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Don't Bite the Band That Feeds You – John Einarson

What does a long-forgotten photograph of John Lennon have to do with one of Winnipeg’s best-loved ‘70s bands?

Beginning in the summer of 1973 and lasting some 18 months, May Pang, a confidante of Lennon’s artist wife Yoko Ono, began an affair with Lennon. Historians have dubbed it Lennon’s “Lost Weekend,” notable for the fact that the ex-Beatle spent much of that period in a drunken haze before returning to Ono.

Recently, a photo from that time surfaced showing Pang and Lennon browsing at an outdoor market. Nothing noteworthy, except that Pang is wearing a Mood Jga Jga t-shirt. Wait, what?!

“A friend found that photo online and sent it to Gord [Mood Jga Jga drummer Gord Osland] and he then sent it to me,” marvels Hermann Frühm, keyboard player for the jazz-influenced Winnipeg quartet. “I couldn’t believe it! There was our name and logo, ‘Don’t bite the band that feeds you’. How did she get that t-shirt?” The photo had a more profound impact, however.

“It was all crazy happenstance,” Hermann continues, “but that photo got me thinking that it was exactly 50 years ago that we released our debut album. That’s a milestone.”

When you think of all the albums released in 1974, the majority are forever defined by their time and context – hard rock or dance music – forever preserved in the amber of that year. They have not stood the test of time. Fifty years ago, Mood Jga Jga released their self-titled debut album that boasted none of the characteristic hallmarks of early 1970s recordings. Their music was like nothing else in the rock music pantheon, wholly fresh, innovative, unique, and exciting. “We created a sound that was distinctively ours,” notes Hermann, with justifiable pride, “not copying anyone. I don’t ever remember anyone saying, ‘Oh, you guys sound like…’ Never.” The four musicians in the Winnipeg-based quartet, whether consciously or otherwise, created a timeless body of music that has stood the test of time, sounding as exciting now as it did 50 years ago.

“We were always pushing the envelope,” explains Mood Jga Jga guitar player, vocalist, and principal songwriter Greg Leskiw. “It was our own concept of our sound. We wanted to be different and it worked with the way I was singing.”

Mood Jga Jga was Greg’s dream band. A veteran of several Winnipeg rock bands including The Shags, the oddly-named Logan Avenue Comfort Station (named for a well-known Winnipeg public biffy) and folk-rockers Wild Rice, Greg accepted an offer to join The Guess Who in June 1970. The Guess Who was riding high with a North American #1 single, “American Woman” when guitarist and songwriter Randy Bachman abruptly left the group over personal differences. Greg and fellow local guitarist Kurt Winter were both invited to step into Bachman’s shoes. “Kurt and I have different styles," Greg told a reporter back in 1970, “unpremeditated styles. I have a country feel but I also have blues and jazz. I think it has worked out fairly well.” Greg’s quirky songwriting offered a further element to the band’s generally hard rock sound.

Greg remained with The Guess Who through three albums and headlining tours that included a memorable gig at the White House before jumping ship. In March 1972, during a US tour to promote the group’s latest album Rockin’ which included Greg’s “Herbert’s A Loser”, he unexpectedly left The Guess Who following a concert in Corpus Christi, Texas. He no longer felt a part of the group. “It wasn’t my thing,” Greg conceded. “I had my own dream and I guess I was stubborn about it.” Having stepped aboard a train that was already rolling on a full head of steam, he now wanted to be his own engine.

Returning to Winnipeg, following a much-needed rest from The Guess Who juggernaut, Greg set about forming his own band. He first contacted friend and former bandmate, drummer Gord Osland. The two had played together in Wild Rice, a folk-rock quartet built around singers Bill Ivaniuk and Carole Isaac. Greg and Gord were musically sympatico. “Greg and I grew up hearing jazz music from our fathers,” states Gord. “They both played in swing bands in the ‘40s so we knew a lot of that material. That’s how it started. We had that marriage between acoustic and electric instruments.”

