Tucson Musician Spotlight: Amochip Dabney

Meet Amochip Dabney

Grab a chair, because this one’s a ride. Our latest Musician Spotlight is with Amochip Dabney — sax player, bassist, keyboardist, composer, producer, and the guy leading The AmoSphere! on stages all over town. Amochip’s been a working musician for over 50 years, and his resume reads like a map of American music: Newark’s legendary Arts High, a career-ending football injury that pushed him into music full-time, a stint sitting in with Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band, and decades alongside R. Carlos Nakai, where he picked up two Grammy nominations along the way (People of Peace and Beyond Words).

He’s shared stages with Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Sun Ra, and Lyle Lovett, and he’s been calling Tucson home since 1990 — long enough to help shape the scene we all love today. These days you’ll find him fronting The AmoSphere!, the dance band built around what he calls “Planet Happy”, turning out sets that move from Santana to Willie Nelson to James Brown without ever losing the groove.

We asked Amochip about growing up surrounded by music in Newark, his years with the Nakai Quartet, and what keeps him writing, recording, and performing after all this time. His answers are as colorful as his career — enjoy.

You’ve had an incredible musical journey spanning decades and multiple instruments. What first inspired you to pursue music, and how did growing up in Newark shape you as an artist?

In 1965 when I was 10 years old, my mother purchased a Wurlitzer Spinet piano. As a young woman she played at church in her hometown of Port Huron, Michigan. I liked pianos. They seemed magical. My maternal Aunt and her husband, my Uncle Harold, played and sang. During our many visits to their home in Bellville, NJ, someone would pull out a hymnal and play and sing. The trio would take turns at the keys. This joyful noise would go on for hours!

I was only into baseball. At the age of 5, I was headed for the majors! Hall of Fame career! Willie Mays is still my all-time favorite.

Music was everywhere. Radios and turntables playing music from around the world. Italian Restaurant, Opera, Indian Cuisine, Ravi Shankar with Tabla and Sitar! Black Barber Shop, James Brown. Gamelan Music with Zither, Lute, Bamboo Flutes from Asia. Kora, Ngoni, Talking Drum, Djembe from Africa. You name it: you could hear it in the greater New York/New Jersey metropolitan region!



Going to, and coming from school, or to the park or walking around, I heard groups of doo-wop singers on a porch or in front of a closed store harmonizing to perfection. Music was everywhere! In 1965, I sang in my elementary school Glee Club. This led to a position in the newly formed New Jersey Symphony Boys Choir. Sang on the radio for the first time with them. WBGO radio in Newark. I left that now famous group because they cut into my baseball time with after-school singing practices and performances!!!

How was I going to get to the Majors with a Minor league effort! There is a famous saying about New York, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere!” Broadway is only 14 miles away from downtown Newark! 

That Wurlitzer didn’t have a keyboard cover like every other piano I have ever seen!! Mom was on to something. It was always smiling at me … passive-aggressive behavior from this early computer. I started figuring out melodies I’d heard and fell in love with the white keys for Major and Minor reasons. The black keys became my pentatonic rebellion!

Growing up, I heard a few saxophonists that grabbed me: King Curtis, Eddie Harris, Cannonball Adderley, Maceo Parker, Wayne Shorter, Wilton Felder, just to name a few. Their approach to soloing, showing off each artist’s technical prowess, was impressive. In 1967, I took alto sax lessons during the last two or three weeks of the free summer music lessons for pre-high schoolers at West Side High.

I continued in the elementary school band in 7th, then 8th grade. The music instructor, Mr. Wiess, who recruited me into the Glee Club, told me about this music and art training school and that I should take the test to qualify and become a Music Major. The Newark School for the Performing Arts, “Arts High” the oldest such high school in the country, is Juilliard as a high school. I received a scholarship. My mother was very excited about this world-class opportunity!!!




You studied saxophone, bass, piano, and composition at Newark High School for the Performing Arts. Which instrument felt the most natural to you in the beginning, and how did becoming a multi-instrumentalist influence your creativity?

The intense curriculum prepared me to help teach other freshmen students when I took music at West Side High. The theory teacher asked me to help teach the class!!

The music world changed with technology; in the late ‘60s, bands with horn sections were on the decline! Every dance band had a bass player! So I took my musical knowledge and, undaunted by the fact that I am a lefty and there were no left-handed basses anywhere, I turned the bass upside down and played it backwards, haaaaaa. OR from the left side.

Right away I was asked to join a couple of bands and was working. The bass is tuned in fourths from string to string. Patterns are mirror images, so I could play anything not involving chords. Several chords are available and some drone technique is actually better with the G string on the top, as in Irish music! My thinking changed as I played different instruments. Piano allows for the full exploration of chord structure. Saxes are melodic. Hearing and knowing all the different sounds in your head of the orchestra facilitates creativity.

I received a full scholarship to play football and run track at The University of Michigan. In 1972, after I suffered a career-ending knee injury in football (where two pro scouts told me, “Kid, you really got it!”), I took music seriously for the first time. I had the chance to play a set on bass with The Silver Bullet Band led by Bob Seger at a little local bar in Port Huron. He said afterward, “Kid, you really got it!” 

