Funky Fusion
Band members come and go, but the Price Of Dope remains high-energy
by Karla Peterson

Their music is smooth and funky. It is also loose and airtight, old-school and newly hip. The members of San Diego's Price of Dope stuff their soul-jazz jams with loads of contradictions, so it's no big surprise that when it comes to goals, they can't settle for just one.

"We want people to dance," said bassist Christian Schinelli. "It's music that you can sit down and enjoy just by listening or by watching us play, but you can also just forget about it and groove. We want to play our best at all times, and we're all very conscious of that. We're serious about playing the music, but we want to keep it fun."

Formed in 1995 by Schinelli, drummer Jeff Kelley and keyboardist Todd Davidson, the Price of Dope set out with a few near-impossible dreams in mind: They wanted to keep it instrumental. And they wanted to do it right.

"We got together because Jeff had placed a (newspaper) ad looking for a funky bass player whose influences were Weather Report and Tower of Power. When I read that, I thought it sounded better than all the garage bands that were all over the place," Schinelli said. "We really wanted to be an all-instrumental band, kind of like Herbie Hancock in the '70s. When we looked around town, the only other band we really admired was the Greyboy Allstars. No one else was doing anything like it, so we were pretty confident there was room for us, too."

It turns out they were right.

Armed with synthesizers, samples and a sound that was more hip-hop than soul-jazz, Schinelli and his partners rehearsed and rehearsed, finally securing their long-anticipated first gig. And in the noble tradition of all first gigs, it was a stinker.

"We played at this roadhouse in Encinitas, and they didn't let us turn our crummy little amps up past 2," Schinelli said. "I don't like to count that as a show at all."

The second one went a lot better. So did the third, the fourth, and so on, In a stroke of great luck, the Greyboy Allstars were called off to Europe, and Schinelli and the group found themselves taking over Greyboy's regular Wednesday night shows at the now defunct Green Circle club downtown.

"Those were some big shoes to fill," Schinelli said of the Greyboy gigs. "It was nerve-racking at first, but people seemed to really like us. That was a real ego boost."

Greyboy Shadow

Originally a trio, the band expanded in 1996 with the addition of guitarist David Carano and saxophonist Cochmemea Gastelum. The quintet went on to conquer more clubs, playing shows at Brick by Brick and Dream Street, where funk and jazz usually take a back seat to punk, metal and rock 'n' roll.

"I don't know what people were expecting when we showed up, but it turned out that the sound was different and crazy enough that everyone really got into it," Schinelli said. "We never really had any negative feedback. People would say, 'Hey, where's your singer?,' but that was about it."

Facing a room full of Greyboy loyalists or skeptical metalheads was a challenge, but keeping an audience jumping turned out to be the least of the band's problems.

Shortly after Carano and Gastelum joined the band, keyboardist Davidson left. Harold Todd filled in for a while, and when he left to tour with Lenny Kravitz, Ben Moore came on board. That version of the band - with Schinelli, Kelley, Carano, Gastelum and Moore - recorded the self-titled album that hit the stores late last year.

To quote the title of its leadoff track, Price of Dope's debut was "Smoove." With the rhythm section at a low, funky boil, the saxophone at high flame and the guitars and keyboard steaming, the band cooked up a thick jazz-soul stew that stuck to your ribs without turning gluey. The sound was impressive. But once again, the Price of Dope was in flux.

After the CD was recorded, but before it was released, guitarist Carano left. So did saxophonist Gastelum. And keyboardist Moore. That left Kelley and Schinelli with a great CD and no band to back it up. But they were there at the beginning, and there was no way that the drummer and the bassist were not going to let this be the end. "It was very frustrating for a while," Schinelli acknowledged, "We had all played on it, but suddenly, Jeff and I were the ones left to deal with the CD. But the way we always think about it is, the band has had a lot of different players, but it's still the Price of Dope. I think we're much better now. We still play in that same style, but we're tighter now than we ever were before."

The new Price of Dope

Mixing jazz, soul and funk for your listening pleasure, the members of the Price of Dope are (front row, left to right) Jason Whitmore, Christian Schinelli and Jeff Kelley. In the back row are Andrew Holmes (left, James Cummings and Skip Howlett. (photo: Nancee E. Lewis / Union-Tribune)

With Andrew Holmes on guitar, Jason Whitemore on saxophone, James Cummings on keyboards and Tito Puente-Herbie Hancock sideman Skip Howlett on percussion, the band is alive and well and jamming away. And when they're not working on their next CD, Schinelli and the Price of Dope are doing their best to get locals to tune in and turn on.

"Sometimes people will be dancing to a DJ, and we'll just go up on stage and find some way to squeeze our way into the DJ's groove," Schinelli said. "Eventually, he'll turn his stuff down, and people will find themselves dancing, even if we have to trick them once in a while."

(The Price of Dope performs March 12, at Winston's in Ocean Beach and March 27, at Blind Melons in Pacific Beach. The band's self-titled debut CD is available at most Music Trader outlets.)