While building a career portraying a diverse array of characters in movies, on television and stage, Shabaka always presents a formidable presence. Whether playing Herbert Muhammad in ALI, a man living on borrowed time in COLLATERAL or an FBI agent in FLASHFORWARD Shabaka makes a memorable impression.

In his return to Grapes & Grooves Shabaka is joined by his long time friend, multifaceted pianist and composer Muziki Roberson to breathe new life and interpretations into the words, thoughts and music of Charles Mingus, continuing a collaboration of brotherhood and music that had its early beginnings while Muziki and Shabaka were members of the famed San Francisco Mime Troupe.

Join us for the next edition of Grapes & Grooves Sunday October 16th, 5409 Bancroft Avenue in Oakland. It all begins at 3pm with a wine tasting featuring a variety of delights from Central and Northern California selected by Julian Carroll (www.wineshopathome.com/juliancarroll). Musings on Mingus with Shabaka Henley and Muziki Roberson Ensemble begins at 4pm, and spirit warming soulful food dishes served during intermission. $25 admission

For reservations and more information contact Greg Bridges 510.632.4504

G1rhythm@aol.com, or G1rhythm@att.net

Grapes & Grooves

Sunday October 16, 2011

5409 Bancroft Ave. (at Fairfax)

Oakland, Ca.

$25

“I love him. His music is beautiful. Brother Brewer is sayin a whole lot. He has his own sound, his own style. He doesn’t sound like anyone else. When I hear Terrence Brewer, I know its him.” - Legendary Guitarist Calvin Keyes

“Brewer has a distinctive guitar sound and his compositions are rooted in classical jazz standards with a fresh voice. The horizon belongs to him and we are sure to hear more.” - Brenda Payton, Oakland Tribune

“(Brewer is) A melodic improviser with an exquisite tone and an abundance of soul…” -Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes

Bop Central and Reflections In Rhythm present Grapes & Grooves Jazz and wine tasting featuring guitarist Terrence Brewer Sunday July 17th, 3 to 6pm. 

Regarded as one of the truly creative voices on his instrument, Terrence has steadily gained national attention and support through his five independently released recordings on his Strong Brew label. Appreciated for his warm tone and tasty melodies Terrence has established himself as a skillful improvisor and an engaging composer. 

In addition to leading his own bands to standing ovations for sold out crowds at the world famous Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, Yoshi’s San Francisco, Jazz At Pearl’s, the Russian River Jazz Festival, SFJazz Festival, Fillmore Jazz Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival Terrence has enjoyed working with such luminaries as Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers), Mary Wilson (The Supremes), Gerald Albright, Dr. Anthony Brown, Pete Escovedo, Dave Ellis and Calvin Keyes among others. 

Join Terrence Brewer and his group Sunday July17th as Grapes & Grooves celebrates its 2 year anniversary 3 to 6pm, 5409 Bancroft Avenue Oakland. The afternoon includes wine tasting featuring wines of Northern and Central California selected by Julian Carroll (www.wineshopathome.com/juliancarroll) and heartwarming, soulful food dishes. $25 admission includes music, wine tasting, food

 For reservations and more information contact Greg Bridges 510.830.7750 or 510.632.4504

G1rhythm@aol.com, or G1rhythm@att.net

Grapes & Grooves

Sunday July 17, 2011

5409 Bancroft Ave.

Oakland, Ca.

$25 (includes music, wine tasting, food)

www.terrencebrewer.com

Abraham, a New York City native, is a graduate of the La Guardia High School of Performing Arts. He pursued his development toward a life in music under the mentorship and guidance of the great Jackie McLean at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music where he received his Bachelor’s degree in music and learned from Mr. McLean the importance of studying jazz history.

By the early Nineties his professional career was launched with the renowned drummer Art Taylor and he has never looked back. Burton has worked with John Hicks, Rashied Ali, Horace Tapscott, Marc Cary, Michael Carvin and many others too numerous to name. He is currently a fixture in the Louis Hayes group, the Mingus Big Band and has recorded extensively with both.