Your work with the R. Carlos Nakai Quartet introduced your music to audiences around the world. What was that experience like, and what did you learn from collaborating with such talented musicians?

We have recorded five albums, and I have tracks on two of his compilations. We are good friends, and he has given me carte blanche to create music that will now live forever.

Highlight? Working with, recording and composing for Mary Redhouse! She is Other Wordly! Her bass playing is tasty and flute work is so Native. Growing up in a hugely talented family, her understanding of musical structures is supreme. BUT, her vocal range and creativity are superior!!!

You’ve been part of Grammy-nominated projects including People of Peace and Beyond Words. What did those recognitions mean to you personally and professionally?

I have always been competitive. When I saw that RC had been nominated for Ancestral Voices, I clearly wanted to send him back to the Grammys! The Quartet had made three albums at the Canyon Records facility. I asked them to let me make one in my Completely Bare Studio, having learned so much sitting next to their great engineer Jack Miller. I asked questions and Jack had all the answers! So that’s how People of Peace happened! At my house.

Next project at CBS (no, still at my house) was Beyond Words. The R. Carlos Nakai Quartet was invited to Feathered Pipe Ranch, just outside of Helena, Montana, to conduct a workshop on improvisation. One student there named Gentle Thunder hired me, my studio, and Will Clipman to make her record … and boom, back to the show for a consecutive medal and a great night with the best in the biz. These events change your life forever. My mom was so proud. I was so proud. It’s STILL pretty cool.

Your band, The AmoSphere! (Amo pr Ah-moe) has a unique name and sound. How would you describe the music and atmosphere you aim to create with the group?

“Slowly I turn” … funny you say “Atmosphere” because when you google us, they come up first. I would like to change that so that we come up first in a search. I better get back to work on that hit record and video “step by step!”

The musicians who have passed through The Sphere, as I call it, embody this spirit. They are complete people doing something they love. That love is flying off the stage at all our shows. Martin Tiernan, Billy Yates, Paul Cervantes, Dr. Andrew Hannon, and Clay Brown, the current lineup, as well as Hal Jackson, James Hunt, Miguel Bazemore, Tony Marotta, Adam Frank, Tom Fetter, Arthur Migliazza, Bryan Dean, and some great subs like Mark “Doc” Holiday, Joe Scibilia, and Jamar Harmon have lived full lives outside of music. I tell them I run a democratic dictatorship! Smiles all around.



I call it “Planet Happy!”

You play such a wide variety of instruments, from synthesizers and keyboards to percussion and woodwinds. Do different instruments bring out different emotions or musical ideas in you?



Absolutely! I hear emotion in chord progressions. I feel passion in melodic variations. I get intellectual stimulation from harmonies. A rhythm can trigger improvisation. Any sound can and has ignited my creative process. The symphonic flavor of food. Sonic clusters of a big city. Percussive noises of industrial machinery. Crowds or empty spaces. Animals and nature. Yes, even the “sounds of silence.”




Tucson has a very diverse and supportive music scene. What has your experience been like performing and creating music in Southern Arizona? 

Throughout your career, you’ve blended elements of jazz, world music, Native American influences, and experimental sounds. What draws you to crossing musical boundaries instead of staying within one genre?

I was born in D.C., grew up in Newark, NJ, lived in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, San Francisco Bay area, and Tucson. Traveled this country a ton except for Florida …. (hint hint to the Sunshine State). Having been exposed to a wide variety of musical cultures, I express in a wide variety. Just a reflection of the experiences. 




Looking back on your musical career so far, what are you most proud of—and what still excites you about making music today?

My mother heard and saw the Ballet Arizona Company perform music Nakai and I composed, recorded and produced. Later, Canyon Records released it as a duet record (Edge of the Century).

I have performed shows with Cyril Neville and Monk Boudreaux. Sang next to Lyle Lovett. Played Tipitina’s in New Orleans with O.J. Ekemode & the Nigerian Allstrars.

I played with South Africans Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba at the historic Fillmore West. They were friends with the great African Band Leader O.J. and invited me to play bass at the show for a couple of tunes!

Playing shows with Sun Ra and his Omiverse Arkestra. There is so much to look back at and smile. Many, many sweet moments with people of all walks of life, beyond the noise.

Has collaborated and toured for more than 30 years with the World’s Leading Performer on the Native American Flute! She knew I wanted to retire in the Hall of Fame, and in a different way I will. 



I love the people that visit Planet Happy. I love our music and the healthy role it plays. I am still composing new music! Collaborating with other artists. Recording music. Touring, Teaching, and Learning!!!        

“We are either part of the problem or part of the solution.”

Keep the Planet Happy Vibes Going

Fifty years in, and Amochip’s still out there chasing the next song, the next show, the next reason to get a room moving. That’s the kind of energy that keeps Tucson’s music scene alive, and we’re grateful he took the time to share his story with us.

Catch Amochip and The AmoSphere! at a show near you — check our Live Music Calendar for upcoming dates, and don’t be surprised if “Planet Happy” pulls you out onto the dance floor.

If you loved this interview, keep the conversation going in our Community Facebook Group, and don’t forget to sign up for the Tucson Local Bands Insider newsletter so you never miss a spotlight, show, or new episode of Desert Sound Check.

Here’s to another 50 years, Amo. Tucson’s lucky to have you!