FRANK MCCOMB: The 1995 Bootleg

Frank McComb

The 1995 Bootleg

© 2005 Frank McComb (634479293016)

TRUE Soul, R&B and Jazz. If you like what Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Herbie Hancock did in the early '70's, then you'll LOVE this CD.

notes

In my own words:

It all started in February of 1983.Church had just ended and my aunt, Evelina Palmer was still playing on the church piano. She made it look so easy so I asked her to teach me to play, but I wasn't expecting to start THAT DAY. She scheduled my lessons for 1 hour every Sunday after church but mysteriously they ended after the 3rd week, so if you really do the math I had 3 hours of piano training. The seed was planted deep inside me, it just took for God to use someone to water it so the flower could begin to grow. By the summer of 1985 I was playing in clubs around Cleveland, Ohio embraced by all the veteran musicians. I couldn't seem to get any favor from the school of the performing arts I was attending at the time, but instead found favor with club owners. In 1988, I started a trio and we gigged all throughout Ohio and Erie, Pa. By this time, I was attending Glenville High School and was finding favor with the principle, who allowed me to leave early everyday as long as I stayed on top of my school work and reported to my homeroom class every morning by 7:30am. I also found favor with the Cleveland Teacher's Union who hired us for many of their functions.

I was the youngest musician on the scene at the time so other band members supplied my transportation until I saved up enough loot to buy my own hoopty. Of course, my mother had no idea I owned a car. The DMV didn't either, given the fact that I hadn't owned a driver's license yet. I was ALWAYS working. Some days I would leave school by 12 noon to work on cars with a man named Jesse Ramsey (he was my mentor at the time), take a nap for a few hours, tweak my Fender Rhodes, throw it in the trunk of my car then go play my gig. There were many nights after gigging I wouldn't get home until 4:00am, because I would drive down E.72nd street (and St. Clair) to Lake Erie to write songs, study music or just simply enjoy the quiet.

After graduating from Glenville High I was asked to be in the band for The Rude Boys, a male R&B vocal group signed to Atlantic Records thanks to Gerald LeVert, which lead to my first touring gig. They eventually appointed me as their musical director and we toured throughout the summer of 1991. When the tour took us through Philadelphia I had the opportunity to meet D.J. Jazzy Jeff who, over time, talked me into moving there. The tour ended in September so I packed up the few things I owned and left Ohio to find my place in the world. Once I got settled in Philly I was introduced to one of the greatest songwriting duos in music history. I'm speaking of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff who put me on payroll as a musician in their camp at Philadelphia International Records. I moved literally down the street from the hit-making headquarters so that I could walk to work every day.

Living in Philly left a lasting impression on me, one I'll never forget. While working on a session with Gamble & Huff I met a gentleman by the name of Steve McKeever who was scouting talent for a new label he masterminded called MoJazz, a jazz -oriented label of Motown Records.

I performed live for him on the spot. Afterwards he listened to a recording of a song I had written and poorly recorded on a Tascam four track recorder entitled "Time and Time Again". Papers were signed almost immediately and a trip to Los Angeles to visit the company followed shortly after. Before I knew it LA had quickly become my home. A lot of business changes took place during the few years I was at MoJazz and after being at the label with 2 albums worth of unreleased material, I decided it was time to let it go.

It was nothing personal...just politics and money which caused me to get lost in the shuffle.

While waiting on my letter of release from MoJazz I toured as a musician for Teena Marie and Philip Bailey until I got a call from an employee at the company saying that Branford Marsalis was looking for a male vocalist for a band he was putting together called Buckshot LeFonque. I looked at it as another disappointment in the making, but I took the chance anyway. I recorded the song "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" as the demo he requested and ended up getting the gig. Before I knew it I was in the band...I STILL have no idea how he knew I was a keyboard player. With Buckshot LeFonque I recorded two albums (Buckshot LeFonque & Music Evolution) and toured all over the globe which led to my 2nd recording contract with Columbia Records. In the summer of 1999 I recorded what turned out to be my debut album. "Love Stories" was born on March 14, 2000. Great record, no support. Once again I found myself lost in the shuffle because of the issues of politics and money. After a couple of years of sitting on the Columbia shelf, I asked to be released and without hesitation they released me from my contract. They, as well as Motown could easily have tied me up, but God's favor on my life didn't allow them to.

After my past experiences with two major record companies (one being black, the other white) I felt that maybe I needed to be with an independent company, a smaller company that would be able to give more time and dedication to their artist(s). That opportunity came in 2002 when I signed to Malibu Sessions. I ended up being the only artist on their roster. It was then that I would go on to record my second album "The Truth" which was desperately sought after by America but so easy to find in Europe and Japan. The company only licensed the album to "Expansion Music" (England) and "Toy's Factory" (Japan) instead of partnering with a major distributor which caused America and other countries to have to pay as much as $35.00 for the CD. As if THAT wasn't enough, I began hearing from fans of my work that the music I recorded for MoJazz was selling on the black market for as much as $50.00 per cd...unmixed, never mastered, no artwork and obviously as a CDR. It was then that I decided to clean house and take the chance to do things on my own. After all, what did I have to lose? Over a period of 4 years I had recorded a large number of songs at home with no special purpose for them. I was led to do it. I placed them in what I call my "vault" and left them there until the right time came for me to use them.

