The Multi-Genre Sax Sounds of Michael J. Thomas

hey it's your girl Allison Williams hey this is Deon Howard hi this is hi this is Cindy my hi this is Tony walk hey what's good y'all this is Daran Dean hey everybody this is the queen of Philadelphia tangay haward hey everybody this is y hi this is Mason hey everybody this is Russell Taylor hey guys what's up this is n hey this is Kenny Allen what's up everybody this is sesal hey this is Cory day hey this is your girl castella hey everybody this is Rebecca J hey everyone this is Hill Street Soul what's up what's up good people this is Basis Uber the fourth this is Melvin Lee Davis yo what second this is Noel hey this is your girl lady Alma and you're listening to my friend Troy Sanders on the bass entertainment podcast hey y'all welcome back to another episode of bass entertainment podcast like my girl lady Alma says this is Troy Saunders and in case you're just tuning in and you know haven't realized that we have been on for um 3 years what we do here is we bring you the best in Indie Soul Jazz R&B house and inspirational music you know anything that makes you feel good anything that makes you want to tap your feet makes you smile makes you want to love on one another that's what we do up in here it's all about the love it's all about the love and um we are listen to all over the world world thank God to the internet you know you know when I first thought as Whoever thought that you know we would be listening to in 52 53 um countries but we are and it's it's shocking and it's Pleasant and it's surprising and it's uh love I just love it so yeah to all the people listening in other countries thank you thank you thank you and I hope you're enjoying it also if you want to check us out on YouTube we have the latest videos of um Indie artist um there I think I almost have like 200 videos on there so you can press press um Shuffle and just let them go on and and let the videos rotate um we also have um all the episodes are being put up there they should be up there shortly I mean I see them on my feet but I don't think um the manager that's handling has put them out to everybody yet but I know they're there in the background so soon they will be put to the Forefront where everybody can see it so you can also check out the the um episodes on YouTube um it just be the audio you know we don't do the video yet but it'll be some nice pictures to go with [Laughter] it so uh you can check it out there as well as our website www bass entertainment that's Bas entertainment.com and um you know we talked before about what bass stands for I mean I don't say it on every episode but I'm I would tell you this episode this episode episode back in like 2008 2009 is when I started u bass entertainment and it was originally called banging ass artist you know and um I like the name and a lot of artists liked it you know and we came from back in the day you know when we were younger we said oh that was banging oh that song was banging so that's why we came with banging ass artist but when I went to a certain bank to open account they said that that name is t risque so I guess T risque for 19 2008 but uh what people say nowadays is like compared to that but anyway enough about all this I want to I want to tell you about who we have on here today today we have Mr Michael J Thomas with us today yeah yes and this brother has been hitting number one on Billboard twice he's been number two on Billboard and um his m music is just insane I just love it and you know I'm going to play some stuff on I'm gonna play different songs from and I want to you know I'm even G to play an obscure track or two because um not only can a man play the Sachs he can sing too you know so one of the tracks that I really love by him I'm going to play and where he singing on it it kind of give you like a Kenny loggin feel you know so um before we get get to that I want to play um baby coffee now baby coffee is off his album from 2017 driven and it went to number one on the billboard chart so hey we got to hit it off hard you we got to start it right with the songs that you know made him a a upand cominging legend so here we go we're gonna play driven Ian know baby coffee all right check this out [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] now you you know I like to play the whole thing but um I'm only going to give you a little snippet cuz I want you to go and support it if you like what you're hearing I want you to go on over there and purchase it I want you to download I want you to subscribe I want you to share it so um in order to do that I don't want to play the whole thing I want you to you know leave you eagerly waiting for more so um I'm not going to wait wait any longer I'm going to introduce to you all the incredible the incomparable Mr Michael J Thomas hey what's up everybody T thanks for having me on this podcast man it's my pleasure man I didn't know what bass stood for until tonight [Laughter] yeah you know you know my mother was looking at me with a side eye when I said that one too you're like well you GNA name it what well it's funny you know my last uh Mentor my anr man that I worked with uh Carl Griffin he's he's from the old school days man he was he was at grp records and uh he remembers back back in the Heyday of everything you know man then you those guys could play could throw down you know yeah yeah so yeah so they would say banging yeah oh yeah we go further back we probably get to that later on but you he goes further back than that I mean he was in mtown before he was at grp so wow and and he he worked with you in a couple of songs also like um uh what song was we what did I have on here that we was I was going to bring that up um probably probably sip in the yak sip in the yak yeah yeah we worked on the couple couple my last two EPS together yeah yeah we we had a lot of time good times man great times I got to learn a lot well I'm sure like you said you talking about grp and then going back to mtown you know yeah those were the days I mean I was just a baby myself you play man we' go to uh we go to record in Atlanta so we work with my buddy traml Starks as a music producer up there and we go up there we there for both both EPs and he would play me music like he played music from Marvin Gay that's not even released stuff that he doing like cing music like Frank Sinatra full Orchestra behind him and everything you know it's crazy it's crazy when you hear that stuff you know yeah I love I love being educated like that that shoot that's why I do this podcast you I like to get educated and hopefully I'm educating somebody else yeah you know I mean he play he play David David sanborn's big inspiration you know the guy that played with Ray Charles that was I think was I think his name was Hank uh I can't think of his last name right now but i' have to Google him but man that you I heard him play as soon as I heard him play I was oh my God it's sandborn and that's who sandborn used to listen to you know I educate me on stuff like that you know wow see it's good to get that knowledge yeah so tell me now right now you in Florida right yeah I've been here a long time what pretty much my pretty much my adult life I've been here what what made you well originally from Kentucky yeah originally from Kentucky so um there was a a blind pianist up there was super famous and he had a record dual with RCA records everybody knew him he he played with everybody he recorded with Al Green he worked with I Cantina Turner Ohio Players P Bill all these people anyway I was a young kid like um 17 18 years old and we started he kind of took me under his wing we started working together we worked together for a couple years and then he he wanted to be close to his mother that lived in dtin Florida uh at the time and so I brought brought him down with the intention of vacationing for two weeks and then going back home to Kentucky but that's not what happened I I stayed I never went home you just enjoyed it that much huh yeah I just stayed we started playing playing