The Japan/Scandinavia Tours 1994 and 1996 with documentary bonus material
A Region Free 4 DVD box
set, having a few flashbacks from the 1994 and 1996 actual concert footage, a fun and informational band
reunion hang at Garden Rake Studios 20 years later, filmed by Todd Homme, and a lot of bonus material, such
as for instance a complete explanation by Jay Graydon on how to play his "Peg" solo, as well as a very cool jam
session in Jay's garden from 1989 with great musicians, including Steve Lukather, and so much more.
Jay's own memories from the gig in Umeå...
I clearly remember this gig for many reasons - I will start from the beginning.
1. Before arriving, I was told the people of UMEÅ are most friendly which proved to be true. When arriving at the
hotel, everyone was so very kind!
2. We went to a record store as to sign autographs. During the autograph session, I met
Kerstin, Lage and their family.
Since that meeting, we have become great friends! Note: Kerstin is my incredible PA and the webmaster of this
sight!
3. Up to this point in my life (the Scandinavian tour), I had never seen snow fall let alone walking on slick ice. When
arriving at the gig, as soon as I stepped foot of the road bus, I slipped on the ice and almost fell on my butt! That was
a wake up call as to watch my step on ice!
4. When entering the concert hall, I was impressed that the room design was ideal for seating and most beautiful! (Aula Nordica at the university - Webmaster's remark) A few minutes later, I plugged my guitar into my
amp set up and discovered a serious sonic problem - the room was very dead sounding meaning all surfaces were soft (walls
are covered with cloth type material, the room is carpeted and so on). Such an environment is not typical meaning 99% of
medium size halls have many hard surfaces (plaster walls, etc.)
So why the problem? When playing live, I do not use any effects such as reverb and delay lines since there is usually so
much sound bouncing off walls, etc. (If using such effects in live rooms, this just adds to sonic confusion). Since my
guitar sound was extremely dry, since my amp speakers were about 15 feet back, the sound from my amps sounded thin and
small.
I experimented with amp EQ settings but to no avail. My sound sucked! When any guitarist is not digging their tone, this
is
distracting when trying to create musical ideas.
The lesson to be learned: on the next tour, I made sure I had reverb (if needed).
5. I only used one effect which was an Orange Squeezer compressor. This unit plugs into the guitar and the guitar amp
cord plugs into the compressor. As to make sure the guitar cord does not accidentally get unplugged from the compressor
(stepping
on the guitar cord while playing), I always wrap the guitar cord through the guitar strap as to anchor.
During the concert, after going off stage for a song, when coming back on stage, I forgot to wrap the cord through
the strap. When I started to play the guitar solo on "Nothing You Can Do About It", I stepped on the cord which pulled it
out of the
compressor!
Well, that was it for the guitar solo since by the time I got the cord plugged back in, the solo was over. At the
end of the
song, Sherwood asked the audience if they wanted to hear the solo - the audience said yes. We then counted off
the song at
the solo section and I played the solo.
6. Even though I struggled with my sound all night, the gig was very fun and I think we all performed better
than average.
By the way, the audience was outstanding which always inspires us to perform well!
*****
For a larger version click on the image!
Jay may have struggled with his sound all night but this did in no way affect the sound coming out to the audience, since
the sound was superb at this concert. More than 1000 ecstatic music lovers had the time of their lives ever. The venue
is not
supposed to take more than around 800 people but since the pressure for concert tickets was so huge the arrangers
finally got
permission to allow more people attending, sitting on extra chairs. A second concert would easily have filled the
venue to
the brim, since a large portion of the audience would gladly have paid a second time to re-live this gig.
When the rumors were starting to circulate about Jay Graydon coming to town nobody really believed it. Some kind
of joke?
Jay Graydon coming to Umeå? You gotta be kidding! But what if it was true? Well, we all know now that it
was true and it
sure changed the life for many of us.
In fact this concert was the talk of the town for many months after that gig night, for the wonderful music, for the
outstanding musicians doing their utmost to surpass one another in performance and for the music joy and sarcastic but
warm humor they so generously shared with us. The whole concert was filled with a perfect mix of playful performance and
musical professionalism.
The musicians on this tour were, apart from the band leader, Jay Graydon, on guitars and vocals - Bill Champlin
(vocals, of course,
guitar and Hammond B3), Bill Cantos (vocals and keyboard), Sherwood Ball (vocals and guitar), Steve Porcaro (keyboard and
synths), John Van Tongeren (keyboard and synths), Pat Mastelotto (drums), Kenji Sano (bass) and Joseph Williams (vocals).