Jamming in the living room of Greg’s house on the outskirts of Winnipeg’s Fort Garry neighbourhood, it wasn’t until talented keyboard player Hermann Frühm joined them that the project took on a more serious focus. Hermann, too, was a veteran of several local bands including most recently Dianne Heatherington & The Merry-Go-Round, unquestionably the finest pub band in the city. American singer Kenny Rogers agreed after witnessing the group as guests on his weekly Canadian television show Rollin’ On The River filmed in Toronto. Kenny arranged for the band to record in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, after several days in an LA recording studio, the proposed album deal fell through and the group returned home. Hermann joined his parents and sister in the summer of 1972 for a once-in-a-lifetime family trip to Europe to visit relatives he’d never met. Back home, he learned of Greg and Gord’s musical endeavours and agreed to sit in for one of their jams. 

“When Hermann got involved, that’s when things shifted to something serious,” recalls Gord. “When he first came over to Greg’s house and set up his keyboard in the living room, that was the piece that brought it all together. Hermann just intuitively knew what we were doing and fit right in.” Adds Greg, Hermann completed the band. If that hadn’t happened, there wouldn’t have been a Mood Jga Jga.” Respected bass player Bill Merritt, who had earlier worked with Greg in The Shags and Jamieson Roberts Device, came onboard soon after, completing the lineup. “Bill understood immediately what we were doing,” says Gord. “Bill and I never had discussions about what to play. He knew intuitively what to play with me.”

With his Guess Who nest egg, Greg provided a salary for each of the guys so that they could fully concentrate on the new group and still pay their bills. Gord, who had been enjoying a regular gig with Gary and Blair McLean in The Vicious Circle, and Bill both had wives and children to support. The style of the group came together quickly. “We worked on those songs for a solid three months every day at Greg’s house on Lee Boulevard,” recalls Hermann, “spending four, five, six hours a day sharing a common vision to make something as good as we could possibly make it. That was the bond we shared. We had an amazing chemistry, the four of us, and we all contributed to those songs. It was the most enjoyable process ever.”

Although a highly-regarded guitar player in his own right, Greg instead chose to minimize the role of guitar in the band’s overall sound. “When you listen to the first album it’s built around Hermann’s keyboard,” Greg explains. “It wasn’t a guitar-based band. I played more rhythm guitar but it’s really the piano that takes it someplace special. That was always my dream, to have us sound like a group.”

The embryonic group bandied about several names before Gord’s infant son Sam came up with the winner. “He was just a little guy,” remembers Greg. “Around the dinner table one day he was banging on the plates with his knife and fork and he kept saying ‘Mood jga jga, mood jga jga’ over and over. And it stuck in my mind. It was tough to say, tough to spell, but there was something about it, the look of it. There probably better ways to spell it because everybody mispronounced it. We were at Warner Brothers records being introduced to everyone in the building as ‘Mood Jeegah Jeegah’ and we didn’t pick up on the hint: ‘Change your freakin’ name!’”

Mood Jga Jga made their public debut opening for pop star Edgar Winter and his band at the University of Manitoba’s UMSU gym. They followed this with gigs at The Ting and The Well coffeehouses. They also played a memorable opening slot for jazz-rock fusion band John McLaughlan’s Mahavishnu Orchestra at Winnipeg’s Playhouse Theatre. “They were astoundingly good,” insists Gord. “They watched our set from the wings and when we came off stage, they were congratulating us. They liked our jazzy stuff. Gord also remembers a strange pairing when the group was booked to open for glam rockers KISS at the University of Manitoba’s Taché Hall residence. “That was so weird,” he laughs. “They were terrible. They had just gotten their platform boots and were getting used to performing in them. One of the guys fell over because of his shoes… and he couldn’t get up. The roadies had to come out and help him up but he never stopped playing, to his credit. It was like a Spinal Tap moment.”

Once former radio host and Guess Who road manager Jim Millican came onboard as manager, things moved into a higher gear. Using the connections he had made in the music business working with The Guess Who, Jim secured a recording contract for Mood Jga Jga with Warner Brothers Records in Los Angeles. Along with the contract came a healthy $25,000 advance against future royalties. A chunk of that money went to pay Greg back for floating the band over the previous months. The label also offered the band something else.