gigs down here and everything and then just just one things just fell in place and I've been here ever since and I go home to visit of course but you know yeah how did your parents feel about that initially yeah mom doesn't U bother me too much about about it now you know quite a bit older now but yeah for years it's all here when you coming home when you coming home so how does she feel now that you are number one on Billboard and you doing what you doing yeah I guess you know they proud you know you know she said well you you can stay there you you you working it out you working out it's all right y so we I remember we had a conversation also we talked about you know Marin and stuff like that and we talked about influences now since you are do a vocalist as well as a saxophone player do you play any other instruments no not professionally I I I write on piano but but uh I'm not yeah you know I'm not gonna play it for you I'll be like I kind of bang around find the you know the the chord structure and things that I like and then I and then I give it to somebody that's you know a producer that can actually do something with it because yeah I'm not a piano player but did you did you teach yourself to sex um no I started um so so so it's kind of funny I actually started piano lessons when I was around six or seven years old and uh but again I was never proficient at it just something something mom made me do you know uh didn't take music serious until years later and in fact I wasn't even going to play saxophone I was supposed to be a a play percussion like you know I want to be a drummer and um that's just what just well and Rhythm so so that's what I was going to do and I and we went to like this uh parent teacher conference type situation where you you looked at got to see all the different instruments and everything and then I was like where's the drum set you know and it was all these different percussion instruments and I was like and I saw the saxophone on a table I didn't know what I didn't know what a saxophone was you know I'm like sixth grade getting ready to go into seventh grade and I was like that looks cool I want to play that and just by accident that's how became a saxophone player yeah he said it's shiny and he's got a lot of buttons on it what what's this thing do so did you ever decide did you ever go back and play the drums or you know try to pick it no my my sister did for a while yeah she she did she we had a drum set at the house and she took lessons but I I never did no so she was trying to she was gonna be the next sh e yeah she thought she thought so so how did you um in Dustin um from playing around did you say finally hey you know what let me put this on vinyl did you write all the songs yourself or um did you collaborate um yeah a lot of the songs are Co co-written or or written by myself you know and some and I forget over the years and I actually have to look at the credits myself sometimes CU I forget who I wrote this song with or you know that kind of thing you know my last my last record I did um uh like I co-wrote a song with Mesa um um there was couple covers on there and then yeah it's hard to remember it's hard to keep all that stuff straight you know mesa's my girl I love Mesa oh man she's incredible yeah she we did a Christmas song together and she just yeah she she crushed it yes yeah I remember that I remember that song so uh yeah please you you can't say nothing negative about Mesa she's just like they say a a natur uh a National Treasure as far as I yeah she's she's a sweetheart too man she's so easy to get along with yes she is you know I I met Mesa let me see oh my God 1998 oh wow is when I first uh met her I used to have a shakan website and she used to be on there oh on the chat room talking I'm like wait a second is this I said Mesa there the only one Mesa I know in the planet and are you the Mesa from Incognito you know deep Waters makeup Mesa that she was like yeah baby that's me I I remember I remember covering deep Waters man I was playing with some people we were covering that song I had no idea I'd ever meet the singer okay so when she was on the website I was like what she said baby I'm going to be in New York uh I'm still living in New York in New York at the time me and blue we going to be in New York at U such such a place with as in the shade why don't you come on down to the show I said is it f shade waterproof I'm there yeah so and you know i' we've been friends ever since so I just love her she heart is so big and she is just so sweet so I know you know that Christmas song I I've heard the Christmas song that y'all done and it's it's incredible yeah yeah that was that was nice so let's get let's get to the first album which is called drip mhm you had some success off of that H that was say that was first yeah this the first uh one I had my first number one hit off of that record yeah oh yeah that comes in with the song that I'm talking about I want to play Say Goodbye you play Baby coffee you played Baby coffee yeah you did that one yeah but when I wanted to play because when I introduced you I said the man can sing also and it's giving you like a Kenny loggin fil so the song that I want to play off of that is Say Goodbye Oh my gosh I don't even remember that one that's a deep cut yeah it is a deep cut I want play it because I don't even remember it oh my God man well I'm gonna I'm G to refresh your memory okay okay check this out y'all this is off the first album driven and it's called um say goodbye [Music] the moment I met her I knew that I car for her it's silly and I don't know why I can't go without her seems that I want her and I need her in my life I wanted to be her one true love but she didn't understand me so I guess it's real this time I say goodbye [Music] [Applause] [Music] the moment I saw her I wanted to know her be a part of her world I wanted to hold her comfort her miss her when she's not around there's something about that makes me feel if I never saw her again it would be cry shame to say goodbye all right did that refresh did that refresh your memory any bit oh my God I forgot that existed I haven't listened to any of that since so long oh my God that's wild man I'm sitting there looking at I've got the cuz I've got the record hanging on the wall right now I can't see the song titles okay never mind that's wild yeah you know that I'm sure I'm sure there's a bunch I'm sure stuff like that you know on on older stuff I have just just haven't I haven't listened to that stuff in a long time you know I know it's almost like the same thing when you do the podcast it's like all right once it's done do you go back and relisten to it not really yeah no yeah it's kind of like yeah you know once you record especially in you're in studio because you you hear it over and over and over again because you're trying to mix it and everything after you're finally finished with the songs um I don't want to listen to it I get I get worn out on it and then like you know couple years have passed and this happened recently I listened to um I had a track on the last record U called the OG bounce and uh I just randomly I don't if I my computer up or something I don't know but I heard it and I went man that's good I was like that's actually that's actually good but I wore myself out on it for so long I didn't want to listen to it you know but that's one of the songs I was going to play also okay OG bounds you know since I'm considered OG I don't feel like OG but uh when I go out yo what up OG that's what we call that's what everybody calls Carl so that's where the name came from yeah well he owed it to be so okay so I G wear that title then hi this is you're listening to my friend Troy on the best entertainment podcast what what you working on next I mean 220 it was 2022 the last one is we in 2024 I know it's crazy it's I can't believe that much time has passed um yeah got a couple new songs I'm writing and uh I think what I'm going to try to do is the the I'd like to put another single out is what I want to do I