With
the quirky, lighthearted title of one of the key tracks on their
debut album PLAN R on Juan Carlos Quintero’s label,
Moondo Music, keyboardist DANIEL STEIN and guitarist STUART
ZIFF may be intent on telling us “You Can’t Be Serious.” Yet
these L.A.-based musical vets are in fact dead serious when it comes
to having a blast in the studio and forging a dynamic synergy of the
jazz, blues, funk, and soul music that has sparked their passion for
decades.
After
years of success behind the scenes as sidemen for other artists,
teaching at Musician’s Institute, and engaging in everything from
jingle writing and hit songwriting to creating popular music
libraries, the two unleash their full creative coolness as R FOR
ROMEO – colorfully named after a memorable line (“It decodes as
Wing Attack R. R for Romeo”) in Stanley Kubrick’s classic Dr.
Strangelove, one of Stein and Ziff’s favorite films. Likewise,
the album title refers to the film’s emergency war plan in which a
lower echelon commander may order nuclear retaliation after a sneak
attack.
You
don’t have to be hip to the Dr. Strangelove lingo to groove on
the eight sizzling, soulful, and edgy tracks the duo creates with top
L.A. studio cats, bassists RENE CAMACHO (War) and TRAVIS
CARLTON (Larry Carlton, Sara Bareilles), trumpeter CHRIS
TEDESCO (Christina Aguilera, Michael Bublé), drummers KEVIN
STEVENS (Duane Eddy), FRED DINKINS (Al Green, Stevie
Wonder), and RICK LATHAM (Edgar Winter, Juice Newton), and
percussionist MARCOS REYES (War, Los Lobos). Stein, who
infuses PLAN R with masterful performances on piano and
retro instruments like clavinet, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, Wurlitzer
and Mini Moog, says, “This is the kind of music we’ve always wanted
to make.”
Based
in Los Angeles for many years, Stein and Ziff first worked together
in the 80s in New York City at a time when they were developing their
individual careers. As members of the backing band for Atlantic
pop/R&B artist Martee LaBow, they enjoyed opening for everyone
from the legendary Gregg Allman to the quintessential 80s hitmakers
Wang Chung. Stein and Ziff went on to develop incredibly diverse,
individual careers. Stein become a top jingle writer, composer for
scripted and reality TV shows, and co-founder of the successful
independent music library Music Box. Ziff worked as a session
musician and songwriter in NYC and Nashville (an era which included
co-writing David Ball’s Grammy nominated country hit “Thinkin’
Problem”) before moving to LA, where he had been the guitarist for
the legendary band War for 20 years. Both are also esteemed
instructors at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, where Ziff teaches
blues guitar, slide guitar and performance workshops in different
styles and Stein teaches piano performance, songwriting, and
synthesis. Daniel has also developed curriculum for MI Online,
including a course called “Keyboard Gear Mastery.”
Re-introduced
by a mutual friend in 2018, Stein and Ziff hit it off again
creatively and began working on short library music vignettes for use
in an independent movie a buddy of Ziff’s had made. In September
2019, they started working on a full-on album. Once they wrote “You
Can’t Be Serious,” a freewheeling R&B/jazz/rock fusion scorcher
in the Hendrix/Jeff Beck vein, they were hooked. The two wrote the
rest of the tracks starting a few months into the pandemic, which
naturally prompted them to title one of the tunes “Lockdown,” a
blazing, funky, high-energy spacey-blues jam to reflect their need to
break free from the confinement.
Ziff
says, “Daniel was the only human I saw for a year,” which helped the
two develop an organic, intuitive flow that represents something of a
Venn diagram of their musical tastes. Stein grew up on the Philly
soul of his hometown and loved the vibe of the Richard Tee/Steve Gadd
70s jazz-funk band Stuff. Ziff (whose guitars include the Gibson
ES-335, Fender Stratocaster and Fender Telecaster) is a native of
Buffalo and an inductee of that city’s Music Hall of Fame. He loved
the Beatles and the Stones but ultimately embraced funk, R&B, and
blues as his trademark jam.
PLAN
R begins
with the second song the duo wrote, the reggae-tinged, Steely Dan-ish
“Checkmate,” a power ballad driven by Ziff’s fiery electric guitar,
Stein’s Rhodes and Tedesco’s jazzy trumpet which evolved from a riff
off a technological mistake, where an unusual chord change occurred
while the duo was playing with an effects pedal. Penned by Ziff,
Stein, and Travis Carlton, the gritty, edgy shuffle groove-driven “Go
Play in the Street” is the sole song on the album to feature a modern
drum loop, a la Snarky Puppy. Ziff makes great use of his Vox wah-wah
pedal. Following the aforementioned “Lockdown,” R for Romeo heads
towards “Midtown” for a seductive, meditative, and atmospheric blues
adventure, then colors itself “Blue” on a moody ballad featuring
Ziff’s crying electric guitar and one of Stein’s sparkling Rhodes
solos.
Named
after a classic Jackie Gleason rant from The Honeymooners, “Blabbermouth”
– the original band name the duo had chosen before realizing others
had beaten them to it – is a blistering, action packed, wah-wah and
spacey synth solo fired explosion that seriously qualifies as the
greatest 70s cop show theme song ever written, just 45 years after
Aaron Spelling could have used it! After “You Can’t Be Serious,”
Stein and Ziff get down to police business, buoyantly and feistily
tackling the theme to a classic 70’s cop show (and one of the best
sitcoms ever), Barney Miller, appropriately dubbing it
“Barney’s Groove” for the way they expand beyond the familiar
bassline and melody.
“The
music on PLAN R is a true expression of our musical
souls, representing all of our favorite styles,” says Stein. Ziff
adds, “I’ve spent my whole career being a sideman and songwriter for
other great artists but have never created music that was just mine.
It’s a pure reflection of our tastes, with infectious grooves and
melodies we had a blast sinking our teeth into.”
# # #
PLAN
R was
released March 17, 2023 on Moondo Music and is available everywhere.
Online:
RforRomeo.com
Facebook.com/topsecretplanr
@RforRomeoBand
(Twitter)
@PlanRforRomeo
(IG)
YouTube
channel: youtube.com/@rforromeo
WATCH:
Barney’s Groove: Bit.ly/BarneysGroove
Moondomusic.com
|