Welcome to Music Matters Podcast with Darrell Craig Harris, talking about all things music with celebrities, artists, music business insiders, and more. Danny Falcone, how are you doing today? Good, my friend, how are you? I'm awesome. So we've been friends for a long time, and I knew your father, who we're going to talk about a little bit later. So you are a trumpet player, but you're much more than that living in Las Vegas. You play with an amazing band called Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns, which has been a legacy band in Las Vegas for decades. You have a really important fun show coming up at the NAMM show in Anaheim. You're going to be playing on the Saturday night, 6 p.m., just as everybody's walking out that considered prime time. So that's exciting. Tell me about the NAMM show and how that happened. Well, what happened, it's interesting. We were invited, or there was an invite to submit last year for Las Fier's NAMM. And so I talked to Jerry, I think we discussed it, and said, yeah, it'd be fun if we do that. We'd like to get there. So we submitted, and they liked the band, but they put us, unfortunately, in a time slot where they only gave us 30 minutes to set up. And this is a big band. Yeah, it's impossible. Yeah, it's been impossible. So we ended up having to decline it, which really was tough for us, but we had to because we wanted to put our best foot forward, of course. And we knew that if we only had 30 minutes, things could go terribly wrong. So as it turned out, the president of NAMM now, a trumpet player, came and saw our band one night, and we got talking, and I explained this to him because he said, you guys should play NAMM. And I told him the whole story. And he said, well, let's work this out so that you have the time you need and so on and so forth. And he said, how about you guys want to close the show? We want a band like yours, High Energy, and with the kind of talent that's in this band. And so, yeah, it kind of worked out. And now they've invited us to do it, and we're excited to be closing the show. Yeah, and for those folks that are not familiar with NAMM, that's where basically the world's music retailers and musicians all come together in Anaheim once a year. And it's, I think it's a four day show, but they've changed the schedule around a little bit. But it's a who's who of music, and it's an awesome opportunity. And you guys are an amazing band. Talk a little bit about the instrumentation because it is a large band. You have a lot of players on that stage. Yeah, we do. So we have the Fat City Horns, which are six horn players. So you have two trumpets, trombone, and three saxophones, barri alto, tenor. And then there are a multitude of singers, because everybody in that band can sing, it seems. We have Jerry Lopez, who's the leader, guitar player. We have, obviously, bass, two keyboards, percussion, drums. And at any given time, depending on who's subbing in and out, there's usually four singers. So the vocal harmonies are really quite amazing. Sometimes five singers. So it's incredible what these guys can do vocally. They're just the best of the best. It's not a fave, again, for people who don't know. They've been a band in Las Vegas for, I mean, I moved here in 89, and they'd already been here for years. It was originally a family band. It was brothers and uncles and amazing, always amazing singers. Jerry Lopez, who is the leader, he's played with a lot of folks. Talk a little bit about that. And also, the other band members, too, along with yourself, have played with a long list of stars. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Jerry, I think Jerry came to town in 76 with his family and started working in Vegas, but they were working long before that elsewhere in Santa Fe, New Mexico and other places and touring. Jerry's been with Who's Who. I mean, he was, I think he was Ricky Martin's MD for a while. He's been with Bill Champlin, Tom Scott, many people. He's just really as good as anybody that there is. And one of the best singers you'll ever hear. Yeah, he's great. I mean, everybody in that band has a pedigree that's quite impressive. It'd be hard to do it in the time we have, but everybody in that band has played with many, many A-list celebrities and bands and toured. And it's a real amalgam of talent in that group. It's world-class talent, for sure. Some of the music videos and live conservators that people have seen that are very familiar with, many of you guys have played in those bands. Celine, Bet Midler, it's a very, like you mentioned, there's just a really long list. Let's talk about you because you're a great trumpet player, as well as a well-known contractor of musicians. But let's talk about your family legacy because that's also really interesting. And your father is a legend, not only in Vegas, but globally. Let's talk about that a little bit. Well, I was fortunate to be raised in Las Vegas. My dad was born in New York. Funny, it's so funny because we just had Steve Gad play with us a couple of times. And he had a group when he was a kid in Rochester with Steve playing drums, Tony Leonardo on bass, which then became Joel de Bartolo came and played in the group, Chuck and Gap Man Joan, all those people were in Rochester at that time. And so anyhow, he wanted to try, he didn't realize how good he was. My dad was a prodigy, didn't realize, I think, because of where he was at, the level of talent that he had and wanted to give it a shot in Las Vegas. So he moved out here without us. He had to wait six months to get his union card. This was in like