Brian Culbertson
@ the PizzaExpress Jazz Club
8 May 2012

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Desert Island Discs

Which 2 albums would you take with you to a desert island?

Brian Culbertson
John Coltrane – Blue Train
John Mayer - Continuum

Biography

Brian Culbertson began his quest in music at the age of 8 on piano, adding drums at 9, trombone at 10 then bass at 12. He grew up loving genre-crossing jazz-pop artists such as Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, Tower of Power, The Brecker Brothers, David Sanborn, Yellowjackets, Earth, Wind & Fire and Maynard Ferguson. So passionate and naturally gifted was Brian that his 7th grade piano recital consisted of all original pieces. He flourished in high school bands with his father, Jim Culbertson, as the school’s award-winning jazz band director, then spent two years at DePaul University before going on to compose commercial jingles for clients such as United Airlines, Oldsmobile, Sears and McDonald’s in Chicago’s competitive advertising community.

In 1994 - at age 20 - Culbertson self-produced his debut, “Long Night Out”, followed in short order by “Modern Life” (1995 - his first album to top R&R and Gavin’s Contemporary Jazz charts, driven by the hit single “Come To Me”) and After Hours (1996). With 1997’s Secrets, the hits kept comin’ with “So Good” and “On My Mind”. His 1999 follow-up Somethin’ Bout Love also sat high among the CJ Top 20 for nearly a year with the two #1 singles “Back In The Day” and “Do You Really Love Me?”

In 2001 Culbertson released Nice & Slow (featuring special guest trumpeter Herb Alpert and singer/songwriter Kenny Lattimore), which spent six weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Chart thanks to the #1 singles “Get It On” and “All About You.” Then came Come On Up (2003), highlighted by a blazing cover of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Serpentine Fire” and the beautiful “Our Love.” 2005's It's On Tonight found him making the switch from Warner Bros. to GRP/Verve for a sensual leaning project featuring two more #1 singles "Hooking Up" and "Let's Get Started," as well as special guests Patti Austin, Will Downing, Ledisi, Kirk Whalum, Boney James and Chris Botti. The 2006 holiday album A Soulful Christmas swiftly followed.

2008 found him blasting back after two years with the all-star blowout Bringing Back the Funk, a salute to '70s soul music that he co-produced with the legendary Maurice White, and featured William "Bootsy" Collins and Phelps "Catfish" Collins plus members of the Rubber Band and the Horny Horns (all out of Parliament-Funkadelic), Larry Graham (of Sly & The Family Stone and his own Graham Central Station), Larry Dunn (of Earth Wind & Fire), Greg Adams (from Tower of Power), Tony Maiden and Bobby Watson (of Rufus), Michael Bland, Cora Dunham and Rhonda Smith (from Prince's bands), Maceo Parker & Fred Wesley (from James Brown's JB’s band), solo stars David T. Walker, Ronnie Laws, Gerald Albright, Tom Scott, Paul Jackson Jr., Perri and many more L.A. session greats. This was an unprecedented assemblage of music royalty that graced the CD including the churchy standout “The House of Music” (which Brian co-wrote with Larry Graham) and his tenth chart-topper as a solo artist “Always Remember.”