Chaplin's Back

Credits: Darius Brubeck, piano, Wurlitzer electric piano & vibraphone. Perry Robinson, clarinet. Bob Fritz, clarinet, electric clarinet & bass clarinet. Michael Brecker, tenor saxphone. Amos Garrett, electric guitar & vocal. Bob Rose, electric & acoustic guitars. Richard Bock, 'cello and string arrangements. John Miller, electric & acoustic bass. Muruga Bookvich, drums & percussion. Produced by Gary Klein for Koppelman-Rubin Productions The back story: Paramount Records needed an LP of Chaplin's music to coincide with the 1972 re-release of six of his films and, fortuitously, I was given the leading role in this project, despite never having made an album before. (This was also one of Michael Brecker's first recordings.) With exactly a month from signing to final mix, I quickly watched the movies, read Chaplin's autobiography, got the sheet music and assembled musicians that related to my musical life which, during this unsettled period, meant free jazz, funk, rock, Indian music...anything but bebop! Despite (or because of) the uncertain stylistic focus, original vinyl copies and, later, pirate CD versions sold more and more through the years, sometimes at silly prices. I don't play like this anymore but, re-listening almost 40 years later, I'm happy I made this free-spirited, odd-ball Chaplinesque album.