“Warner Brothers let us pick the record producer we wanted,” states Hermann, still amazed at the band’s good fortune. “Here we were this unknown Canadian band. Amazing. They paid for us to audition producers. We flew up Val Valentin from Mexico. He had worked with a lot of jazz artists like Stan Getz. The next guy was Eddie Kramer who had worked with Jimi Hendrix. Oh my god! He came to see us playing at The Ting coffeehouse. The last guy was Phil Ramone. We played some of our songs for him in Greg’s living room.”

Phil Ramone had an impressive resumé of production credits at the time that would continue to grow over the next few decades. Among his illustrious clients have been Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Carly Simon, Dusty Springfield, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Ray Charles, Elton John, Barry Manilow and more. He was a record production superstar who worked primarily at his own New York studio, A&R Recording.

“After meeting him it was unanimous that we wanted to work with him,” confirms Hermann. “He was a very sincere, genuine, normal guy. No ego, no pretenses. We immediately felt comfortable with him.”

According to Greg, “We were looking for someone who had done some work in the jazz field and who was ready to step into pop to do some producing. Phil was that guy. He was walking musical history, had won all those Grammys and awards, and here we were recording with the guy!”

Prior to the formal sessions in New York, Mood Jga Jga had recorded demos of most of the songs intended for the album at Winnipeg’s Century 21 recording studio under the direction of Rick Inglis who had been working as an audio engineer at CBC in Winnipeg.

“The four of us drove to the recording sessions in New York in the old Merry-Go-Round purple van, pulling a trailer with all of our gear,” recalls Hermann. Sessions with Phil Ramone commenced at A&R Recording in late September 1973 and ran over four sessions through to October. Paul Simon was recording There Goes Rhymin’ Simon with Phil in the mornings. Mood Jga Jga would come in around 4 pm to record. “We would hear some of Paul Simon’s rough tracks,” Gord remembers, “and we were a bit intimidated because Simon had the best players in the business.”

In the studio, Phil Ramone went to work casting his magic on the tracks. “He arrived carrying what looked like a gym bag, opened it up and there were a bunch of microphones,” notes Hermann. “They must have been high-end mics that he used for all his sessions. He set them up around the studio. I remember he set up the mics for the drums and afterwards told Gord to go out and play something. We listened and were absolutely blown away by the sound. The drums sounded incredible, so natural and so present. He really knew what he was doing but made it seem so effortless. We learned so much from him and felt privileged to be working with him.”

Of the songs the group brought to the sessions, Greg had written the hoedown song “I Am What I Am What I Am”, a concert favourite, prior to leaving The Guess Who. He had also composed the smooth jazz number “Gimme My Money” earlier. The oldest song, “Riverbank”, dated back to 1968. The rest of the material, drawn from a varied palette that included jazz, rock, pop and country, emerged from the band’s months of rehearsing.

“We came into the studio with most of these songs already formed,” notes Gord, “but Phil contributed so much to the tracks. He would hear stuff as we would be playing and give us advice. It was his idea to add the improvised middle part in ‘Riverbank’, for example. It was totally improvised in the studio. Phil coached us to relax and take our time to get that.” Phil also suggested the horns on “Queen Jealousy” as well as strings, orchestrated by Chris Dedrick, for the ballad “Come And See Me Here My Friend”.

When Phil wanted the session to stop, he would simply raise his hand and close his fist. The recording engineers knew immediately to stop the tape. “Whenever we would get stuck on something,” smiles Gord, “Phil would stop us and say, ‘Okay, Carnegie Deli!’ We’d all have smoked meat sandwiches and cheesecake then come back to the studio and try again.”

The clarity of the sound of the instruments remains remarkable to this day. Nothing sounds dull, it’s all crisp. As Hermann notes, “On ‘Kill The Hangman’, I played the intro motif on a Fender Rhodes electric piano that was in the studio. Phil was at the recording console adjusting the controls. ‘Play something’ he said to me. I started playing and through my headphones, I heard the most angelic, glistening shimmering notes. That was all Phil. He got that sound. Blew me away.”

