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WEHM All Access - Great South Bay Music Festival - New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's the H Breakfast Show with Harry and getting ready for the 2026 edition of the Great South Bay Music Festival.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh always fun to chat with a whole bunch of different bands that are there this uh this year and a whole bunch of first timers as well, which is kind of cool.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to welcome in rock steady Freddie from the New York Scott Jazz Ensemble.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Freddie, how are you?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Harry, thanks for having me.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling great.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's nice to be with you today.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this is interesting.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's funny, I thought you guys had done this before, but this is your first time at the uh the Great South Bay Music Festival this year.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, actually, um, you know, they've been asking me for a number of years.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've been I'm friends with Jim from way, way back in the day.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And typically I'm I'm actually on tour in Europe at this point.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um I just got back, so we were able to work it in the schedule.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, I've been kind of knowing about this festival for years and kind of wanting to do it.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like my home turf and all that, but um, I'm usually away, so finally, you know, it worked.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to hear that.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Friday, July 24th, at the Great South Bay Music Festival, Jambalaya Stage, and a whole bunch of great artists, including Ogiwawa, Project Vibe, Roots Foundation, Mystic Bowie's Talking Dreads, all on the lineup, and so is the New York Scott Jazz ensemble, which has quite quite a long history, uh, Rocksteady Freddy.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Take me back, when did this band, when did this whole project come about?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because you were kind of at the beginning, I think you kind of coined the term Scott Jazz.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm actually the person that came up with that name.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of funny to me because now they call it a genre, and then they call other bands the style before I named it.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a little that's a little uh questionable.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: But regardless, um, we started the band back in 1994.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I partnered with Rick Faulkner, a trombone player, and um basically we put the band together um with this concept of of melding scan jazz, but it was it was definitely a different kind of um concept than let's say the Skatellites or some of the other bands that were out there.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was more of a New York vibe, it had more rock punk, it had a more we have more extended harmonies, we play faster tempos.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a Jamaican form, it's a New York form.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: How have you created 30 years is a long time?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: How have you kept it fresh over the years?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I uh I've been lucky on Ockham Wood.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I um I built my real core audience in Europe.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've gone there over 80 times.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been over that ocean 160 times, bro.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's kind of an insane thing.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I I really built my core there, and then for example, when we started doing really good in Spain, that led to Mexico, and then that started leading to South America, and and so it kind of was like this diaspora where it it just it it spread.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, you know, how do I keep it fresh?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: How to keep it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I'm a saxophone player, a flute player, a singer.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love music, as you well know, musicians, we just love to play.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, anytime we get the chance to play, we're pretty happy.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, particularly in Europe, I have like, you know, I could play for 10,000 people.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um we have some really serious fans there.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, you know, that has kept it alive.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I suppose the fact that I'm the only original member still left, you know, I've had different incarnations, if you will, of the band where, you know, like a set group of guys really become like my guys, and we really, you know, tighten it up.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, that part of it where you have different guys coming in and out.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Every time you have someone else, it changes the thing.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I I have just been uh in the mindset of stretching.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: When we started, we were like covering the famous jazz composers, the bigger reggae guys.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now I kind of do a lot of like, you know, I cover like, you know, Van Morrison maybe, or I'll do whatever I like.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm kind of lucky in the sense that, you know, I get to play what I want to play.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I've expanded the uh, you know, we have 15 records.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, I'm I'm able to just keep finding, you know, go into more of you know what has inspired me.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Where did you grow up?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously in the New York area, but where uh where and how did you when did you first start uh kind of experimenting with music?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, I grew up out on in East Meadow, you know, pretty much classic Long Island upbringing.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I learned to play clarinet in like fourth grade.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: We were taught something earlier than that.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was very lucky to be in the East Meadow school system.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: We had great educators, Bill Katz, Mike Carubio, Rod Tibbetts.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, these guys were really like in it, and so a lot of great musicians came out of East Meadow.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that that really was the the seedling of the thing.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um when I went to college, I went to Princeton University, and I was lucky to pair up with guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan, uh, who is like the known for the finger technique.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're uh Hip to Stanley.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um but anyway, we just played and I got to play with um Kenwood Denard, who used to play with Jocko, and you know, it's been like this rebirth in a way, now that I'm really back in New York, because during COVID, I left uh to live in Boulder, Colorado for a couple of years.