Tom,

You are hilarious! I read somewhere that the band loves movies and videos...and uses them to defeat road fever while on tour...even jokingly making being a movie buff a pre-requisite to joining the band!!
Loved your reference to the Eddie Murphy movie. It was "The Distinguished Gentleman"..."Buddy Love" and all that.

Peace!
Paul

Steve, I would have to say the most difficult piece for me to pull off was Para Ti Latino by Oscar Cartaya. I had to play the horn stabs on my upper stack, the piano montuno on my lower stack and a very difficult program switch between a softer horn pad and a vocal patch on my mid stack. Most of these parts would have to be played within a fraction of a second from each other and of course the tempo naturally increased with every live performance. All I have to say is I'm glad we're not doing that tune anymore. Its much more pleasant to listen to than to play multi-keboards on!

Not to mention the sheet music must look like a Tokyo roadmap. thanks for the quick reply.

Tom :
Uh... sorry for that. I thought that you played the horns with the sequencer.

Now , I'm Puertorican. That means that i have a lot of piano players from my backyard to rely on influence.
Eddie Palmieri , Papo Lucca , Edsel Gómez and others. But , who has been your influence in latin music , specially on the montunos?

Tom, it's really great to have someone from the band dropping by occasionally to fill us in on related things. My wife and I had the good fortune of meeting you after the concert in Mt. Gretna, PA in August. Since they were playing selections from "Extremities" prior to the concert, we got to wondering when another Tom Schuman solo effort would be forthcoming? Just what has to occur for this to become a reality?

I though your comments on the difficulty of playing "Para Ti Latino" were interesting. I read not too long ago where Jay Beckenstein suggested that the writing and arrangements you do are often the most technically challenging for the band. This is obviously a compliment as to what you bring to this band.

You said in another message that you are now off the road now for awhile. I was wondering just how many days a year Spyro spends touring? Its nice to see the band will be back at the Berks Jazzfest in March of 2000. Will see you there for sure. Hopefully the Keswick Theater in Glenside, PA will be on your next tour as well.

I will try to answer Eril and Phil's questions in one pass. My wife and I are going to a Christmas party soon.
Eril, my main influence on Latin piano was the late, great Jorge Dalto. When we were tracking Old San Juan, I suggested to the producers to bring Jorge in specifically for that tune. I was not adapted to the montuno feel at the time and I knew Jorge from the George Benson band. So I thought it would be nice to throw him the gig and try to learn something at the same time. Jorge was wonderful! He played his ass off and sat me down with him after the session on his own time and taught me to feel the montuno. He wouldn't leave until he heard me do it on my own. I really miss him!

Phil, I am in the process of shopping for a record deal and/or starting a production company of my own with the help of my wife, Yvonne, who is an attorney. The record itself is 80% completed and I am very proud of it. If I sign with this record company that is interested in the project, it should be released sometime next year. But the best scenario for me would be to release it myself for my own company with the help of an independant distrubution company and a publicist. Either way I expect great things to happen for me in the next year. I will of course continue to work with Spyro Gyra as much as possible. Spyro has been touring on an average of 100-120 days a year now for the past five years. I expect it will pick up this coming year since "Got the Magic" has been doing better than our previous releases. I hope to see you all at future concerts. Don't be afraid to say hi...I'm really a regular guy.