Aaron says, “I envisioned it (“Run Away With You”) as having an African Cuban beat, and (during the course of the song), we went back and forth between a samba and a songo. I had guys playing on the record who know those 
grooves much better than I do, and they made that song really come alive. Jimmy Branley played drums for the song. He is actually from Cuba, so he helped find the groove for “Run Away With You.” Hussain Jiffry, the bass player has a great understanding of Afro Cuban grooves. He also produced quite a few of the songs on the record.”
Aaron describes his music as having lots of depth and passion. It is, he says, music that can become very romantic and captivating. He certainly achieves that end with songs such as “If You Were Mine,” and “In Her Own Sweet Way,”
Blake Aaron continues to grow as an artist and that can be attributed in part to his desire for achieving excellence in his compositions and playing, combined with the fact that he has enjoyed a long tenure contributing to the music for major television productions, including a fifteen-year stint with MAD TV, the Ben Stiller Show and The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.
“The television work keeps me as current as possible with all of the styles of music that are out there, because with MAD TV, you have to do every style of music that you can imagine. It keeps me current with that the other guitar players are doing. It keeps me inspired and gives me fresh ideas,” says Aaron.
Comparing the two facets of his career, Aaron observes, “It is like being an artist. There are artists who will take hours and hours to sculpt something, and then there are performance artists who may paint something in a matter of minutes. There is something to be said for both of them. When I do studio work, it allows me to go into depth concerning the details of my planning, and the parts that I am putting down. It allows me to become a perfectionist. The downside of that is you can get so caught up with it that you can take the life out of your music by becoming too much of a perfectionist. If you aren’t careful you can wind up sounding a bit stiff. My live performing allows me to keep my studio playing a little fresher sounding. It has a little bit more passion, and off the cuff spontaneity.
Spontaneous, fresh and passionate are three words that easily can be used to describe the fifteen tracks that comprise Blake Aaron’s current CD Desire.
Interview by Joe Montague ©
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September 2007