Besides the superb playing on the album, what is often forgotten is the stellar harmony singing. “Mood Jga Jga had an unbelievable vocal band,” boasts Greg. “All of us sang.” Hermann acknowledges Phil Ramone’s direction for the band’s vocal blend. “He taught us how to sing harmony with breath, synchronization, and intonation, big lessons we utilized for the rest of our careers.”  

Greg regards “Daybreak” as the track that captured the essence of what Mood Jga Jga represented and acknowledges Bill Merritt’s innovative bass lines on the track. The unusual guitar riff in hard-rocking “Queen Jealousy” was inspired by an unlikely source. “I met this five-string banjo player who showed me how to get that cool picking style for the riff muting of the strings,” Greg noted. “That was always my contribution guitar-wise, intros and riffs that were quirky and off the beaten track.”

Once completed, the album tracks were sent to Warner Brothers record executives in Los Angeles. That’s when the wheels fell off the cart.

“The American label executives in LA told us they didn’t hear a hit single off the album,” sighs Gord. “They wanted hits.” Confirms Hermann, “The executives listened to it and concluded that we just didn’t cut it. So they decided not to release it in the United States. They punted the album to their Canadian office and they didn’t know what to do with it because they never signed us. We were like an orphan that no one wanted.” A brilliant album of uniquely original music, it was nonetheless caught in a music business limbo not of the band’s making. “Jim Millican would be yelling at the record guys,” recalls Hermann. “He was very frustrated.”

Even the presence of Phil Ramone’s name on the album credits failed to sway the record label execs. In the end, the album was left to twist in the wind.

Without much support from the record label, the band did their best to spread the word about the album by touring Canada. But they were forced to buy copies of the album to get it into record stores or sell at their gigs. Without any record label promotion, “Queen Jealousy”, the rockiest track on the album, charted in Regina, rising to #11 on the pop charts.

A memorable gig took place on the rooftop of the Winnipeg Art Gallery in the early fall of 1974 after the album was released in Canada. “That was Mood Jga Jga at our height,” says Gord. But in reality, the band members were starving. “We definitely never saw any big money come our way,” reveals Hermann. “It was a financial challenge the whole time. When Millican landed that deal with Warner Brothers we thought ‘Oh man, we’re on our way.’ But that didn’t last.”

Bassist Bill Merritt, whose melodic playing was the glue throughout the Mood Jga Jga album tracks, could see no future with the group and left in 1975. “Bill thought what we were doing wasn’t commercial,” Greg noted. “I could see his point. He also wasn’t comfortable with the level of improvising we were doing. That wasn’t his thing.”

The others recruited Ian Gardiner on bass. Barely out of his teens, Ian was already well-respected on both the Winnipeg rock and jazz scenes. As Gord remarked, “Ian was a musician’s musician.” In addition to electric bass, Ian introduced the upright bass to Mood Jga Jga’s sound, elevating the jazz quotient. Reconstituted, this new lineup entered Roade Studios on Grosvenor Avenue in south Winnipeg where they laid down six tracks for a proposed second album, financed by Greg, that was never completed. Those same tracks would later appear on Greg’s 1979 debut solo album Be My Champion credited to LesQ.

With Ian onboard and Jim Millican now out of the picture, the four band members determined to go for broke and relocated to Los Angeles in January 1976 to try raising the band’s profile and ebbing fortunes. “We had nothing lined up there and no work permits,” smiles Hermann. “We just jumped in the van, hooked up the trailer with our gear and headed south.” Renting a room at the rundown Lido Hotel, the group went out and hustled for gigs while also seeking to land a new record deal.

