Q&A: (Mocean Worker)

Adam Dorn, known to his fans as Mocean Worker, has been involved in the music business in one form or another since he was a teen.

Son of legendary producer Joel Dorn, who has worked with the likes of Roberta Flack and saxophone virtuoso John Coltrane, Mocean Worker left high school at the age of 16 to work as an assistant to bassist/producer Marcus Miller, a producer to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and singer Luther Vandross.

Growing up listening to jazz and Motown records shaped not only his life in an organic sense but in a technical sense as well. Since then, this electronic wizard has established his own record label and recently finished work on an album that took four years to complete. Dorn collaborated with musicians like guitarist Bill Frisell, flutist Franck Gauthier of the French rock group Rin™�/r™se, members (including trumpeter Steven Bernstein) of the avant garde jazz group Sex Mob, keyboardist Les McCann and jazz singer Jane Monheit. Dorn also incorporates the talent of a few artists who are no longer with us like Nina Simone and Rahsaan Roland Kirk in samples and entire songs taken from older recordings.

Dorn's latest work entitled, "Enter the MoWo," comprises 12 songs and spans 49 minutes which was partly inspired by single pieces of vinyl that had an "A" and "B" side. It begins with the work's most rowdy grooves up in front ("A" side) and winds down with its calmer pieces placed at the end ("B" side).

Among the dozen tracks, Dorn remixes Simone's heart-wrenching version of "Blackbird" with such sophistication and simplicity as only to augment the song's mood which exhibits his obvious admiration for one of jazz's greatest singers.

While working on the album, which follows his last work "Home Movies from the Brain Forest" completed in 1998, Dorn remixed the song "Explosivo" by Tenacious D and scored the Sundance selection "The Doe Boy," along with two documentaries for HBO. Dorn's music has also been featured on Baileys Irish Cream and KIA car commercials, and the HBO's original series "Six Feet Under."

Dorn had the opportunity to work with electronic pioneer Brain Eno in his involvement in the soundtrack for director Wim Wenders' film "Million Dollar Hotel."

The Beach Reporter this week talked with Dorn about his new album, the independent record label business and the software program ProTools among other things.

The Beach Reporter: What did working with the producer Marcus Miller teach you?

Mocean Worker: I was very young when I worked with Marcus, young enough that I actually left high school at the opportunity to be in the studio with him. Interestingly enough, I didn't really learn how to play any musical instruments or any of the technical sides of music, I kind of learned the etiquette in the studio. I spent such a large amount of time watching him make records that every day was like watching a therapy session - I learned how to deal with an artist in the making of an album more than anything. He has such an even keel of a personality, and I'm much more talkative and louder and obnoxious than he, and with that he imparted me Obi-Wan Kenobi information. As a producer, that was the main reason why I wanted to be around him. He's got great people skills and even at a young age, I knew that if I wanted to work in the music business and be around people with tremendous egos, I knew that I would have to shelve mine to get work out of them.

Brian Eno?

Brian Eno was interesting because we worked in a very frantic and short amount of time. It was over the course of nine days in Dublin. Most of the time, there were at least seven or eight musicians playing all at once while we were looking at a screen in scoring the film. He doesn't stop making noise or music so the tape is constantly rolling. For me, I sort of think of working with Brian as playing a very rough pickup basketball game. You have to muscle your way in and be hyperconfident about what it is you're playing in order for it to make it onto the recording because he takes up so much space with what he's doing. He's kind of an audio bully (laughs). The first day was tough and then I went at it with him. It was funny, when he left the studio he actually called me from the airport to tell me he had a great time working together. That was a great compliment since there aren't many people I hold in more regard in the music business than him. From an artistic angle, he is a genius.
You spent weeks on the making of your previous albums but with this one you spent several years. In looking back, do you prefer spending that much time on a recording?

No, I'm not going to wait as long as I did to make another album - no way. But in the theory of turning lemons into lemonade, I don't look back at that experience and feel angry about it, it kind of ended up working out nicely. Now I own the label and I'm in control of things that I wasn't in control of before. It's not that I'm a control freak or anything but it makes it just that much easier to put out an EP or a single or go on tour, I don't have anyone telling me I can't do that. A record every 18 months makes more sense than a record every year or every four years. I feel like with this record, I'm almost a new artist. In the electronic music world, it's such a fickle, fly-by-night atmosphere. A lot of artists happen for one album and then they are gone. I'm really happy with how this album has worked out.

As the owner of a private record company, do you see a resurgence of independent labels?