the beginning of 1970. That time he was just playing piano, but he moved out and had a dream of just playing at Caesar's Palace. That was his dream. And he worked his way up through different shows, ended up the house pianist at Caesar's and Frank Sinatra came through, heard him, recognized his talent and put him through some amazing tests, including he put a fake recording session together at Capitol and had my dad conduct because he could be a great conductor for him and tested him. My dad thought it was for real, but this was all set up just to see how he would do under pressure. And anyhow, he passed the test and he was hired by Mr. Sinatra. He was his pianist for a long time and then he became both conductor, pianist and musical director for him. Why did you actually start playing trumpet? I started on piano and my dad drove me nuts because he had an ear that was unparalleled and so it would drive him crazy if I made any mistake. So he was always correcting me and I just couldn't take it anymore. So I think I was in sixth grade when I picked up the trumpet and started at that point. So I might have been a 12, 11 or 12, something like that. And it's amazing because we're so fortunate in Las Vegas to have so many great musicians and they're still able to work here pretty regularly, which is also an awesome thing. And you guys with Santa Fe and the Fast City Horns have a house gig that's been going on for quite a long time at an amazing, it's not only a rest stop, but it has an amazing venue. Let's talk about that a little bit. Yeah, we've been together. This iteration of the band has been together 26 years. We started at the palace station and then we've moved around. We were at the Palms for a long time at the Palms Casino and then we went over to the Tropicana for a while. A couple of other places went to the South Point. And then Jerry, we actually had kind of stopped just for a little bit and Jerry decided that he got courted by the people at the bootleger. I think it was, they had a club behind the restaurant at the time. I believe it was owned by a Russian mafia group. It was kind of a strip. Those who shall not be named. Yeah, right. Kind of a strip club kind of place. I think the bootleger bought them out. Then Jerry had this idea and he remodeled the place and we turned it into a music venue. It's been tuned musically. It sounds incredible in there. It holds, I think it's around 200, 250 people, something like that at max. We've been going there and I think seven or eight years now we've been there. We usually sell it out every single Monday. There are some Coliday times where it's not totally full, but for the most part, it's sold out. If you don't look a week or two ahead, you're out of luck. And we're very, very thankful and fortunate for that because it's hard to find a place to play anymore where people who love music, it's not in a bingo room or a lounge. Exactly. A music venue. It's really, really nice. We're really thankful. Yeah, that's a great venue. It does sound amazing in that room and it's a pretty good size room. Not huge, but really, really nice. It's very intimate. If anybody ever wants to meet any musician in Las Vegas, that is a who's who hang for sure at Las Vegas. Yeah, what you said, Steve Gadd was there last week, played with us. Danny Seraphine from Chicago was there also. We usually get whoever's in town, Earth, Moon, and Fire, Chicago, whoever's there, they usually work their way through and sit in with us. It's a real fun, incredible opportunity, I'll tell you. Yeah, and it's reminiscent of when I first moved to Vegas, which was there's very common, go out, see bands, see people sitting in with bands. And obviously Santa Fe was one of the bands that everybody always wanted to see, because they've always sounded great and amazing. What's some advice that you could give to young musicians? Because you're very experienced, we're only touching the surface because you've literally played with everybody. What's some advice that you could give to young musicians that want to kind of break into being a professional and that kind of thing? It's a whole different world from when I was young. There was so much to go see and experience now. It's a little more difficult. But I do see now what's different than when I was young and what I would recommend to young people. We used to spend, I mean, morning tonight at Tower Records or wherever and get the latest record or pull out old Miles Davis recordings or Stan Kenton or whoever. Yeah, and you're reading the jackets and seeing who's playing on what. Like I must have listened, I mean, just like you, I'm sure, our generation, we listened to music morning tonight. I absorbed and listened and memorized every and not just jazz. I mean, I was really into Van Halen and Rush and all kinds of rock and different styles. So I would tell kids, immerse yourself more in music. I don't see many kids coming out to see our band or see other bands anymore. Everybody's kind of home on their phones. And it's not the same. It's not the same as interacting with people and understanding how music works because there's so many young people that are prodigy level chop missions. You know what I mean? But I've played with a lot of these kids and you put them in a situation where they have to play with others and they don't understand it. They don't understand how that works. They can play anything you want. Their licks are ridiculous. Their speed is technical ability, unbelievable. But that only takes you so far. You have to know how to interact. And I think this whole generation with Snapchat and all this garbage that kids are using to communicate has broken our ability musically to communicate. And so I would tell them get out and play with other people all the time. Don't just sit home and practice and get your chops together. Go out and play. Right. And it's also important. I mean, I'm sure I know you do with this all the time and you know this too. But it's also important to be able to get along with other people and communication. Talk a little bit about that because that's something like we've all known guys that were amazing players but they just could not get on the tour bus and be nice to people. