Dean Bailin

"Guitar Master" Dean Bailin Interview
www.DeanBailinMusic.com

Interview by Roger Zee (02/26/21)

Roger Zee: How did you start with the guitar?
Dean Bailin: I started daily practice on the clarinet at age 10. But the "I wanna play guitar" revelation hit me, same as with multitudes of other teens, after watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. However without the Internet, I actually felt like one of only a few. Ha! By that time, I had already collected records by the Beach Boys, Four Seasons, and Everly Brothers. After taking my first guitar lessons the summer before Junior High, I got my first electric guitar, a Kent semi-hollow body, and a Silvertone amp. With the British Invasion in full swing, local bands with members a few years older asked me to join. I just loved it! Other than the few starter lessons, I learned music by playing along to records. George Harrison became a "go to" influence because The Beatles music blended Pop, Country, Rock, R&B, Jazz, Folk, and he always came up with great, hooky parts while still retaining his own identifiable style.

As the musical groups of the 60’s evolved, I did my best to evolve my guitar playing right along with the Stones, Yardbirds, Hendrix, and Zeppelin. By the late 60’s, Jazz and Rock started coming together. Along the way, I began studying Jazz theory on piano with Sanford Gold. That opened my ears to a whole new universe of tonality. Gold also introduced me to Jazz guitar great Billy Bauer and suggested I study with him. Bauer taught me how to apply the keyboard theory I studied with Gold. But Bauer didn't try to get me to play like him. Rather, he encouraged me to find my own path. He opened up the full guitar neck for me. Up until then, like most self-taught guitarists, I tended to use only just a few positions on the neck.

Billy Bauer helped me get comfortable playing anything anywhere on the guitar neck. After a year of studying his exercises eight hours a day, two different keys each day, it changed me forever. For a year before I met Bauer, I studied composition at the Manhattan School of Music. But the school lacked a guitar department at the time. So I made a major life decision and opted to leave and focus my full attention on Bauer. Turned out a very good move for me!

As for my major influences on guitar after that, I suppose Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, Jeff Beck, and Chet Atkins come to mind. I love melody and use it to musically speak. I like to think of improvisation as something akin to talking but using melody and phrasing to make your points. You back it up with something thoughtful by infusing different emotions with humor, beauty, and originality that reference musical triggers and bring about the intended listener reactions.

So more than just individuals, I consider my influences as all the music that most compels and inspires me. I hear greatness in all styles of music. If not, the music would never have become a style. Great melodic playing certainly transcends just playing your particular instrument. I know my melodic guitar approach results from close listening to the phrasing of great horn players, orchestral composition, great Pop singers -- the full gamut! The most important thing any musician can do's keep an open mind to all types of music. So much to learn and appreciate in the best of any musical style.

Roger Zee: You and I grew up in the 60's in Great Neck, NY where your teenage band, "The Rubber Band," played all the local dances. I probably listened and danced to your music a thousand times!
DB: In the mid to late 60’s, high school life for so many musicians revolved around playing in bands. Far more than just an after school activity, it encompassed the lion's share of our social life. It provided a way to express ourselves creatively and gave us a reason to practice hard and play our best. Luckily, I found a great group of musical friends and we called ourselves "The Rubber Band" -- Mike Tulin on rhythm guitar, David Cohen on drums, Gary Tarshis on organ, and our bassist and lead singer Seth Kimball. We played many local dances, private parties and rehearsed as much as possible. We covered the big songs of the day really well and knew almost anything people wanted to hear -- songs by the Beatles, Stones, Animals, the Byrds, Young Rascals, Cream, Hendrix, Temptations, Blues Magoos to name just some. Each week we’d pick songs to learn and spend the week studying our parts. Though we would nail the arrangements, lead vocals, and harmonies, we always improvised the solos with high energy and intensity.

RZ: You hit the big time working with Rupert Holmes on "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)."
DB: By the late 70’s, I had built a strong musical relationship with songwriter Rupert Holmes. In 1979, we began recording his album “Partners In Crime”. Shortly after we mastered and submitted the album, I got a call from a very excited Rupert telling me his label urged him to change the song order by placing the second song first. That song, "Escape (the Pina Colada Song),” upon it’s release, hit the Billboard top 100 as "record of the week." In about five weeks we positioned at the top of the US pop charts as the last #1 of the 70’s, and then the first of the 80’s.

