Since his beginnings with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band, Danny Federici’s keyboards have been the atmospheric backdrop to some of the greatest songs ever written.  A member of a band that was a team, playing for the victory represented by a beautiful song.  Federici, and fellow keyboardist Roy Bittan, sputtered off notes in the background, giving grasp and added feel to whatever their band mates offered.

On his new album, re-issued under the title Danny Federici, the focus is on him after years of playing behind one of rock's most attention-drawing musicians.  He takes full advantage of his newly-found spotlight with thoughtful keyboard runs that stand as proof of his growth and dedication as a musician.

It’s rare to find a solo artist from any genre so on the same page as his listeners.  Many fight hard to push their own limits, sometimes loosing the focus of their original vision.  On this release, Federici’s vision is clear, even as his limits are pushed within the confines of his compositions.

While a different format than rock music, this smooth-jazz-based album is one where Federici expands his horizons and broadens some old piano motifs.  The latter is achieved on “Flemington”, a song with a Jersey-rooted melody that scampers and rolls in true Federici signature style.

Federici avoids self-indulgent tangents on this effort, avoiding the dull and emphasizing the interesting.  His note selection is melodic, but remains daring.  At this stage of his career, Federici has honed his use of speed and timing down to a science.  Melodic keyboard sweeps are found on the album, well-placed and used selectively where appropriate.

Federici chose to write songs unlike typical solo-based material.  The music builds off hooks and choruses, retaining these themes during solos.  This creates a steadiness that is pleasurable, as well as sensible.  He expand smooth jazz’s limits musically, and also emotionally, with an originality required by this style.  A fun effervescence weaves throughout this release, leaving the feeling that an upbeat vibe was felt by those involved with the recording.

Federici is a master of providing the carnival scenery to Springsteen’s boardwalk tales.  On this release, he rides his own carousel.  One filled with spirit, heart and maturity.

What were the circumstances behind you re-issuing the new CD? I know it was issued before under the name Flemington?

Right. What had happened was: I was dealing with a record company, I was new to the business, I had never released a record before. I had done Flemington and didn’t really intend to release it.

I was sort of doing something, like closing a chapter in my life. And, some friends of mine said, ‘Why don’t you try to get a deal on this thing? Because it’s a good record.’

So, I ended up getting a couple of offers from companies to put the record out. And, I went with a New Jersey company, Music Masters. And, what happens is they’re mainly a mail-order-based record company. They do a lot of classical and a lot of jazz mail order, like Columbia House. But they had just established some connections with BMG Distribution. So, I figured that I might be the vehicle or the testing grounds for this new partnership that they had gotten. And that really didn’t turn out to be the way I thought it would be. The record really didn’t get out into the stores. It never got over to Europe. It never really worked.

You know, I had high hopes for a lot of people hearing this record, and they never really put it out there for me. So, after about a couple of years went by, I had been out playing some concerts for the E Street Band and I ran into this fellow Bruce Resnikoff, who’s the President of Universal.

And I was telling him, you know, I had a bunch of ideas for a whole bunch of things. Television, music, some Christmas music, you know, on accordion. I said, ‘You know, and I’ve got this album, which nobody’s heard.’ And, he said, ‘You know what. We’d be glad to put it out for you, if you want. At least we’d get it in the stores and stuff.’

I said, ‘Well Jeez, that’s a whole lot better than it sitting on my shelf.’ Really, you know. And, it’s funny, sometimes you think it is, sometimes it ain’t. Because having a record deal doesn’t mean a whole lot today. Sometimes you can do better on the internet, than you will with a record. They’re so big, that you’re just a little fry. And, unless you really get out there and work that record, you know, even having it in the stores doesn’t mean a lot because people aren’t going to go look for it ... on their own.

So what happened was, I had been partners with this fellow Michael Cates for a while, who’s my sax player and producer. I told Michael about Universal. I said, ‘You know, they want to put this record back out.’ So, he goes, ‘Well, maybe we should spice it up a bit. You know, re-master it and write another song.’

When I did the record, I really didn’t think about any conventional markets. Like, where it’s going and who’s it’s for. When you play this kind of music that I play, which is instrumental jazz, unhappily you have to design it for a certain type of radio. Um, the songs have to be …they can’t be too short. People like to listen to them for a while. You know, it’s a lot of stuff that’s in the background. It’s the kind of music you can put on that makes you feel good when you’re at home relaxing.

So, cutting the song shorter isn’t …There’s a little bit of a formula to it and I didn’t do any of that. And so, partnering up with Michael was really terrific because he said, ‘Well, you know, we can write this song, which has pretty much kind of got all of the elements of what they’re playing on smooth jazz radio.’

And, so we did that and then Universal sort of gave us carte blanche as far as changing the cover. And, I took some photos. I mean, we changed the whole thing around. Re-mastered, it sounds better than before. And I’ve, no holds barred … I tell everybody going out there, that this is Flemington, but we put another song on it and made it sound better.

Right.

That’s a funny thing, too. I didn’t want to [make people think] that I was trying to pull a fast one.

You didn’t want them to think it was a totally new album?

Right. But the funny thing about it is, there’s a lot of people out there that bought Flemington, that think this is a whole new album. I played some shows and they come up to me and they go, ‘You know what, we have your last record, [but this] sounds really good, it’s even better.’

