Jeff Babko (The Doves of Fire, the Jimmy Kimmel Live show and more)

Jeff Babko plays keyboards with the band The Doves of Fire. He also plays keyboards on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on the ABC channel in the USA. Jeff says this about his Nord Lead 2 and Nord Electro:

"With The Doves of Fire (Steve Lukather, Simon Phillips, Melvin Davis and myself), I had to try to get some of those vintage 70's sounds, like what Jan and Chick used to get. The Nord 2 was perfect! I've been having so much fun with tweaking the LFO and ring mod during solos. Every day I discover something new to tweak! On "Jimmy Kimmel Live," I'm playing a lot of B3 and lead parts. While the B3 would probably take up our entire little stage, the Nord Electro's been perfect. On TV, I'm noticing it's sounding just like the real thing! I'm also loving playing melodies on the Nord Lead 2... it's cutting through great. Thanks, Nord!

Biography

Jeff Babko has lived in Southern California all his life, aside from 4 years attending the University of Miami (Florida) School of Music. Upon his return to L.A., Babko formed the “Jeff Babko Group,” a jazz quartet that would record one album, Misfits of Silence. Shortly thereafter, Babko began playing (keyboards AND trombone) on recordings for hip hop producer Dr. Dre. Simultaneously, Babko began a touring relationship with Julio Iglesias, which lasted intermittently for three years, and took him worldwide many times.

Toward the end of Babko’s tenure with Iglesias, he was connected through a friend to super-drummer Simon Phillips (the Who, Jeff Beck). This connection turned into a full recording and touring career that continues to this day, including Phillips’ first two solo European and Japanese tours, two of Phillips’ solo albums (Another Lifetime and the live recording Out of the Blue), and one co-led collaborative “straight ahead” jazz album (Simon Phillips/Jeff Babko, Vantage Point). With Phillips being a member of the legendary rock group Toto, Babko was introduced to the band. When keyboardist David Paich was unavailable to tour in 2000 for the first time in the band’s history, he called Babko to replace him on that tour.

At the same time, Babko was more involved with the world of television, appearing on episodes of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “The Drew Carey Show,” and most notably, as a member of the house band of the “Martin Short Show” (with Peter Michael Escovedo). That program led to yet another connection, and Babko became Short’s “on the road” musical director, which continues to this day. Babko would continue in the world of television in the house bands of Wayne Brady’s network variety show and subsequent daily syndicated talk show.

In addition, Babko has recorded with everything from country with Tim McGraw (Set This Circus Down), rock with Men at Work’s Colin Hay, jazz with singer Kevyn Lettau, hip hop with Xzibit (and many more), and toured and performed with renowned alterna-country singer Shelby Lynne, top selling smooth jazz artist Rick Braun, folk troubadour Peter Himmelman, composer/trumpeter Mark Isham, and rocker John Waite, among others. A fan of the LA fusion scene from childhood, Babko was also introduced by bassist Jimmy Earl to blues/jazz guitar hero Robben Ford, who Jeff has worked with since 1999.

Early in 2002, guitarist Steve Lukather enlisted Babko to arrange and co-conceive his first Christmas album. Santamental, which features Edgar Winter, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and Slash (among others) is to be released in Christmas of 2003. In addition, a collaborative “supergroup” he’s involved with (with Phillips, bassist Melvin Davis, and guitarist Steve Lukather), The Doves of Fire, has a live CD due, as well as Babko’s new project, Jeff Babko “Broject,” both of which should be available in 2003.

Now Jeff appears nightly on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show. The edgy late night show features Cleto Escobedo and “Mowgli,” a band that Babko’s been involved with since the mid 1990’s.