ULTIMATE DREAM TEAM, THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY, RELEASES ICONIC “NEW YORK MINUTE”

Artist: THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY

Video: “New York Minute”

Photo credit Jeff Fasano

ULTIMATE DREAM TEAM, THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY, RELEASES ICONIC “NEW YORK MINUTE”

The Immediate Family is an ultimate dream team of musicians. It’s a rock ’n’ roll band composed of longtime friends and legendary musicians—Danny Kortchmar (guitar and vocals), Waddy Wachtel (guitar and vocals), Leland Sklar (bass), Russ Kunkel (drums) and Steve Postell (guitar and vocals).

M Music & Musicians magazine (Mmusicmag.com) is proud to premiere their new video “New York Minute.” The music video was produced by the band with the help of Michael Perlmutter of Almost Midnight Productions. It was filmed and produced with the band members in separate locations. It uses footage from a recent live-streamed performance by the band. Perlmutter worked his magic and did all the editing during quarantine.

Steve Postell’s lead vocals will be familiar to many listeners, as it is a modern take on the 1990 Don Henley hit—which The Immediate Family’s Danny Kortchmar co-wrote with Henley and Jai Winding for inclusion on Henley’s The End of the Innocence album [1989]. Postell adds, “Being in this band offers many highlights for me, but none greater than the opportunity to sing this phenomenal song, co-written by Don Henley and our own Danny ‘Kootch’ Kortchmar.

“New York Minute” is a track from The Immediate Family’s new EP Slippin’ and Slidin’. It has been garnering critical acclaim and debuted at #6 on the Billboard Blues Chart. This band formed two years ago and has been performing live, having released new music in Japan, Asia and the United States. Quarto Valley Records signed The Immediate Family to a multi-album deal and, along with more music coming early next year, a Denny Tedesco documentary about their iconic careers is also in the queue for release in 2021.

The Immediate Family is a super group of seasoned professional musicians who write songs that continue to move us, play instruments at the highest level and remind us that good music remains an integral part of our lives.

We talked with Danny Kortchmar, one of the songwriters of “New York Minute” about his approach to songwriting, how good songs stand the test of time and how working for 50 years with guys he’s made hits continues to help them stay creative.

DANNY KORTCHMAR interview

with M Music & Musicians magazine publisher, Merlin David

How did the idea of “New York Minute” come to you and Don Henley?
Henley said—I have this idea for a song called “New York Minute.” That’s all he had—the title. I was fooling around on the keyboard and came up with the chord changes that you hear on the tune. I thought this could be it—it just had the mood. I played it for Henley and he said—that’s it. So we started working on it right away. It needed a bridge, so we brought Jai Winding in and he helped us come up with the bridge. At that point, we started recording it. It was piano based—sounded almost like a jazz standard. There’s a harmon mute trumpet solo, which helped with the mood.

How did you create your own version of this classic song?
When the band recorded this version, we needed to translate it to make it into a rock ’n’ roll ballad—with all guitars. I think there was only one guitar on the Henley record. We played it with guitars to get the essence of Henley’s recording with keyboards. Waddy came up with his part. He’s chunking away down below, which is great. Postell is a very flexible player and he does his thing. Away we went. We turned it into our version of “New York Minute.” All three guitarists grew up in New York City, so that’s a nice connection there.

You’re known as a guitarist, but you wrote this song on a keyboard?
Back in the day, when I was working with Don Henley, we got all the synths tracked. One of the great things about working with Henley was whenever a new piece of gear came out, he’d turn to his guy and say—get us one. This was the early 80s and there was a lot of development with synthesizers and drum machines. We had one of the first drum machines. We had the first Yamaha DX7—at least certainly in L.A. I would take it home and groove with it. I did a lot on keyboards because these synthesizers were turning us on. So, I did some writing on keyboards with Don. I fell in love with all the sounds, like everyone in the 80s. All the writing I do now is on guitar.

The Immediate Family is a super group of seasoned professional musicians who write songs that continue to move us, play instruments at the highest level and remind us that good music remains an integral part of our lives.

How did you and Henley work together to co-produce The End of the Innocence?

Henley and I basically agree on how to approach something. That’s why we were able to work together on three of his solo albums. We had the same taste. Mostly, he would write to tracks I’d bring in. I’d play him something and he’d say—I can write to that. We’d start recording the song even before the lyrics were written. If he knew he could write to it and he knew he got the key right, then he’d come up with something—and he always did.

Russ’ “box kit” on this song gives it a unique sound and feeling. How do you choose who plays specific instruments?
On my tunes, sometimes I have definite ideas. But we’ve been playing together for so long that we just trust each other’s instincts. I’ve been playing with Russ and Lee for 50 years and with Waddy only 45 years. We know each other so well that there really isn’t a lot of conversation. We all just know what to do. We just get into it and start going. Everyone knows what to do and they find their place. Leland comes up with genius level parts and he always did—even back in the day. He’s incredibly musical and very smart. He comes up with very musical and terrific parts. He also has the greatest sound you’ve ever heard. His sound on bass is phenomenal.

You sound very proud of this new version.
I love this song and I love the lyrics Henley wrote for it. It’s absolutely brilliant. I’m very glad that we’re still doing the song in this band. It’s great. And I love the way Postell sings it. He has that tenor that sounds perfect on this song.

“New York Minute” song credits:
Produced by: The Immediate Family
Engineered & Recorded in Quarantine by: The Immediate Family
Mixed by: Steve Postell & Waddy Wachtel
Mastered by: Steve Addax
Published by: Dobbs Music (ASCAP), WC Music Corp (ASCAP), Woody Creek Music (GMRO)
Writers: Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, Jai Winding

Where can new fans get more info and stay updated?
https://www.immediatefamilyband.com/
www.Facebook.com/TheImmedFamily
www.Instagram.com/theimmedfamily
www.Twitter.com/TheImmedFamily

www.Instagram.com/quartovalleyrecords
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