don't want to I don't want to do a full project um um so I've got I've got one that um probably if I can get it done in time I'd like to put it out by like August and um and I also want to do something unique with it that uh I want to do a you know contemporary jazz version of it but I also want to do an electronic dance version of it I've met a guy that a DJ that does that and he does it for Sony records and I think it'd be kind of cool to you know kind of see what we could do with that you know I'm here for that cross over into another genre you know yeah I'm here that just for fun I like that I like that I like that idea yeah yeah it's real popular right now I got I got hired to do a private event uh for uh for a doctor they go to Miami a lot and uh he he said he said I got this DJ and this how I met this DJ he say I got this DJ does electronic dance music stuff and uh say you ever you ever played along with a DJ and I said no but I mean it's easy yeah just show up with my saxophone and play you know and he said it's huge like they do like these these brunches and stuff in Miami with a saxophone player with a DJ so it's kind of like a it's kind of a trend that's happening right now you know so I was like I was like that sounds kind of fun okay yeah that is a good idea I can't wait to hear it now yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah do it do it do it and when and when you do you know let let me hear it okay yeah yeah definitely let me hear it let me hear it now earlier I mean you know a couple of weeks ago when we were chatting we we talk about influences and stuff like that um who are some of you I mean like like we always say there's so many people that we are influenced sometimes directly and indirectly yeah um I mean saxophonist wise um you know U some my earliest memories are David sanbor of course you know everybody and you know we just l lost to him recently passed away a few weeks ago um but yeah he's he's he was the man I mean I've got his record in here CD that that I got when I was like 15 years old or something you know and I brought it I got to meet him backstage at the sebr Jazz Festival one year and I brought that CD with me and I got him to autograph it that was that was really cool um him um Dave K Warren Hill uh Walter Beasley Walter I've become friends with recently he he's a cool guy and he's he you know he taught at Berkeley in Boston and so I actually before I ever knew him many years ago I bought a uh one of his hit one of his uh teaching DVDs um it was called hip-hop improvisation and because Hip Hop was really really big big which it still is you know obviously but but it the way he was teaching like how to play certain scales and things over you know over just a Groove and everything I still pull it out and play along to it every once in a while it's pretty cool that kind of reminds me of Branford marcelis when he was doing oh wait I got that album man yeah buot laon that's that's one of my favorite CDs yeah I love that and Frank mome was on bck it was in Buck um buck buck leant who oh yeah Frank mccom and his brother um see do was on it um God I can't remember couple of his brothers yeah were on it but that's that's a great record yes yeah of course Grover Washington Jr I mean gosh just some how many so many so many guys you can name you know yeah I know I'm probably leaving out looking over here C candy doer I got into her music later on I remember when she crossed over in the 90s you know for pop and everything yeah she she's bad too she's bad oh yeah she's yeah she's awesome so and and then you have a lot of R&B and soul music was a lot of R&B and sold and Jazz being played in your house or you just picked up on it on your own um so yeah my my parents played when I was kid played vinyl records you know that's what it was in the I was growing up in the early 80s you know and uh they played Stevie Wonder Michael Jackson Prince Tina Marie Ohio Players there's a bunch of stuff like that earthwind in fire you know yeah a lot of that going on and then uh then I was later on uh when I really got into really got in R&B music um big time I love Brian mcnight Maxwell um yeah so I I look cast stuff you know well you got a good ear yeah yeah yeah so so it's kind of it's kind of cool you know because of the influence from from from both genres that's kind of where I gravitate towards this more like you know R&B funk you know that kind of stuff well you know I'm here for it I love all that stuff so I want to play Let's see any more surprises for me let me see that was a I was like what is that well I don't think I have any well I don't have any more surprises I think you know the rest of them but that one I think I I wanted to surprise everybody with that one cuz you know you are you planning on singing some more um I don't know you know maybe you know I I sing on my gig and everything you know a lot U I've got my first billboard head actually was a vocal I don't know if you heard it oh I think about Amy yep yeah did that that was that was was a top 20 that was and I was like that was weird because it was a vocal I was like man I got a billboard hit on vocal before I did saxophone matter fact I do have that on here when we play it oh you sure yeah which which version Oh my God we had so many versions of it let me see I think I think the Paul Brown version is probably my favorite one let see I if you have that one what version do we have here as I was with uh I was with Woodward Avenue records at the time when we did that song and U we got we got a version that's got rap in it this is with Sati music sa yeah I think yeah what it c c you see my you see my Spanish isn't great now when you said it I said oh yeah that's what it is oh the C Mix yeah he was a cool guy he was a he was a producer for for I can't can't remember one one of the major labels well you know since we talked about let's let's get people a little bit of it so this is I think about Amy y'all think about her all the time can't get her out of my mind I think he I can't get her out of my head I think about her all time all the time he is a friend from way back when thoughts of H Dan in my head in my eyes it's hard to disguise the way I look at her she was the first girl that I ever loved oh she was never mind now she's my M that I use to keep my I think about baby yeah I think about her all the time can't get her out of my mind I think bab I can't get her out of my head I think about her all the time all the time yeah that that was back 2014 oh wow man what we talking about 10 years ago yeah wow time flies wow okay it's unreal man and you hit the CH was it must been it was it the um the pop chart I think that and I'm trying to think actually that that version might be 2014 but I think their first version that went on radio was 2011 oh shoot oh yeah ago hey wait you know what that thing had some legs if it was 2011 and 2014 you were still releasing singles on the same song and versatility it was it was funny when it came out uh I had these the these guys from Ireland kept U connect trying to connect with me and they were like they for some reason was like a I don't know a store chain that they were planing in over there and they they were said it was like everybody over here loves this I was like just laughing I thought was the funniest thing I'm like yeah they're probably W walking through our version of Walmart hearing this song they do they want to fly you over have you perform it well they they always were talking about that you know I like you know yeah shoot that would have been a good thing if they flew flew you over there oh that been fun I'd had a bless doing that yeah so yeah but and it also shows your versatility so we we go we were going to go to uh City beat now that's a cool uh that was that was my that was the first song I ever released on radio yeah that's where I got my feet wet and yeah yeah it's my first first one it came off no oh so I re-released that album so so if you look at at the original City beat that came out uh that came out in 2010 and