What a line-up, folks!
Starting with Sherwood Ball in a powerful interpretation of CRIMINAL from the Planet 3 album "Music From The Planet",
the musical hits followed like a string of precious pearls - Grammy awarded AFTER THE LOVE IS GONE and TURN YOUR
LOVE AROUND,
NOTHIN' YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT, INSINCERE, WHEN YOU LOOK IN MY EYES, WALK THE WIRE, SHE JUST CAN'T MAKE UP HER MIND, ROXANN,
Bill Champlin's SATISFACTION and many, many more delicious musical tidbits.
Bill Champlin caressed our ears with a looong innovative Hammond intro to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (which he is
singing in the TV
series with the same title) and Jay did, among all his other outstanding classy solos one absolutely
unbelievable-out-of-this-world guitar solo on the same song. Steve Porcaro, also delivered one of his own
compositions, an
instrumental harmony masterpiece on synths, together with Bill Cantos and John Van Tongeren.
Sherwood tried to get singing assistance from the audience in SHOW ME THE MAGIC and the mood became more and more
exhilarated both on stage and in the audience as the concert proceeded and at the encores - PAMELA and STRANDED - we
were
all standing up and singing with the band. Maybe the audience did not sing all that great or in tune but WOW!!! what a
feeling!
Ward
Records, Japan has released a DVD with the Jay Graydon Allstars Band Live in Japan 1994 (Shm-CD - compatible with standard CD
players). This is a live
CD release from the Jay Graydon All Stars featuring Bill Champlin, Steve Porcaro, Joseph Williams, and more! CD features the high-fidelity
SHM-CD format JAY GRAYDON ALL STARS DVD+CD package as a "SHM-CD" product (Super High
Material CD- high sound quality) with added bonus materials. The new bonus materials feature live performance footage from JAY's 1996
tour of Scandinavia, and rehearsal/performance footage from the Osaka shows.
Jay's memories of the gigs at Club GINO, Stockholm, Sweden: In March of 1996, one of the last gigs on the Japan/European tour was in
Stockholm at the GINO Club. What a great gig as the band
played better than any gig on the tour! Some of the guys from the band
"Chicago" were there and sat in - Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff. Bill sang
"After The Love Has Gone" and "She Just Can't Make Up Her Mind" and Jason
played bass on a few tunes as well.
Now for a bizarre situation. At one point, I smelled smoke meaning a fire
was happening but since I did not see smoke, I couldn't figure out where the
smell was emulating from. After the gig was over, I was told that a T-shirt
had caught on fire, hence the little fire.
A major highlight - on the last song before the encore, Tris (our
drummer) had broken his bass drum head. I mentioned that we would be back for
the conclusion of the gig after Tris installs a new bass drum head. I had
forgotten that Bill Cantos can work an audience without any help and get into
a participation situation as to keep the groove alive! Bill did so and all
had fun digging his musical journey!
At this point, I turn over the gig "rap" to our most gracious web master
as Kerstin was there - go for it Sister and "rap" down your views! - Jay Graydon
*****
Review from the Gino Concerts February 12 and 13, 1996
The "Jay Graydon All Star Band" blessed Stockholm with two concerts at Gino on February 12 and 13. Although there had been hardly no advertising
at all the place was sold out both nights and on the second concert, when they sold about 50 extra tickets we - the audience - were
standing (yes, through the whole concert!) tight tight together with a maneuvering space of about one half inch.
In short - the first concert was outstanding but the second was a real knock-out!
This time Jay had brought with him some "old" friends and some new:
Sherwood Ball - Guitar and Vocals
Ned Doheny - Guitar and Vocals
Tommy Funderburk - Vocals
Tris Imboden - Drums
Jay Oliver - Keyboards
Bill Cantos - Keyboards and Vocals
Kenji Sano- Bass
Joseph Williams - Vocals
Jay sang lead vocals on NOTHIN' YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT, backing vocals on a few songs as well and most of all, played his guitar on each song like
a GOD!!! He had really
gathered some of the best singers in the music world today and they sure sang the house down on these two magic nights. You can just imagine
the great mix of voices............Sherwood Ball - glass-cutting diamond in the rough
with intense feeling, Joseph Williams - soft and sweet, Tommy Funderburk - crystal clear and powerful, Ned Doheny and
Bill Cantos - excellent backing vocals and also doing some great solo singing of their own. Bill Cantos - the king of improvisation - even
persuaded us into having a bit of crazy community singing, while we were waiting for Tris' bass drum to be fixed.
