Today we’d like to introduce you to Planet Radio.
Planet Radio, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Planet Radio was created by Mark Zaleski; a Massachusetts native (Boylston), multi-instrumentalist, and professor of music at Berklee, New England Conservatory of Music, and Longy School of Music at Bard College. For the best 13 years (since his days as a student at NEC from 2005-07) he self-managed “The Mark Zaleski Band”, a six-piece jazz group with a strong tinge of rock that he fronts on saxophone. Zaleski noticed that his freelance musician life leads him to lots of appearances as a sideman on bass with a variety of different Boston jazz, rock, funk, bluegrass, R&B, world, and hip-hop artists. Particularly notable was when Mark played bass on a gig at Ryles with an amazing saxophonist who has played in The Mark Zaleski Band for 13 years, Jon Bean. Jon invited an amazing pianist named Jeff D’Antona who just moved to town from New York, who he later found was the husband of a singer/leader of a very popular Western Mass. based band, Leah Randazzo (The Leah Randazzo Group). Jon Bean was the saxophonist in The Leah Randazzo Group for several years, and Mark had seen the band play several times as a huge fan!
With these world’s colliding, Mark saw an opportunity. He started inviting folks (including Jeff, Leah, and Jon) to his Jamaica Plain apartment from different walks of his musical life to play some of favorite covers, ranging from Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, and the Dirty Loops. A few other folks really took to these sessions, including Carl Eisman on guitar and vocals. Mark knew Carl as an amazing guitar player but had no idea he could sing (and apparently, publicly did not prior to Planet Radio)! He also brought to the band its first original tune “Sometimes I Wish,” a powerful piece about his father he lost at a very young age and writes the majority of the band’s music today. Also, at the basement sessions was drummer Patrick Simard, who came to a different session at Mark’s house five years before forming Planet Radio, and Patrick was first starting at Berklee College of Music. He’s developed into one of the most in demand drummers around the country. Just ask Richard Bona…
This Boston all-star band has now been together four years and has released two albums (“Planet Radio” and “Stay Awake”) developed its own brand of soul music that has elements of rock, hip-hop, R&B, and jazz all blended in. The band prides itself on playing music that’s catchy enough that you’ll sing it all the way home but will also push standard pop song boundaries with virtuosic improvisation and musicianship that makes every set unique (similar to a great jazz group).
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
We write collectively, and mostly do that without rehearsing. As we all live in different places and travel often with different projects, we use our gigs as our opportunities to let the music organically grow. For example, when someone has an idea, they will send it out to everyone else via email. This could be as simple as an acoustic version of a song played on guitar and sung into a voice memo on an iPhone, or by programming a groove into a DAW like GarageBand or Logic. We then make comments and edits via the phone, talk about it before our gigs, and let it fly on the spot! While I don’t think everyone in the band would consider themselves a “jazz musician,” everyone in the band has high level experience with jazz (artists ranging from Dave Brubeck, Christian McBride, Ian Anderson, Omar Thomas, Sarah McKenzie, and Makaya McCraven). Our music isn’t jazz per se, but I believe that spirit allows us the confidence and ability to let our music develop while in the moment of performing that at our gigs. When you come to see our shows, you’ll never see a tune played exactly the same way twice!
I don’t think we can pinpoint a singular theme for our music. Everyone contributes in different ways to the music and lyrics, so each song is told from a slightly different perspective. That said, we collectively believe that music can touch people in a way that no other art form can. It enhances the good times, it helps us through the bad times. We hope that our music can help support the soundtrack of the listeners life for the better. I think it’s safe to say that everyone in the band is a positive person, so making the world a happier place through love is a common thread through every song.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
(Mark) I believe issues going on in the world has affected art since the creation of art. Art is a form of expression, and is a reaction to what’s happening in its creator’s soul.
Planet Radio booked a studio session on the evening of Election Day 2016 to track “Stay Awake”. Getting a group of busy musicians together for a few days to record takes a minor scheduling miracle, so we I grabbed the dates 3 months in advance, not even considering that the election day would conflict. As the date drew closer and I realized the conflict, I remember thinking to myself that it didn’t really matter. We could vote in the morning, get to the studio at 5 and track all night. It’s not like Donald Trump could actually win the election anyway….
Sure enough, we know the end of that story. As the results were unfolding, everyone in the band was becoming a little more dumbfounded. The last thing we tracked that night was Patrick Simard’s piece “Don’t Miss Out,” a song asking the listener not to miss out on the opportunity to love. Tracking that tune, at that moment, captured a passion that I don’t think can be recreated ever again.
I don’t like to talk about politics much in my music. I know not every musician agrees with that, but I guess I just I know so many people from different walks of life, that I do believe everyone has a right to their opinion. That said, I think I can say with confidence that most of the artist community in Boston are not Trump supporters, and everyone in the arts community in Boston believes in true, honest music. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a recording studio moment as honest as that one.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Come to a show! Our listings are always available on our website, www.planetradiomusic.com. We have one at The Lizard Lounge coming up on Friday June 8th, 2018 at 9:30pm. We’ll play a set, with an after-party to follow featuring a DJ set that Planet Radio creates, featuring all of the music that influences us the most. More info is available here…
http://lizardloungeclub.com/event/beez-planet-radio/?instance_id=1830
To keep up with up the minute info, you can follow us on Instagram…
https://www.instagram.com/
and Facebook…
https://www.facebook.com/
“Stay Awake” (2018)
“Planet Radio” (2016)
They are also available on iTunes, Youtube, Apple Music, and all other streaming channels.
If you’d like to order a physical CD, you can do so here…
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/planetradio1
Contact Info:
- Website: www.planetradiomusic.com
- Email: planetradioband@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/planetradiomusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/planetradiomusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlanetRadioBand
- Other: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/planetradio1
Image Credit:
Carl Eisman – logo design
Greta DiGiorgio – non cell-phone pictures
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