Reviewing my history and remembering all my dark experiences I decided it was time to open my vault and pull out some of those tracks to share with the world. Since it was so hard for people to get the music I released with record companies (and never OFFICIALLY released-when they DID find it they had to pay a ridiculous price for it) why not record, package and sell my own music directly to the buying public? I believe this will cut out all the detours, layovers, traffic lights, stop signs and anything else causing delays for people who want my music. This lead to the release of my 3rd album "Straight from the Vault" through my own production company Boobeescoot Music. With this machine I pray that I can continue to record and release the kind of music I grew up listening to years ago when real chord changes existed, songs had a subject and the most important...there was integrity.

Frank McComb.

reviews

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  • SEXY MUSIC!

    FRANK MCCOMB is sexy and so is his music !

  • I am in love
    author: stephanie potts

    I love songs that are for grownfolk.music that can be listened to with out yelling,cussing,negative lyrics.Bless you.

  • As always Frank delivers probably the hottest artist without a record label however can you be an artist on a record label? A must for anyone who loves deep soul music or just music! My one gripe, I wish the quality of the recording was better although nobody is going to deliver on this level and Brother please give us some lyrics and liner notes in the booklet. JSmooth

  • I liked this cd...
    author: Lewis

    Great CD. I'm looking for more of his work now...

  • Frank McComb Soothes Souls !
    author: SOBO MAGAZINE

    Frank McComb's music is incredible ! His lyrics are genius and his voice is heavenly ! We suggest you buy this cd before it sells out !

  • beautiful
    author: astrid sandsdalen

    i have a radioshow here in norway i can`t wait 2 spread this beautiful,sweet music wsoul song by a man that has it all!!! wish u all the best - thank u for spreading all this love luv, astrid

  • This is pure Frank-fection. He has done it again.
    author: Reginald Carter

    Frank is the man and there is no one standing. I can not wait to see him and George Duke on the same stage. The world could not take it.

  • Its the Dogz Bollocks
    author: Derek Robinson

    I got Franks Love stories which totally blew me away,then came the Truth, I was in heaven! Straight from the Vault came and I truely believe this man is a musical Genius and now the Bootleg just reaffirms my belief in Mr Frank McComb

  • author: Stuart Dunning SOULHEAD

    What can I say that already has not been said, this is sheer genius! Shame it was not released in 95, This is a lesson to all of us soul/jazz fans " Support your Favourite Artistes" Frank should be getting more props from the mainstream, unlike most of the c**p you get in the charts. This is what should be getting serious airplay. Never the less we are lucky to have such a talent to enjoy. Thank you Frank you bringing such sweet music to our ears !! Stu

  • author: Steve Wilson

    I just love this guys music. 1995!!! wow this is still so fresh today. Frank McComb is a world class artist. Its about time the world took note and looked him up. Its good.

  • Soul-Jazz-Funk
    author: Nightrain

    The first thing that you notice about our friend Frank McComb's - "The 1995 Bootleg" is the album cover. It's stark white, except for Frank's name and a rather large black construction worker's boot. I suppose that there are several messages that could be taken from this sort of imagery, but for the purposes of this review, we will assume that it's refering to the fact that Frank is in fact "bootlegging" himself with this CD. Soul-Patrol has been a big fan of Frank McComb since his days with Buckshot LeFonque. In fact in many ways Frank McComb could rightly be called the "father of Neo Soul", since he was doing it long before that un godly marketing term ever came to our attention. "The 1995 Bootleg" contains music that Frank says was originally recorded for MoJazz and selling on the black market for as much as $50.00 per cd...unmixed, never mastered, no artwork and obviously as a CDR. So armed with that information, he decided to release it on his own. After listening to this CD I really am at a loss to understand why Why it wasn't released by Motown back in 1995. This CD is slammin. Do you like Donny, Stevie, Herbie, CTI and Blue Note all rolled into one? If so, then you will dig this album. It's pretty much represents the type of first class consistent instrumental/vocal performance we have come to expect from Frank McComb. However there is one real surprise here when you get to track number 8 "Do You Remember Love?". This song sounds like the type of thing that might have resulted had Stevie Wonder and Micheal Jackson hooked up and said: "lets go into the studio and make one slammin/mind blowing funk track & not tell anyone what we are doing".

  • worth the wait
    author: tara

    thanks frank for opening up the vault. if you dont have this cd please get it.

  • author: Andrea

    Finally! Frank has once again opened his vault to share some of his gems. This long awaited release was well worth the wait, but only makes me wonder "how much better can it get?" Hurry..........pick this up, spread the word and be a part of the REAL MUSIC revolution!!

  • THANK U 4 MAKING THIS BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AVAILABLE...AT LAST!
    author: JAMES DAY

    Whether it's uncovered musical treasures (The 1995 Bootleg) or diamonds released from the vault (Straight From The Vault,) Frank Mccomb always proves that real music, FULL ALBUMS, worth listening to, REPEATEDLY...are still being made and HAVE BEEN! The Major Label Machine is broke and we will not receive music of this quality from them. In fact, his story proves it should NOT be fixed...WHY? When we can get CD's like this from Independent artists like Frank? It is not the responsibility of True Music Fans OR Artists to support all these A&R people and Major Record Label Staff, just so they can filter out great music in exchange for Jeans commercials & Soda Pop jingles. The revolution has begun! I believe Frank Mccomb's 1995 BOOTLEG is the perfect tribute to Indie Artists & Labels and those that support them. It is a CELEBRATION of Great Music & Independence. Oh, and of course, a darn good record to boot! (pun intended :-)

  • author: Kyle

    pure genius.

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