Sweet as Braun sugar

Paul Saitowitz

Rick Braun, whose nimble fingers and note-happy tongue have made him

a staple in the elevatorish -- yet wildly popular -- genre of smooth

jazz, was born to rock.

Just look at his resume. He toured with Tom Petty, Rod Stewart and

Tina Turner. He was a member of ‘70s and ‘80s rock powerhouse War.

It’s plain as day. Heck, he’s even from Allentown, Penn., a town

immortalized by pianist Billy Joel.

So how did the trumpeter, now best known for his tours with

ultra-smooth jazzer Dave Koz, enter this realm? How did a guy who

played music that made you want to drive 100 mph become one of the

most popular musicians you hear at the dentist’s office?

“People have these preconceived notions when it comes to smooth

jazz,” Braun said from his Los Angeles area home. “If they come to

one of my shows, they’ll see that I do things a bit differently.

There is an energy that I get from the audience. Usually, before you

know it, the entire crowd is jumping up and down along with me.”

His live show is electric, but that doesn’t get to the crux of

trading Zeppelin for Kenny G.

“I was a trumpet player with a foundation in jazz, and there just

wasn’t a lot of work for a trumpet player in rock ‘n’ roll,” he said.

“I love playing this music. I have toured all over the world, and I’m

living my dream ... playing music for a living.”

Braun claims music was the one thing that always came pretty easy

to him, and after high school, he took a studious path into the

profession by enrolling at the Eastman School of Music. After his

stint at the school, he came out to California and made his living as

a pop songwriter, penning tunes for radio stalwarts REO Speedwagon

and Bonnie Raitt. He even had a brief career as a pop singer in

Japan.

“That was a pretty tough gig, writing for people,” he said. “I was

on contract to write a certain number of songs each year, and there

was a lot of pressure to write a hit.”

Writing songs for other people was also a hustler’s game, and

Braun went up to Toronto to shop his work to music publishers.

One publisher was really impressed with his work and suggested

Braun take his tunes to jazz specialist Mesa/Bluemoon, which happened

to be in Los Angeles.

The company released a few of his albums, and Braun also got a gig

touring with sultry crooner Sade.

“It was great to be writing songs for myself, music that really

soothes my soul,” he said. “And at the same time, I was still touring

with established musicians and playing in front of big crowds.”

Braun kept putting out studio albums and in 1995 put out a

well-known hit on the smooth jazz circuit called “Beat Street.” The

album topped the contemporary charts for a record-breaking 13 weeks.

He credited the success to his harder-rocking roots.

“This is definitely a more spontaneous recording than anything

I’ve done before,” he said. “Instead of sitting in a room by myself,

composing the music before going into the studio, I just took my

inspiration from a bunch of guys getting together and playing, with

no idea of what we were going to come up with.”

Braun has since become one of the most respected names in the

genre and recently put out an album, “Sessions Volume 1,” on his own

label, Artisan Records. It is available only at shows and on the

Internet.

You can catch Braun tonight at the Hyatt Regency in Newport Beach,

as part of the 94.7-FM the Wave jazz series.