 “It’s a matter of getting your name out there
and hoping that people enjoy your music. That’s
the best we can do. And, keeping it your own is the
most important thing, instead of copycatting whatever is
out there. I love doing music. I’ll put
it out as long as I can, and I’ll try to promote it
as best I can.”
This month’s On The Side takes us to the Minneapolis
area where we catch up with keyboardist, pianist, and Hammond
B3 organist Ricky Peterson.
For Ricky Peterson, becoming a musician was inevitable. Music
was literally in his blood. Ricky is a part of an extremely
musical family. Pop music has The Osmond’s. R&B
has The Jackson’s. Gospel music has The Winans. And
jazz has The Petersons. The music gods have smiled on
the Peterson family. From the parents through the siblings,
to the grandchildren, everyone is musically gifted.
Growing up in Minnesota, Ricky was surrounded by music. Through
his family, he inherited a love of music and a talent to play
it. “My whole house was full of music. My
mother and father both played music. They had a big band. These
guys would be in rehearsal in the basement. We had a
house full of music all the time growing up. It was inevitable
that we all play something. We all kind of got the blessing.” Oldest
sister Linda is a professional singer and piano player in the
Palm Desert, CA area, who has numerous recordings out. Brother
Billy has been with the Steve Miller band since 1988. He
and Ricky own a jazz club in St. Paul called The Artists Club,
which various family members play at when they’re in
town. Sister Patti is a singer, pianist, and flutist
who has done lots of sessions and recordings around town. And,
younger brother Paul, who has been with Donny Osmond for many
years as his bass player and Musical Director, and, who also,
plays with Kenny Loggins.
Ricky’s first instrument was the drums, and then later,
the bass. His mother was, (and by all accounts, still
is) a great piano player, so everyone took piano lessons. (“My
mother’s 86 years old, plays great piano, and brings
the house down.”) He began playing at the very
early age of three. At age six, he was playing The Beatles, “Help” by
ear. His mother was his first teacher, and from there,
he began playing piano, keys, and organ. “I started
playing and singing. That was the only instrument that
I could really do that on. I’m pretty stuck to
the keyboards.” He was influenced heavily by his
brother Billy, who turned him on to players like Keith Emerson,
Bill Evans, Joe Zawinal, and Herbie Hancock. Ricky had
a love of the organ, and he also listened to a lot of rock
bands that had heavy organ influence, like, Jethro Tull. “The
organ was a staple for rock and roll, and a staple for jazz. That’s
how I got into that. I just love the sound of it.”
The Peterson family still gets together every year, as they’ve
been doing for nearly 20 years, and play their annual Christmas
concerts in Minnesota. They have also recorded several
holiday CDs, including their latest 2007 release, Blessings,
in which three generations of Peterson’s – matriarch
Jeanne, her children, and several grandchildren perform. “I
love to hang with my family, especially during Christmas time. It’s
the best time to get together with everybody. We all
hang out for these weeks that we do the Peterson family Christmas
concerts. It’s fun. It’s my favorite
thing in the world.” Hanging with the family
is not regulated to Minnesota, (or, Minnesnowda, as he jokingly
put it.) When the cold and snow get to be too much,
Ricky and his wife like to spend time relaxing at their home
in Hawaii.
I was first introduced to Ricky’s playing through live
performances of the David Sanborn Group. It was one
of my first times seeing and hearing someone play an organ
outside of church. Nothing else sounds quite like a B3. “It
has such a unique sound. I just love the sound of it.”
 Ricky has been with Sanborn for the last 23 years as his keyboard
player. He’s been his musical director for 15 years. Over
the course of 23 years, he’s played on lots of David
Sanborn records, and performed on many of his live gigs. In
addition to his long running Sanborn gig, he worked for eight
years at Paisley Park, as a producer for Prince. While
there, he produced an album for Mavis Staples and several cuts
for Prince himself, including the popular “The Most Beautiful
Girl in the World.” Prior to this year’s
Sanborn gigs, Ricky just completed a lengthy tour with Stevie
Nicks. The list of musicians he’s played with,
recorded with, or produced for is lengthy and impressive; Bonnie
Raitt, Billy Joel, Anita Baker, James Taylor, Joe Sample, Sting,
Sergio Mendes, Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum, Jimmy Buffet, Dave
Koz, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, and Tuck & Patti, among others.
(There are far too many to list.)
In addition to being an extremely in demand and busy musician,
Ricky has a solo career as well. He has four CD’s
out, Night Watch, Smile Blue, A Tear Can Tell, and Souvenir. He
is currently working on his fifth CD, a “Minneapolis
funk, organ oriented” CD, to be released in the spring
of 2008. When asked to describe what “Minneapolis
funk” is, Ricky breaks it down: “The Minneapolis
sound is a real driving funk beat, a real four on the floor
thing with some rhythmic guitar rhythms. It’s a
driving, forceful, funky beat.” Sounds good to
me!
For all the people Ricky has played with in his impressive
career, he would have loved to play with Joe Zawinal. “Creativity
wise, he was one of the most influential guys in the world.” Ricky
came very close to playing with another one of his icons, Miles
Davis, but the timing was wrong, and it didn’t work out.
But, the rest of his career is working out just fine. Ricky
remains as busy as ever, and, after a four month tour with
Stevie Nicks, he is back on the road with David Sanborn, and
very excited to be there. You would think that after
23 years, he wouldn’t be so excited about it, but, he
is. “The tour is going well, and the band is smokin’!”
Look for Ricky on the road with David Sanborn.
www.rickypeterson.com
- Mary Bentley
|
