Darren Kramer & DKO Official Website

MUSIC AND WHISKY INTERVIEW w/Darren Kramer
From Whiskyfun.com (March 28,2006)

Great news – and true madness! After Luc Brewaeys who composed several contemporary classical pieces named after famous Scottish distilleries, we could get hold of another accomplished and famous musician who’s currently writing a ‘Scotch Suite’: the excellent American jazz trombonist and bandleader Darren Kramer...

Whiskyfun: Darren, tell us briefly about what you do, music-wise.

Darren Kramer: I am a full-time, professional, freelance trombonist, clinician and adjudicator throughout the USA and I also lead my own world-class group, DKO, in international festivals, concerts and clinics. I am also the Jazz Trombone Instructor at the University of Denver. I graduated from the University of Miami and moved to New York City where I toured with Matchbox Twenty, Tom Jones, Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies. I have also made national television appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman. I am also an accomplished composer/arranger of many styles which can be heard on my three self-produced CDs described as "Fresh, Innovative Funk" by Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Michael Brecker.

WF: Wow! And which other musicians did you play with?

Darren: Most recently I have performed/recorded with world-renowned jazz artists Michael Brecker, Rick Margitza and Eric Marienthal. I have toured internationally with the bands I mentioned before. I have also performed with many highly acclaimed musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, Barry Manilow, etc.

WF: And which are your other favourite artistes?

Darren: I am a huge fan of most styles of music but some of my jazz favourites would have to be Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Chick Corea. My favorite pop/rock artists are Sting, Prince, Peter Gabriel and Roger Waters.

WF: So, which are your current projects?

Darren: My most current project is an additional configuration to DKO and is called the DKO Electric Quartet which features “Electric Horns” and B3 Organ. I am focusing on my long time interest in using electronic effects on my trombone. I am actually writing a “Scotch Suite” for my new DKO Electric Quartet. I have two movements already finished and they are entitled “The Hollow Where The Mill Is” (Lagavulin) and “Obi-Wan KenOBAN” (Oban). My most recent recording is called “In The Now” and features DKO performing over 70-min of original Funk, Jazz & Latin and includes special guest Michael Brecker, Rick Margitza and Eric Marienthal.

WF: Great, I liked Quench! as well (especially the 'Il fait très, très chaud' part!). But let’s talk about whisky. When did you start enjoying it? Are there any musical memories you particularly associate with that moment?

Darren: I believe around 1999 when I was touring with Tom Jones in Europe. We played a scotch tasting event in Holland and I found it both interesting and tasty!

WF: What’s your most memorable whisky?

Darren: Probably “Glenmorangie 10yr”. While touring with Tom Jones, we had a day off in Sweden and were treated to a nice boat ride on a secluded lake. On the return trip, the staff broke out several bottles and I really enjoyed it…. the taste and the experience. Upon returning to the hotel, several of us took part in a rousing game of night volleyball, which was quite amusing!

WF: Do you have one, or several favourite whiskies?

Darren: Oh definitely several. Scotch is like music…it’s very difficult to pick a favorite brand. Although I do think I have narrowed it down to about 7 over the last 5 years or so. Lagavulin, Oban, Macallan 18, Macallan “Cask Strength”, Talisker, Laphroaig, Bowmore (Dawn), Glenmorangie “Port Wood”…

WF: And are there whiskies you don’t like?

Darren: Not really but I don’t seem to particularly like the thinner, lighter scotches (i.e. Lowland). But hey, I certainly wouldn’t refuse one or pour it down the sink! I’m just a fan of deep, rich, expensive tastes like Islay scotch, Cabernet or Shiraz, Cuban cigars, filet mignon, chocolate cream pie, etc!!!

WF: Music and whisky are often though of as being male preserves. Should girls play guitars, should girls drink whisky?

Darren: Heck yeah! Although I must admit I haven’t met very many women who enjoy scotch. It seems to be too intense for them. Music is definitely a non-gender, non-ethnic discriminator.

WF: In some ways you could argue that tasting a whisky is similar to listening to a piece of music – you deconstruct the two in the same way? Care to comment?

Darren: Yes, exactly. That’s why I decided to write my new “Scotch Suite”. The first movement is dedicated to Lagavulin (my favourite scotch) and I believe it musically represents what happens to me when I drink Lagavulin.

1. Slow, sophisticated beginning
2. Builds in intensity and smoky flavor
3. Multiple experiences occur throughout drink/song.
4. Finishes with an incredible rush of adrenaline and excitement (Bluesy climax in my piece).

WF: Darren, when will we be allowed to have a listen to your ‘Scotch Suite?’

Darren: DKO website very soon!… and hopefully soon at a scotch tasting near you! That would be nice to serve the scotch of each movement and have members write down their thoughts, feelings, tastes of the scotch, etc while we played… then do a Q/A session afterwards.

WF: Do you mean you plan to do gigs at tasting sessions? Distilleries???

Darren: Absolutely! All we need is an invitation! DKO is a very special group of full-time professional musicians who love music and whisky. We would be honored and very pleased to provide the highest quality jazz/funk at any tasting or distilleries. We are currently available for bookings thru our website and incidentally, my new "Scotch Suite" should be completed within a few weeks. As I told you before, I have two "movements" complete and plan on writing three more by end of April.

WF: Fantastic, and maybe you could even jam with some bagpipers! By the way, I once heard an eminent whisky professional say that he tasted whisky in colours. Do you taste whisky in music?

Darren: Yes, I think you could say that.

Lagavulin – sophisticated, classy jazz with a satisfying finish…
Oban – faster, more exciting piece…
Macallan 18 – raw, emotional piece with spunk…
Macallan “Cask Strength” – definitely the most bang for your buck… fun, fast tune!
Talisker – down-home funky tune with energy…
Laphroaig – mysterious, earthy song with dark layers…

WF: If your favourite whisky was a piece of music what would it be, if it was a musical instrument what would it be?

Darren: Instrument? Definitely “Electric Trombone”!!!

WF: There is a famous passage in a book written in the 1930s (Aneas Macdonald) where the author compares different styles of whisky to different sections of an orchestra – how would you see that working in a jazz band?

Darren: If I had to give a quick opinion:

Vocalists - Lowland
Horn Section - Islay
Rhythm Section - Highland

WF: Do you have a favourite piece of music to drink whisky with, or better still, desert island dram, desert island disc?

Darren: Again, favourites are hard to decipher. But here goes…
Drinking Whisky: Miles Davis – Most any album… esp “Kind of Blue“, “Fri night at Blackhawk“, “Live in Stockholm“. John Coltrane – “w/Johnny Hartman”, “Ballads”
Desert Island: Pat Metheny “As Wichita Falls…”, “Secret Story”. Mahler Sym 3, 5 or 9. Eric Whitacre: “A Cappella Vocal Works”.
Roger Waters: “Amused to Death”

WF: Everyone thinks of Jack Daniels as being the great rock and roll whisky – why not Scotch?

Darren: Don’t know, probably because Van Halen outwardly drank so much of it. I love Van Halen. Also, bourbon/mash does seem to have a harder edge which might be better suited for crazy rock events. I do enjoy bourbon as well… Blanton’s, Bookers, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey… I’ve certainly chosen scotch over whisky at many rock concerts I’ve attended recently – Prince, Sting, Peter Gabriel. Chick Corea (not rock I know but I just drank Macallan 12yr at his recent concert in Boulder CO!)

WF: And if it was Scotch, can you think of which brand? What would be the Scotch equivalent of rappers drinking Cristal?

Darren: Dewar's? J&B? Glenlivet? (no offense intended!)

Thank you very much, Darren! No wonder you've got pieces such as
'Critical density', 'Intangible attraction', 'Signing for a taste',
'Give no strength' or 'Keep it closed' on your CD's ;-).
Links of interest:
Darren Kramer's official website Page where your can listen to a part of the 'Scotch Suite' (not labelled as such)
Darren's 'celebs' page - the guy on the 12th picture rings a bell...
Lots of great music by Darren and DKO on iTunes music store.

Serge Valentin - From “Whiskyfun.com” http://www.whiskyfun.com/#280306

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TAKING LIFE BY THE HORN Trombone in hand, Darren Kramer slides into the big leagues.From Westword Magazine Originally published Jan 24, 2002

The Darren Kramer Organization with the Fabulous Boogienauts and Temple Raze. 9 p.m. Saturday, January 26, 2002 - $6, 303-777-5840 Where: Herman's Hideaway, 1578 South Broadway

For a child navigating the uneasy interval of pre-adolescence, few things can guarantee nerd status like the decision to join the school band. All that lugging of equipment and shameless practicing is enough to crush the coolness out of any child who's unlucky enough to pursue musical knowledge.

Darren Kramer understands this. He took up the decidedly unpopular trombone at the age of eight while growing up in Erie, Colorado. Kramer heard his share of "geek" comments about it, from elementary school on up. "I didn't hang around too many football players," he says, laughing.

