‘The Pittsburgh Saxman’ has time of his life recording 12 albums, playing with eight bands
Pittsburgh saxophonist Phil Brontz has had the time of his life recording 12 albums with seven bands and playing in eight bands during the last 22 years. Brontz is now a member of two of Pittsburgh’s favorite bands – 8th Street Rox and Bill Toms and Hard Rain. With these two bands, he has played on four albums that some critics and fans hold in the highest regard.
Brontz has been on the local music scene since 1983 when he started out with Shadow Play and The Rythmn Method. He moved on to play area clubs with The Flashcats, Gary Belloma and the Blues Bombers and Norman Nardini.
Also, to his credits are recordings with blues lady Jill West and the Blues Attack on “Faceful of Blues” and Joe Grushecky on “Swimming with the Sharks.”
He played on two albums with Nardini, “Love Dog” and “Redemption” and one with Erin Burkett.
Recording on Burkett’s self-titled first album gave Brontz a chance to work with former Silencer drummer Ron “Bird” Foster and Tom Valentine of Glenn Pavone and the Cyclones.
“They are all really good albums, aren’t they? Every record I have worked on is really special to me, ” Brontz replies when asked if he has any personal favorites.
“They each have their own special moments and memories. It was so gratifying to finally record the 8th Street Rox record in 1999 after being with the band as long as I have,” said Brontz who joined 8th Street Rox in 1988. He refers to the recording of “Sittin” Pretty” as “a great moment for the 8th Street family.”
Brontz believes 8th Street Rox’s longevity and continued popularity is a true testament of praise for lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Mike Filosemi for “keeping the band going full time around town” since the early ’80s. “Sittin’ Pretty,” released on Moondog Records, included 14 of Filosemi’s original songs and guest musicians Rick Witkowski, Nardini, Toms and others.
In 1997, Brontz played on one song on Hard Rain’s first album. He started playing a few tunes at Hard Rain’s shows and over time came to share the stage full time. Being in both Hard Rain and 8th Street Rox at the same time sometimes results in schedule conflicts.
For instance, Hard Rain is playing at Excuses on March 5, while 8th Street Rox is playing two evenings at Seven Springs Resort on March 4 and 5. Brontz will play with Hard Rain on March 5, play with 8th Street Rox on March 4 and send in a sub to the resort the following night.
“The Pittsburgh Saxman,” as Brontz is known, fondly recalls playing at the Decade, as well as playing with Belloma at Gene’s Bar that was leveled by eminent domain to expand the Liberty Tunnels cloverleaf.
Like many musicians, he gets sentimental thinking about those two clubs that disappeared from the Pittsburgh music scene. His reminiscing continues.
“I’ll always remember recording with Erin, flying in from California to Pittsburgh early morning and driving directly to the studio. I kept my sax in the trunk. I was in a fog from no sleep and jet lag,” Brontz said.
The recording session resulted in a song, “Angels Never Would,” which contains one of his favorite saxophone solos.
Brontz enjoys playing with Hard Rain and the time spent recording that group’s first three albums. Production started recently at Witkowski’s Studio L on Hard Rain’s fourth album, set to be released on Moondog Records in 2005.
Since Toms and others in Hard Rain also are members of Grushecky’s Houserockers, Hard Rain doesn’t get a chance to play as often as its fans would like.
Brontz says that Hard Rain’s limited scheduling “seems to make every gig a special occasion, a party.”
He calls Hard Raid a great live band.
“Bill Tom’s writing is fabulous, and his music has been a perfect medium for me. Recording with Norman, Joe, Erin and Jill has been a thrill. I feel very lucky and honored to have been asked to play with all these icons of Pittsburgh music,” Brontz said.
Likewise, the “icons” who could be reached for comment also praise Brontz’s talent and the contributions he brings to their stages and recording sessions to compliment their particular styles of music.
“Phil Brontz is a great rock and roll sax player. He has a great big sound,” said Norman Nardini of his former band member who is welcome to show up anytime with sax in hand to play. Toms calls Brontz a dynamic performer and one of the most natural rock and roll musicians he knows.
“Phil is very aware of what everyone else is doing. He has the ability to fit his parts into the songs effortlessly,” Toms said of his Hard Rain saxophone player.
Toms also refers to Brontz as “one of the nicest people you will meet and a very good friend.”
While Brontz said he was influenced by saxophone greats such as Junior Walker and King Curtis, he also credits local influences Mike Sweeney and Nardini for helping him to perfect his style of playing.
“One of my early influences around town was Mike Sweeney, a great songwriter/musician. He was the first guy to convince me when not to play. I mean play less – less space and less notes.
He taught me the ‘one note theory’ that sometimes if you play one note good enough, long enough and loud enough, you can drive the crowd into a frenzy.
