Local man takes soulful path

By Mary Shiroda

Inkster Ledger Star. All rights reserved.

Lenny Price

Five years ago saxophonist Lenny Price was finishing a five-year hitch with the Navy — at Annapolis Naval Academy.

Today the former midshipman and Inkster native is promoting his contemporary jazz music.

Price, 28, recently released a self-published recording of four of his songs under the title track, "From My Heart."  He will perform the songs at the Inkster Fun Fest Aug. 17 and 18.

"I took a very interesting path to get to where I am, " said Price, a tall, slim man who laughs and shakes his head whenever anyone tells him he looks like Eddie Murphy.

Influenced by his father, who served 21 years with the Air Forces, Price said he was fascinated with aerospace when he was little and he often built models of aircraft and sent letters to NASA.

"I don't know how the letters ever got there," he laughed.  "I just addressed them to 'NASA Cape Canaveral'."

But one day he picked up as saxophone, not realizing that it would change the course of his life.

"I used to practice for about eight to 10 hours a day in the summer," Price said.  "Within eight months I was playing professionally."

He was [11] years old at the time.

But after graduating from high school Price applied to the naval academy, at his father's urging.

The saxophone stayed in Michigan.

"When I went to the Naval Academy I left my equipment here," he said.  "After three weeks I said, 'Ma, send my equipment'."

Price's mother, Thelma, boxed up the saxophone, keyboards and racks and sent it off to Annapolis, Maryland.

"As freshmen we couldn't have stereo's in our rooms," Price remembered.  But there were no rules prohibiting saxophones, so Price provided the entertainment for his classmates.

While he was in Maryland he met someone in the music business whose influence proved to be even stronger than his father's.

It was while he was playing in a band called "Finesse" that Price became good friends with Bill Pettaway.  They collaborated on new songs and Price had his first lessons in showmanship.

But after obtaining a bachelor's degree in physical science at the naval academy Price cam back to Michigan, not to the world of music, but to more classrooms.  He started substitute teaching at his old alma maters in Inkster.

Pettaway continued with his career in music and in 1989 co-wrote a song called "Girl You Know It's True" that was sung by Milli Vanilli.  It became one of the most played songs in 1989, Price said.

Thought he was still performing professionally Price eventually left the classroom scene in order to become more familiarized with the record industry.  He worked as a manager at Musicland in the Northland Shopping Center.

"Working at Musicland I saw how major record companies packaged albums, what the style of music was and what was really popular," he said.

"I thought, there's no reason why I can't do this."

Inspired, Price began the venture last year to get his own music recorded.

He started bringing demo tapes to major record companies, but they showed little interest in signing him, he said.

"They said, 'Yeah, your music is nice, but it's not what we're looking for."

So Price took the initiative to go it alone by trying to self-publish his music.

"You have to come up with a fictitious name certificate and register it with the county to make sure no one else has that name," he said.  "Then you have to get a publisher."

In an effort to keep down production costs, Price decided to "wear more than one hat."

"I'm the publisher," he said.  He is also the producer, art director, and co-executive producer, not to mention the sole musician.  He orchestrates all of the music on a computer system, or sequencer, that he described as "a word processor for music."

"That's my band," he said.  When the tape was completed, Price found a receptive audience for his music at WJZZ, a contemporary jazz station in Detroit.

When WJZZ disc jockey Rosetta Hines heard the tape she brought a copy of it to the [program] manager at the station.

"He immediately liked it," Price said.  "The four songs are now played on rotation six times a day."

Price hasn't made it to the "big time" yet, but he's confident he is on his way.

"Every time you hear one of my songs on the radio I earn 12 cents as the artist," he laughed.  But he also earns another 12 cents as publisher.  "It adds up," he said.

When people come into Musicland looking for jazz music he tells them he has a tape available at that store.

As of July, 142 copies of "From My Heart" have sold at Musicland in the Northland Mall alone.

"No one has ever brought the tape back," Price said.

And now the "big" record companies are saying, "Let's talk," Price said.

Price is still doing "gigs" whenever he gets the chance, whatever the hour.

"If someone calls at ten at night I get up and do it."

Price recently performed at the Stardust Lounge in Inkster and at private parties and cabarets.  He also appeared at a July Fourth celebration in Dearborn Heights.

In order to avoid being trapped into a musical category, Price said he does not like to describe his music.

"Hopefully each of the songs create a different mood," he said, though the tape is targeted mainly at adult listeners who have an appreciation for jazz.

People have told him his music sounds similar to David Sanborn's.  Among those who have influenced him the most over the years are Jay Beckenstein of "Spyro Gyra" and Eric Marienthal of "Chick Corea Elektric Band."

Yet his personal signature is clearly on his songs.

"From My Heart" features three instrumental songs including "Double Take," "Stoneface," and "Crystal Dreams."  The fourth song, "From My Heart," is the only song on the tape in which Price sings.  In each song Price mixes jazz and contemporary sounds that any listener will enjoy.

Lenny Price hopes that within five years he will be "at least" at the same level as David Sanborn.

"Or Arsenio," he joked