More than twenty years later, all music-dweeb jokes are on his former snickering classmates. Although trombonists are famously underpaid and hard-pressed to find steady work, Kramer has ridden the slide bar of his beloved brass instrument to life as a gainfully employed -- and prosperous -- player. He's done the type of high-paying, hipster gigs most Denver minstrels only dream of, from cruise ship and Vegas circuits to full-time touring with Tom Jones and Matchbox 20.

"Yeah," Kramer says, "I guess it pays off to do what they tell you and stick with it. It's so true what they say: Just do what you like and good things will happen. Playing with the Rolling Stones would be the only upgrade I can think of."

These days, however, Kramer is in the throes of a major, self-inflicted career change that, on the surface, looks like a backward move. He's traded in the touring life for a local address and the dream of building the ultimate, horn-powered Denver band: the new Darren Kramer Organization. "When I was on the road, I was always saying, 'I like the money, I like the traveling, this band's good.' But it wasn't filling my personal desire. I thought, 'How am I going to make myself happy? I'm going to choose the music. I'm going to choose who is in the band. If the members aren't cutting it, I'm going to go with somebody else who is the quality I want.'"

The ten-piece DKO performs locally, playing a mix of dance-friendly R&B, jazz and accessible club-crowd pleasers. DKO enlists area players, including vocalists Jennifer Burnett and Jym Britton, trumpet/flugelhorn player Peter Olstad (who still plays with Tom Jones) and Kramer's sister, Dawn Kramer, a trumpeter. The band honks and romps through familiar and obscure dance covers by artists such as Michael Jackson, Miami Sound Machine, George Benson, Chicago and Tower of Power; the Orchestra also plays numerous Kramer-penned tunes. "We play originals, funk, jazz, salsa and neglected retro covers," Kramer says. "Things that I've heard other bands do, but they don't have horns; they have some cheesy synth sound, or they don't do the songs right."

Doing things right is Kramer's main goal with DKO.

"I see bands with horns, and the horn players are kind of college age, or it's a thrown-together thing. It's still a glorified garage band, and the quality's not there. I think Denver needs something like this. There haven't really been too many groups that have tried to do something this big."

The difficulty of finding -- and paying -- skilled musicians might account for the modest horn sections found in many local combos. So far, Kramer's reputation has helped him overcome those hurdles and lure top-notch talents who also value excellence over commercial returns. "Everyone wants to scale down because of money concerns," he says. "But I'm not going for money; I'm going for quality. And as a side note, I'm going to get money. I just know it's going to work, because it's so good."

Quality has been a constant in Kramer's musical life. His father was a saxophone player who graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder with a degree in music theory and composition. Kramer's dad earned a living transcribing music manuscripts. His mom played and taught piano, teaching Darren the instrument when he was a toddler. Kramer took up the trombone to accompany his older, sax-blowing brother, partly because he was intrigued by the instrument's slide-bar feature. "By seventh grade, I already knew that's all I liked. I knew that was all I was going to be doing," he recalls.

Kramer's vision crystallized while he was in seventh grade, when Alan Wise (a local trumpet player who once played with Maynard Ferguson) visited his school for a clinic and was wowed by the thirteen-year-old Kramer's chops. Wise informed Kramer's folks that he was something of a prodigy who deserved support, and Kramer's parents took the advice to heart. So did Kramer. While enrolled at Skyline High School, he became a McDonald's High School All-American trombonist and a star among the state's horn players. After graduating in 1987, he entered the music program at the University of Miami at Coral Gables, where he earned a dual degree in classical and jazz music before graduating in 1993. (He skipped his commencement ceremony to tour with a Broadway production of Sophisticated Ladies.)

Once he was out of school, Kramer assumed the vagabond lifestyle that full-time tromboning required.

"You gotta go to where the gigs are," he notes. His first steady work came playing on cruise ships for two years. "It's the best way to travel; I recommend it to anybody. You get free room and board; you only have to play between two and four hours a day; you live on the ship and get to go into port just like the passengers do. It's a really good life. I've been all around the Mediterranean and all around Asia playing trombone -- pretty cool."

Kramer's shipboard shows required the ability to play in various styles and a knack for getting along with other musicians in close quarters. Downtime on the ship also gave him chances to rehearse his instrument and improve his playing while bankrolling some money each month.

In 1994, Kramer resumed the landlubber existence when he followed a cruise-ship dancer to her home in Las Vegas. "I'd pick a casino a night," he recalls. "I'd go hang out and meet the musicians, sit in if I could and start compiling a list. Pretty soon, the gigs started happening." Within a year, he says, he was working every night of the week. In his fourth and last year in Vegas he had one to three gigs every day.

