34
Arranging the Stars
A Profile of Underground New York Music Producer Jon Grossbard
By John Tolmie Photos by Kate Tolmie & Courtesy of Jon Grossbard
M
usic in its purest form is refined in chaos. Uncertainty, suffering, rebellion, passion, and irrational dedication are the veiled emotional foundations upon which all cherished anthems have been built. And what better cauldron than the Gritty New York City of the early 1980s? This era spawned several new and distinctive genres whose influence would alter the future of soul, rhythm and blues, funk, and the almighty rock and roll. Greenwich Village was the epicenter of all things hip and where a young Jon Grossbard launched his lifelong voyage into the melodious heartbeat of New York’s music scene. “I was really young when I started out. We were Greenwich Village Studio Rats at the time and hung out up and down Bleecker Street. I was working with Michael Gayle who was a song writer for Aretha Franklin and friends with Michael Jeffries the manager for Jimi Hendrix.” Jon recalls, “Jimi had just tragically died, so Jeffries began looking to start a production company. Me and some friends had put together a band and he was kind enough to give us enough studio time to work towards an album.” Jon and his troupe would
rehearse at Electric Lady Studio and would record after the big acts had finished their sessions, which was available at only the oddest of hours. “I remember waiting for the Beach Boys to finish up one time. They were there until five in the morning, so we had to wait to get in and Jeffries somehow even found us an engineer willing to work that early.” Jon laughs, “Most bands started later in the day, so most times we had the studio in the morning through the early afternoon. It was a great experience and I promised myself that one day, I’d have my own recording studio.” Jon dedicated the later afternoon hours at Every Man Art Gallery. He had opened the Madison Avenue gallery out of his passion for and homage to works of Surrealism, Dada, and Abstractism. The gallery was the first of its kind and ground zero for New York’s burgeoning Pop-Art movement. “In the beginning, it was the only gallery in the city to feature Pop Graphics.” Jon explains, “We had Warhol’s and Lichtenstein’s before those guys really blew up. But then the eighties economy got funky and art sales dropped way off, so we had to close the gallery.” The closure was a hefty yet temporary defeat that was quickly met with promise as Jon
