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Jonny Tarr: SDMAs, a Return to Wales, and a New Label

Interview by Bart Mendoza

One of San Diego’s favorite soul/jazz performers, keyboardist Jonny Tarr is saying goodbye to California, but luckily for fans, it’s only temporary. Winner of the 2020 San Diego Music Award for “Best Pop Artist,” Tarr is relocating to his native Wales (UK) with his family for a short stay.

Originally from Cardiff, Tarr moved to San Diego in 2011. “I had visited California a few times previously and really fell in love with it,” he recalled. “On one of those visits, I met a girl who kindly took pity on me and asked me to marry her so I could stay in the country,” he said with a smile. “Nine and a half years later, we are still going strong with a four-year-old daughter and we could not be happier. She took a real chance on me. I am extremely lucky. She is an angel.”

While part of the reason for his temporary move back to Wales is financial, “We had always talked about spending a year in Europe at some point and this seemed to be the obvious time to do it, with no solid work commitments keeping us here,” Tarr said. “I would love Ivory, my daughter, to absorb a bit of Welsh culture while she is young and I want my family to have some extended time with her, too. Although, California is my home now and I will DEFINITELY be back.”

How does Tarr feel about his recent San Diego Music Awards win? “To be honest, I am over the moon about my SDMA win,” he said. “It is like a huge relief to have been validated in this way after the many years of grinding away at the coalface of music. The recognition has also opened a few doors that had been closed to me career-wise up until now.” He recognizes that “the award is what you make of it. You can treat it with respect and carry it forward with you to take you on to the next level, or you can settle on it and not make it work for you. I feel extremely lucky and proud of it. As well as very grateful to all the people that took the time to vote for me.” He notes stiff competition this year. “In my category alone there were some amazing artists who I respect a great deal and they were all good enough to have won it. A special shout out to Veronica May on that one. I am a big fan!”

Tarr’s decision to make his most recent album, Live From Studio West, a live affair was pragmatic. “I chose to release a live album because the final submission date for the 2020 SDMAs was pretty quickly approaching. I trust my band’s abilities so much that I knew we could pull off a solid live album before submissions closed. A studio album would have taken so much longer to get right.” He points out that his band—all top-flight players—is honed through rigorous rehearsals and steady road work. “We had been gigging intensively for a year and I knew we could record a faithful representation of a Jonny Tarr Quartet show. Especially as Miles, our drummer, knew Andy Walsh over at Studio West, which is my favorite live room in SD. Huge shoutouts to the best band and best bandmates in the world—Monette Marino (percussion), Ken Dow (bass/BVs), Matt Clowminzer (guitar), Miles Clowminzer (drums/BVs)—all totally class acts who make me proud to be the worst player in my own band.”

Tarr reflects on the differences between recording live and in the studio. “Your band has to be HOT to record live. If you are on a budget—and I was—you have to know your band is gonna smash it. We ended up running our sets three times each and simply took the best take. If you know my live show, you know that we segue three or four tunes together before taking a break. There was hardly any room for error. I knew my guys and girl could not just pull it off but do it true justice. In the studio you can do as many takes as you like and manipulate so much these days. And I love that way of recording too, but I am really glad we went for a live gig approach. It really paid off.”

Tarr’s musical influences? Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Maxwell, Donnie Hathaway, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Michael Brecker, Hank Mobley, Herbie Hancock, Lewis Taylor, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Roni Size, Massive Attack, Joey Negro, Philip Glass, Aphex Twin, Vivaldi, Arvo Pärt, Paul Simon, Sting, and Jamiroquai.

Although perhaps best known for his keyboards, Tarr is a gifted player on several instruments. “My first, which I studied my music degree on, was saxophone,” he explained. “I was in fact inspired to play that by a childhood friend, Osian Roberts. He was always streets ahead and I learned so much from him, a badass (even now). But these days I consider myself a singer more than anything and that has more to do with wanting to write songs than be a musician/player. You can see above who all my vocal and songwriting influences might be.”

For his part, Tarr’s favorite thing about being a musician is “being my own boss,” he said. “Your level of success is pretty much down to you. You have to work incredibly hard on things that are not music related and you might not always achieve things at the rate you set out to, but there is a freedom to being a musician that I would not swap for anything.”

Next up for Tarr is recording/releasing and promoting an album that he has written during lockdown. “I am going to be working with a record label in the UK called Thump Records to get that out and hopefully we will have it done by the end of the year,” he said. In the meantime he is going to be spending time with family back home “and also gigging and hanging out with my old musical family as much as possible. I will be live streaming weekly as soon as I get myself situated and can’t wait to get that going again.” But he’s happiest that his family will be visiting his homeland. “I want my wife and daughter to deeply experience Wales so that maybe they understand my idiosyncrasies a little bit better,” he said good naturedly.