We put a performing band together and headed out to California for appearances on American Bandstand, the Midnight Special, Kirshner’s Rock Concert, and then on to Chicago to film our full set for PBS’s Soundstage. We played in Japan as part of the Yamaha Song Festival and returned to the US to make follow up appearances. By then, the album’s second single “Him” had jumped to #4 on the US charts. Both songs did well on Pop charts all around the world. We appeared extensively in venues around the US. Two more albums followed. Every bit an extraordinary experience.

Working with Rupert fit perfectly at that stage of my career. He, a master songwriter and myself as a songwriter, both benefited by bringing my guitar style to his songs. I dug down deep to search for the right guitar colors and riffs for each song we recorded. "Escape" showed the best of that, bringing the right guitar flavors to the clever story Rupert came up with. We added to that with an incredible groove from the amazing rhythm section of Frank Gravis (bass), Leo Adamian and Steve Jordan (drums) and of course Rupert’s perfect vocal performance. It’s what I love about Pop music. You work day to day trying to find something undefinable that will connect with people and sometimes it actually happens.

RZ: Tell about some of the other musicians you've worked with.
DB: In the early 70’s, I played in a band called "Childhood’s End" with Seth Kimball, Neil Rosengarden, and Skip Read. Rehearsals became a way of life for us. Seth, Neil and I let our imaginations run wild in the songs we wrote. We rehearsed in a lovely, converted garage behind Neil’s house. We played cover gigs to make money. But to this day, the original songs we wrote sound colorful, musical and like nothing else I’ve done since. Influences include Zappa, the Beatles, and Stravinsky. Hard to describe the mix. Everyone loved the group -- except every single record label! Neil got his own record deal and worked at Atlantic. Seth went West to embark on his very successful music career in Las Vegas.

By 1974, I lived with a band in a downtown Brooklyn loft that included songwriters James Carter Cathcart, Jimmi Accardi, Ron Altaville, and drummer Skip Read. We put a rehearsal room in there with a 4-track recorder where we wrote and recorded constantly. They asked this group to play on Rupert Holmes’ second LP, as well as for EON, an R&B vocal group on Scepter. By the end of 1975, with four songwriters in the group all searching for direction, the band ultimately needed to consolidate it’s sound. I ended up moving to Manhattan to focus on session work and playing live guitar gigs.

In the late 70’s, I met songwriter Jerry Ragovoy. He'd written songs like "Time Is On My Side" and "Take Another Little Piece of My Heart." Ragovoy had already built and sold "the Hit Factory," and just built a new studio called "Counterpoint". He started using me on sessions and we eventually wrote some songs together for an LP he produced for MCA recording artist Peggi Blu.

Right after that, I got asked to play guitar in “Gilda Radner Live on Broadway”. The show ran a couple of months at the Wintergarden Theater and resulted in a cast album and a movie directed by Mike Nichols. All through these years, I worked on various projects with Rupert Holmes. He released "Escape (the Pina Colada Song)" just as Radner's show closed on Broadway.

RZ: What goes on with your 4 Cats Studio recording studio in Manhattan?
DB: I opened 4 Cats Studio in 1985 to use as my own personal production room for recording my songs. I started with a Fostex B-16 1/2 inch 16-track recorder and minimal outboard gear. Soon I got all caught up in gear lust and so started taking on more and more production projects to fund it. Never an actual commercial studio, it stayed busy as I produced recordings in it for the next 30 years. By 1989, I had purchased an Otari MX-80 24-track deck which enabled me to work on projects compatible with the commercial studios of the time. A large part of my work came from artists funding their own projects. But musicians with record deals booked in to record as well. I built a large collection of synths, samplers and mics and felt right at home playing guitar and electric bass on recordings with them as well.

I found myself really enjoying the process of working with diverse musical styles. I liked playing the role of chameleon as I bonded with each artist's music and adapted my production and playing styles to suit them. For instance, Petula Clarke, Felix Cavalier, and rapper Buddah Monk all worked on projects there during the same few weeks. Many artists who started recording songs at the studio went on to sign with labels. And a number of songs we initially demo’d there went on to became big hits. I've still got copies of much of the work recorded there over the decades and hope to set up a web page at some point where I can let some of these songs get heard -- only with the permission of the artists of course.

