Adam Dorn (a.k.a. Mocean Worker) embraces his jazz and funk influences to the fullest on his fifth album entitled Cinco De Mowo!. With his new set of songs, he pays homage to genres like late 60’s/early 70’s soul-funk-jazz (“Les & Eddie”), 30’s big band swing (“Tickle It” and “Son Of Sanford”) and the nuyorican soul sound (“Que Bom”). We sat with him to briefly talk about his career.

CA: When did you begin to make music?
MW: I actually think I began music right away in life. I can always remember music being such a key part of everything to me. But there is one series of events that is the true beginning of music for me. When I was 15 years old I heard a David Sanborn album called Straight To The Heart. There is a song on that album called "Run For Cover" and it features a bass solo by Marcus Miller, one of the best bass players to ever live. My friend Wolf, who is now a well known producer and drummer, played it for me because at the time I said I wanted to be a drummer as well. He said "Don’t play drums, play bass, this way we can work together." I was sort of confused but he played this tune and then the solo came on and in an instant my life changed forever. I wanted to play bass. I was so blown away by Marcus' sound and feel that I actually wrote him a letter and LIED that I was a bass player...HA! About 8 months later I got a phone call from Marcus and he said he wanted to meet me. I thought it was Wolf making a joke and I actually told him he was lying. I actually quizzed Marcus on the key of one of his songs from his solo album and when he got it right (Wolf didn’t have the album) I freaked out. I then went on to spend about the next 3 years in the studio with Marcus as his sort of intern / student. I worked and/or assisted on albums for David Sanborn, Luther Vandross, Miles Davis, Roberta Flack and many others. While my friends were at the graduating senior party for exiting students, I was actually in the studio with Miles Davis.

CA: What kind of music did you listen to before making your own music?
MW: I was basically a studio musician before I started writing my own music. Interestingly enough, I think the fact that I mostly played on albums I didn’t enjoy and produced artists that I would sort of never listen to mostly led to my becoming an artist myself. In terms of what music inspired me or what music I would listen to for pleasure, I'd say basically I’m a jazz and old R&B lover. I grew up listening to The Gap Band and Miles and Louis Jordan, I just really love that music. I’m also a huge hip-hop fan of the late 80's early 90's era. A Tribe Called Quest is a big favorite. I think the turning point for me was when I was working with a French artist called Patricia Kaas, producing an "English album" for her. I realized that the tracks I was making for her were very much like the drum and bass and electronic music that I was getting into. During the same time I I realized I was actually making my first solo album and NOT her English album (her album never came out......MINE DID! ) So, as weird as this will sound, I want to thank Patricia Kaas for giving me the chance in the studio to make my first album! I’m glad she didn’t enjoy singing in English.....Thanks Patricia!


CA: Who were your main influences?
MW: Really sort of all over the map. I was really into jazz and R&B. So Coltrane, Miles, Bill Evans were on a lot. I also really loved Earth Wind and Fire a ton, man they made some amazing albums. I was also really into synths and big more modern sounding albums so I looked to England and their synth pop hits of the 80's as an influence. I love Peter Gabriel and the producing style of Trevor Horn. At the time I actually was also really into a group called Level 42 who were produced by another influence of mine, Wally Badarou. A brilliant producer and film scoring genius.Also a lovely person who lives in Paris. I remember hearing Peter Gabriel's So and being like..."this is a really important album." As I started discovering electronic music and getting into writing my own albums Orbital, Spring Heel Jack, Massive Attack, Radiohead and Bjork were huge influences, although you wouldn’t hear that in my work now.


CA: Why have you chosen to work with Marcus, Herb, Rahsaan and Morley?
MW: Marcus was an obvious reason because he was my original teacher. I asked him to play clarinet on a track thinking that bass wasn’t needed since I do all the bass stuff on my albums. He got the tune back to me within 2 days and it sounded amazing. He is such a great musician he made the tune "Brown Liquor" really swing. Rahsaan was actually produced by my father and the result of some live bootleg recordings being around the house lead me to want to sample Rahsaan knowing that I would not have to clear samples. I also think Rahsaan is someone that people not into jazz should know about. He is one of the most amazing musicians ever. His solo flute sample I chopped up and manipulated became the song "Siss Boom Bah!". Morley, I met through a friend called Bill Bragin. He books an amazing club here in New York called Joe's Pub. He invited me down to see her thinking I would really be knocked out. I was and we hooked up that evening and worked on a tune called "I Got You". She has since signed to Universal France and we had the chance to hang out in Paris last summer when she was the opening act for Raul Midon. Morley is a star. Really love her energy. Herb Alpert came about because I remixed a tune from his classic album Whipped Cream And Other Delights. He enjoyed it and when he was in New York during the final stages of the album we had a chance to get together and hang out. I don’t know why I asked him but I just thought he would maybe enjoy playing on something on my album. I figured, it can’t hurt to ask him and he literally jumped at the chance. He was so gracious and such a great guy about it. I sent him the tune and he worked on it in his studio in LA and got it back to me within a couple of days with a note saying that he was so happy to be involved. He is such a classy individual, I love that I got a chance to have him on my album. The tune he is on is called "Changes" and is actually the first tune I wrote during the process of making this album.

CA: Have you work altogether in the studio or did they send you their part and then you did the mix?
MW: With Marcus and Herb I sent them files and they played on them and sent them back. Very simple. Everyone else that appears on the album came into my studio and I recorded them. Usually someone will overdub a part and then I build a final version of what I want after they leave. Very rarely do I actually keep what they've done without lots of editing. I treat most musicians as samples. I know it sounds cold but I love having the ability to hire someone for a particular sound or color and then manipulate it exactly how I see fit in the song.


CA: Will there be a difference between the sound of your album and your live concerts?
MW: Currently I have a 6 piece band that features drums, bass, trumpet, tenor sax, piano and percussion with me playing bass and working the laptop with beats and samples. The most exciting thing I’m finding so far is that some of the tunes literally just get played with no samples or backing beats. Some other tunes are all samples and beats and the band adds colors. It's a great experience to go from doing my live show all by myself to doing it with a real band. I have a lot of flexibility to do things now. Still a very nerve wrecking process. It's a bit new to me. Looking forward to bringing the band to Europe for some festivals. Nothing is booked as of yet but I think that is going to change soon.

Interview by Christophe Augros