“We played frat houses, high school proms,” Gord recalls. “It was awful. But the best thing that happened to us was playing at The Troubadour on Monday Hoot Night.” The Troubadour looms large in the Los Angeles music scene as the club where many artists including Elton John broke big. The clubs Hoot Night is legendary for launching the careers of the likes of The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. “We went to a Salvation Army store and got tuxedos to wear that night,” Gord continues. “The crowd just ate us up. Afterwards, we had promoters and agents thrusting their business cards into our hands, telling us, ‘Don’t talk to that guy, come see me.’ We met with one guy who had contracts all laid out on a table for us to sign, ridiculously one-sided contracts in his favour. We knew better not to sign.”

One gig during that two-month period remains memorable. “If anyone asks me where the weirdest gig I ever played was, I just say Sandstone,” laughs Gord. “The manager of The Troubadour booked us for the gig. He thought our acoustic jazzy thing would go over perfectly.” Located in Tuna Canyon in the Hollywood Hills past Malibu, dubbed a ‘sensual awareness’ club, Sandstone was a sprawling ranch for swingers. “We set up our gear in the living room and started playing. People started dancing. Apparently, clothing was optional and it became bacchanalian. But it was great money and they liked us so much they even booked us to come back.”

Despite their diligent efforts to land a recording contract, including Hermann attempting to solicit Kenny Rogers’ support, Mood Jga Jga ultimately returned to Winnipeg. With no future prospects, the four members quietly went their separate ways.

Within weeks, former Guess Who singer Burton Cummings tapped Ian and Gord to work on demo sessions at Roade Studios for his highly-anticipated debut solo album. Both also took part in recording sessions in Hollywood where Cummings had landed producer-to-the-stars Richard Perry to direct the album. While Ian stayed on through the sessions and remained a member of Cummings’ band for the next ten years, Gord was let go early into the sessions, replaced by studio superstar Jim Gordon.

There was never any announcement of a formal dissolution of Mood Jga Jga. As far as the individuals in the band were concerned, they never officially broke up. They were merely on hiatus. Over the intervening decades, the original lineup reunited for sporadic gigs in Winnipeg. In 1991 they recorded a six-song tape for CBC Winnipeg. Three years later, Mood Jga Jga licensed the original tape masters of their debut album from Warner Brothers and released a limited-edition CD, presenting the album for the first time in that medium. In 1997 the original group returned to the studio to write and record a second album of all new material titled Boys Will Be Boys, released independently. “We just decided to get together and do it,” acknowledged Greg at the time of the album’s release. “What it shows is the amazing chemistry between us.”

How many bands wait twenty-four years between album releases? For Mood Jga Jga, the quarter-century interval only made the four musicians stronger and more creative. However, despite impressive songwriting and execution, Boys Will Be Boys, while welcomed by Mood Jga Jga’s legion of loyal fans, nonetheless paled in comparison to the band’s 1974 debut album.

Hailing a record album as ahead of its time can be an enormous compliment to one’s creativity and vision but it’s also a double-edged sword. Being ahead of your time, while certainly laudatory, can also mean the kiss of death commercially. Inherent in that statement is the sobering reality that the record-buying public is not yet ready to embrace your creative achievement. You are not in tune with the times.

In 1974, Winnipeg quartet Mood Jga Jga presented their record label with a brilliant album of music not tethered to the musical context of the times. It was distinctive, a rare and inventive gem in a world of trendy musical clones. It is for that very fact that the album stands apart from its contemporaries, if it even had any at the time. Mood Jga Jga crafted an ageless body of music whose appeal is as strong, or perhaps more significantly, stronger today as it was on its release 50 years ago.

“Working with the legendary Phil Ramone, we created something magical,” Gord acknowledges. “If you Google Phil’s name, there’s an amazing list of artists he worked with and there, under the M’s, is our name, Mood Jga Jga. That’s something to be very proud of.”

Reflecting on the incredible experience of making the album 50 years ago, Hermann states, “I can’t believe the good fortune of my being a part of the chemistry that created that album.” It forever stands as the individual band members’ legacy. “No matter what happens, no one can ever take away from us the fact that we recorded this album. I’m so proud of that album. It was an honour to have made that music.”

John Einarson