Monitor, Spring 1990

T Lavitz: Life Beyond the Dregs
Interview by Len McRae
Article by Renee Young

T Lavitz is a keyboardist best known for his work with the Dixie Dregs. Since that time, however, he has not paused for reflection: He is constantly writing, performing, recording, and producing.

Len McRae recently spoke to T Lavltz about the Dregs, his current projects, and the process of making music.

First, I want to get some background on you. You went to school at the University of Miami. Are you from that area originally, or did you move to Miami to attend that school?

Well, I actually grew up in New Jersey. It was kind of neat because I was only 50 miles from New York City. There were all kinds of music and different cultures; it was a big melting pot type area. I first got turned on to music back then. We later moved to Virginia.

Is New York where the jazz influence in your career came in?

Well, my dad was a musician and every Sunday morning was his only day of resting. He would make fresh coffee, and while I would be smelling the coffee beans being ground, he'd play things like Wes Montgomery and the lighter shades of John Coltrane, the great masters of that time. This was from about '60 to about when Beatlemania began. So, I had an introduction to softer jazz, but real jazz --- nothing aggressive, but GOOD --- through my dad, before I was a teenager.

When I was 15, I was taking jazz piano lessons. My teacher turned me onto Light as a Feather by Chick Corea. I think that was a milestone for Chick, and definitely for me as a listener, because I thought, "That's what I want to do!" Within the same year, someone gave me Pictures by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. I put that on really loud with headphones, because my parents wouldn't go for it at the volume I wanted, and I blasted myself as I sat in the chair. I remember that was my first experience of getting "chills" from music. It got my spine going, WOW!, really feeling the effect that it can have communication-wise. And I said, `No, that's what I want to do!," more electronic and more aggressive. I'd say over the years I've had lots of influences. People like Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker; or Pat Metheney or Steve Morse, who don't even play keyboards, but they are constant. I think that in my early teens when I was taking classical piano, yet listening to pop music like Chick Corea and Keith Emerson, that had a big effect. Gregg Allman and the Allman brothers in general, they were a big influence, because it was progressive. They had FM hits, but it was progressive. There was something about it, enough so that it would grab you.

Eventually you wound up at the University of Miami; and at the same time, people like Pat Metheney, Mark Egan, Bruce Hornsby, and Steve Morse were getting recognized.

Yea, and Bruce and I played the piano side by side, he's a great jazz piano player. The Dregs were formed there, too. I was not in the band, I was a freshman when they were seniors. But, I knew I wanted to be in it someday. Rod Morgenstein, Andy West, Steve Morse, and Alan Sloan were pretty much the original Dregs.

What led you into getting into that picture?

I had 4 or 5 favorite bands: Weather Report, Allman Brothers, Return to Forever, Mahavlshnu Orchestra. Well, in all those bands, the keyboard player was very --- no pun intended --- instrumental. In their own bands they were either the leader or one of the main dudes. So, I couldn't really junebug into those bands. The Dregs was one of my favorite bands, and the keyboard position seemed always sort of tentative. I mean, they had gone through two or three guys. For whatever reasons, they never had a keyboard player that was a big part of the band or a name that would be mentioned in the same breath. So, I would dream about being in the Dregs.

Then a strange thing happened! I was in my senior year, and finally, I had made it that far. I didn't know what I was going to do. The Dregs came down to Palm Beach, and a mutual friend said, "Gee, Rod Morgenstein is trying to get in touch with you, he wanted your phone number." And I started dreaming heavily now, almost hallucinating! As it turned out, Rod said, "Look, this is nothing for sure, but we were thinking about auditioning keyboard players. Are you interested?" So, I never graduated, I flew to Atlanta to audition, and got the gig. I left when I had one semester left of college. My parents were really understanding, after forking out all this money for a good education. I was majoring in music, so they knew I was going to be a musician. But, in my last semester, instead of getting my diploma, "Mom, Dad, I'm leaving to join the 'Dixie Dregs!'" 'You are doing what, son? Can't you wait that last semester?' "No, the band's not going to wait, they are getting somebody. And they are offering it to me, so I am going for it." And my parents were understanding! They said, "Ok, God bless you!" And I'm so glad, because had I not done it, I feel confident that l would have gotten to some level; but that band really helped me, because it was a musician's band. So, instantly I got recognition, some interviews, and pictures; and other musicians were always "Oh, the Dregs, then you must be good." It was sort of like a calling card. After the unfortunate demise of the band it also led to a lot of other things. It really is a great calling card to this day.

