments.
As far as being modern, Frankie would be able to give you a better answer, but if I had to venture a guess, I’d say that the current line up and configuration is a good attempt to make the show a little more modern while still being respectful of the original music. The presentation of the material now has four pretty strong back up singers (two sets of brothers, actually) supported by a ten-piece band. The singers as you’ve seen are now free to move a little since they aren’t holding instruments, and the rhythm section is able to focus on playing their best. There is a part of me that gets to enjoy watching and listening as much as being absorbed as a performer on stage.
HT: Does the audience ever speak to you about the original and earlier Four Seasons?
CP: I’ve been told a lot of people miss the original mix and that’s fine. How can you not like the original or early versions of the band? They were all great! It’s all good. Frankie is definitely one of those people who is able to stay relevant. I think part of it has to do with the fact that he keeps updating his show and asks for near perfection from himself every single night and he expects the same from us.
HT: Were you a 4 Seasons’ fan growing up? Did you know their music, or are you too young?
CP: Well, I listened to the Big Band sound growing up and didn’t really listen to pop music at all until I was older. My parents hipped me to a lot of stuff and of course Frankie was among the records - yes, records, as in, not CD’s! So to answer the question, no I wasn’t a fan until maybe high school or later. But I was certainly aware of his contribution to music and I knew a couple of his hits. “Sherry,” “Big Girls,” and “Grease.” I was unaware of how many of his other songs I knew until they sent me the rehearsal CD to learn the show.
When I received the CD to learn the show I almost fell off the chair at how many of his hits I actually did know! It was like, “That’s Frankie Valli? That is too? This one too? Holy #$%@! …”
Part III: Career Outside the Four Seasons
HT: What did you do in your career prior to touring with Frankie?
CP: I’ve been pretty fortunate to play with some really great people. A few of the highlights have been playing with Maynard Ferguson, Billy Vera, Pat Boone, Player, The Red Elvises, and more recently Edgar Winter.
I was actually pretty busy with a lot of stuff when I started with Frankie in November of 2005. I was traveling a lot with Pat Boone; we had just done two weeks in Ireland over the summer. I was also working a lot with Angela Carole Brown promoting a CD she had just finished (The Slow Club) a year earlier. My own solo CD was already two years in the making, and I was also busy on television projects with “The Osbornes” and “Boston Legal.”
HT: As one of the older baby boomers, I don’t even recall Pat Boone too well….I can think of two songs, “April Love” and “Love Letters in the Sand”. What sort of crowd does he attract and what does he do in his act?
CP: Pat did a lot of cover songs; he was a contemporary of Elvis. His show definitely caters to a more mature crowd. In addition to the two songs you mentioned, he did “Tutty Fruitty,” “Bernadine,” the “Theme from Exodus,” and actually had a charted single a few years ago called “Under God” that I played on. He’s done hundreds of songs and has probably had 50 hits. Pat is a great guy and I loved his band. Everyone involved with Pat is a class act.
HT: From my recollection, both Player (”Baby Come Back”) and Edgar Winter (”Frankenstein”) are certainly from my era. What do they cover in their acts? Does Ronn Moss (”The Bold and the Beautiful”) still perform with Player?
CP: Peter Beckett from Player, in addition to being a great singer, has also had some success as a writer. He’s written songs for others such as “Twist of Fate” for Olivia Newton John, and has done music for several movies. I was actually part of two of the movies he did, “Basic”– he sang “Black Betty” for the closing cue and “Dirty Dancing II”– he sang “High School Hop.” He also did some music for the movie “Rock Star” and “Terminator 3.”
Edgar’s gig is great, I really enjoy it. In addition to “Frankenstein,” he did “Free Ride” which was a big hit, and then like Player and Pat Boone, he has several others hits that sadly, weren’t as popular as they should have been. Edgar is a really great guy and he has a smoking band.
Ronn Moss still performs with Player. He’s a good bass player and really sings well. There are a few pictures from a video he did on my website in the Ronn Moss folder. Being a soap star (”The Bold and the Beautiful”), there are always a lot of women around!
HT: What do you do for the TV shows? Do you actually write or just play background?
