Pheaturing Kevin Coelho

Hey, everybody, how are you doing? Don't ask about me, you know how I feel, right?  While he was in Pennsylvania, President Obama said that he’s been keeping his own “naughty and nice list” of lawmakers. Then Biden was like, “Great, now I've got to worry about his list AND Santa’s?”
Friends of Mitt Romney are saying that he’s bored now that he’s no longer running for president...  though not as bored as the rest of us were when he WAS running for president. Mitt was spotted on a Costco shopping spree. Romney ended up buying 14 Costcos.  Applebee’s is opening a “green” restaurant in New York that will have waterless urinals, a wall made of plants, and rooftop rainwater harvesting. All of which will be underneath a giant, million-watt neon sign that says “Applebee’s.” At Justin Bieber’s concert in New York last week, a fan threw her phone on stage and Bieber took several pictures of himself with it. In a related story, Justin Bieber is in critical condition after getting hit with another 6,000 cell phones.  Facebook has announced that it will not be developing any of its own games and will continue to rely on outside companies. Facebook can still take credit for that one popular game: “Guess who got fat since high school.”  The band Fun received Grammy nominations in the top three categories. Coming up empty again this year: the band Work.  The New Orleans Hornets are reportedly changing their name to the Pelicans, though they also considered calling themselves the Brass. Even celebrity babies are like, “These are AWFUL names.”  The Pentagon is preparing for massive budget cuts in the event that the country does go over the fiscal cliff. You can tell the Pentagon is scaling back because today it became the "Triangle.”  Have you seen this Elf on the Shelf character? I am not sure exactly what story they are trying to tell with it.

I was in a store the other day and I saw something that kinda confused me. Maybe one of my Jewish readers can explain. Seth?

It's Hannukah, and I was surprised to see there's a Hannukah inspirational poster. Okay, I wasn't really surprised.

Wait, did I spell Hannukah, right? No one knows how to spell that word.  Did you see the story of the cop in New York I think it was who gave the homeless person some boots? Well, no one knew while that was going on, something else was happening around the corner.

I think that was New York, not so sure. Oh, well. So, who is ready for some sad news?

Sir Patrick Moore
March 4th 1923 - Dec 9th 2012
From deep space to deep six.


Well, Christmas is in 15 days, and I know you must be panicking on what presents to buy. I know I am trying to figure out what to buy for my wife. Anyway, I am here to help you. So, once again, here is the...

For those who don't have $200 to spend on a perfume distillery, you can still show your lovely nerd lady that you care with this lovely LEGO necklace featuring a genuine Swarovski crystal and an 18” silver chain. Maybe my wife would want this... I doubt it though. Anyway, you can buy it right here: perpetualkid.com/recycled-swarovski-crystal-building-block-necklace.aspx.


Alright, so, one thing that I think it's cool about the Phile is I can invite who ever I want to come on and talk about whatever they want... i.e. Laird Jim, Jim Mello and any other guest. So, today, I have a new phriend of the Phile who wanted to come on and rant. So, please welcome to the Phile, our newest member of the Phile phamily one individual...from Scotland... Debbie Boldacious, in a pheature called...

Awesome intelligence, wore a monocle, said Uranus without laughing, friends with Brian (I Love You) May, won Pipeman of the year. If only I had even a fraction of his knowledge in Astronomy... RIP Patrick Moore.  Watched Led Zeppelin "Live in London 2007" last night... it was RUBBISH, massively embarrassing to view, not just because it would seem EVERY FUCK in the audience viewed it through their phone. Comedy is... tribute band I went to see were 100 times better! Ha Ha so good. Don't understand why people got all over excited by a reunion!? They are not the Zeppelin you want them to be. To view that you need a time machine plus a shit load of drugs.

Debbie Boldacious, everyone. Good job, Debbie.

This is cool, today's pheatured guest is a B3 prodigy who is only seventeen years old. His debut CD, "Funkengruven, is available on iTunes and he'll be next appearing at Pampas Restaurant in Palo Alto, California on December 15th. Please welcome to the Phile... Kevin Coelho.

Me: Hello, Kevin, welcome to the Phile. How are you?

Kevin: Glad to be here, I’m fantastic.

Me: You're just seventeen years old, right? You were like ten when I started this simple little blog. How long have you been playing the keyboards, Kevin?

Kevin: Piano since age 4 and organ since age 12.