RZ: What guitars, strings and amplifiers do you currently play? I remember your Gibson 335!
DB: I still own the 1978 MusicMan Sabre 2 guitar I used on Escape (the Pina Colada Song) and it's still my main live performance guitar. The active pickups provide a certain kind of drive that I find particularly suited to my playing. I also love a 1980 Tokai Strat that I purchased in Japan. Also play a Fender American Vintage '62 Telecaster and a custom Alex Axe with two humbuckers. I use those the most for recordings. But I own a Les Paul Jr. and a Kramer Focus with EMGs that both sound quite good with great intonation.

For amps, I currently use a 1975 MusicMan 65 watt 2x12 with a tube/solid state combination, a Peavy Classic 30. Also, a GT Electronics “Studio Tube Pre-Amp” for smaller clubs with a Marshall or Fender speaker cabinet.

For strings, I use Ernie Ball with gauges .095, 11, 16, 24, 32, 42. For my Tele, I stick with standard light gauge.

RZ: How's the Pandemic affecting you? What's on your horizon?
DB: In 2018 I started performing my own original material in NYC with vocalist Jeanne Waller. For most shows, we played to pre-recorded tracks. We starting building a nice following when the virus hit. That brought live shows to a complete halt for us and for all musicians post March 2020. Since Jeanne and I live together, we decided to purchase a green screen and start making videos of my songs right in our own apartment.

I spent a few months studying video editing doing some serious work adapting my editing chops from recording with Logic Audio. Once I got past the differences in terminology, I found many similarities in the automation of images to that of music FX. By June, we put up our first video to a song of mine called “Fantasy House” and followed that with a few more. We set up a Facebook page called "Dean & the Singing Blue Jeanne's" and in the few months since launching the page, we built a following of a few thousand people. A large percentage come from musicians of all ages and demographics. Seeing our community grow on Facebook provided a welcome bright spot for us in the darkness that dominated so much of 2020. We hope to continue recording original songs and producing videos of them. When live music makes it’s return, we hope to start making live appearances once again.

RZ: How do you see the future of the music business?
DB: A tough question because there's so many sides to the music business. It exists on so many levels. I think once live music returns, concert business will thrive and the club scene will grow more vibrant than ever. So many great musicians out there unable to perform live for almost a year. I don’t know when it will happen, but I do believe live music will strike clubs like a lightning bolt when they finally lift all restrictions. From rock guitars to electronic sequencers, there’s talent waiting in the wings ready to bust out with all the music they’ve worked on largely in seclusion since March 2020. And I can imagine a willing audience ready to revel in that energy. I suspect larger venues will go back full swing for super groups and tribute bands. A glorious comeback for live music.

As for the recording business, I don’t think we’ll return any time soon to the record business of old. The streaming sites hold millions of recordings and they play that to their advantage. The value of recordings in terms of generating income looks to remain low for some time to come. I think the only thing that can ultimately change it's some sort of international organization of re-vitalized music unions willing to demand better terms and stay strong enough to get them. Until then, records will serve mainly as a promotional vehicle for artists to draw people to their live shows where they'll make the lion's share of their money. Of course, this very general projection could take decades to play out. In the meantime, there remains air wave radio and songwriters can still do very well receiving royalties for songs getting a lot of airplay.

RZ: What advice do you give up-and-coming musicians?
DB: Master your musical craft and remain open to appreciating all styles of music. To make music a time career, you must network in order to stay employed. Make friends in the biz and earn their respect by bringing something inspired and unique to the table. Search for a niche that suits your talents and go for it!

RZ: Do you teach guitar privately? I vividly remember the one guitar/piano lesson you gave me at my parent's house in high school!
DB: I always found teaching fun and rewarding when working with someone that loves music, who's already achieved a good level of proficiency, and willing to work hard -- like you when we did that lesson all those years ago, Roger. Due to my schedule changing every week once my career got going, I found it hard to do much teaching. Recently, I gave a lesson via zoom that went quite well. But I’ve not taken on any students on any kind of recurring basis. Perhaps one day!

RZ: Do you live with any animals?
DB: I named my recording studio after the four cats that lived with me during the years 1973-1992. Currently, Jeanne and I share two adorable Singapura cats named Dexter and Theo.

YouTube - Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes

YouTube - Fantasy House - Dean & the Singing Blue Jeanne's

©2021 Roger Zee

Dean Bailin, image by Malcolm K. McPherson