Starting with two classic "Airplay" songs "Cryin' All Night" and "Bix" Tommy Funderburk with his godsent vocal cords, instantly got the
temperature to reach boiling-point right from the start and that's were it stayed all night - both nights. Sherwood Ball's "Say That You
Love Me" from his new album "White Light" added to the heat and the old hits and new songs then alternated through the concerts to
the crowd's enthusiasm.
Apart from all the great singing we were also impressed by the incredible guitar playing of these gentlemen. The master - Jay Graydon - who as
usual played his intelligent, dexterous and beautiful solos and fills - excelling in exquisite harmonies from out of this world, was backed
by Sherwood Ball and Ned Doheny in a delicious, equilibristic guitar symbiosis of restraint and perfect timing. They even did the guitar
solo of the "Airplay" song" It Will Be Alright" once again for all the guitar players in the audience as a lesson in three part harmony
playing or as Jay puts it - "wire-choir" (167 K .au file). Thank you guys, I will start practicing right away!
The second night we were in for a great happening - some of us knew just a little something of what was going to happen, but for the audience
as a whole this was a really shocking happy surprise. Sherwood started to sing "She Just Can't Make Up Her Mind" and after about two lines someone
sneaks up from behind and takes over the microphone - Bill Champlin! Need I say that the audience was wild? The excitement of the astounded crowd
reached a deafening, roof-lifting crescendo ......WOW!
These two multi-talented singers then sang the whole song by turns almost drowning in the ecstatic roaring of the crowd. Bill also came in later
for the superb "In The Heat Of The Night" and one of the encores "After The Love Is Gone". Jason Scheff was the other "surprise guy" from Chicago who
appeared on stage this night, playing bass on a couple of songs.
Apart from the great singers and guitar players this super group also had an excellent groove - Tris Imboden - the drummer of Chicago and
Kenji Sano - Jay's bass player from the 1994 tour, and really outstanding keyboard players - Jay Oliver and formerly mentioned Bill Cantos, who
also was one of the singers.
What more can I say? IT WAS A FEAST FOR OUR EARS LET ME TELL YOU!!!!!!!!!!
After the last encore when the curtains were down we still wanted more and the crowd roared and shouted and even sang, to get the band
back on stage. Don't wait so long until the next time guys! Now that you know where to tour.... - Sis
JAY GRAYDON SET LIST (1-17-96)
1. Cryin' All Night Tommy = KING OF HEARTS
Sherwood = WHITE LIGHT
2. Bix Joe = I AM ALIVE
Ned = LIFE AFTER ROMANCE
3. Say That You Love Me Jay Talks-introduce Joe
4. Dirty Little War Jay introduce Tommy
5. My Desire
Tommy talks about Airplay
6. It Will Be Alright
Jay Introduce Sherwood
7. Holdin' On To Love
Sherwood introduce Bill
8. Cool Drink Of Water
Jay introduce Joe
9. When You Look In my Eyes
10. Endless Nights
Joe talks
11. Heroes
Introduce Sherwood
12. She Just Can't Make Up Her Mind
Jay Airplay rap
12a. Nothin' You Can Do About It.
Introduce Band
14. Whatcha Gonna Do For Me
Ned introduce Sherwood
15. Insincere
Jay says Planet 3 song
16. Criminal
Tommy says "Toto song"
17. Pamela
____________________________________
18. After The Love Has Gone
19. Stranded
Home 
Jay
Graydon singing at Club GINO in
Stockholm 1996. Photo © Kerstin Olofsson. All rights reserved.
This is a live
CD release from the Jay Graydon All Stars featuring Bill Champlin, Steve Porcaro, Joseph Williams, and more! CD features the high-fidelity
SHM-CD format JAY GRAYDON ALL STARS DVD+CD package as a "SHM-CD" product (Super High
Material CD- high sound quality) with added bonus materials. The new bonus materials feature live performance footage from JAY's 1996
tour of Scandinavia, and rehearsal/performance footage from the Osaka shows.
Jay's memories of the gigs at Club GINO, Stockholm, Sweden:
Intro Page
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