“It was Mike Sweeney who got me hooked up with Norman back in 1985 or so. Norman was also a big influence to me over the years of using space as much as using notes,” Brontz said when reflecting over his musical career.
“There’s so much talent around this town. It is really a shame that so few bands from Pittsburgh have had much commercial success. It’s not from lack of talent or lack of trying,” he added. “The list of quality Pittsburgh records made around town is staggering, and in some cases, the music is all but forgotten.”
Brontz, who has worked as a chemist for PPG for more than 20 years, believes that commercial musical success is definitely not a measure of quality. He thinks it’s more a matter of luck and connections. However, he agrees that fate can improve the chance for luck and connections if commercial radio stations had been more supportive of area bands by playing their Pittsburgh music.
If memory serves him right, he thinks he heard Flashcats/Bull Moose Jackson’s song, “Big Ten Inch Record,” played in Los Angeles in 1985 or 1986, when asked to recall the last time any of his music was played on commercial radio.
He was unaware that his impressive 2004 sax solo on Nardini’s “Burnin’ Up” was played recently on an Ohio FM station that also streams over the Internet, during a weekly “Tangled Up in Blues” program.
When asked if he thinks songs he has helped record such as 8th Street’s “Don’t Say No,” or “Standing By The Jukebox,” Hard Rain’s “Mona Lisa Smile” or “Here With You Tonight,” or Nardini’s “Burnin’ Up” could have led to bigger things if hometown commercial radio played them, Brontz said those and other songs he has played on could have been hits.
“There’s no doubt that any of those or others could have been commercially successful,” he said. “Esquire Magazine named Pittsburgh the number one city for rock and roll music in 2004, but strangers to the city unfamiliar with the article would never know it when tuning into the major media stations.”
WDVE, a big winner in Arbitron ratings, once had a Sunday night program that played Pittsburgh rock and roll and blues. Some of the recordings Brontz helped make occasionally showed up there, and some of his blues music is still played on public radio. Some of the music he and his friends have made is heard primarily on Internet radio now.
Gone are the days of Tommy James and the Shondells, and so it seems, even the more recent days of The Gathering Field, when Pittsburgh DJs played good new songs from small record labels to help bands break out into the national spotlight.
Gone it also seems are most of the days when Pittsburgh commercial station DJ or station owners provide airplay to local bands even to help draw crowds so that the bands and club owners can make a consistent decent living.
“It makes all the difference in the world,” said Moondog Records co-owner and Moondogs Pub owner, Ron Esser, who knows first hand the powerful impact commercial radio airplay can have. He said WDVE played a song by Glenn Pavone and the Cyclone mid week, and his club was packed with patrons that night.
Esser, who proudly went to Memphis recently to accept his prestigious “Blues Club of the Year Award” from the Blues Foundation, said he started Moondog Records to record bands such as Hard Rain, 8th Street Rox, Glenn Pavone and the Cyclones, Norman Nardini, Erin Burkett and the Mean Reds, Belloma and the Blues Bombers and Jake’s Blues to keep the music alive.
“All I want to do is to get as many people to hear their music as I can,” Esser said.
As a businessman, he said he has no realistic expectations that any of his artists will become the next Springsteen or Bon Jovi. He just wishes that other commercial radio would follow Pittsburgh DJ Steve Rohan and radio station (97FM) RRK’s new lead to give Pittsburgh music some commercial airplay.
A few months ago, Brontz appeared with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, other area musicians and Bruce Springsteen at the Flood Aid benefit. On stage Springsteen nicknamed Brontz “the Medium Sized Man,” comparing Brontz to his own sax player, Clarence “The Big Man” Clemmons.
“Any time Bruce wants to pare down his band from Big to Medium, I think I would take his call,” Brontz said.
He considers himself so fortunate to have formed lasting friendships with the Pittsburgh musicians he has spent many nights with on stage or in the studios. He still reunites with the Flashcats for an annual Christmas show, as well as those occasional nights with Nardini.
“People need to get out and support live music,” Esser concludes. To help them do so, he said he wants to promote some outdoor, afternoon family friendly shows in the summer that serve as weekend fund-raisers for community groups such as fire departments.
In the meantime, 8th Street Rox and Brontz played Saturday at Phil’s Nightclub in Dawson. Check out other dates on the band’s Web site at 8thstreetrox.com. Hard Rain’s schedule, which also includes a Uniontown festival in July, is available on billtoms.com. Schedules for both bands are available on Bront’s web site, http://hometown.aol.com/philbsaxy/philbrontz.html.
The two mentioned Pittsburgh Internet radio stations, Love Dog Radio and Brick Alley Radio, can be accessed through billtoms.com, normannardini.com or grushecky.com.