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So so I re- I came back about two years ago and I've really inundated myself in the scene.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So besides doing the New York Scott Jazz ensemble and doing a lot of cool freelancing, I'm playing with guys that are I'm playing with the drummer that used to play with James Brown, I'm playing with guys that play with Cool and the Gang.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting to, you know, spread my wings a little bit.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that that also makes my whole musician experience very interesting.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: You're your music blends a whole bunch of different grooves together with jazz and very a lot of improvisation.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: What's the key to kind of keeping that I guess fresh nine after night because you've done this for 30 years?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh how do you how do you decide when to improvise?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: How does that go for you?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've always been a believer in well, I'll tell you my concept.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've always been a believer in songs.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So as much as I have improv in the show, I'm not one of these like take 20 choruses kind of guy.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I believe in songs, and I believe like, you know, even if you have a solo, it should be singable.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I really love melody.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one thing in my concept.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing was that I've been I was inspired by, you know, back in the 40s, instrumental music was pop music.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you have had people like Chuck Mangeon or, you know, average white band that had hits, but predominantly, you know, instrumental music is like in the foreground.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So my concept was why can't we be popular?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So in the ska genre, it's a little more accessible because um we really started out primarily as an instrumental band.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: As bands evolved, we do a lot more singing now just because I love it and I love harmonizing.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that was one concept where it was like, yo, there were instrumental pop hits, why can't we do that?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that was one thing.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second thing was that, you know, um a lot of the jazz guys back in the day, they went to Europe to really get more respect, more money, just have a different quality of life.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I used that too, because at the time that the scene started imploding here uh in the later 90s, 2000s, I got to go to Europe and really built my fan base there.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I get to c I kept it going.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I never stopped.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I just played out of the country more than I played in the country, actually.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: What's it been like touring over Europe in different countries?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: What's the main difference that you've uh you've kind of surprised you when you first started playing overseas?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the the the the point that I sort of alluded to is that like they love the music, I think, in maybe a deeper way than American fans do.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um American fans are great too, and a lot of people in in the US love music, no doubt.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: There are great fans all over the world.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: But in Europe, I feel like they don't care what you look like, they don't care how old you are, if you throw down on the stage, they're gonna give it up.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I can still have a career after having done this for 30 years, and like we just rocked in like, you know, in our last tour, and it's like, and I'm gonna go again, you know, I'll probably go to Spain in February, March, and do another long one, you know, like they don't.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that part of it is like, you know, the way they care about like fine wine is the way they care about good music.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like they really embrace it like they'll let you know that it really affects their lives, you know, which obviously to musician makes you feel so happy and makes you feel, you know, rewarded.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I mean, a a recent musician friend of mine said this to me when we were playing.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, we need people to clap.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you know, it's weird.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: When I was young, I needed people to clap.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: As I got older, it started becoming like, no, I do this, whether they do it, they don't.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: But then you start realizing when you get it back from an audience and they give it to you, then you give it back to them, and it goes back and forth, and before you know it, it becomes this thing that is like greater than the sum of the parts, and it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to vibe, right?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, European audiences have been giving me that, and so I just keep going back.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're performing at the uh the Jambelias stage uh this year, first time at the Great South Bay Music Festival on that Friday night, the 24th.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what's uh what's one of your songs, I guess, that you kind of consider that you have to do for a festival set list?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Is there certain songs that always find their way for a festival as opposed to?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our our big hit was um is a version of uh Dave Brubett.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's Paul Desmond's Take Five.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: We do it in four.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we do a reggae version, so that seems to uh speak to a lot of people.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we do that one, we do another one by uh Amingus called Boogie Stop Shuffle.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: That I mean, those are the ones that have like a lot of hits.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have like over nine million hits on that first one.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that that'll definitely be in the show.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I mix it up with some vocals, I mix it up tempo-wise, I'll throw in a little bit of reggae.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'll kind of vibe with the crowd too to see like what they're you know gravitating towards, and maybe by the end of the set I might do a couple audibles just to see like what gets them going, you know.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you do have uh, I guess the set list is fluid, or you you can call an audible.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: How do you uh what do you look for at an audience when you first start and kind of adjust that set list?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I look to see like what they're vibing with.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, the thing about my band that's so cool is that like we could play for a punk rock young crowd and they could mosh, or we could play for a jazz club and they'll be sitting there and like eating their dinner, which you know I prefer when people dance.