Me: Your specialty is one of my favorite sounding instruments, the B3. What made you choose the B3?

Kevin: The first time I really heard the organ for real was when my dad played "Green Onions" for me. I fell in love with the sound of the instrument as soon as I heard that song and I’ve been pursuing it ever since.

Me: You have such amazing talent, man, were you or your family surprised by how much talent you have?

Kevin: I’m not sure, maybe you could interview my family. I will say that I do come from a musical family and a classical background... my great grandmother was a singer, and my grandmother was the long time principle violist with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. My father is a classically trained violinist. I’m the first to play jazz. Sometimes I surprise myself, but usually I push myself very hard to be better so when things happen for me it’s not always a surprise. It really depends on the situation, particularly on the other musicians who may happen to be in the room. You play better when you are surrounded by people better than you. So when I’m playing with Reggie Jackson and Derek Dicenzo for example, my playing is elevated to a higher level than if I were playing with my high school jazz band.

Me: Kevin, where are you from?

Kevin: I’m from Los Altos, California.

Me: I am guessing you being 17, you are in high school, am I right?

Kevin: Correct.

Me: Where do you go to school?

Kevin: Los Altos High School.

Me: I betcha have an A in music... LOL. How are your other classes?

Kevin: My other classes are great. I like chemistry and math a lot, both of which I’m in AP classes for.

Me: What do your school mates think of your talent? I betcha get a lot of girls following you, am I right?

Kevin: Actually my school isn’t super big on jazz. I’ve done much more to develop my reputation in the jazz world than I have with my schoolmates. I find that it takes too much effort to try to make people appreciate a style of music when its far easier to seek those who already appreciate it. I was in the school paper once but other than that I’m generally unaware of how many people in my school have heard of me or know what I do. I like to be modest anyhow, I don’t exactly go around telling everyone I meet that I’m a Summit Records recording artist. In general I like to play for people who understand and appreciate what I do, which isn’t particularly the case at my school. But I do love programs like Stanford Jazz where everyone you meet understands exactly what it means to be a jazz musician.

Me: I would be using it to my advantage, if you know what I mean. What music do you listen to, Kevin? I am sure most kids your age in school don't listen to jazz or bands like Booker T, do they?

Kevin: I once met a kid who hadn’t heard of the Beatles, my friend, kids my age can be very clueless sometimes. I listen to everything from the mid 40s to the mid 70s. I start to lose interest right about ’78. That includes straight ahead jazz, swing, Dixieland, r&b, funk, gospel, blues, rock&roll, hard rock, and especially soul jazz. Prime years for me are from ’65 to ’69. Many of my favorite records came from that era.

Me: Okay, well, let's talk about your fantastic album "Funkengruven: The Joy of Driving A B3", that I have a copy of. When and where was it recorded, Kevin?

Kevin: Recorded December 2011 at Monaco Productions (at Tony’s fantastic studio in his house).

Me: Where did that title come from? You know, if you say it to fast it sounds like something different, if you know what I mean.

Kevin: Ha ha! Yes, the title actually was inspired by those old VW commercials where they said ‘Farvehngnugen’ which I believe in German means ‘the joy of driving’. With that context, the title is pretty self explanatory.

Me: Actually, farvehngnugen was a made up word. I'll get my researchers on it. LOL. Speaking of driving, you only drive a B3, right? Are you driving a car yet?

Kevin: I am currently licensed and driving.

Me: I love the album, Kev. Did you know "Funkengruven" was gonna be part of the title track?

Kevin: Well, the album was based around the Funkengruven concept, and since before recording I had recently composed this tune, it seemed appropriate to name it "Funkengruven" and have it be the title track.

Me: You did some covers on the album, as well as wrote a few songs yourself. One song you wrote is called "McJimmy". Who is McJimmy, Kev?

Kevin: McJimmy isn’t really a person so much as it is something that you might see as the name of a sandwich in some restaurant (Tony’s joke). The tune is called "McJimmy" after Jimmy McGriff who is one of my idols and an inspiration, and I tried to convey my interpretation of the McGriff style through my song "McJimmy".

Me: You do a Herbie Hancock song, a Miles Davis song and one of my favorites, Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay". Did you pick out these covers yourself?

Kevin: I did pick these out. These songs were all early favorites of mine and it was a real pleasure to arrange them for an organ trio.

