Chris Brett Music Productions

A Sunday afternoon happy accident https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aFfKAeEh6cQ

Update: a friend had brought me an old 60s vintage 12 String electric guitar a few weeks ago. After much FaceBook sleuthing we determined that it was, near as w...e could tell, a 1967-68ish Japanese made Guyatone. Good friend and luthier Timi Clark has had a go at it, cleaned off 30 or 40 years of sludge, cranked up the truss rod, put on a fresh set of 9-46 gauge strings on it and tweaked up the intonation. I pick it up and immediately launch into my impersonation of Tom Waits channeling Randy California covering Bob Dylan See more

This is a collaboration between myself and my good friend, Edmonton based guitarist and vocalist Mark Ohman on a cover version of the classic Peter Gabriel song Solsbury Hill. We asked what would happen if we replaced all those pretty flute and string mellotron parts with noisy rocking and rolling crunchy guitars. This is what we came up with. Hope you enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch

My Burton Cummings story on his 70th birthday-Happy Birthday Burton Cummings! It was back in the early 90’s. Paul James and I had started a small (and short-liv...ed) independent record company based out of my recording studio Ambiance Professional on Erin St. We decided 2 take on 2 artists to start our company, investing, producing and recording with the intent of releasing 2 albums in our first year. Paul chose to produce Keith Secola and his Wild Band of Indians, and I had chosen to produce a Calgary based singer/songwriter Danielle French. We were about a month into recording Danielle’s album with a very strong cast of local players and her tracks were coming along nicely. One day I was overdubbing a few select keyboard pads and atmospheric stuff when Daniel asked, Jeez I kinda hear some piano on these songs, no offence but do you know any local guys that might fit in with our project? I took no offence because although I can play piano I’m a guitar player that also dabbles in piano, I’m not exactly a virtuoso at it. Hey doesn’t Burton Cummings live here? Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get him to play! I happened to know Burton’s road manager Sam Boyd and figured it was worth a shot. This was before cell phones and texting but Sam and I had an active email correspondence as we usually connected when he and Burton were in town. I emailed him with the question, does Burton ever do recording sessions with other artists? I explained I was producing an exciting Indi Artist who had wondered if he might consider it. Literally 5 minutes later Sam responded that he was flying in from Toronto that evening to prep for some upcoming dates with Burt and that he would be happy to ask for us. That evening I heard back and lo and behold Burton had agreed to do a session with us and was very excited about it. I was immediately panicked wondering if I could rent and get a grand piano delivered and tuned in time for the session. I asked Sam his thoughts and he said, look Burton likes playing on his Yamaha CP-300, A very common and easily found keyboard. I asked if there was anything I could bring or supply and he said just make sure there is a six-pack of Heineken for after the session. I had heard rumours that Burt could be temperamental and he had recently been in a bit of a toss up with local media so I wanted to be accommodating and appear to have my shit together to make things run smoothly. The next day at the crack of 1PM Sam and Burton pulled up in a rented car and I welcomed him into the studio and made introductions. Burton hadn’t heard any of the songs and I asked if he wanted to have a bit of a listening session before we started, but he replied that no offence, he would rather just warm up on his piano for a bit if I could just get him set up. His piano was already set up and I put up a vocal mic for him and he launched into a melody of old Beatles and Beach Boys songs, while I was getting his headphone mix up, I dropped a DAT tape into the recorder and turned it on to record everything that day, sort of a running archive. Daniel and I ended up going into the big room and we joined him singing Wouldn’t it be Nice and Sail on Sailor I tried to ply Burton with beer but, being the consummate pro he is he laughed and declined and said he better earn his keep before starting to drink. We were having fun already and hadn’t even recorded a note yet. He seemed like a very genuine selfless kinda guy. at one point he said, no one ever asks me to play piano on their records, not sure why but I feel honoured that you stepped up and asked me to do this. For the next 5 or 6 hours I would give Burton a listening pass on a song and on the second run-through he would play the shit out of everything he touched. He played like it was the last gig ever, occasionally stopping the track to question or ponder the voicing of certain chords and passing tones. In the end I think he played on 5 or 6 songs and just seemed like he was in a pleasure zone doing so. It was magical, as he would listen to a song once and without any prodding, or direction from me, the producer, he just seemed to play the exact correct part that brought the song together, adding some beautiful flourishes in just the right places, never stepping on the melody or distracting from the song. Danielle and I sat in the control room mesmerized by the experience, here was truly a master at work, in the prime of his career, and doing it just for the fun of it. When we were done, he was exhausted but we pulled out a few Heiny’s and toasted to a great day of music making. I went to pull out my chequebook and prepped to make excuses for the paltry amount my small Indi label could afford (I was going to pay him a $100 per song and hoped he wouldn’t be insulted) and he said, Chris as you well know, I’ve had some difficulties here regarding my hometown but this has been a wonderful positive ending to a very crappy trip back home. I had a great time today and am honoured to play on these wonderful songs, so please, put your chequebook away, and I thank you. He and Sam got into their rental car and drove off into the sunset. Me I still remember with fondness one of the best recording sessions ever, with one of Winnipeg’s brightest stars. I wish I could find that DAT tape today

Today's session

Here's a happy guy, I didn't have to tell him to say cheese #makingmusic