that was the title track of the album and that that yeah that was my very first uh project I tried to do on a national level yeah okay so that explains okay but then it was re-released in 2019 yeah because I had uh I CH had to change the distribution is what it was so so it so they all got changed and we I went ahe I didn't like the original artwork so we redid I redid All That my buddy of mine helped me do that and uh and then so I got a new date on it when it got distributed again oh okay see yeah see I know yeah if you look online you look at the like apple music stuff it looks like it came out I think what 2018 or maybe yeah two 2019 it looked like it came yeah yeah orig the original was uh 2010 so where was I at in 2010 I don't know how do I miss this but like like I said I didn't have a clue what I was doing like I mean I had the music but I didn't know as far as like getting it out there and all that stuff you know I hired I I worked with my first radio promoter that was the first time I ever worked with a radio promoter I I didn't know what I was doing so so I had to get my feet wet somehow you know and kind of start learning that side of the business you know so let me ask you a question what would you tell somebody now that you know this information what would you tell somebody that was trying to get this stuff out there now what would be the steps that they should do in your opinion because mean everybody I think you got to be a you got to be a marketer more than anything like a digital marketer you know um I've been last few years I've been training I've been I've actually been taking classes from people that that teach this for for musicians and um you gota it makes a difference you know I've been running just recently I think it's probably how you discovered me recently like because I was I was I'm running these ad campaigns I've I've gained just in the last uh two two two and a half months about about 9,000 new followers and um so it it's it's you got to have great music to start with but if you can't get it in front of people then no one hears it you know right there's actually they they teach about this too there's you don't want to you don't ever want to like do a boosted right I I don't do yeah there's there's other ways to go around it there's there's little little tricks and stuff behind the scenes you know to be able to train the algorithm so to say okay yeah so now I got to pick your brain when we get off it's it's a lot it's it'll overwhelm you so much so much information you know but shoot is some information I need to know yeah and I'm trying to I'm trying to get it to a point now where um one I can gain you new followers because although I've had some number ones uh on the on the radio it's it's still hard to get uh you know to get to to get those fans because that's there's not a a return path so to say directly off of radio airplan and things like that like you know somebody somebody finds your music on Spotify and you know you may have thousands of followers or whatever but but there's not a there's not a return path that you can uh you can go oh these are my people I can I can email them there's you can't do that you don't know who these people are you you just see the metrics but you don't have any way of actually getting them into your world so right so this is this is you know being able to kind of control that and get get people direct connection with fans you know what I try to do is what I have is like you know on my web page I have a thing that pops up for people to sign up uhhuh yeah and therefore then it goes to my constant contact yeah yeah yeah and you know and then having having a yeah having a good CRM you know to be able to reach you know reach out to these people you it's great that's I mean that's how I've been you know doing it and and it's been working I mean I noticed that a whole lot of people have been signing on from the website so yeah but um any anyway we talk about City beat got we got off on this marketing thing yeah but you know what what I what I always say on every um podcast episode is that it's good to Bear off because you know usually we you know the conversation kind of stays the same for the most part oh where you from you know what you know what's your songs how do you we influ everybody ask those questions but when we talk about other stuff like veing off into the marketing portion of it or uh when I was spoken speaking to um Rona Benet we were talking about um um um um therapy and reaching out to people so I mean these things also make people say hey it's more to this person than just singing you know they have other things going on yeah and it makes them feel like they you know are more a part of or they know you better should I say right right right so I I think it's better it's good to ve off on these little tangents yeah I thing and the thing I love about what I'm doing now with the marketing is I'm getting a direct relationship to my fans now you know it's there's you know I you know they can they send me a message it's me responding you know they they'll get an auto they might get an automation it just says them automation hey this is an automation I'll I do check my messages I will get back to you as soon as I can type of thing and then I have automations that actually will send them other information that they request to you know things like that you know but it's but it but you get it especially these days you know because it it's it's getting to be a tougher and tougher business all the time in the digital world you know with what's going on with everything MH it's it's hard to monetize music you know it's it's hard so so having those those uh direct relationships are are going to be very important moving forward one thing I have noticed on on your website and on um Spotify you have links to where people can purchase your music directly which I like and I see the little package the the bundle I got to go get the bundle cuz I'm a I'm a album fan so you know you got the um the first one on the album and the other two CDs I was like wait say I had to get that bundle yeah yeah and it's only $70 and if you went to album buyself it's only $25 you can't beat that y'all yeah vinyl record man that was like my since I grew we were talking about that earlier I grew up listening to vinyl records my parents it was a nostalgic thing for me I was like I gotta gotta do one one record one vinyl record so I did yeah I'm gonna go purchase one I'm G do the whole bundle so matter of fact I'm going to play some more music and then I want to tell the people you know where they can go to you know purchase the bundle or purchase the CDs and which CDs they can purchase and um hey let's get let's get some Revenue going up in here so hey this is City be y'all because we talked about it we went off on the tangent but now we coming back around so uh City beat it's also the title song of the album City beat which originally came out of 2010 but you see it online it's 2019 I'm just giving you a recap and um but it really came out in 2010 and um check it out this is City B [Music] m n [Music] oh [Music] [Music] yeah that was feeling good I didn't even want to fade [Music] [Laughter] it I didn't want to fade that yeah my favorite part of that song was coming up oh see the B player man see I tell you I didn't want have faded I give the bass player some on it he's like yeah my friend Eric man he's oh he's a bad boy yeah he's playing some slap Bas B slap Bas solo so see I really I really left you hungry now see so now you got to go buy the CD y'all I think it's what $15 I think so yeah so yeah I'm GNA double check it right now hold on yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah y'all can't beat that y y'all can get the first CD driven you can get um streaming love you can get outside um the the EP outside the door and of course you can get city city beat or $15 and that first one driven you can get on CD and you can get a signed vinyl record $25 or you can get everything yo what I love is I like the bundle you get