You know, sometimes I go into the explanation of, ‘Well guys, you know it’s really the same record.’ But, sometimes I don’t. I say, ‘Ok, thank you very much.’ (Laughter.)

Anyway, so they were kind enough to say, ‘You know what, we’ll put it back out there for you.’

How many units did Flemington sell?

You know, I don’t think we sold too many. I think maybe a couple thousand of records. Especially for a small record company … I think they had a couple of artists that they tried to do this with before and had bad luck. So, they were a little leery in printing up a whole lot of records real fast.

How’s the re-issue doing?

That’s doing surprisingly well! I mean, plus I have a band. And I go out and I play. And I sign CD’s. And, that really helps. That’s really a terrific thing.

[As] a matter of fact, I have had my own band and this is really quite a really terrific experience.

Can you talk a little more about that? About having your own band and going out and touring on your own?

Yeah, sure. Well, Michael, who’s been my producer and sort of, like, real instrumental at helping me see some of my potential, and also telling me that you’re playing too long or too loud. You know, it really helps to have another ear.

I made him the musical director of my band, so he put the whole darn band together, because I’m probably basically lazy and I wouldn’t have gotten around to it. And also he gets the privilege of hiring and firing. I don’t have to do that, I’m the good guy.

He’s had a couple of jazz bands himself, so he’s been through a lot of players. He knows the good ones. Not only musically, but ones that have good personalities, that are fun to work with and fun to be around. Because I’d rather have that, than a virtuoso who’s ridiculous on stage.

So he put some people together. We had two guitar players from Texas. Our drummer and bassist were here in LA. We have another bassist on the East Coast, which saves a little bit in expenses. Because that in itself is quite an ordeal. I wasn’t used to this.

But, I mean, for us to go and play, it’s quite an expensive ordeal. We have to fly a couple of guys in from Texas. Other guys have regular jobs and they have to take off. So you got salaries. You got hotels. You got airplanes. You know, you got per diem, it’s like, wow!

Yeah. So you kind of have certain musicians waiting in certain regions, different regions, of the country?

Well, the only other person we have is the bassist on the East Coast and if we get some gigs back there it does help with expenses because, you know, $300 for an airline ticket, a couple hundred bucks for the night, and a hotel. He lives down the street. It really, really adds up because it’s quite an ordeal to get him there.

I mean playing is a blast. That’s the funny thing about being a musician. The things you do to actually get on stage are just incredible.

I often tell people I don’t get … I play for free, I get paid to get there. You know, and put up with all the bull, all the legalities of everything. Playing is the total benefit of the whole thing.

What led you to making a jazz album? [The CD] is predominantly jazz, is shifting from … I know the abundance of your work is in the rock field. What led to the shift?

Umm … I started off as a classical accordion player when I was seven years old. And, my mother basically pulled me around by my ear and showed me off to the neighbors. I had a whole little career going. I think she wanted me to be friends with Wayne Newton and play the Vegas thing, you know? And be the snazzy accordion virtuoso kind of guy. But I was real good at a real young age. And then, when I turned into my early teens, she was kind of like my stage mom. She kind of rented a place, a local hall in the town. Got a couple of musicians together for me to play with, and we had a little rock n’ roll band. And, I was playing the accordion and it wasn’t going over. I say it wasn’t going over … the girls weren’t digging it.

Then, I bought this thing called the Cordovox. Which was way back when they had an accordion that sounded like an organ. You didn’t have to squeeze it. You could just turn it on its side and play the keys like an organ. And I use to turn it over on my amp. And then I could stand up and I could move around. And that was definitely a big hit with the ladies, that made it a whole lot better.

So that’s pretty much how the transition happened. But, as I say, I studied probably eight or ten years classical accordion. Reading and writing and going to a conservatory in Philadelphia. I was pretty much on my way to do this classical accordion thing, until the Beatles and Rolling Stones and all that stuff just hit. I ended up having a professor come into my school, who was sitting in for another professor. He said, ‘Just sit back, I wanna play something for you.’ And he played me jazz and blues on the accordion. I had never heard anybody play anything but polkas and Russian and Italian songs and all kinds of intricate German things on accordion and I was floored. I quit music lessons in like two weeks after that.

Wow.

I mean, I always wanted to play between the lines. I always, you know, I could play the music on the sheets. But I always wanted to be able to take what I had learned and be able to bend notes and have my own timing. There’s a lot of people out there that can read like champs and they can’t do that.

So that’s really where my roots are. They’re really jazz and bluesy based. Some of my favorite accordion music I play with a band in LA every once in a while, Zydeco. That’s very, very bluesy rock n’ roll, jazzy, you know, Tex-Mex kind of stuff. It’s really great.

So it’s just ... a chance to return to your roots more? Just to focus on that?

Yeah, it is. I get a lot of people when I play live that come and go, ‘My God, you can really play that thing.’ You know, I play organ and I get to play a long time. And I get to front the band and it's just a whole different thing. People are like, ‘Wow, we didn’t know you could do that.’

So, after all this time, you know, I could go out there and just play what I want and say what I want. One of my favorite lines is, ‘So this what it feels like to stand in front of the band.’ Bruce got a kick out of that one.