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, the hang is probably even more important than the music. I've been on bands where guys are not the top level musician, myself included, but know how to get along and know how to hang when you're with people, especially if you're touring. If you're, I did a lot of touring and when you're on a bus or going to a different country and you've got to hang and have dinner and all that, you have to be social. You've got to be able to have things to talk about and be cool with other people and not be selfish. Be very giving because it's a communal thing. And so yeah, again, the way our culture is set up right now, it's very, very isolated. And I think it doesn't lend to being a cohesive group when you're with people. So these are the things I would tell kids, get out, hang out with people face to face, not just texting and play, go in garage bands or go, when I was young we had the musicians union and I would go there every, when I was in high school, every week. They had the big band you could sing. And it was unbelievable. That's how we really learned and I learned the good and the bad there, what to do, what not to do. And so I've been very fortunate to grow up in that, I caught the tail end of all of that. There's not a lot left for young people, but they could create their own. They could do this. Yeah, and that's great advice and get off your phone and get out of your house and go meet people, go shake some hands, just sit in. Danny, let people know how, speaking of phones and social media, let people know how they can find you, the band on social and also websites. Sure. Well, the band is SantafeBand.com. That's the band's website. We're on Instagram and Facebook and all of those kind of things. For me, my personal, my music page is Dan Falcone and it's Daniel Falcone Music at Instagram, on the Instagram page. Awesome. Yeah. And you have a great Instagram. It's always fun. I love seeing the people that are sitting in with Santa Fe. It's always exciting. And Steve Gad actually moved to Las Vegas, I think. Oh, man, there's like nothing like I'm looking over and here, I'm like a fanboy. You know, I'm like, oh my God, it's Steve Gad. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Danny Seriford's around too and he has a legacy too. I was the same way. I was listening to everything growing up. I was listening to rock, rock and classical and jazz and playing a lot of big bands. So I do miss, I kind of miss that era. It's kind of passed us by a little bit, but it's still amazing music, right? Sure. Yeah, we have a great big band here called the Jazz Vegas Orchestra that we play on Wednesday. So that keeps that kind of alive. That's kind of the Santa Fe of big bands, if you will. We had our first album come out with Wynton Marsalis played on it. And it's a very high end killer big band. So do they have a social media page as well? People can check out? Yeah. I think it's, I'm not, it's Jazz Vegas Orchestra. It also might be under Joy, JOI, which is Jazz Outreach Initiative. Okay. And I'll find it and I'll put it on the podcast description. Sure. And the first album is called A Joyful Noise, JOI Joyful Noise. And that's the one with got Clint Clinton home singing and Wynton Marsalis. And yeah, it's a great band. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, we'll check that out for sure. And I've been seeing a lot about that. So I need to come down and check it out because I love that music. Yeah. It's amazing. So everybody, please check out Santa Fe and the Fast City Horns. They will be appearing at the NAMM show. Saturday is now the final night. You're going to be there on the Yuma Grand Plaza stage at 6 p.m. You're going to, it's hard to miss you guys. There's a lot of people on stage and it sounds amazing. If you're fans of Tower of Power, if you're fans of Earth, Wind and Fire, and high quality funky soul music, that's the place to be. We're going to be doing some covers, some original. We do a lot of, you know, most of our stuff is original. And then we do cover other people, but we usually have our own spin on the cover, you know what I mean? But most of the stuff that, like we just put out a 20 song double CD, all original during COVID. And, you know, that's kind of the basis of the band. We do a lot of salsa and funk and, you know, it's a really unique kind of thing nowadays. You don't hear this kind of band anymore, you know. Yeah, with top world class players as well as I mentioned. So, awesome. Thank you so much for joining me, Danny. I really appreciate it. I know you're a busy man. And I'm glad you're disposed of whatever you need. I'm here. Well, I appreciate it. Everybody, please check out also the social pages. There's live videos on the Santa Fe pages as well that you can check out. And also, on YouTube, I think. Yeah, for sure. We have all of that. So, well, thank you so much, Danny. I appreciate it. For having me. I'm honored. Appreciate you.
