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ARMAND ST. MARTIN and his BAYOU BOHEMIANS
ALLIGATOR BALL
a CD of 12 great All-Original New Orleans-styled Rock 'n' Roll songs written by Armand St. Martin
plus 5 more great All-Original New Orleans-styled Rock 'n' Roll songs written by Armand St. Martin
off our Bonus Tracks from our EP "Be Your Own Parade"
- totalling 17 great originals -
ONLY $15 for 17 originals (plus 2.50 per CD for shipping and handling)
Additional Acknowledgments for ALLIGATOR BALL
by Armand St. Martin
BACKGROUND:
Alligator Ball (CD) was
recorded from 1992 to 1994 in Hollywood, California at our studio, Bayou Bohemia,
home of Patty Lee Records.
I guess it all started with a wild dream and an ad I saw in the paper.
My wife, Patty Lee, knew Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham and she often told me of a music project Lindsay had recorded long ago at his own house, even using the shower stall as a location for recording. So inspired about the fact that "space" was not an issue, Patty and I decided in 1991 that we would purchase our own recording equipment for a home recording studio.
Enthused, we didn't start small.
I answered the ad I'd seen. Out went the couch and living room furniture, and in came the equipment. Arriving in a huge U-Haul with a lift gate, we had to remove our gate and front door and recruit several musician buddies, Kirk Bruner, Chris Stendahl, and Steve Dudek, to help me move the equipment into our small bohemian Hollywood canyon home.
This rare system we had
acquired consisted of the classic and vintage Ampex MM-1000 16 track (2-inch)
analog recorder, and its original mated custom mixer, a Spectrasonics 20x16x2x1.
A real beauty. This gear had originally been at CBS Records in the 70’s,
where many hits were produced on it. It still had a small CBS sticker on the
front.
The only drawback was that when we first purchased this studio equipment, we didn't know how to use it.
However, I figured I had been a professional, working musician since age 16; I had my background in electronics and acoustics from the Navy from when I was 19, plus I had spent six years creating audio-related crossword puzzles for my column in the music industry magazine MIX Magazine. I also had experience through my many professional years of playing in recording sessions and live concerts, as well as project-recording at home.
Patty had been a DJ and had a college degree in Radio-TV so we figured she could help engineer if necessary once we got the studio up and running. Which she did.
So, with all my combined audio experience, and advice from friends in the industry I had to call upon occasionally, I was able to master this professional level (and size) recording system.
We dubbed our studio Bayou Bohemia - bayou because I'm a native New Orleanian from Louisiana. Bohemia because that was the life we were leading. And, later it seemed fitting to name my fun-time band with my "Mardi Gras All Year 'Round" theme: Armand St. Martin and his Bayou Bohemians.
To this day, this vintage recording equipment remains the heart of Bayou Bohemia and Patty Lee Records.
ALLIGATOR BALL (minus the Bonus Tracks included on the CD which were recorded as BE YOU OWN PARADE at Southcombe Studios) was entirely recorded at Bayou Bohemia except the drum tracks; I arranged, engineered and mixed everything on the CD except my lead vocals, which Patty engineered, and Steve Dudek added to the horn arrangements on "Back In New Orleans". Lon Price did the horn arrangements on "Louisiana Frenchman" and "Storyville Blues". I even found myself learning how to repair the gear, and sometimes faced the fact that finding replacement parts was a monumental task, and very expensive.
When you find the opportunity to listen to the big sound we were able to accomplish on ALLIGATOR BALL - The Bayou Bohemians and I and Patty Lee at Patty Lee Records hope you can appreciate that ALLIGATOR BALL was recorded in a very small living room, utilizing a tiny hallway with no windows as an isolation booth, in a "learn as you go" setting.
Just picture back-up singers or horn players squeezed into a small hall, performing magic with their talents. It is sometimes even hard for both Patty and I to recall the days when we first acquired Bayou Bohemia and I began figuring out how to use it.
In the beginning we didn't even know how to turn it on!
We hope you are - like we were - pleasantly surprised with the end result.
FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for ALLIGATOR BALL (CD):
Bill Dashiell, who has recorded Robert Cray and many other fine blues artists for Hightone Records, gave copious ongoing advice and technical support in the art of recording and mixing.
Kirk Bruner’s definitive drumming on this project comes after years of professional experience, including numerous hit records with Melissa Manchester, and Mac Davis.
Lee Thornburg and Lon Price are internationally sought hornmen with credits including Tower of Power.
Doug Atwell was known from L.A. to New York as a “fiddle genius”.
Chris Stendahl (bass), Jake Fitzgerald (harmonica), Fidel Bell (guitar), Lindsay Gillis (guitar), and Steve Dudek (horns) are all well-respected session players on the L.A. scene.
As for my back-up singers, Romney Richard is a New Orleans Symphony Chorus member. Marabina Jaimes is an Emmy-award winner and she and Hedy Mayer both also grace Mark Lindsay’s new LP as well. Marabina and Hedy performed on all 12 cuts of ALLIGATOR BALL.
Danny Federici of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band contributed great spirit and accordion to ALLIGATOR BALL.
Patty Lee and I co-produced ALLIGATOR BALL.
I also wrote and arranged all 17 songs, performed lead vocals, piano, and keyboards.
I did the cover art for ALLIGATOR BALL. (See cover art credits under "Artwork Notes" in the original homepage.)
ON A SPECIAL NOTE:
All the players are friends of mine and I am grateful and appreciative of their support and talents spent in making ALLIGATOR BALL.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for BE YOUR OWN PARADE (EP) - Also on ALLIGATOR BALL (CD) as Bonus Tracks:
I would also like to acknowledge the musicians, singers, and engineers on the Bonus Tracks, originally released as “Be Your Own Parade” recorded in 1987 at Southcombe Studios in Burbank, California; and re-released as these same Bonus Tracks on ALLIGATOR BALL in 1994 and remastered in 2003:
Kenny Gradney of Little Feat fame played the fine bass on these tracks.
Dony Wynn brought considerable force in his drumming, and he can be heard on many of Robert Palmer’s recordings.
Steve Allen on saxophone is also a regular with Rita Coolidge.
Jake Fitzgerald’s harmonicas are always a plus.
Kirk Bruner appeared in these sessions on trombone and trumpet, and as a background vocalist. (See his drumming credits above under Acknowledgements for ALLIGATOR BALL.)
Singers Nancy Williams and Margie Nelson sound like an entire choir on back-up vocals.
Lois Oki, hailing from Canada whom I met through Canadian artist Marc Jordan, engineered and mixed the project. She also co-produced the project.
Paul Devilliers, also Canadian to whom I was introduced by Canadian artist Marc Jordan, and who had just produced Mr. Mister and YES at the time of our recording, "BE YOUR OWN PARADE", also mixed the project. Paul made a cameo appearance on electric guitar.
I co-produced this EP with Patty Lee.
Richard D. Lee, award-winning sign-designer and expert on logos, did the "Be Your Own Parade"black & white cover art and the "Patty Lee Records" logo. (See cover art credits under "Arwork notes" in the original home page.)
I also wrote and arranged all the songs, performed lead vocals, piano, organ, synthesizers, and accordion.
I have certainly been fortunate to have such talented and noted people contribute
to my sound. I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks to you all!
Most of all, it wouldn’t have happened without Patty Lee, a brilliant,
truly modest, producer and visionary.
-Armand St. Martin, June 1997, Hollywood, Ca., updated February 2003, 2005
For more information about BE YOUR OWN PARADE click here
For further information about ALLIGATOR BALL click here
c 2005 ARMAND ST. MARTIN and PATTY LEE RECORDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.