The Somerville jazz musician, who just released his new CD “East” spoke at the May 9 contributors meeting of The Somerville News, held in the back room of Davis Square’s Diesel Café, about his music and his career.

“This CD is a celebration of our 2004 tour of China and Japan,” said Sam Hooper, leader of the Sam Hooper Group.

The new album includes three songs written by Hooper, a song written by co-producer and Scottish songwriter Gordon J. Stevenson, and covers of “Under My Thumb,” by the Rolling Stones, and “All Along the Watchtower,” by Bob Dylan, he said.

The Sam Hooper Group includes lead and rhythm guitarist and vocalist Sam  Hooper, bassist and background vocalist Jordan Scannella, and drummer Akira Nakamura. Their music is an eclectic mix of jazz, rock and funk, that is at times loud and fast, and at other times mellow and soothing, he said.

Hooper said his musical influences range a full spectrum, including Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, James Taylor and Shawn Colvin. 

“Led Zeppelin is another one of my influences.  They can be very heavy, but their acoustic stuff is also beautiful- I like that balance,” said Hooper. 

The group recorded East in March Shanghai, China, near the end of a four-month tour of China and Japan, three months of which was spent playing six nights-a-week at Shanghai’s House of Blues and Jazz. 
Hooper has toured Asia four times before, most notably in 1990, when he was in the back-up band for Chinese popstar Zhu Ming Ying, he said.
Ying was at the height of her popularity, and would routinely fill 15,000-seat auditoriums, he said.

“East” evolved from a request from Gordon J. Stevenson, songwriter and a vice-president of Philips Lighting Division in Shanghai, who wanted the band to learn and record one of his songs, Hooper said.

“Stevenson was a fan of our music at the House of Blues, and wanted us to record a song he wrote,” he said. Later, the group arranged to record the song at Shanghai Broadcast Centre Studios.

Gordon liked the Sam Hooper Group’s recording of his song “Celtic Blues,” so much that he helped the group to record five more songs, all in one day, and arranged for a CD release party in Shanghai, he said.

When the group returned to the America in April, John Weston of Roslindale-based Futura Productions re-mastered the CD, and Jean Keller of Arlington-based Chalk Hill Design used pictures from the group’s trip in China to design the CD cover, he said.

“The CD is the same as the one we released in China, but it sounds much better,” said Hooper of the re-mastered CD.  The trio had a CD release party on May 12 at the Western Front, in Cambridge.  Drummer Mike Daillak filled in for Akira Nakamura, who was in Los Angeles.

The Sam Hooper Group traveled to China and Japan in January of this year, in association with Boston’s Planetary Group, which is an artist development firm that specializes in publicity and radio promotion, and Shanghai’s China West Entertainment.  The trio discussed plans for the trip for over a year, but it was delayed because of the outbreak of SARS, said Hooper. 

“If you played six nights-a-week at the same place here it would become boring, but in China it was always interesting,” said Scannella, the bassist and background
vocalist for the trio, in between sets at the Sam Hooper Group’s CD release party at the Western Front.

“Shanghai is a happening place.  The House of Blues was on the same street as several other clubs and restaurants, and police would often be outside to control the crowds,” said Hooper. 

He said their performances almost always had large audiences, with many regular attendees, and they often went dancing after gigs, and would stay out until 4 or 5 a. m. 

“They are really starved for this kind of music, because there are only a few jazz and blues clubs, and there’s really nowhere else that you could see someone as talented at Sam perform,” said Scannella. 
Hooper became a celebrity while in China, appearing on television and in magazines.  After Shanghai, the group traveled to Beijing, where they played at The Big Easy, and at the Beijing Midi School of Music, he said.

They also traveled to see the Great Wall of China, which Hooper is pictured with on the cover of East, and to drummer Akira Nakamura’s hometown Okinawa. 

“It was pretty amazing.  We really came together as a band, because we were experiencing a different culture together,” said Scannella. 

“Overall it was an amazing trip and we look forward to going back,” Hooper said. 

A resident of Somerville for the past eight years, Hooper moved to the Boston area in 1989 to attend Berklee College of Music, after graduating from the University of Miami’s School of Music. 

Hooper said his interest in music sparked when he began playing the clarinet in fourth grade, in his hometown of Shaker Heights, Ohio.  He later played in his high school’s jazz band.

“I wanted to go to Berklee after high school, but my dad said I couldn’t just study music,” Hooper said, who attended Wittenberg University, in Springfield, Ohio for two
years, before transferring to the University of Miami’s School of Music. 

Because his credits from Wittenberg did not transfer, Hooper spent six years at the University of Miami, which he said worked to his advantage. “I made contacts, I still keep in touch with.” 

“East” is the first CD The Sam Hooper Group has released.  Hooper released his solo CD, the five-song album “All Caught Up” in 1999. 

Two songs from this CD were featured on the daytime television shows “All My Children,” and “The Young and the Restless.”   Hooper also collaborated with musician Rich Glenn, to produce a CD titled “Rich Glenn and Sam Hooper,” in 2000.
Sam Hooper will have a solo performance for Singer/Songwriter Night Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Sky Bar at 518 Somerville Ave.