the album of driven you get the CD of driven you get streaming love which read get to anything off that album yet but we will um on CD and City beat on CD that's the one y'all you can't beat that you're getting four one two three four um um three CDs and one vinyl for $70 hey I'm on it y'all better jump on it too you'all better go on over to Michael J thomas.net and get it it's it's underneath the physical albums you know go to the store and then go to physical albums and um get your get your music life on and if you on Spotify is on there too he has a store link on there I haven't checked all the um all the uh music platforms to see where if it's on everything but I know it's on Spotify and I know it's on his um personal page so check it out right yeah is it on is it on them also no I think Spotify is the only one that links out to to merch okay they they have a partnership with Shopify so that's I'm use Shopify as my store yeah pretty cool Co yeah you just because my Shopify syncs to it I just hit a button and it and I and then I can control what I want it what I want like the Fe feature on there too what's up what's up good people this is Basis Huber EES I 4th and I'm chilling with my man Troy at Bass entertainment to T in and stay safe I like them I might have to switch over to Shopify pretty cool it's pretty cool man it's a learning curve I man it took me a while to learn it but uh yeah it's hard to we call it TX stack you know getting your TX stack right is hard and then things change sometimes too like man my favorite um digital service um I don't know you call it like they have like landing pages you know for like for all your dsps so like if I wanted to send you a link to uh hey go this is this is everything I have you can get on Apple music Spotify iTunes whatever you want YouTube I send you that link and it's so it's a landing page and you can hit whichever DSP provider you want to go to to you know depending on what you like your preference um you can even do it by per song it's such a great service I've been using the free version for so long it's called company called song weip and I love them they're so they're so great man you just go to your website and you punch in your name or your your song title and it creates a link generates a link for you it looks looks clean it's nice so I went I upgraded to the paid service recently because you're a little more things you can do with it six bucks a month Got a notification they're go they're shutting it down next month I don't hey how do I buy it how do I buy this company in business I wish you know don't don't go away man there's a lot art lot of artists use that service you know so like okay now I got to rebuild this thing somewhere else you know but you know you get your Tex stack the way you want it and then it's always evolving you know things are always being CH are always changing and and you really have to know because you know very few of them have customer service yeah yeah yeah that's true you know you can't call anybody and say you know how does this work there's a problem here yo you gotta go to YouTube and watch a video or something I spent yeah I burned up a lot of time having to go you know look up uh DIY videos on this stuff sometimes it's crazy and then if I find the right one I saved the link I copy it and I put it in my notepad CUA it's but yeah I mean the what what you what you have to go through to get your stuff out there but the good thing about it like we like we say on um in several podcast episodes it's like at least now you have the control of it though yeah you know nobody can tell you hey I don't want I don't like that you can't put that out I'm putting it on the Shelf because the company don't think that's right but if you want to put it out all you got to do is press a button and you know put it out there yeah yeah there there are some there are some advantages to you know to to this there there's there's there's there's good and bad you know yeah definitely definitely definitely I mean I gu the main bad thing is that you're not able to um it's harder to reach the people that you want to reach without having that backing of a major you know record label and stuff like that I mean but as for you know it's hard getting that it's hard getting Critical Mass Appeal you know like like you have to you really have to work on it you know U but you know so that's why I'm really working hard on doing the the direct fan relationship you know to to have people that are they're your fans you know you're not have to depend on somebody else to get get them for you right right you know and it's working like I said you got [Laughter] me so then know and and um another song on there but I'm not going to play it though because we'll be here forever day playing all the songs I like because you know I was writing them down I said you know what there's too many songs mind your step I like that too oh my God okay that's a good one man that's that's uh the off that record the city beat album that's the musicians that's our favorite one we all love it yeah Eric used to we we were recording it and he he came up with that Baseline and and he says yeah it sounds sneaky oh man what the hell we gonna play it that's that's that that's my that's one of my favorite my favorite songs that we've ever recorded yeah I like this song too that's why said this one of my favorites like it's so diff it's so different they would never play it on the radio it's too heavy but uh but it's it's it's it's music it's like Musicians music you know I guess I must be a musician because that's one of my favorites too I said hey this is the song right here this is mind your step y'all check this out for all the musicians in the house [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] he [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] yeah I I can't understand you know radio kills me sometimes I'm like good music is good music yeah you know why should it be you know if it has a little scratch in it or a little hip hop or it's a little too funky you can't play it why not that's why I need my own station that's kind that's kind of that's kind of the problem I have with with radio right now is and there's there there are some there's some people that play some really great music but um I feel like I know you don't want to say it but I got you yeah I don't want to say it but I feel like if you don't fit in a certain box they they shun it and you know back in the day this music was you know it was it was meant to be listened to it wasn't meant to be background music you know um these artists that I grew up listening to man it's this music you listen to you know it's not you know you can jam to whatever you know but it's it's not supposed to be like okay let's not be obtrusive everything's got to be right here the whole everything's got to be like flat you know like yes so like I mean when I say the song like that would have never got played on the radio and it's a shame because it because because you like it I'm sure there would been a lot of people that would like that song actually when I've performed that that song at my live shows people love it you know so um there's there's that but I won't I won't I had to refrain from saying too I know cuz somebody like uh well X day on him he won't be coming back on me yeah yeah I know there's some there's some guys out there that'll take risk and they'll they'll play they'll play some stuff um yeah I wish I wish um I had the coins to have my own radio station it would be bad yeah yeah I've got a name for one B ass I say when you said the name of your podcast I was like okay I think he I think he's on to something I think he knows he's got the same mindset that I am about about this you know go wbaa I need s off for that one I only added the S cuz um it sounded better than ba so I put the SS artist made it plural uhhuh you know even the artist is p with or without the S but uh yeah that's what you know it's why it's why I'm like a little hesitant now like I'm I'm worried like um you