ALBUM REVIEW FOR ‘THE JONNY TARR QUINTET LIVE AT STUDIO WEST’ - SAN DIEGO TROUBADOUR

Review by Frank Kocher September 2020

Jonny Tarr was awarded the San Diego Music Awards 2020 Best Pop and the new album by his band, The Jonny Tarr Quintet Live at Studio West, demonstrates why. The Wales native is a man of all musical trades—a singer-songwriter who plays multiple instruments, a DJ, and an accomplished arranger. On the new disc he sings lead vocals as well as plays sax, flute, keyboards, and samples. Also on board are Monette Marino on percussion, Matt Clowminzer on guitar, Ken Dow on bass and vocals, and Miles Clowminzer on drums and vocals.

Per his website bio, he is mostly interested in “music that makes people dance,” and the tracks definitely do that. Driving dance grooves from the rhythm section on three sets interweave song ideas and feature sounds influenced by electronica, house beat, and fusion jazz while echoing such past icons as Michael Jackson and Sly and the Family Stone. The live presentation is absolutely note perfect, as Tarr’s use of loops and samples and powerhouse vocals sound like a disc that took weeks to put together.

“Why Don’t You Wait” starts with a guitar hook, evolving into verses that climb from calm to big crescendos as backing singers and a bass drum pulse take it to another level. On “Amnesia,” the propulsive beat is still there, but now Tarr is rifling through lyrics about a betraying lover: “You burned my heart a billion ways/ It’s all loose ends and nothing’s true.” Nice choppy rhythm guitar work by Matt Clowminzer helps propel it and Tarr’s singing soars. The music continues with no interruption through “Learn 2 Burn,” which injects matters with some funk flavor and hot sax soloing. “Sky High” is the disc highlight, with another great vocal and sharp looped horns that recall those on old Stax soul anthems. “I’ve got a full-time horn section in my head,” Tarr sings in “This City,” and the big sound includes more nice sax work. “Move Yourself” leads off another set and includes a cranked-up guitar solo and electronic touches, before Tarr’s DJ intro for “Face the Truth.” On this track, the band takes a sonic detour with some straight-ahead jazz guitar riffs, melded into the pounding house pulse, before more intricate sax lines. “The Loving Fades” works the same groove as much of the rest of the program, but catches the ear with a phase-shifted sax solo break and some dirty, fiery lead guitar.

The closest thing on this album to taking the pedal off the dance floor metal is heard on “Rockets,” as Tarr sings a breakup number over powerful horn charts and a stutter-step rhythm guitar groove. But the boom boom is back for “Stick Your Neck Out,” as he sings “Don’t look so astonished/ This groove is moving, I’m getting’ on it/ It’s criminal but let them lock it up/ They took your wallet and phone with your numbers on it.”

There is much to enjoy on The Jonny Tarr Quintet Live at Studio West, especially for fans of dance music.

APPRECIATING EACH OTHER: JONNY TARR’S ‘IF I DIDN’T NEED YOU’ (FT. LICHA) IS A TRUE LOVE STORY TO CALM THE MIND

Posted on 20 February 2021

Taken off his latest 11-track album called ‘Tough Stuff‘, Jonny Tarr impresses with his wide range of incredible skills on ‘If I Didn’t Need You‘ (ft. Licha).

Jonny Tarr is a multi-talented Wales-born, Southern California-based singer-songwriter, Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts graduate, saxophone player and more. Here is a man that can loop sax, guitar, keyboard, flute, harmony, and beat-box tracks to fuse a song together like a true master.

A true musician, he can’t wait until covid is over so he can play with his band again and thrill audiences with his array of mind-blowing music experiences.

This is the story of how you so deeply appreciate her as you need her so much to provide support and by just being there, she has done more than most. When nobody else gave you a shot, she did and you care about her so much due to her sweet nature and authenticity. The kind and true genuine energy in this song between the two singers, is a touching reminder that love can be simple if you want it to be.

With vibrant vocals that are never over the top, this is a peaceful song full of hope and appreciation between two humans that just want things to be as they are and never change.

‘If I Didn’t Need You‘ (ft. Licha) from the supremely skilled music maestro Jonny Tarr is a magnitude of sounds and layers that consume your mind when you listen closely, and you know really early that this is truly special.

With a world that feels like it is breaking sometimes, this is a welcome reminder of true love that conquers all.

Stream this excellent new single on Spotify and see what he gets up to when gigs come back on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen for AnR Factory

You can check out the song here: https://open.spotify.com/track/2oFpMTb3fJlwKRWvZY69ra...