Saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa says he wanted to be like his idols in Spyro Gyra.
"That's what my goal was when I started out playing my music. That goal hasn't changed much. I still want to be like those guys."
Kashiwa grew up listening to the big-band recordings of Count Basie and was a traditionalist until he got older and discovered the commercial pop jazz of Chuck Mangione, especially Mangione's sax man Chris Vadala. "Then I discovered Phil Woods," Kashiwa said during a telephone interview from his home in Seattle. "That caught my attention.
"So did the Yellowjackets, David Sanborn and Spyro Gyra. It's funny, because I would go through a period when I would only listen to contemporary pop jazz for a while. And then I would switch to the traditional stuff and then back to the other."
Kashiwa's first performance was on a toy flute at a Seattle elementary school. He soon became more serious and found himself on clarinet and, eventually, saxophone.
In high school, the aspiring saxophonist met his mentor, music teacher John Law. "He was what I had been looking for," Kashiwa said. "I told him I wanted to be a professional musician, and he was the one who helped convince my parents that I could explore that avenue."
After studying at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Kashiwa landed a gig with the Disneyland All-American College Band in 1982. He moved to Southern California and attended Cal State Long Beach, where he studied under Leo Potts.
By 1984, Kashiwa was touring Europe with the ska band Untouchables. After a few years of solo work, he hooked up with one of the hottest smooth-jazz groups in the business, the Rippingtons, replacing Brandon Fields. "I thought I was only going to be with that group for about two years," Kashiwa said with a laugh. "I ended up staying for 10."
It was hard for Kashiwa to develop his own identity during the first few years in the Ripps, although he loved being in the band. "I was struggling with that issue. And then everyone asked the band when Brandon was going to come back. Finally, it became sort of a running joke. But once I left the Rippingtons — I hear from Eric (Merienthal) that people are asking them when I'm going to come back."
Kashiwa is focusing on a solo career, and his new album, "Simple Truth," is one more step in that direction. "I was a solo artist before the Rippingtons, and I'm back at it again. I was wondering what I was going to do with the new album and found that through the writing sessions that keeping it simple and direct was the best way for me to go.
"My father, who passed away recently, told me that the best things are simple and from the heart. Complicated things lose something."
E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com