Me: Were there any songs you wanted to cover and put on your album that you didn't? I bet you can record a kick ass version of "Gimme All Your Loving".

Kevin: There were many songs that went through my head at the time, of course I was listening to all my favorite records while recording. I can’t remember any specifics at the moment, but I will say there are a great number of r&b and pop tunes from the 60s that would work great for an organ trio. Ideas for arrangements and songs pop into my head all the time, and its actually quite difficult to sort through all of them and pick a few. But sometimes certain ideas really stick and those are the ones that end up on recordings.

Me: Kevin, who are your favorite players? What do you think of Steve Nieve or Mike Finnigan's playing?

Kevin: Though I love dropping organ names and I try to familiarize myself with as many players as possible, one of the downsides to being seventeen is I haven’t really had the time to meet or hear all the big names in music, nor have I really had any direction in my exposure to music. All the music that I listen to either comes from my dad’s jazz library, or my own pursuance of new records and players that I discover. That being said, though I’m sure as an organ player I should know who Stevie Nieve and Mike Finnigan are, I unfortunately don’t. but I promise as I’m writing this I am looking them up. The list of my favorite players is quite long (although not as long as the list for saxophone players being as though there are far fewer organists than sax players). Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Tony Monaco, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Chester Thompson, Shirley Scott, Richard “Groove” Holmes, and Don Patterson are my favorites to name a few.

Me: You have a band called The Groove Messengers, Kev. Do these guys play on the album?

Kevin: The Groove Messengers was inspired by the Jazz Messengers. Just like that band, the Groove Messengers is not a set group of players, rather it is a band name that refers to a particular style which you can expect the band to play. Maybe someday a new organ player will replace me as part of the Groove Messengers. For the moment, people who have played with the Groove Messengers are: Charlie McCarthy, Rob Gibson, Ray Scott, Reggie Jackson, and Derek Dicenzo. I have recently moved away from using the “Groove Messengers” title to refer to my concerts, however it may come up in the future.

Me: So, what's next? I doubt you'll be doing a lot of touring until you finish high school. Are you planning on going to college?

Kevin: I am planning on applying to Stanford University as a computer science major. Any touring I do will be strictly weekend gigs or summer tours, I plan on completing high school with competitive grades and scores. Though I do wish to pursue music as a career, the music industry these days simply doesn’t have the capacity to support every young musician that comes on the scene. As much as I love jazz, it simply doesn’t provide enough monetary compensation to be a viable career choice for me at the moment. Being a CS major however, does not prevent me from releasing albums or continuing to play gigs and develop a reputation as a musician. It provides a steady source of security for me such that I can develop my music until I reach a point when I have the time and security to devote all my time to music.

Me: Kev, continued success, and I hope you will come back on the Phile when your next release comes out. Go ahead and mention your website and everything. Take care and keep playing.

Kevin: Thanks so much for having me on, I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about myself and my music. For those reading this, you can find me at kevincoelho.com and you can find my record on the catalogs at summitrecords.com. I look forward to playing more music and in general providing entertainment for those who like the sound of an organ. At heart, I’m an entertainer and organ is what I do best.

Me: Good job, Kev, have a good Christmas.

Man, that kid is a lot smarter than I am. Sheesh. He's a CS major, what the hell is that? I am a BS major. LOL. And yeah, I would be going around school saying to the girls, wanna see my organ? I am so stupid. Anyway, that about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Debbie Boldacious and of course Kevin Coelho. The Phile will be back next Sunday with Lucas Ward from the fantastic band The Silver Snails. I love their album. Before I go, I have to mention this... Last week, I got an e-mail from a Phile reader, about a co-worker of his who is going through a difficult time this holiday season. She is a teacher locally with a special needs daughter. To make a long story short, she recently had to be rushed to the hospital and undergo surgery to save her life. I do not know the specifics of the surgery, but I do know she missed a lot of work. Due to the amount of time she missed, she can not afford to buy gifts for her daughter this Christmas and she is heart broken. Would you please consider doing one of the following things for this family: 1. Purchase an unwrapped gift for a young girl (she loves Disney princesses, Chip and Dale and anything Disney). 2. Purchase a gift card for the family to buy groceries (Walmart or Publix). 3. Purchase a gift card for the mother as a gift. You can send the stuff to Real Life Christian Church 1501 Steve's Road, Clermont 34711. Thanks for your support, Phile readers. So, spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.