International Musician
Like Father, Like Sons
Like Father, Like Sons
“When I graduated from Berklee, one of my teachers gave me really strong advice,” says Abraham Laboriel. “He said, ‘I strongly recommend that you don’t become a specialist, because if your specialty goes out of fashion, you’ll be out of work. But if you are versatile, when one door closes, another will open and you will be able to adjust.’ I remember taking that advice to heart.”
The first-call session bassist of Local 47 (Los Angeles) and member of the band Open Hands, must have imparted those words of wisdom on his two multi-talented sons, also Local 47 members and graduates of Berklee. Abe Jr. is a drummer who spends about half of his time touring with numerous artists, including Kelly Clarkson of Local 257 (Nashville, TN), Lady Gaga, and currently, Paul McCartney, and spends the other half in studio sessions. Mateo is a film composer, producer, and guitarist, who recently played for and helped produce Jamie Foxx’s album, Unpredictable, and whose soundtrack credits include Alpha Dog, Sex and the City: The Movie, and The Proposal, among others.
“Talking with professional musicians in Los Angeles, that versatility is one of the tremendous sources of pride that all of us have,” Abraham says. “From session to session, you are called upon to play many different styles and attitudes, and you have to play each with total commitment and conviction.” He points out that sometimes, even within one studio session, he is required to run the gamut of musical styles. He recalls sessions for the soundtracks to the movies Ratatouille and The Incredibles, where he would jump from French music, to jazz, to Italian, to rock ‘n’ roll, all in the same morning.
Abraham has a humble attitude, explaining that he feels that one of the most important qualities for a studio musician to have is a heart of service. “As much as musicians are artists and we spend a lot of time perfecting our craft, we have to put all of that toward the service of the people that hire us,” he says. “Our main goal is to capture their vision.”
That outlook, combined with immense talent, has led Abraham to make more than 4,000 recordings in his career, meaning that practically everyone has probably heard the smooth sound of his bass at some point. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) honored Abraham with the “Most Valuable Player” award so many times that he was eventually granted emeritus status to allow others to win.
Abe Jr. adds to his father’s studio advice, explaining that energy is another vital component. “It is important to bring live energy into the studio, and it is important to bring the focus of being in a studio to a live show,” he says. “One informs the other; they should be in balance.”
Known for his aggressive and commanding drumming style, Abe Jr. says that his dad helped to inspire his musical energy, and was endlessly encouraging of his passion. “I think that my father being a professional musician let me know that it is possible to do something that you love and make a living at it,” Abe Jr. says. “If I had had the same intensity for gardening, then I would have pursued that with all of my heart. It just so happens that what I love to do is channel music by any means available to me.”
A love of music has been passed on for generations in the Laboriel family. Abraham grew up in Mexico City, where his family was well-established in the music scene. His father was a guitarist and singer/songwriter, and his older siblings were teenybopper icons in the ’50s. He remembers that American publishing companies would often send his siblings songs for them to consider translating into Spanish, and that was when he became enamored with American rock ‘n’ roll.
But Abraham’s parents were concerned about the possible instability of a music career, and suggested that he play music on the side, while pursuing a different field of study in college. For two years, Abraham reluctantly put aside his bass and studied to be an aeronautical engineer. “After about two years, I realized that I had given up music completely, because of the workload,” he remembers. “My heart broke, and I asked my parents if they would let me try music for a year, and that if it didn’t work out, I would go back to engineering.” He moved to Boston to attend Berklee, and the rest, as he puts it, is history.
Among Abraham’s important lessons at school was learning how to take the latest musical trends and make them his own. “I had a teacher who told me, rather than copying what you hear, try to understand the concept of what you’re hearing and apply it to your own playing,” he explains. “So when producers started asking me to play in the style of whatever the latest artist was, I had figured out how to take the concept and apply it to whatever song we were doing.”
After graduating, Abraham and his wife Lyn, then a medical student (now a pediatrician), whom he met in Boston, moved to Cleveland where Lyn had been placed for her medical residency. Abraham put his music career on hold, for the most part, in order to stay home and take care of the couple’s first son, Abe Jr., which was an opportunity that he treasures. However, he did jump at the chance, during that time, to work with famous jazz composer and arranger Henry Mancini on his record Symphonic Soul.
Mancini had some wise words for Abraham when the family was preparing to move to Los Angeles a few years later. “He said, ‘The people who will help you are the other musicians. If they like your playing and they like you, they are the ones who can help you to build a fruitful career when you move to Los Angeles,’” Abraham recalls.
In a huge city full of talented musicians, it took some time to emerge from the crowd, but it turned out that Mancini was right. One gig would always lead to another, as more musicians recognized Abraham’s skill, and within a couple of years he was working regularly. “All of the musicians in Los Angeles were very encouraging to me,” he says.
That sense of community is a major reason for Abraham’s loyal membership in the AFM. “We have access to so many great minds. You become an instant fraternity of musicians, and that’s priceless,” he says. It’s incredible, he points out, to think about the fact that the studio musicians in the 1930s were the now-legendary figures like Stravinsky, Heifetz, Rubinstein, Schoenberg, and Hindemith. “Maybe someday, people will think about our generation like people now think about those musicians,” he says. “That’s really inspiring.”
Abe Jr. adds, “I think that the AFM is a great reminder that there is a huge community of people that all have the same hopes and dreams, and that we can all get closer to those goals together.”
Perhaps for Abraham, the most important dream that he’s met is seeing his sons succeed. “I have received many phone calls from people my sons have worked with, thanking me for them, and that makes me beam,” he says. “I am a very, very proud father.”
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