Vienna, VA--

PM: How are you doing today Brian?

BC: Just great, happy to be here in the D.C. area

PM: Great and we’re happy to have you.  Everyone today is looking forward to a great show today here at Wolf Trap.  The weather is beautiful and the crowd is fabulous.

BC: Yes, I am trilled to do a show here at this beautiful venue.  I just want everybody to forget about work, any problems and just have a great time at my concert enjoy the music and have some fun.

PM: Brian when you perform you’re so energetic.  Where does all that come from?

BC: I really don’t know.  I just performed and get energize by the crowd it’s just something inside of me, that is the way I handle my performances.  Depending on the type of crowd I am playing to and the type of vibe they send out, I simply just cannot help but react to it and then it’s on. I remember I played a gig in Salt Lake City it was a free concert the mayor had put on.  It was such a diverse audience, I mean it was teenager kids, all the way up to the elderly and it was so cool, through my music everyone had such a great time and the crowd was so energetic I could not help but be pumped.

PM: Where and when was the first time you ever played a gig?

BC: Wow that was a while ago.  I first performed in Cleveland, Ohio. I had a large audience of six people in attendance, but I played as if there were six hundred people in attendance. That summer was somewhat challenging as a new artist it’s difficult to get your music out there when no one really knows you.  As we continued playing small venues we gained some new fans and also garnered a little airplay. No matter how many people are in attendance you have to play your best because you never know who is in the audience. That is why you have to love what you do because if you do it only for the money you will be disappointed.

PM: You play various instruments.  What instrument did you play first?

BC: My parent started me out with piano lessons.  I started playing the drums and the trombone in Junior High School all the way through college. I also write and compose.

PM: You are very versatile.  Do you think that is important for an artist?

BC: Very much so.  It pays to be able to play anything and everything.  If you are a jazz artist and someone breaks out with a rock tune, as an artist you should be able to play rock.  You should know all different type of musical genres as it helps you as an artist.

PM: If you could give advice to young artist just starting out what would you tell them?

BC: I would tell them to make sure they read up on the business side of this industry that is very important.  I had to learn the business the hard way and I got burned.  You have to have the right people around you and make sure you get the correct business advice.  Learn about copywriting, how to register with ASCAP, know what the mechanicals are. Be serious about what you are doing.  Have business minded people around you and watch what they do and make sure they are doing the right thing. Make sure you learn the business side for yourself and of course don’t give up.

PM: You have performed with so many artists is there someone special you would love to jam with?

BC: I had the opportunity to open a show for David Sanborn but I never performed with him.  That is someone I would love to work with. I would also love to perform with Marcus Miller.  It would also be great to play with Sting.

PM: What inspired you as an artist?

BC: I don’t fully know.  Lots of things I guess.  I mess around with my computer a lot and may happen to hear a certain note, just one note I have not hear before and it puts me in a zone and I start to concept a song out of that. I really love old school music.  I would love to record with different bands from the seventies.  You know the great bands like Earth Wind and Fire, The Gap Band, AWB and Bootsey Collins all of us jamming together that good funk music.  I would just love to have a good old fashion funk party and put it on a recording.

PM: I think that would be a blast, let see if we could make that happen. Thank you Brian for taking out the time and speaking with us, our readers really do appreciate it.

BC: And I appreciate your readers.  Thank you so much for having me.