The way it all got started was kind of a whim, so the success of Sam Cardon's "Impulse" album has come as a surprise to everyone associated with its production.
The collection of new age/jazz music, recorded at L.A. East in Salt Lake City and released in late April on the Airus label, hit the top 10 on Radio and Records' national "New Adult Contemporary" chart recently.It all started in February 1988 during the Winter Olympics in Calgary, where Cardon and another Orem composer/musician, Kurt Bestor, were scoring music for the ABC telecasts. As Cardon tells it, they were sitting around with Nonstop Productions owners Randy Thornton and Bryan Hofheins when someone said, "Hey, why don't we start a rec-ord company?"
"It was an impulsive move on everyone's part, I guess," said Cardon. Hofheins and Thornton became president and vice president of Airus Records, and Cardon and Bestor were signed as the first artists.
Their "Fire on Ice" - a tribute to the American speed skating team - was one of the first pieces selected for Cardon's album. (Bestor's album, "An Airus Christmas," was released last fall.) From conception to finished product, "Impulse" took 14 months.
Work on the contemporary jazz collection was sporadic, sandwiched between other commitments in 1988, including composing and recording themes for ABC's Monday Night Football and Movie of the Week and music for local KSL and KTVX news. But being forced to leave it, then coming back to the album from time to time had an unexpected positive result.
"The nice accident that happened because of that," said Cardon, "is that there's a real variety on the album. As it turned out, it's been a real advantage to have that diversity."
Radio program directors apparently agree; they've been playing more than one cut from the album. Said Hank Parry, of Salt Lake's KDAB, "Pick any track, then another and another. You'll find the individuality and originality of every one refreshing and stimulating."
John Frost of KOAI in Dallas said, "Very seldom do I ever add five cuts off one CD, but `Impulse' is a brilliant piece." Jeff Lunt, in the MAC Report, assesses Cardon's work: "The compositions abound with seamless arrays of melodic improvisational flights, beautifully orchestrated, gripping and provocative."
A good share of the 11 cuts have been composed by Cardon himself, but he's also included the work of others: Keni Yarbro's hard-hitting "In the Meantime" to "start things off with a bang," and a vocal duet by Yarbro and Amy Robinson, "Hearts on Hold." Guitarist Mike Dowdle is featured in the rock-inspired "Impulse," and Los Angeles saxophonist Brandon Fields can be heard in several pieces.
Cardon played keyboards and various other instruments, including a cardboard box on "Mantra for Manics."
"I was experimenting to come up with a unique sound," he explained. "I ended up using a big box of tape, beating on it with my fist."
Cardon's personal favorite on the album is "Peace of Mind," a mellow tune he claims he's carried around for a long time and was excited to finally record. "This is as close as I'll probably ever get to a love song," he said.
At 32, having his album in a national top 10 has to be the high point of Cardon's career. "I've always wanted to make this album," he said. "I've been involved for so long on the production side of music that I really needed to get back to my first love. That's what `Impulse' represents."
Cardon's interest in music began at age 4, when his parents discovered him playing a piano piece that an older sister had been practicing and immediately signed him up for lessons. He continued in school musical groups and rock bands, with virtually no exposure to jazz, until at 16 he stumbled onto Herbie Hancock's "Thrust" album.
"It totally blew me away," said Cardon. "I didn't quite know what it was, but I just knew I had to find more of it." He started a jazz ensemble at his high school, convincing the principal to let him teach the class. That was the beginning of his career as an arranger.
His first job in commercial music was writing a jingle for Jack's Boots and Saddles in his hometown of Farmington, N.M. He has since worked three years as musical director for the Osmonds, arranged music for such notables as Johnny Carson, Dolly Parton and Bob Hope, and won prestigious awards, including an Emmy for the '88 Winter Olympics music and the New York Film Festival award for the promotional music for NBC's "Crime Story."
Still, he's just another composer, working out of the small studio in his Orem home, a house also inhabited by wife Tamara and three (going on four) children. This week, he's recording the score for an LDS Christmas movie, "Nora," which he worked on with Merrill Jenson.
Through Nonstop Productions, he just completed music for the Disney Channel's 1990 campaign and new music for ABC Sports.
For a man with an already successful career, Cardon is still somewhat incredulous at the success of his "Impulse" album. "I never could have anticipated it," he said. "Just recording the album - having it completed - would have been enough. The fact that critics and program directors are endorsing it is a real professional boost.
"It gives me more confidence in my abilities. I can't wait to do the next album!"