His own ensembles have been recorded on the Enja Records and his most recent release from 2010 is a widely applauded self produced outing entitled, “Future Dimensions” where Abraham adds the soprano sax to his arsenal of tenor and alto saxophones

This trio of Burton, Revis and Waits as well-season heavyweights, represents another significant addition to the wonderful lineage of saxophone led trios committed to transforming the future of the music while remaining steeped in its traditionally deep roots. Abraham and Nasheet, friends since early childhood share that much cherished trait of intuitive communication and when joined by the ever cognitive, spirit heavy Rivas, they create a musical environment ripe with both organic individual adventures and limitless possibilities for group improvisation.

Burton, probing and spiritual, Revis, soulful and assertive, Waits, articulate and ubiquitous have found their voices and are now willing explorers eager to take risk and in the process, revitalize/redefine the art form permanently leaving their unique imprint on its history.

The setting at the Eastside Cultural Center is an intimate one which embraces and encourages the musicians in ways that allows for their best performances. This really is a concert that you will not want to miss.

Eastside Cultural Center 2277 International Blvd, Oakland, CA   94606

Sunday: May 22^nd, 2011     6PM-Two sets 

Admission: $15  For more information: 510/533-6629   www.eastsideartsalliance.org

With his long standing group featuring Massimo Biolcati on bass and Ferenc Nemeth on drums Loueke draws both from traditional African sources and such Jazz influences as Jim Hall and George Benson. Considered “a musical painter” by his mentor Herbie Hancock, Loueke’s blend of creative guitar techinque, sophisticated harmonies, and African influenced rhythms have lead to an inviting and poignant sound all his own.

In addition to leading his own band Loueke has also toured the world in the bands of Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard appearing on Terence Blanchard’s Grammy-nominated Flow (2005) and Hancock’s Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters (2008), as well as performing on recordings by such fellow rising stars as trumpeter Avishai Cohen, drummers Francisco Mela and Kendrick Scott, vocalist Gretchen Parlato and more.

Enjoy the splendor of Lionel Loueke’s Trio Sunday May 22nd as they perform songs from his highly acclaimed Blue Note debut Karibu, and his current recording Mwaliko, in the picturesque atmosphere of the Doulas Beach House, Half Moon Bay’s premier Jazz spot, just 40 minutes from San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Doors open at 3 pm to enjoy the buffet and 180 degree oceanfront views.  Two one-hour sets with intermission begin at 4:30.  Admission $35.

Reservations online at BrownPaperTickets.com

Priority reservations for members: info@bachddsoc.org

Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach

307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA  94019

650 726-4143

Ise Lyfe has become one of the preeminent spoken word artists of this generation, as well as being a highly regarded emcee, Hip Hop theater writer and performer, and social activist. Through his recordings SPREAD THE WORD and THE PRINCE COMETH, and his stage productions IS EVERYBODY STUPID(?), and WHO’S KRAZY, Ise uses the power of words as a mirror held up to society for us to really take a close look at ourselves. Last March Ise released his first book, PISTOLS AND PRAYERS, and now a year later he’s made PISTOL AND PRAYERS available as an audio book. Ise and I had the opportunity to talk about PISTOLS AND PRAYERS, and it went a little something like this…

G1: Congratulations on the book. This adds another title to your resume. Folks have seen you on stage doing Spoken Word, Hip Hop and Hip Hop theater… How does Pistols And Prayers differ from what you’ve brought to the stage before?

Ise: People ask me all the time “what’s the difference between spoken word and poetry?” I think Spoken Word brings the poetry off the stage and as a performance. This book is a collection of poems, prayers, essays, journal entries, anecdotes and rhymes. When I was first started putting the book together it was just going to be a collection of my writings. What I realized though, as I was putting things in there and I was reading the pieces, there’s certain vulnerability that exists in that, and instead of running from it I thought it might be cool before I, and this was easy to do when I wasn’t sure if I’d put it out or not, I would add personal journal entries, I would add prayers. Not only have I never performed these prayers that I write, I’ve never even told anyone that I write prayers. So I’m just kind of exploring this thing with myself as an artist and sharing very personal things. So the book , it slowed down. It’s not as fast as me being on stage. It’s not anything I could just get off and then go and walk off stage from, it sits there. I also think it’s a dope educational tool. People come up to me and ask me sometimes “do you have this written down anywhere?” and now we do.