While playing casinos, Kramer encountered a former college classmate, a fellow horn player who was touring with Tom Jones. Kramer quickly invited the pal to participate on a disc he was recording in Vegas during his off hours. ("You can only drink and gamble so much," Kramer says.) Eventually released as the debut recording from the Darren Kramer Organization, the collection of eight instrumental songs covers a range of contemporary jazz and funk, highlighted by complex horn parts, heady progressions and occasionally dizzying compositions. The tunes (all written, arranged and produced by Kramer) stretch from the percolating power funk of "Turbulent Altercation" and "Fried Dough & Hops" to the atmospheric jazz rock of "Keep It Closed" to such smooth-as-Sade songs as "Give No Strength," and "1.1." It's a top-shelf collection, heady enough for fiends (a glowing testimonial from jazz great Michael Brecker graces the disc's cover) yet accessible enough for the KUVO crowd.

Kramer's connection with Jones's people led to other payoffs. In 1999, he was hired as part of the Tom Jones Band by another former Miami classmate who was working as Jones's musical director. Kramer's tour with Jones lasted until September of 2000.

"There's never an audition for the road gigs, the good gigs," Kramer says. "It's all who you know." Of the Jones job, he says: "It was great. [We had] an eleven-piece band, three background girl singers, world-class band, totally slamming." In addition to hits such as "It's Not Unusual" and "What's New Pussycat?" the band also stretched out on hard funk and R&B. Jones, Kramer notes, was a devoted entertainer throughout the band's 200 yearly dates in the United States, Australia, Japan and Europe.

"He's 100 percent professional, man. Always on time, does his thing full voice, full energy, going crazy and sweating his ass off -- every night. He's one of the few of that era that are still doing it, not for the money, but because he loves it." Jones was a nice guy to work for, too, Kramer says, a man who still thrills the ladies at the age of 61: "The panties are flying at every show -- everyone from eighteen to eighty."

Audiences were considerably less racy for Kramer's Matchbox 20 stint, which he secured in the fall of 2000 through a college roommate who helped discover and break the band. Kramer led a three-piece horn section that toured with Matchbox (and included his sister). He held the slot through spring of 2001, and during that time the group toured Australia and the United Kingdom, played the Tonight Show and Late Night With David Letterman, taped a VH-1 special and played numerous large venues.

But the Matchbox run left him hungry for more playing time; during the tour, Kramer played just four songs a night. "Tom Jones is still a little bit old-school -- the horns are integral," Kramer says. "The rock thing, it's all about guitars and vocals -- the horns were an extra thing. It was a different thing for your head: You're making the most money you've ever made, and you're on these famous shows, but you're not really playing that much. In a way, you feel like less of a musician."

That dissatisfaction led Kramer back to Colorado and his current status -- far removed from his days of consistent, direct-deposit paychecks and heavy doses of limelight. Today he's slogging through the hassles of leading a twelve-piece band while writing songs and honing his club act. "This is the hardest I've ever worked. I write arrangements and call people; that's what I do now," he says. The concept for his new act is simple: "I'm not going to do any sort of catering to any club or person. I just want to do the tunes I like."

DKO has done a handful of area shows and is now working on a new disc, which will feature the current lineup and Kramer's latest batch of songs. Last year, one of those compositions, "Not Far From Here," won honors in the nationwide John Lennon Songwriting Contest, an annual competition. (Kramer was also featured in a recent issue of Recording Magazine.) Aside from working with DKO, Kramer is playing trombone with Conjunto Colores and a few other horn acts.

In the meantime, he's hoping that his new group will lead to a rejuvenated interest in horn-oriented bands in the area. "All trends can be traced back to the leaders and the people who did it first," he says. "That's not my goal, but I would be very happy if that came true."

If that sounds like man tooting his own horn, so be it.

"I'm a fully educated musician," Kramer says, "and I've had a lot of success in my life. So why would this not work? Every other thing I've kind of wanted to do I've done, so this is the next huge step. It's proving to be challenging, and it's certainly not easy. But it's satisfying even if I'm not succeeding as much as I want. At least I'm working on my goal instead of obsessing about it."

Granted, pursuing that goal involves hard knocks and lower-paying work, much of which is far less glamorous than many of Kramer's previous jobs. But that reality isn't tarnishing his horn of plenty. "I have no money in my bank account," he adds, "and I'm happier than I've ever been."
Marty Jones - From Westword Magazine Originally published Jan 24, 2002