That ended in '82?

We technically did do some gigs in '83.

The band, as the Dregs, never played together again until recently, right?

We did an album a year and a half ago. And it was a blast, it was just like the old days. Except that Andy couldn't do the tour. On my solo albums, I have been using a guy named Dave LaRue, who took Andy's place on the tour. When Steve heard him play, he went, "Yeah, I think this guy can do it!" As a matter of fact, Steve liked him so much, now he is using him full time. So, it was at least Rod and Steve on stage there with me. It's just a blast playing with people like that because they light a fire under you. They push you to the limit, YOUR limits! Just when you think you've practiced enough or sound good enough, you have to take a solo just before or just after a Steve Morse solo, and then you go, "Oh Wow!" It's tough! But it's good, really good for you.

What are some of the things you've done outside of the Dregs?

Since the first breakup of the Dregs, I did a Neils Lofgren album called Flip, which was a blast, because I think he is a great songwriter and a great talent. I also worked with Jeff Berlin. He got a solo deal before I got mine, and had a band called Vox Humana, which was Jeff, Scott Henderson, Steve Smith, and myself. That was my introduction into recording with those guys. We all hit it off personality wise, as friends, which is important. Then I had a chance to put a sort of "fusion all-star" band together and record. It was sort of a coincidence that it wound up being Jeff, myself, Steve Smith, and Scott Henderson. And that was Players, which produced another album. Then there was a band, The Blues Busters, that I was in for about three years, which was just started as a put together, fun times band, play some of the bars in L A. The Blues Busters had Paul Barrera from Little Feat on guitar/vocals: Catfish Hodge on guitar/vocals; Freebo from Bonnie Raitt on bass; Larry Zack from Jackson Browne on drums; and myself on keyboards. Anyway, that band did two albums, with a lot of really cool guests including Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt, Nicolette Larson, and Paul Butterfield. That band was a lot of fun. We toured around and played for about 3 years.

As we are speaking, Jeff Berlin and I are getting ready to go over and do another trio thing with Billy Cobham. We had done one before. We will be playing together in Europe and Israel.

Talk a little about Bad Habitz.

Bad Habitz is made up of guys who live in L A. There are a million great players in LA; not all of them are big names, but they can do the job. This was my third solo album, a band-type concept. In other words, where there are as many guitar solos as there are keyboard solos; there are drum features and bass features; and band-sounding tunes. I think it was a success in that respect. I don't know that the keyboard player necessarily jumps out as the leader. There are a lot of guitar solos, and the basses and drums, and all that. It did ok, got on all the jazz charts, and critical acclaim from all the magazines. I placed right after Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock this year in the Keyboard Magazine reader's poll for jazz keyboards 1989. I guess the album is what did that, and touring and stuff. But it's tough, keeping a band together. T Lavitz and the Band Habitz is kind of a joke name; obviously, jazz has always been a bad habit of mine! I'm not sure what exactly will happen next with the Bad Habitz.

Do you have any plans as far as producing any other bands?