G1: The fact that it’s written down and in book form made me wonder… You hear all this talk about people reading less, people buying books less; there’s a certain amount of  bravery, I think now, in people who are still putting out hard copy books. What made you put it out this way instead of as another cd or an e-book or something like that?

Ise: We’re getting into about a two year mark since my last record (The Prince Cometh) was released, and I’m getting in the studio about to record the next record. I like to counter the things that I hear people saying all the time. For example, even in Hip Hop, as a Hip Hop artist,  rappers all the time brag about “You know I don’t write it down, I just get in the studio and I do it” . Well, not writing, that’s illiteracy… You don’t write!?! So I write these things down. Recently I did this remix thing with India.Airie and Stevie Wonder and I was listening to the brother sing and he wrote that down and that’s amazing, you know, that he writes this music.

G1: You mention a certain vulnerability; I know with your prayers and pieces that people haven’t seen or heard you do before, that does lend itself to vulnerability, but with pieces that people have heard from you before that you’ve included in the book do you find that there’s more of a vulnerability with people being able to hold and read the written word than actually seeing you perform it where they see it, it’s done and that’s it?

Ise: Yeah. Folks who don’t know me personally don’t know about Me. It’s easy when I’m on stage, but I’m relatively shy Brother. It’s a weird type of shyness but I definitely battle with that. When I’m on stage I’m very conscious of people picking apart what I’m saying. Well, imagine when people can just hold the book forever and look at it and analyze it, you know. This is something that’s fresh to that but it’s also something that challenges me. I think one thing that’s necessary is for artists who are good at what we do, and I humbly feel that I’m good at what I do, that we step into arenas that bend our comfort zone and we open up a little, especially to the people who we gain our stories from to share on platforms.

G1: Tell me about the selection process for PISTOLS AND PRAYERS… how you decided what was going to be in, what was going to be left out, and if there were any things there that you had second or even third thoughts about putting in that still wound up in the book.

Ise: There’s an aspect in the writings… I’m going through all my journals, and I write a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. I write. I don’t write for stage, I just write. As I started digging through stuff and looking through I even found love letters that I had written, or even dialogs between me and a significant other, and I was like it would be dope to put this in a book, you know, or let people see this…

G1: Now that is opening yourself up

Ise: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there’s a piece in this book called Safe Landing that’s about how hard it is sometimes for me to engage one on one with folks because my mind is always dealing with… so for example, that piece talks about me walking down the street in D.C. and it being 10 degrees, and me watching these brothers  in a corridor stacking themselves on top of each other in sleeping bags to keep warm. I got back to the hotel and I was thinking about that. I had a date the next morning for breakfast. When I woke up though I was staring at the wall and thinking about the night before, you know. I was thinking about how we tell people don’t rob, don’t be violent, “don’t do things that are gonna get you incarcerated Brother” and all of that, but I’ll be damned if I was laying on the pavement in 10 degree weather that I’m gonna wake up in the morning, trek down to junior college and try to find a way for myself. I was thinking about those things, and I looked up and it was 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at my breakfast date. So I got up and got ready and I was 20 minutes late. I walked in and the sister’s totally oblivious to what it was that I was dealing with, so the letter to her is in this book. There’s a piece in here about my grandmother dying. My grandmother was a white woman, she was an Irish immigrant, and she grew up poor in a farm town. So growing up, me, the social justice advocate, rapper man, my first best friend was this old white lady, my grandma. So the piece talks about that, talks about growing up with her and the stuff she would listen to on the radio and it’s funny at first. Then it talks about people in the neighborhood talking about how all white people are racist, and I didn’t want to hear that. I was like, naw my grandmother is white and married to a Black man and has Black children and grandchildren, you know. When I was 14 years old though, my grandmother called my little sister a nigger, and… there’s something in the text that says something like what died in me was something I was holding on to with all of my young might, which was the idea that I didn’t live in a world that was like that, and surely that my grandmother wouldn’t think something like that about me…,and how that morphs my understanding of humanity, you know. So those kind of pieces are in this book, and that’s not something that’s easy to talk about, or even write about, and especially to just give to somebody and have them look at and read it. For me, I was looking at the pre-orders, a lot of people are going to have this book…

