Skip to main content

Source:

http://www.app.com/story/enter...bury-park/665979001/

 

Springsteen to Little Steven: Eddie Manion and the soul of the Sound of Asbury Park

 

Eddie Manion

It’s all about soul music for Jersey saxophone legend Eddie Manion.
 

“When I was playing with the E Street Band, we did the Apollo Theater and Bruce (Springsteen) started talking about soul music and how we all grew up on the Jersey Shore and learned our craft by playing soul music,” Manion said. “That was so true for me.”

That’s why Manion is now a member of Little Seven and the Disciples of Soul, who begin a United States tour Thursday, Sept. 21 at the PNC Bank arts Center in Holmdel. Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf and Jaimoe’s Jassz Band are also on the bill of the Laid Back Festival, a celebration of the spirit of the late Gregg Allman.

“Growing up on the Jersey Shore, we’d play ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ by Sam and Dave, note for note, in Seaside Heights, Asbury Park and the Upstage (Club in Asbury Park),” said Manion, a native of Lakewood. “Playing it at the Apollo was one of the peaks of my career. What Bruce said made me feel special. That’s how we all came up in the Asbury Jukes and the Disciples of Soul.”

Manion, an original member of both the Disciples of Soul and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, is looking forward to coming back to the states with the Disciples, who most recently toured Europe to promote the new album, “Soulfire.” It's a new version of band, who were reformed by Van Zandt in 2016 after a more than two decade hiatus. The new group is 15-members strong with faves like Marc Ribler on guitar; original Asbury Juke Stan Harrison on sax, Lowell “Banana” Levinger, a former member of the Youngbloods, on keyboards, and Jack Daley on bass.

Manion is the musical director for the horn section. 
 

“This time last year, as soon as (Van Zandt) finished The River Tour 2016, he asked me to start writing 80 horn arrangements for all of his original songs and few cover songs he had in mind for show at the Blues Indigo 02 in London,” Manion said. 

The chemistry was right for the new Disciples of Soul, so Van Zandt wanted to a record of hits he had written for other artists.

Hence, the new “Soulfire.”

 “What makes the record so great is the fact that we recorded one song a day,” Manion said. “We’d go into Renegade Studio in New York and record the rhythm section in the morning, the horns and lead instruments in the afternoon and the lead vocals at night. We’d have the whole song completed in one day.”

Manion was very familiar with the material.  

“Steve put the Jukes together,” Manion said. “He was the manager and if he wasn’t playing with Bruce (and the E Street Band), he would perform with us whenever he could. The Memorial Day broadcast, the debut of ‘I Don’t Want to Go Home’ (from the Stone Pony in Asbury Park),  he played with us. The band was created by Steve, that was the whole thing.”

 

The Asbury Jukes classics, “Love on the Wrong Side of Town,” “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” “Some Things Just Don't Change,” and “I’m Coming Back,” are on “Soulfire.”

Van Zandt is the man in the studio, Manion said.

“We’d play every part exactly like he wanted it,” said Manion of working on a Van Zandt production. “He was like Phil Spector. He’d tell everyone exactly what to drum fill to play, the bass part, the keyboard part — that’s why I like playing with the Disciples. When we play live, we play it exactly like the record and that’s the way I like it.” 

Upcoming Disciples of Soul dates includes the Gramercy Theater in New York City on Sept. 25; the St. George Theater on Staten Island on Sept. 27 and the Electric Factory in Philadelphia on Oct. 1.

Manion’s resume includes stints with Diana Ross, the Robert Cray Band, Dave Edmunds, Willie DeVille and Joe Grushecky. He released the critically acclaimed solo album, “Nightlife,” in 2015 and he and Jake Clemons replaced the late Clarence Clemons on saxophone in the E Street Band in 2012.

Manion and Clemons came on board in their new roles at the Apollo show.

Manion has done it all in his career, but there’s one place he will not return to. He will not wear the white coonskin cap he wore with the Disciples of Soul during the “Men Without Women” period.

 

“I purposefully threw it away so Steve would never make me wear it again,” Manion quipped. “He was always going after a look with us horn players. I didn’t get the punk rock look, it was a nice attempt. I think I’m better off in a suit and hat.”

Chris Jordan: cjordan@app.com

 

LITTLE STEVEN and the DISCIPLES OF SOUL  

WITH: Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf and Jaimoe's Jassz Band in the Laid Back Festival, a celebation of the spirt of the late Gregg Allman

WHEN: 5:30 p..m Thursday, Sept. 21

WHERE: PNC Bank Arts Center, Garden State Parkway, Holmdel

TICKETS: Starting at $20  

INFO: Livenation.com; Visit Littlesteven.com for information on the Disciples of Soul shows.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

living is easy with eyes closed

Original Post

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×