I did a very jazzy thing, producing an album that had Danny Gottlieb and Rod Morgenstein both playing drums; Mark Johnston, the acoustic bass player; Dave Samuels, the mallet/percussionist from Spyro Gyra; and Kim Parks, who is a great sax player. It's not yet been released; we are shopping a deal. All the way over to the other side, a guy that you probably haven't heard of, unless you live in the north/midwest, by the name of Pat Metsa. He is really a talented singer/songwriter. They flew me up to Minneapolis to produce a demo, essentially, using some guys that he plays with in Minneapolis. And that was neat work from him. That was a lot of fun. I'm currently mixing a demo for a group called Shades of Gray. Although I played keyboards, I loved sitting behind the desk and just producing. "Yeah, that was real good, why don't you try it again." It came out really good. I love producing, not so much from an ego standpoint or bossing people around, but I love being on the other side. Without trying to sound like I'm bragging, I kind of think I have the knack of knowing what a piece needs. Like, 'Wait a minute, it's too long before you got to the chorus; or gosh, wouldn't a mandolin in the background sound neat here." You know, whatever it calls for. Which is one of the reasons I admire Bruce Hornsby so much. Because he was a jazz piano player and he has broadened his horizons so much that there is poetry, there's music, and it's even progressive. I mean, when is the last time that you heard an extended piano solo on a hit, an AM hit, Billy Joel or Elton John. He kind of broke the ground. I really admire people who do that kind of stuff.

What's your experience with the Peavey DPM 3?

I see it as a fairly powerful tool. There are sequencing capabilities, there are a lot of sounds, and they are all onboard. In other words, I can put drums, bass, keyboard sounds, and then ethereal, acoustic, flute, saxophone, or brass on top of it, all on one instrument.

A composition type tool?

Definitely. I use the sequencer as a compositional scratch pad or notebook. I don't have to get out a cassette deck and play it anymore. I can just push record and have it in there. If I'm just going to do one thing because it is a musical idea, I'll lay down just the keyboard sounding part and not quantize it. That way, when I listen back, it refreshes my memory, brings me 100% back up to date to where I was. If you quantize it, then it's not necessarily you anymore, it's the machine. And although its performance is better, you might forget some of the little nuances. So, I don't quantize until I really know the composition. And I'm at the stage where I'm demoing: you know, 16th quantization from the high hat, and kick and snare for the bass player. Because I'm not a drummer and I can't play the keys exactly in time. Plus, having a disk drive on board is great. For example, I'm sequencing something for the Frankfurt Music Fair. At the same time, for somebody else who needed some ideas sent to him, I totally saved everything on disk, erased the memory, freeing up all the memory on board, and I'm playing these other ideas. And I can save those to disk and you can have Sequence 1.

We can expand the memory, too, on the machine you've got.

I'll take it! In other words, Sequence 1 is only Sequence 1 under that heading. So, that's kind of neat. And you can erase it, and fill the whole machine up again, and save it to a different file name. You know, the bottom line, I think I have to stress, is still the music in your head. So, I'm not afraid. I used to be. When MIDI first came out and sequencing and all that, I was a little scared. I was known as the guy who could execute maybe tricky licks or something like that, you know, demanding things. And now everyone can! If it's musical, you don't have to be the keyboard player now. It's a plus.

Keyboards like this have gotten to the point where now it is up to the person operating it, you are like an operator.

And if the idea is in your head, it's going to come out sounding neat. Any fool can slow the tempo down to 25 and hit random notes, then speed it up to 200, and it's going to sound neat! But there is a lot more to music than just some fast arpeggios, you know. But, I'll admit that on a lot of things, I'll slow it down, too, if I don't want to quantize something. That's what's neat about tools like the DPM 3: You can slow it down without changing the pitch. So, I'll slow it down to maybe a solo, and then when I speed it back up I don't quantize it; so, it keeps that human element, but it sounds like "Boy, it's good chops!" And I didn't have to spend as much time doing it. You know, that is sort of a studio technique. Lot of times VSLing or slowing down the tape speed, it also changes the sound when you speed it back up, it'll make the playing sound a lot tighter. Sometimes, if I'm going to double myself, I used to use this pre MIDI: Play a piano part and if I wanted to double it on synthesizer, slow the tape down, slow the attack and the decay and all those things, because you have to think that when it's sped up, so is the attack and release. On a synthesizer, double the piano part and then speed it back up. And it was like, "Boy he can play with himself so great! He sounds so tight!" You don't have to do that kind of stuff any more. Learning from analog years ago really helps you in this digital age.

Transcribed by John D. Smith