know I I got a song that I know is a hit but I have to be careful how I produce it I have to produce it in such a way that it will get airplan and that's and that's what I don't like about it right now it it shouldn't I should be able to produce it however I think it should sound for the end listener to listen to it that's that's how I feel about it I shouldn't have to write music for a programming director why don't you do why don't you do two versions yeah yeah two two versions there we go all right here's here's for the listeners here's for you you know the alternative take right and then you have the radio clip yeah you know so anyway uh we we was talking about City beat and um that was in what uh mind your step yeah yeah my that was on that was on City be yeah yep yep and then we came in um streaming love the EP yeah that that's and on that you had the number one um I'll Never Love Again and um oh yeah I forgot yeah yeah almost had two number ones off there didn't I right I forgot oh I'll tell you the I'll Never Love Again um Carl brought that song to me uh he had just watched stars born and you the Lady Gaga film and um he said man he said Michael there's a song in in this movie at the end he says I was like crying he like tears you know tears running down my face he's like and I say I thought man he said you playing soprano sax on that you and traml putting something together on that would be killer traml does his he does his big orchestrations and stuff so I called traml up and uh he was like yeah let's do it I mean so he I mean knocked it out of the park you know and um and that's that's it did real it did extremely well and and usually ballads don't do very well in this format at all and so we were very shocked well you know I think a lot of people can relate to it yeah yeah but I think because of the popularity of the movie you know um so I've actually got a I've got the score on my wall That's autographed by Natalie heny she was one of the songwriters and she's a she's a friend of Carl's and uh I came home and it was sitting on my desk uh one Christmas couple few Christmases ago and and uh that's pretty cool that is cool yeah well you know we we might as to play that right yeah why not that's a nice one that's that's a pretty that's a pretty song that one turned out really really well yes it did this is I I'll Never Love Again y'all and this is off um streaming love hey aptly named and this song fits right into that format so check this out [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] h n [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] yeah you know that kind of reminds me of um something that uh Kenny G would have done you right yeah yeah it's big big huge production it's a nice song when those musicians man this those guys that I work with in Atlanta they're just amazing man uh there's a there's a nylon string guitar solo on there and that guy's just he's incredible can do anything so like I said y'all if youall like what you're hearing if you love The Music um Mr Michael J Thomas is showing his versatility he can give you anything he G you a little vocal he you a little Funk he give you a little orchestration you know it just doesn't get any better than this y so if you love what you're hearing please support support support and not only support share tell some people about it you know well let's get the word out that you know good music is still out there there's still a lot of good music sometime it's so much good music I don't even way to begin to listen you know I go through all these little um I get all these little hits new music for you and people sending me music and and sometime I like oh my God some I don't have time to listen to all of it it's insane so but it it is a lot of good music out there it's just not being you know brought to the Forefront so that's why I do this podcast to you know to highlight this type of music and bring it to the masses well at least the people that listen to me I'm not I'm not sure I haven't met uh I I wouldn't consider myself the masses yet but um I'm working on [Laughter] it but that's just beautiful I I love that song so I'm that definitely was on my list to play oh nice nice nice I'm glad you I'm glad you bought it yeah we're proud of that one it turned out really nice it it it's funny and and I knew I knew right away I was like tramell's gonna nail this man he's gonna he's gonna do that string AR the string arrangements and all that like yeah yeah yeah it came out it came out excellent it came out excellent it's funny when I when I do these podcast for some reason I guess I have a a decent air because most of the songs that I pick out as artist like that's a song that's my favorite song too I love that song too yeah I haven't heard that song that's one my so I mean we must be I must be in cahoot some kind of way I must be on the on right track with picking out the good music so um I and I love it I remember uh Rona Bennett was on last week and she we were talking about the last invogue album because you know she's part of invogue and I said she said my favorite song I I see I one if you can guess it I said let me see well my favorite song is um what's it called Ocean Ocean Oceans I can't remember the whole name oceans I can't think of it's ocean something she yeah that's the song she nobody else guessed that song I'm like I don't know I just it just talked to me and I figured that' be the same song you talking about she said that's the what so I said well we got to play it I actually saw in Vogue at the Grammy's um the Grammy Afterparty at last time I went in two this was 2019 and we my wife was my uh girlfriend then but she became my fiance that night proposed her at the grammy after party oh that that was special night it it was so cool was invogue and TLC they did they were ining the they were the Afterparty band wow how cool is that that is cool it was so much fun man they were they were great I haven't been so I saw her but I didn't know her you know so I didn't I don't go you know but she is she's such a sweet woman I mean matter of fact she she hit me up today cuz somebody sent us something on CU she know I love Shaka and I said oh thank you so much for thinking about she said I saw this and I just thought about you she I said well to be thought of to be thought about by you is an honor so thank you that's you you know so uh yeah I I I'm I'm enjoying this doing this I'm enjoying meeting new people I'm enjoying the relationships that I'm I'm forming and maybe next year I'll be at the gramy with you cuz um I guess they they should be um um voting on the new members now so yeah yeah so I'm my name my hat is in the bucket did you guys say you get your name in yeah we can recommend up to two candidates a year yeah they they yeah yes so I've been recommended by the Philadelphia chapter president oh cool right on so let's see yeah let's see it's fun it's it's fun I've been I've been twice yeah I I haven't went I used to do um I haven't went to the ceremonies but what I used to do is um a good friend of mine is um ly and when she got nominated when she first got nominated I would th Afterparty in Los Angeles so man so I won't be at the show but after the show people would come to the house LED would come to the house and she would tell oh so you coming you coming coming we will always have Afterparty at uh Airbnb or something that I rent out there yeah that's awesome yeah and we did that for like three years we did that so I wasn't at the Grammys but I was in the vicinity but I did go to one of the parties um um Victor dupl okay he used to have a a Grammy party and I think I went to that one also okay yeah not Clive Davis's party [Music] no couldn't even imagine you know not yet not yet yeah I just I just went I yeah I didn't think it invited to any of the parties I just went to the the official Grammy one they always had but both times I went it was fun it was great they had col gang was was there the first year that's cool too yeah yeah that was really cool they were they were great yeah