Mr. B

While producer Noah Baerman began his studies with piano lessons at age 8, his alter ego, Mr. B, learned by keeping his ear tuned to the soul masters. From James Brown, Mr. B learned how to build onstage intensity; from Ray Charles, how to make a piano shiver and moan. From Sly Stone he observed a band so tight that the groove couldn't quit; and from George Clinton's P-Funk, he saw how to run a tight ship and still leave room for individuality. In the early 1990's, Mr. B led the New Haven, CT, band Mental Floss. In '92, after two years of gigs, Noah Baerman retired the band and the Mr. B persona, feeling that his Stevie Wonder styled soul and peace-and-love lyrics weren't suited for Connecticut's heavily "alternative" pop scene at the time.

Around that time, Noah joined the jazz combo led by "young lion" saxophonist Jimmy Greene, and began his career as a jazz musician. Noah attended Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he was mentored by jazz great Kenny Barron. By the late 1990's, his jazz career was in full swing with three published method books, frequent gigs, and 5½ years with the group Positive Rhythmic Force. Despite the success of the group's two CD's, Noah never stopped writing pop tunes. After years of feeling alienated by the pop world, he began to notice contemporary artists like Me'Shell NdegeOcello, Lenny Kravitz and Jamiroquai giving a modern perspective to classic soul music and being embraced by both alternative and mainstream audiences. Then in early 1999, his song "I See the Light" (the closing number on the debut Boogie Band CD) was used in the original play "the False Door." After watching the song inspire a nightly standing ovation as it closed each night's performance, he knew it was time for Mr. B to rise again . . .

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