CP: I have written the three tunes that appear on my solo CD. They were easy, and came to me naturally, with no struggle. It is a personal goal of mine to write more stuff, but if and when I do, it will be more so to write something I feel is worthy rather than for profit. I don’t know if I have a hit song in me or not, and I’m not sure if that’s even a goal, but writing for me will be a form of expression and feeling and something I will stand behind. As far as what I did for TV shows, it was mostly play drums on the bumpers. I have never written anything for television. I worked directly for the composers in all instances. It was cool work, but now the trend seems to be more to use drum machines and loops rather than live players. It was fun while it lasted! I did appear in several shows for a few seconds at a time (”Sabrina,” “Ally McBeal,” “Las Vegas,” and a few others that escape me at the moment) mostly in a band/bar scene and I was playing the drums in whatever band was there.
HT: Last question, Craig. Any interesting travel/security stories while traveling abroad?
CP: There are too many to list here. But going in and out of Canada lately has proven to be a little stressful. If one of your guitarist friends in our group, Howard, who shall remain nameless, could remember his passport, it might help us out from time to time!
Thank you to Jersey Boys Blog Special Correspondent Howard Tucker and the multi-talented Craig Pilo for this extraordinary interview!
Interview by Isaac Joseph Davis Junior of Junior's Cave
Published: May 9, 2007 10:11 PM EST
Music Spotlight: Craig Pilo
For all my Jazz lovers out there on the Internet, Craig Pilo is just what the doctor ordered. Craig, who is originally from Connecticut, is a graduate of the University of North Texas College of Music in 1995 with his Bachelors Degree in Music. One of his biggest accomplishments earlier on his career was when he tour in 1997 with famed trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. A part of Craig's success, according to Craig, has been contributed to some of his earlier private teachers. Between the times around 1998-2002, Craig continued to work passionately perfecting his craft. By the time 2002 rolled around, he landed a regular gig playing alone side with the legendary Pat Boone. More recently, Craig joined Frankie Valli on his touring band. Now comes 2007 and Craig Pilo is ready to show the music industry just what he is made of. I promise you this folks—when you listen to Craig's music—you will NOT be disappointed. Good stuff. Check out this fun interview that Craig took the time to do for the magazine recently.
Music Now: When and how did you first become interested in music?
Craig Pilo: I was probably 8 years old when my Dad took me to see Buddy Rich. I knew right then and there that drumming was something I wanted to do.
Music Now: How long have you been playing music?
Craig Pilo: Well, I'm 35 now so 26 years, maybe? I started playing in a drum corps when I was pretty young. I think I started playing and practicing when I was 8 or 9.
Music Now: What are your musical influences?
Craig Pilo: This is always a tough question because there are so many. Way too many to list here, but I'll try to put down a few of my major influences. As far as drummers go, there's Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Louie Bellson, Mel Lewis, Sonny Payne, Sol Guben from the Big Band scene. Bernard Purdie, Grady Tate, Shelly Manne, Ed Thigpen, Joe Morello, Colin Bailey, Hal Blaine, Jim Keltner, Simon Phillips, David Garibaldi, Jack DeJohnnette, Tony Williams, Jimmy Cobb, Herlin Riley, Bill Stewart, Trilock Gurtu, Peter Erskine, Steve Smith, Zigaboo, John Bonham, Jeff Porcaro, Jeff Watts etc. Then, the more modern guys Weckl, Colauita, Dennis Chambers, and my college buddy Keith Carlock. Again, this is a fraction of the drumming influences, these are just the guys off the top of my head.
Aside from Drummers, I've really been influenced by guys like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, Joe Zawinul, are a few of the jazz guys. I'm NOT a jazz Nazi, but those guys were innovators. Pop/Rock music had its innovators too, but the jazz guys seemed to push the envelope and captivate my interest a little bit more.
That being said, James Brown, Donald Fagan, Zeppelin, John Scofield, Steve Khan, John Ambercrombie, Chaka Khan, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Marc Johnson, and more recently Wayne Krantz are a few other influences just off the top of my head that really gave me something to appreciate. It's always hard to define your influences because I've always taken different things from different people (drummers or not) and kind of fused it together to come up with my own thing.
Music Now: Does anyone in your family play music?
Craig Pilo: Well, my Dad used to play drums, he's the one who hipped me to jazz. He played in clubs around New York when he was growing up. I think drumming fell by the wayside when he went to engineering school, but his taste for jazz was there forever.
Music Now: When you are making music, describe how you are feeling?
Craig Pilo: It's the best feeling in the world. Especially when your part of a project in the company of guys you really dig and care about. The feeling is heavenly.
Music Now: Why did you write or decide to play any of your songs?