you think about the transformation of cool in the game how they first came out and it was such a big band with all the horns and everything like that Jungle Boogie and all that type of stuff yeah and then um James U Taylor came in and U JT and the format change but they kept you know they kept putting out them hits you know it's amazing how many hits they've had yeah crazy yeah it was another group I listen to Growing Up parents had that wore it out me too actually reminds me of a story uh I don't think I've ever shared the story public but publicly but the song the song Jungle Boogie so I so my mom I was a kid I could I got into my mom's bell bottoms I could put my mom's pants on bell bottoms man and I would turn i' crank the stereo system up and i' come out and doing my disco thing whatever the jugle Boogie the jungle bu yeah that was a song jungle oh yeah they they were so funky man Funk yeah funky so uh yeah shout out to cool in the gang love yall love you love you love you some hand claps on the cool in the gang hey this is stick bones that grooving moving drummer and you're listening to my man Troy Saunders right here on the entertainment podcast salute so yeah so yeah we we uh that song I'll Never Love Again you know was the number one hit on Billboard and then sipping the yak which is which if you listen to my promos this is a song that I use for um saying that Michael J Tom um Thomas is going to be on the podcast I use siping the Y y you know yeah and we all know what Yak is well for me I knew conak well yes it's the ladies man here go have some kassier for the ladies you remember that guy on SNL oh the ladies man yeah he so here's how this this came about uh so I had written the main part of the song and everything and I'd send it to traml to start producing it and he sends he starts sending me back the it's kind of sketches of it you know I'm listening to these tracks and and he was like man this is this is great man I said what what were you what were you doing in the studio he said well yeah it's drinking some caras while I was working on this and I was like really I said well I said man there's a song title in there somewhere and I went to Carl and I told him about yeah tramble says he's working on this song and he was and he was sipping on corvas in the studio and he goes he goes you know when I was when I was young they called it yak and I was like ah okay so anyway that's what it evolved into from that that whole story yeah let's play sip in the Y in case you haven't heard it went on my promos it's it's a bad Jam that's why I use it because um you know it's funky it's it's Jazzy it's so full it's like a a a a mixture of a lot of different things here and this song even though it had that kind of like to me it has a little Funk feel to it um it still made it to Bill booy yeah uh peaked at number two yeah it was so close it's like it stayed in the top five for like seven weeks straight and we just could not get it to go to number one it went down a little bit then go back up to number two just could not get it there well shoot number two is a great feat too yeah that's still good though yeah it's still good and it hung out for a while too so it didn't just you know PE it's actually it's actually my most popular song on Spotify yeah so yeah check this out this is the n the number one song in Spotify number two song in billboard and just a bad song it's called siping the yak [Music] [Laughter] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] yeah you know what the great followup to that song would be OG OG bounce the way you think yeah it's good programming yeah you know still kind kind of GrooVe like that you know you know that's and the titles you know like you said back in our day we used to call it the yak only the OG would say something like that that's true yeah that's that's him OG so that brings you up to 2022 outside the door with OG um um bounce and should we just go on and play it or you got something to say and uh reference to that one we talked about it earlier the horn the horn section stuff on this is awesome you're gonna love this yeah guys out of Nashville so oh so we just going to go on and play it here we go OG bounce usually we talk a little more in between the songs oh I didn't cut my own self off usually we talk more in between the songs but we just going to let this one roll and uh we going to bring it up to uh 2022 with u OG bouns check this out y'all [Music] oh [Music] [Music] he [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah mhm yeah that's bad like you said them horns ain't playing they are not playing love it that's the uh that's the smoking section out of Nashville you ever heard of those guys no oh man they're they're great man they yeah they um they do this if you go on YouTube and look up the smoking section they take they take like pop songs and they turn them into like these these horn section stuff with I mean they got full band around them and they're I mean they're they're just great man I tell so they got a they got a Taylor Swift song on there from from back in the day that they did their own arrangement of and uh I was just like I was blown away I was like it doesn't even sound like the or it's like the melody though is like it's incredible you know wow uh and I just took I wrote some of those horn lines and I sent I sent the the band leader I think name's Mark I sent him the ideas and I said it's kind of what I'm toying with you know and see but but I gave him the autonomy to do whatever he wanted to and they sent me back all kinds of all kinds of ideas plus the stuff I'd sent him and we just we just cut sliced and dice whatever whatever we wanted to keep you know whatever what we didn't want we just got rid of you know so that's kind of how that's how we approached it and it just it turned out I love it because I love horn section stuff I just I I wish there was more of that you know I agree my my my dream is uh my my dream was to be able to do shows with a full horn section that you know I I used to play the trumpet you you used to play what a trumpet oh no way right really it's down in the basement collecting dust now though oh man I know I need to pick it back knock the dust off of it and get my lip back I try to blow it now my lip gets numb yeah it take it'll take a little while to to get that back I'm sure you know but yeah I love yeah I love trumpet play like trumpet players are just guys are blown screeching his high notes it was somebody I was I just I love that sound you know me too I don't know I might be too old to get picked back up again now especially lips I don't think so never too old hey this is your girl castella and I am listening to my friend Troy on the bass entertainment podcast you got some shows coming up I have I have a res I have a residency right yeah that I do at Rose Chris Steak House I do that Wednesday through Saturday Okay in uh yeah in Dustin Florida yeah I'm working on uh doing more shows again that's that's my that was my goal this year I was like yeah you know I haven't been doing the show thing so I want to get back into it but on the eth you can go on up to uh uh if you in Dustin Florida and you want a good piece of steak and hear some good music go on and check out Michael that's it you know I you might need a reservation okay so yeah check them out check them out um so what else we we talked about that you're working on a single that's going to come out hopefully in August yeah and um hopefully um if if this is the same song that we were talking about before hopefully we get two versions we get two versions anyway I do right it's going to be a dance version and um I can't wait to hear more stuff that you you're coming out with and tell everybody I mean I already said it already tell everybody where they can um get a copy of the CDs the album he has merchandise he has hats he has t-shirts uh he's a One-Stop shopping uh on his website yeah Mike Michael J thomas.net and how else can everybody meet you uh hang out with you Instagram uh yeah Facebook Instagram I