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I uh the ska music and what I play and my vibe as a uh uh a frontman is I want people to go crazy, have a party.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, it in uh in whatever setting I'm gonna try to call the appropriate thing.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm assuming at the Great South Bay it'll be younger, they're gonna want to go crazy.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go more towards the hyper thing and you know the push thing, but like if they don't vibe with it, I'll I might just change it up there, you know, it's like that.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh last year you put out uh scalaborations, I think I'm saying that right, uh spanning uh different recordings from over the years from 95 to I think 2022.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you what was uh what was interesting?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: How did you put that together?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: What when you revisited those songs, how did you choose the uh I guess the artists that you uh wanted to get out there again?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Great people like Sharon Jones, late Sharon Jones is a part of this.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: How did you put this whole thing together?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it was just kind of like it was my manager's concept.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, it was a good way to kind of like re-energize the band without having to do a brand new recording.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it also, you know, on a lot of my records, since I have so many out, like tracks get buried, like, you know, um, sometimes people listen to the first few.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how it goes really, but it was a way to kind of like put it forth out there, and like particularly with someone like Sharon Jones, who I have like deep respect for, it was like, it was like, yeah, we did that.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like people probably never even, you know, some noticed, but maybe a lot didn't.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a good way to kind of like um, you know, get get another thing out there and and give homage to these to these great artists, you know.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's the other thing.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a, you know, I've had such a great career in the sense of like, wow, I got to record with her.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, who knows who or what will be next?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh sky's the limit as far as I'm concerned.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I have I have just deep respect for for a lot of these people, so good to just push it out there a little bit more again.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Was there a guest uh that kind of changed the direction of the song you went in looking back over these 30 years and different guests on songs?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh was there a certain song that kind of changed um from where you expected to start it kind of with that collaboration, kind of changed the direction of the song entirely.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, not so much.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they all l lend their personal touch and vibe, but you know, a lot of what I do is about pre-production.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So like I kind of like, you know, to save time in the studio, I really map it out and then the band rehearses before we go.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that like a lot of my studio stuff is like it's kind of ready to rock.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I mean, of course, people have where um, you know, they can do their thing.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not like that, but a lot of my uh concepts are kind of like worked out before we go.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it didn't really, really change.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, um Sharon was just so ego-less and like fun to be with and kind of like, you know, I think at first we were gonna do um one song, and then she was just so loose.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, let me just let her loose on this and let her improvise.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that one's one of those ones I'm referring to isn't on the record.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it'll be on the next one.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, if anything, she was real open to just the moment, and that part of it made it like real fun for me because you know, we we were just vibing on her, her, her vibe, which was like super fun, you know.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: You've had I think 15 albums.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: So are you working on another one?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: How what's kind of been the process for putting them out?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Do you wait a few years?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to get out uh different material?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Are you working on something now?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, um typically the agents will be like, Freddie, you need a new record.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like these days for touring, it really helps to have a new product.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's been a couple years.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have this new concept now.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: My my manager, former trombone player and bass player, when available, is touring with the pretty reckless, and he's been opening up for ACDC, so um, and that's Mark Damon, and he's rocking hard.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I want to get him on the record, and I want to get the drummer that I I like on the record, and then I want to bring um I have players from all over the world that I use, but right now I have some really young lions in Spain and um Italy, and so I want to bring those guys over here.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I want to blow their minds a little bit.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I gotta find like the time when I can coordinate those schedules.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm hoping, you know, within this year I'm gonna do it.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's kind of funny with regard to writing new material.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm typically always with my phone or some recording device.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm at the piano wherever I get an idea, I like record it.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I basically have like more than you can imagine.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so now then like when it's time, I go through my stuff, I pick the best ones, and I just I put the song like like the people are like like for me, it's like I gotta put out a record, I'm gonna put out the song, you know, like it it makes me have to do it.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that part of it is is pretty cool in the sense of, you know, I'm pretty good at like, all right, we're going in in three months, I gotta have five new ones.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Pick pick the ones that are the best.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm curious uh about a little bit of band dynamics because over 30 years you've had different people come in and out of of the band.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, how often do people stay?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a certain thing?