Well, there's definitely been one for a while. I will tell you one thing, the coolest thing for indie labels right now especially for me is that iTunes music store. Getting your record up there and making it so that anyone in the country can listen to it without some sort of preconceived prejudice is great. I'm not fighting for positioning with anyone in that store. It's not like walking into Tower Records and you have to dig for a Mocean Worker album. It's sitting there and you can listen to every track, and the proof is in the pudding - people listen to it, they like it, they buy it. I'm not competing against anyone and I don't have to pay for positioning, I'm right up there with the big boys - Crystal Method, Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim - but I don't have to spend big-boy money.

In recording with musicians like guitarist Bill Frisell, singer Jane Monheit and members of the Sex Mob, how much of each song was completed before their recorded parts/solos and how much after?

I added a lot after the fact. What I wanted to do was if I was going to add real people I wanted to give them a base to play over, and I wanted to be able to chop up what they did and react to it. So for example on "Chick A Boom," the sax solo was played over an eight-bar loop of a section I had written. I had "Fathead" (David Newman) play over it a few times and then I put together a solo out of all of his performances (five or six solos) that I liked. Then I built horn hits and rhythmic patterns around it. The only solo on the record that is one take without any chopping up of it is the trumpet solo on the song "Right Now" by Steve Bernstein of the Sex Mob.

You obviously embrace the technological advancements within the medium of music but you also appreciate the old jazz albums that are recorded live and are usually first takes. What are your thoughts on the ProTools program that is often used to make a person sound better than they really are?

Well, I'm an absolute proponent of the technology and I think that if you are a songwriter or a singer you're going to be as good based on what you bring to the table. If you're a manufactured pop star like ... what's the perfect example? Who's that woman who was going out with Ben Affleck who is just a horrible singer?

Jennifer Lopez.

Yes, if you're a manufactured pop star, your record is going to be made by your team. There have always been tools to make people who can't sing be able to sing so I don't think ProTools enables anyone to make music. I think when it's all said and done, you're only as good as your ideas and your ability to translate music to an audience. I don't think ProTools is a good or bad thing concerning the ability for the masses to make music, I think that ProTools in the hands of the wrong person can be just as bad as a guitar or a piano in the hands of the wrong person. Let me tell you one thing that might change your mind about some of the jazz albums, too. For example, some of the Miles Davis records, Teo Macero (producer) put together based on edits and choices from pieces of tape. Obviously not "Kind of Blue" or "Round About Midnight" but the later Miles records like "Bitches Brew" and "In a Silent Way" are not one performance, they are patchwork performances and they are edits that Teo did with half-inch tape machines and no one would know unless they were told. The Beatles is another example of a band that wrote songs that were put together with technology but it also happens that they wrote some of the best pop songs of all time. I think sometimes people just confuse technology for electronics, coldness and stiffness but a lot of records that we really love were put together by using tricks and tools that you wouldn't expect.

Do you remember the first song you ever heard?

Yes, I can remember standing next to my grandmother at the age of 5 and it was "ABC" by the Jackson 5. What a great record, it still is such a great record. My first overall memories are Motown memories - that makes me happy.

You remixed Nina Simone's version of "Blackbird." The lyrics to this are so sad and she does such an incredible job in conveying those emotions, and you do a wonderful job of I guess not messing with the song's vibe with your piano phrases and such. Do you find it more challenging to remix or to write your own pieces?

I'll be real honest: I hate remixing old songs. I hate that it's become such an overdone thing. It's funny, a good buddy of mine and I were talking about this last night. There are just far too many remix records right now - it's like, 'Please! I don't need to hear Billy Eckstein with a trance groove. Leave it alone.' The only reason I remixed this song is because I love the original so much. I had it sitting around for years and I always wanted to do something with it. The original version is just her voice and the handclaps, and I wanted to put something beautiful around it. There has been a huge attention put on these remix records and the only ones that do older songs justice are the "Verve Remixed" albums because there is such a specific intent and the albums set out to recontextualize jazz. Everyone just sort of started to copy those.

You use the work of some deceased musicians like Simone and a few others. If there is one person of the past whom you could bring back to life to work with you, who would you want it be?

John Coltrane, oh, see I can't answer that. Or "Cannonball" Adderley, probably more ... you know what, "Cannonball" that's the answer. Because with Trane it would probably be like dark, depressing work where "Cannonball," he's all about the groove. I would want to work with him so badly.

What are your top-five all-time favorite records?

Ah, I can't answer that over the phone. It's too difficult. I can guarantee you that none of them are Carpenters records.

What about a few albums that have significantly affected you over the years?

Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"

Massive Attack, "Mezzanine"

Wow, I'm so hip. I'm just picking the most hip, most unknown stuff.

Sly and the Family Stone, "Best Of..."

U2, "Unforgettable Fire"

Peter Gabriel, "So"