Premiere: David Garfield records Outside The Box

With pals, he's Shufflin' West Coast

L-R: Johnny Lee Schell, David Garfield, Tony Braunagle, Leland Sklar; Photo: Scott Griffith

Multi-talented David Garfield’s résumé includes keyboardist, composer, songwriter, producer, bandleader, arranger, record label owner, session and touring musician, musical director and composer of various commissioned themes for global organizations and recording artist, but he simply states, “I make music.”

In the last decade alone, Garfield has composed songs for the 3-CD project Perfect Harmony, co-written with Motown legend Smokey Robinson and George Benson, and performed with Benson, Van Morrison, Kenny G, David Sanborn and Michael McDonald, plus his “Outside The Box Project.” Listing names before the last 10 years would, frankly, take too long.

In 2017, Garfield released his first single of the “Outside The Box” project, a fresh re-imagining of Stevie Wonder’s “Go Home.” Subsequent singles from “Outside The Box” include “Jammin’”, “Stay” and many others, each featuring star-studded studio time, including Doors’ drummer John Densmore, and Larry Coryell in his final performances.

Elmore Magazine is proud to present the next “OTB” release, “Shufflin’ West Coast.” Recorded in LA and Nashville, this rare collaboration spotlights stars from England, Japan, LA, NYC, Texas and Music City.

With one of the best Contact Lists in music, Garfield knew who to call. He told Elmore. “After recording ‘Shufflin” down in Nashville, I decided to put some of the LA guys on the track, veterans like Leland Sklar, Johnny Lee Schell, Lenny Castro and Albert Lee. Blues drummer and producer Tony Braunagle is a good friend of mine, so I asked him to re-record the drum parts using his signature Texas shuffle style (he is from Houston originally). Leland completely fell into the groove and jelled with him right away.

“Johnny Lee added to the groove with his understated, yet fierce rhythm guitar— he’s worked with Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Robert Cray and Little Feat—and we recorded in his little studio in Studio City, where he’s tracked and mixed a multitude of gold records. To put the finishing touches on this West Coast version, I recorded the stellar guitar work of Tim Pierce, James Harrah, Toshi Yanagi and Michael Thompson, all LA session pros. Having country legend Albert Lee (who also resides in LA) do his riffin’ and pickin’ on top of that was a true thrill for me. The funny thing is, he told me he was originally a keyboard player! Finally, we did the overdubs at Capitol Records’ legendary Studio A in Hollywood and included some great performances from Nashville cats Brent Mason and Paul Franklin.”

Here’s a snippet of all the fun: