{image1}Milwaukee guitarist Daryl Stuermer, who is known for his work with Genesis, Phil Collins, Jean-Luc Ponty and Gino Vanelli, and, more locally, with Sweetbottom, recently released his fifth solo disc.
"Retrofit" (Urban Island) is a nine-song musical stroll through a career that has spanned more than three decades, and it arrives just as Stuermer returns home from Collins' "First Final Farewell Tour."
We wanted to catch up with Stuermer and when we did, we asked him a half-dozen questions.
OMC: What's the significance of the title "Retrofit"? Is the disc a look back at your career so far?
DS: The instrumental music of the mid '70s through the early '80s had the most impact on me. The recordings of George Benson to John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra probably was the most influential to me as a guitar player. Also other artists such as Miles Davis, Chick Corea, David Sanborn, Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour, George Duke, etc. ... all influenced me as a guitarist and composer of instrumental music! So, my new disc pays a kind of homage to this era. I wrote most of these songs within a two-week period, which kept me focused on the direction. I wanted most of the songs to give the feel and grooves of that era, but also bringing in some of the sounds of today. Fitting the old with the new: "Retrofit"!
OMC: Having had so many experiences over the years, is there one that really stands out for you; one that will always be special to you?
DS: There was one night in 1974 that sticks out in my mind because it probably had the most impact on my career. At age 21, I was playing at an East Side club five nights a week with my jazz-fusion band Sweetbottom. One Thursday night the guys from Frank Zappa's band, who had just performed Downtown, stopped in to check out the club. As it turned out, George Duke sat in on keyboards all night along with Chester Thompson on drums. At the time I remember being blown away by their musicianship and afterwards feeling a sense of accomplishment and confidence that I had played well and enjoyed every minute of it! George Duke was especially gracious and told me to call him the next time I was in L.A. Later that year, I did go to L.A, where George recommended me for an audition with Jean-Luc Ponty. I got the gig and ended up touring the world and recording four albums with Jean-Luc Ponty from 1975 through 1977. I met up with Chester Thompson again in 1978 when I joined Genesis.
OMC: We recently did a story on George Pritchett and a number of musicians talked about his influence among Milwaukee guitarists. Who would you say had the greatest influence on your playing, locally-speaking?
DS: Everyone I played with and still play with has an influence on my playing. But I would have to say that George Pritchett had the earliest influence on me. I was 15 years old when I started taking lessons from him at Crown Music and then later at the Academy of Music. He played things I could only dream of at the time. I learned that there was so much more you could do on the guitar than I could ever imagine. He always blew me away!
OMC: You've got a solid group of musicians on the new disc. I imagine that it's not difficult to get the top musicians in town to answer the phone when you call. Is there anyone here that you haven't yet had the chance to work with yet, but hope to in the future?
DS: Sometimes it's just doing a project that lends itself to a certain musician's style. Out of the excellent musicians that I know and respect and haven't yet worked with, Willy Porter is one that comes to mind, also guitarist Greg Koch, and the great jazz piano player (and Wes Montgomery Trio organist in the 1960s) Melvin Rhyne. There has to be more, but there are probably a lot of players out there that I haven't heard or even heard of yet.
OMC: What's next on your calendar?
DS: Right now I'm working on an electracoustic project with my keyboard player Kostia. It's just in the demo stage. Acoustic guitar, acoustic piano and maybe bass. We are rearranging some previously recorded original songs and putting a different twist on them. We are also going to write new songs specifically for this project.
Daryl Stuermer's Web site is darylstuermer.com.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
