Pete Souders’s First Recording

Elwood and Jake Blues knew they had “a mission from God” to earn money to keep their childhood orphanage open. God thrust Jesus Christ in a situation in which he was compelled to learn carpentry. Along the same lines, Pete Souders, former computer-geek, in my estimation, had a mission from God to make music. Specifically, hard bop jazz.

Pete did this in two ways: the first was to sink everything he owned and every talent he possessed into the Camelot of jazz players on the east coast: Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus. That story is well known. What is less well-known is Pete’s profound craving to play tenor sax as well as he can.

Once the day-to-day running of Ortlieb’s was in his past, Pete worked on his health. One could call it “learning to breathe again.” He isn’t the kind of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve or to invoke sympathy for himself, so most of the jazz community didn’t know how much of a toll running that great joint in Northern Liberties exacted from him. Pete had a few specific health challenges to “correct" and then created a healthier life.

One thing he deeply regretted while running Ortlieb’s was how little time he had to practice his sax. It was hit or miss, and he knew that what time he could devote was not worthy of the finest music he knows. Now, with interview factoids (Pete loves facts) sloshing around in his brain about how many hours a day the Hawk and Coltrane practiced, Pete gets more quality and quantity in his daily practicing in his basement studio.

Pete admits that thankfully he is much more conversant and has a greater vocabulary than when he ran Ortlieb’s. Friends started suggesting that maybe it was time for the great encourager and supporter of Philly jazz cats to cut a recording of his own. As usual, the modest Pete demurred. We know jazz cats do their composing on stage in response to the moment. So, one friend hit him with “I don’t want you to die with your music inside you.” It was on.

The steps that other musicians take in the younger years were brand new to Pete: choosing a studio, learning what the dickens mixing and mastering are, and deciding when, how and where to promote his cd (again, for humble Pete, promoting is tough.) From start until today it was an eight- month journey. The result is “Echoes of Ortlieb’s,” a succulent selection of standards with three different ensembles joining Pete.

More promotion work lies ahead. Pete hopes the recording does well and shows his comrades how much he’s worked at improving, yet at the same time would be quite happy if he could devote his time to practicing, playing, jamming, and watching the Phillies. Pete had a release party scheduled in his home town of Reading, PA at Veasley’s Jazz Base in the Crowne Plaza Hotel and in Lancaster at the Belvedere. As he schedules similar events in Philly and other venues, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, check it out at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/petesouders.

Photos and text copyright 2011 Maren Morgan, all rights reserved.