Saxophones and sentiment

Young Chang

The hospital in Boulder, Colo., where Olivia Hill was born wasn’t very

strict with its rules about fathers being in the delivery room.

Warren Hill, today the proud dad, stood there in street clothes

because the doctors didn’t make him change into scrubs. He held Olivia’s

head during the delivery and helped bring her out.

“It’s one of the most incredible things I’ve ever experienced in my

life,” said the saxophone player who will perform at the Hyatt Newporter

tonight. “How anyone could not be inspired by that, I don’t know.”

Since Olivia’s birth, Hill has released a sixth album titled “Love

Life” -- referring to romantic love but also to his love of life and how

he loves being a father.

The album was inspired mostly by Olivia -- at how her little mind

would get fascinated by a piano and how Hill would find her mere

existence incredible.

“It made me weep!” Hill laughed.

The saxman will play with musicians Craig Chaquico, Jeff Kashiwa and

Jeff Golub at the Hyatt Newporter Summer Jazz Series as part of the

Guitars & Saxes tour.

“After having his little baby, who he’s so madly in love with,

everything came so quickly and naturally,” said wife Tamara Van Cleef,

who collaborated in producing and writing “Love Life.” “I think his music

is much deeper because it’s having that experience in his life.”

During recordings for the album, Van Cleef said there was a vibe in

the room and in the music that everyone involved seemed to feel. Olivia

was there, the band members were there and everyone was just . . . simply

put . . . happy.

“It was the coolest vibe of all the records,” Van Cleef said. “She had

a lot to do with those feelings.”

Though he likes recording, Hill said performing live defines his music

as jazz.

“I use the term jazz kind of loosely,” Hill, 35, said. “To me, jazz is

really about improvisation. In my music, the improvisation really occurs

on live performances. On records, it’s more about composition, but live

is where the jazz element of my music comes full force.”

The Colorado resident started playing the saxophone when he was 13

years old. Until that time, he played the guitar and “couldn’t care less”

what he played in the high school band.

But during a summer at the Eastman School of Music in New York, Hill

heard the sounds of David Sanborn, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and other

jazz greats.

“Up until then, the only jazz I knew were these cheesy arrangements of

Steely Dan songs that we played in high school,” Hill said. “But after

the six-week course, I put the guitar away and started diving into the

sax full force.”

Hill put out his debut album in 1991, titled “Kiss Under the Moon,”

which got the attention of Natalie Cole. She invited him to play on her

“Unforgettable” tour.

Since then, his hits have included such Top 40 and contemporary jazz

chart toppers as “The Passion Theme,” “Tell Me What you Dream,” and

albums including “Shelter” and “Life Thru Rose Colored Glasses.”

His goal today is to be the best father, but Hill admits that music is

as much in his blood as fatherhood.

“Music is something I can’t escape,” he said.

Olivia, who is all of two years old now, seems to understand. At the

prompting of her mother during a phone interview this week, she

exclaimed,

“Daddy rocks!”

FYI

WHAT: Warren Hill with the Guitars & Saxes tour

WHEN: 7 p.m. today

WHERE: Hyatt Newporter, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach

COST: $45

CALL: (949) 729-6200