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: How do you what do you look for when you're when you're getting together with the band and kind of looking for moving people in and out because different projects ask for dis different things, I guess.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, as you know, being in this whole scene, you know, it's it's a crazy kind of life and world.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: People get married, have kids.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's all kinds of things that happen that stop people from you know getting on the road.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what I'm looking for is um um talent, you know, just right off the bat, you know, do they have, I mean, my band is a very specific thing.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you gotta really understand jazz harmony and you have to understand reggae and ska.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Not back in the day in particular, the real ska reggae guys could do the skank, but they really didn't know anything about extended harmony.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And similarly, the jazz guys would be like great at like, you know, playing giant steps, but they couldn't get the groove of reggae music, and maybe they didn't even like it because they thought it was, you know, too basic.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not basic at all.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: It takes a lifetime to play any style well, in my opinion.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have to find guys that one have that capability and two like it.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: That want to do it.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Three, then the next thing becomes, you know, when you go on the road, you really become like a family.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's almost more about time off the stage than on the stage.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Are people team players?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Are they buying into the the concept of the band?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Are they primadonna's versus like guys that'll meld, that'll work, that'll help, that that are understand.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm just a guy, I don't have this big record company complex behind me.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I my I do the best I can.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I try to get everyone as much money as I can, but you know, obviously I'm not, you know, I'm not Warner Brothers or whatever.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if Warner Brothers still exists, but you know what I mean.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: That whole model is gone anyway.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I'm looking for that kind of thing.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for nice people, I'm looking for honest people, I'm looking for people that do the job as a professional, none of this rock and roll, you know, rehearsals at six.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I showed up at eight.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, we don't have that in my in my scene.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I also don't want any hard drugs, you know, none of that bullshit.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I try to keep it relatively clean.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have our fun, of course, but you know, I don't want any kind of any of that stuff in uh in the van when we're traveling, in the bus, whatever.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, those kind of things really inform it.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, if I have like you were asking, like, like my drummer, my main drummer has been with me for like 20 years.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, I he needs to like the bass player.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: If if he's not happy, then it's not gonna go.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we have like sub-units in the band bass and drums, guitar keys, horns, vocals on top.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Bass and drum gotta like each other and gotta want to play together.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Similarly with the other units, and similarly with everybody, but in particular, you know, like you can't have a bass player and drummer that don't vibe.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: You need them in sync for for sure.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you guys are always uh experimenting, doing different things.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned uh cover Van Morrison, for instance, earlier in different songs and different artists.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a new direction that you're kind of excited to explore a little more with this group?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I like to rock.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: The funny thing is I'm a sax player.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: So as a sax player, you gotta be jazz uh savvy or I mean I practice jazz every day, but I don't go to jazz clubs as my main thing to play jazz, you know.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I like to rock more.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So um I like exploring more like, you know, rock artists and popular music and um, you know, the jazz is always gonna be there, but you know, I I I used to say we're the ska jazz band with a rock and roll mentality.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because it's like i i it it's like I said, I want everyone dancing, I want them engaged, I want to kick the the crowd in the ass.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's my you know, as the front guy, that's my impetus.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd be remiss if I didn't ask uh Rocksteady Freddy.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're chatting with him for the New York Ska Jazz ensemble.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're performing Friday, July 24th, uh Jambalaya Stage, the Great South A Music Festival.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: How long have you had the nickname Rocksteady Freddy?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I was given that nickname by Sammy of the Scofflaws.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I used to play with the Scoflaws, another Long Island ska band.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's still kicking around.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one day he was like, Freddy, Rocksteady Freddy.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I liked it, and you know, it was obviously I love Rocksteady or Lovers Rock, and it just kind of fit, and you know, the way I am is I usually take some and I go with it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had that nickname 20, 30 years.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the band's been around since the the mid-90s.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: To do that is pretty impressive, I have to say.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: And still putting out records and having fun with it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't wait to see you perform Jambalaya Stage Friday, July 24th at the Great Saf Bay Music Festival.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: Rocksteady Freddie, thank you so much for your time.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Hey man, nice to talk to you.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure, and uh, you know, keep doing what you're doing, because same thing, man, it's not easy, you know, keeping up these things.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I'm I'm I'm happy to be on the radio with you.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Our pleasure.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much, Freddie.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.