spend most of my time on on Facebook uh pretty much you know uh but yeah Facebook Instagram Tik Tok till they close it down we'll see what happens with all of that I just started Tik Tok like about a month ago maybe a month and a half ago cuz I haven't been on and everybody oh you need to be on Tik Tok I'm like well you know I'm not doing any videos of myself that much you know I mean besides the podcast my my life is just regularly you know what everybody else does right you know oh I'm going I'm on my way to pick up huh it's kind of funny about Tik Tok though it's like um you know I supposed to be on there marketing my music and I do a little bit but but it's uh it hasn't been the ideal spot for for me so much but I get on there and I get I get caught in this whole world watching cat and dog videos monkeys right Penguins or whatever and I got see I saw I saw a turtle skateboarding the other day he was put a skateboard on him and he was messing with the cat yeah I'm like yeah those videos I'm you know I'm not you know I'm up to doing all that so what I what I do is put out a song a day and stuff like that and maybe it catches the thing that got the most hits believe it or not is my uh you know my rest in peace to David Sor s sandborn oh really oh well that has gotten the most hits well and I was and it's still getting hits to this day I like wow yeah but the man is love so you know I mean Legend Man legend legend played for everybody it's like an experience I mean getting to be backstage and having that access you know I was like and he was such a cool guy too was he was funny he it kind of shocked me you know um I always respected him so much and looked up to him and and know he's just amazing musician and you know I thought well I was like he's probably gonna be real serious and he wasn't he was actually was laid back and he was funny he was cracking jokes it was I was back there myy a bear was hanging back there and he and they obviously worked together before CU they were all joking around with each other and stuff it it was really cool and then and then that so so I was like hanging around backstage while his show was going on he'd go back and go back on stage when he was ready to do his thing it was really fun I've never got to meet Dave sour I wish but he's always been one of those people that I just admired and I loved his music and yeah I followed you know when he you know played with so many people like when he was on Shaka albums and stuff like that and I was like this man is just bad I love met and I met Marcus Marcus Miller yeah you know Marcus wrote you know a lot of his big hit songs and everything I met him at in Los Cabos I was playing the jazz festival there couple years ago and I I had to go introduce myself to Marcus Miller you know and he's you know Carl's friends with him too that kind of cracked eyes like that you know brought his name up and everything and so he told me a really fun story about when he wrote Muto and he said he said uh and I know this now from from meeting David couple years before that that he had a sense of humor you know and then he said um he said yeah I said I wrote Muto and he says on the demo I played saxophone and I sent it to David David said David called me he says don't ever play saxophone again leave it to the professionals it was was the funniest thing you know he's messing with him because you know because Marcus does play some woodwind instruments he plays he plays bass clearette on some of his records you know it's kind of was funny though they' been messing with him like that right well Michael I've Legends Legends Legend leg all those guys are legends I saw I saw them on YouTube the other night when David has his show um his late night show and Miles Davis was on there oh yeah oh Miles Davis because Marcus was in his band you know crazy I remember that hey this is Kenny Allen and you're listening to Troy Saunders on the bass entertainment podcast anyway I just want to say thank you thank you thank you for coming on to the podcast yeah thanks for thanks for having me appreciate it man it's been a pleasure man and uh don't don't be a stranger you know come on back come on back all right yeah and I you know what I'm GNA end on is I want to ask you about H having a day oh that's what it is having a day yeah having a day yeah okay so I said what HJ stand for I know it stand for something because it's initials yeah yeah yeah that that was uh KY minucci man yeah I yeah that's him his yeah featured him on that song yeah that's I'm talking about special effects yeah then we got the he invited me to perform with them last year uh when they came to cabb Jazz Festival I I played a couple songs with his band and man that was that was that was sweet it was like opportunity lifetime man was I was I was nervous as hell I know you were but uh but it turned out great and I got some great videos footage of it yeah wow I have you seen those videos no no not what you want it no oh yeah they're on they're on the Facebook they're on YouTube I'm go check him out I'm G check him out but you know what I'm we speaking of special effects and uh all that goodness we gonna play HS our going out of here song Good why not all right so I just want to say thank you again thank you for coming on um thank you everybody for listening you know um on once I said as I said before please go over to Michael's website michaelj thomas.net and um check out all the good stuff he has on there it's a beautiful website and um um get get yourself some CDs get yourself an album get yourself a hat get yourself a t-shirt let's support one another cuz it's needed you know as we always say streaming ain't paying anything so if you can buy a CD if you can buy an album that's better than um a million streams ain't that right right so what he gets paid in one album is is a million streams so probably more than a million streams so yeah go ahead and and support let's support and tell one another about it and if you like this podcast if you like what You' been listening to if you like the music please continue to listen check out other podcast if this is the first one you're listening to at wwwb entertainment.com Bas entertainment.com or on um YouTube YouTube Spotify uh Apple podcast U I think Google podcast is leaving but um Alexa you know Amazon we on everything y'all ihart Pandora you just put in bass ENT entertainment we going to pop up okay so please please support Michael support bass entertainment and let's continue to love one another cuz like Stevie says love is in need of Love Today and but here it is you know 40 something years later and we still singing the same song and feeling the same way so let's you know at least try to love one each other one another more to maybe make the next 10 years a little different you know at least we can hope so isn't that right Michael that's right that's right Stevie's a wise man yes he is so we're GNA go out with uh having a day you know usually that's something negative you know oh Lord I had a day to day but U we going to make it having a having a great day we G make it seem like it's something positive oh I had a day where everything was going right that's right right so until then y'all until then please please um Peace and enjoy m [Music] a [Music] a [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey it's your girl Allison Williams hey this is Deon Howard hi this is hi this is Cindy myel hi this is Tony walk hey what's good y'all this is Daren Dean hey everybody this is the queen of Philadelphia tangay haward hey everybody this is y hi this is Mason hey everybody this is Russell Taylor hey guys what's up this is n hey this is Kenny Allen what's up everybody this is SES hey this is Cy J hey this is your girl castella hey everybody this is Rebecca J hey everyone this is Hill Street Soul what's up what's up good people this is Basis youber used to Fourth this is Melvin Lee daviso second this is Noel Gord hey this is your girl lady Alma and you're listening to my friend Troy Sanders on the bass entertainment podcast