Craig Pilo: This is another tough question. I needed to do my own thing for my own gratification, but it I didn't want to make a “dig me” CD either. So, I'd say rather than “deciding” to write or play these songs, more so, I arrived at writing and playing these songs.
I always liked the Fender Rhodes Zawinul thing, almost Weather Report, but not as fusiony. More so the Cannonball/Zawinul thing leaning more towards Herbie with the looseness and soloing. I wrote Shades of Blue first and then brought the guys in to play on it. The tune itself is very simple, but what the guys did was really great. I love the sparseness of the bass, the cool solos and the funk shuffle kind of swing feel. After we recorded this tune, I modeled the entire CD after the sound we captured on that tune.
In the beginning I had 4 or 5 Latin arrangements on the CD at one time, but I found myself playing parts rather than the loose, floaty thing with the Fender Rhodes playing the changes which is what I wanted. I really wanted to get away from Tradition on this project, so for 5 out of the 7 covers we veered off the path of tradition for the arrangements and approach. Two of the covers, Teen Town and Red Clay, are pretty much like the originals with a few minor tweaks.
The CD was finished and I realized I wanted a more ECM like tune in the vein of early Herbie or even Keith Jarrett. I was toying with a few sus chords and listening to Herbie when Early Cynical Mystery was created. There really wasn't room on the CD at the time, so I scrapped an open drum solo and 1 more of the Latin tunes to make room.
Music Now: Why did you choose to play this kind of music?
Craig Pilo: To be honest, fusion isn't really my first choice of music to listen to, but when I sat down to create music people might want to hear combined with what I had to say, for lack of a better word, a fusion of jazz and funk is what came out.
Music Now: What do you feel is missing in the music industry today?
Craig Pilo: Well, a lot of it (certainly not all) seems to lack heart and soul. Plus it's my personal opinion that the music scene today seems to spend way too much time on image. I love pop music and rock-n-roll, but I think if newer artists spent more time practicing and studying their craft and less time preparing a wardrobe and choreography, they might be able to make some sort of contribution. I am not a really strong songwriter, I focus on playing the drums, writing is a new thing for me and I only do it when I have something to say. I have no ambitions to go out and write something purely for the sake of hoping it will sell. I'm not knocking anyone or any style in particular, but when I'm flipping through the radio stations sitting in traffic out here in LA, the content sure seems light.
Music Now: Do you feel like you are a role model to others?
Craig Pilo: No, I would hope not. I don't have any bad habits or habits that I would hide from a younger audience, but I think parents and teachers should be role models, not musicians.
Music Now: What keeps you going even when times you feel like giving up?
Craig Pilo: This is a really great question and I really don't have a good answer. Music is in my blood. It sure seems like there is nothing I can do about it, and music is something that will always be part of my life. It seems like music is what I'm “supposed” to be doing.
Music Now: What are some of the big projects you are working on?
Craig Pilo: Well, you and I might define “big projects” a little differently, but if you mean “big name” projects, I don't really have much in the wings. There is rumor of a Live Frankie Valli DVD, but until the shoot gets scheduled, it will remain a rumor.
I am working with Angela Carole Brown on her new CD called “Expressionism” which has been getting some attention because of a couple covers she tackled in her own way. That CD should be out by the end of 2007 or first thing 2008. Most of it is in the can, but now we start editing, mixing, mastering, manufacturing and you know how long that can take for an indie artist!
Having just finished my first solo CD, I'd love to do another someday, but I really should put a band together at some point and get out and play some live dates with my own music. When the touring lightens up for me, I'll be exploring all that first chance I get, but in the meantime, I'm really living out of a suitcase.
Music Now: What can we expect from you in the next several years?
Craig Pilo: To be honest, I hope my next few years simply mirror my last few years. Things have been really great for me. I've had the opportunity to meet and work with a lot of really great people. The Frankie Valli/Edgar Winter/Player camps are all made up of really successful musicians and managers. Maybe we'll all branch out and do other things, but after with all 3 groups (Player on and off for 8 or 9 years, Frankie for nearly 2 and recently adding Edgar to the mix) I'll continue to work with these guys as long as they'll have me. The musical direction is really strong in all 3 groups.
As far as my solo CD goes, I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm just thrilled it's been well received. I'll be moving it forward as best I can with the time I have.
Music Now: Any new releases, updates, or anything else you would like to tell our audience?
Craig Pilo: Look for “Expressionism” by Angela Carol Brown late 2007 or early 2008. This will be a really great recording.