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Q & A with Frank Catlano



The newest recording featuring Frank Catalano and Jimmy Chamberlin, "God’s Gonna Cut You Down" will be released on April 7, 2015 on Ropeadope Records. Frank Catalano’s prior Ropeadope Recording debuted at #1 on the iTunes Jazz sales chart. “Love Supreme Collective” is an homage to John Coltrane and features Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins), Percy Jones (Brand X), Chris Poland (Megadeath), and Adam Benjamin (Kneebody). We wanted to catch up with Catalano and find out about his upcoming recording and his musical partnership with Jimmy Chamberlin. 1. Chicago Jazz Magazine: What made you and Jimmy Chamberlin first decide to record together? Catalano: I was at Jimmy's house in 2002 for a dinner party he was having. I had fun chatting with Billy Corgan and other great musicians that night. At the end of the evening Jimmy said we need to record some stuff soon. We did some rehearsing over the next month but Jimmy became busy with the band Zwan and I was offered a record deal with Warner Bros that I had to focus on. Good news for me is that we got to record Love Supreme Collective in 2012. It only took 10 years for our schedules to line up! 2. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Your first release, a Love Supreme Collective, featured not only you and Chamberlin but also guitarist Chris Poland, bassist Percy Jones and Adam Benjamin on keyboard. This is a very eclectic group of musicians, what was the thought process behind this line-up and how did you manage to put it all together? Catalano: Chris Poland is famous for being Megadeth's long time guitarist and we had a side project together that we called PolCat. PolCat was playing at the Iridium in NYC and Percy Jones was Chris's friend and was our featured guest. Percy toured with Brian Eno, Soft Machine and started the band Brand X with Phil Collins. I asked Jimmy, Percy and Chris if we could do a recording together and everyone was pumped. Jimmy suggested Adam for keys because Adam played in the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex and I was so happy because Adam is awesome!!! It all came together effortlessly and we all like Coltrane. New Release "God is Gonna Cut You Down" 3. Chicago Jazz Magazine: On the upcoming release, God is Gonna Cut you Down, the band again features you and Chamberlin but you have a different line-up of musicians and instruments. What was the thought process for this new recording? Catalano: Jimmy and I really like performing together. What originally was to be a handful of fun shows has grown into serious collaboration between us. The Johnny Cash version of God's Gonna Cut You Down is a personal favorite of ours and I hope a bunch of peeps like the version we came up with. Demos Petropoulos is a B3 monster and Jimmy and I wanted to use B3. Scott Hesse is a Guitar monster. Mike Dillon of Les Claypool and Primus was kind enough to contribute as was Eddie Roberts from New Mastersounds so very excited. 4. Chicago Jazz Magazine: A Love Supreme Collective was released on Ropeadope Records in July 2014 and was the #1 download for jazz on iTunes for 3 weeks. Were you surprised by the overwhelming response to the recording? Catalano: Yes!!! I thought it would do well because I received a few thousand emails and facebook messages from nice people wanting to buy it but I wasn't expecting the massive response it received. It is an art album and we did not make it with any concern about sales or popularity. 5. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Now with the new recording about to come out, what can fans look forward to hearing in regards to song selection and style? Catalano: With Demos and the B3, it definitely reminds me of the 1990's and all my gigs with Charles Earland and Jimmy Smith. None of my solo recording have B3 and this is Jimmy's first time recording with B3 so we really wanted to do a recording like this with some soul vibe that the B3 brings about. 6. Chicago Jazz Magazine: On a Love Supreme Collective you not only release versions online and on CD but also on vinyl. Will the new release be on vinyl and why do you think music fans are coming back to LPs? Catalano: Every Jazz fan I know loves vinyl so it only makes sense to me that vinyl is making a comeback. It should never have left but I am glad it's back!!! We are offering an ultra limited signed/numbered golden/yellow vinyl that is almost sold out and a larger number of red vinyl. The colors are fun and just wanted to do something different from Love Supreme Collective. 7. Chicago Jazz Magazine: Tell us about the pre-order program you have in place for this new release and where can people visit to purchase the pre-release copy? Catalano: It is offered for preorder on pledge music along with some exclusive items including a vintage saxophone from my collection.Here is a link! 8. Chicago Jazz Magazine:Do you have any shows coming that will feature Jimmy Chamberlin and yourself? Catalano: Yes. we have offers in NY, Seattle and Europe that aren't confirmed but in Chicago, we have. April, 16,17,18 at Andy's and the Green Mill May 29,30

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