G1: Some people who already know you, some who don’t…

Ise: Yeah, yeah, yeah so I’m grateful for it, but it’s definitely an interesting process.

G1: If there’s any particular types of reactions you’re looking for from people what are those?

Ise: I hope that people can read this book and see that they’re not alone. You know, when I look at my success thus far as an artist I think more than it speaks to how “cool” I am it speaks to how many people are thinking the same thing I’m thinking, but there’s not a lot of people saying what I’m saying.

G1: At least not out loud

Ise: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. I think when people come to an event that I’m doing I feel like that’s a statement in itself, you know. And I hope that people can read the book and relate to it and see that they’re not alone and that there are millions of us that are thinking this way and aren’t with the regular nonsense that’s out there. I also hope that um… I don’t think I’ve ever made a piece where I’m hoping that folks read it and consider me, you know. I love when I read books from artists or anyone who I really respect and then I consider them in a different way, and so I hope that happens too.

G1: With that type of consideration it seems that barriers are brought down; with most performers there’s a barrier between performer and audience, but this kind of brings the barrier down, and, as we mentioned, that word vulnerability comes up… are you prepared for that?

Ise: Oh, I don’t have a choice now (laughing). I think I am… and another thing that I wanted to say is that putting this book out closes the first chapter of what I think will become a very long catalog for me. I read once that when people are dealing with sickness, like when they get a terminal illness, there’s these stages that they go through. The first one is denial, and then the next one is anger, the next one is acceptance, and then the next one is healing and the last is rejoicing. I think that when I first came into an understanding of the world and social justice first I was in denial as a kid. You know, I was 16, 17 years old and I didn’t want to hear all that; then something hit me, and you know, and then you’re outraged… “We gotta stand up and fight against this and…!!!” and that was big in me and very necessary, this piece that was very analytical, very critical of society, of myself, of the people, of Hip Hop, of media and all that is necessary. Like if you ask me to come and perform at an event that is dealing with the issues of societal ills I have a bunch of stuff for that. But you know what I realized Brother, let’s say that you were getting married and you called me and said Ise I want you to come and do a piece at my wedding, well I’d have to write that… I don’t just have something in my pocket about love, or about rejoicing, or about relationships, or about happiness, or about resilience. I don’t have a lot of that even though it’s in me. And so I’m glad to have this down and out so that I can begin to make sure that I document and celebrate our survival and our resilience, you know so that’s another thing that I’m happy about with this book.

G1: This opens up another stage for you. You say it’s the conclusion of one phase, but it opens up something else. I’ve been thinking about the power of the word, how has that helped you deal with life and where it’s lead you to now?

Ise: The stage and spoken word has given me a place to exorcise my angels and demons, you know… to exorcise and get off my chest, and process things that matter to me very much. It also has given me platforms to find and see and give hope in other people, and that’s been the most important thing that it’s given me.

Ise Lyfe not only speaks the words, but also puts them to action. Ise has taught social history at Oakland’s School For Social Justice and Community Development, led the youth component for the Oakland non-profit, Leadership Excellence, and is executive director of  the educational-social marketing firm Lyfe Productives, which creates a popular culture of consciousness by finding ways to make both standard and alternative education provocative for  inner-city youth. Keep your ears and eyes open for the next chapter of Ise Lyfe. For more information catch Ise at www.facebook.com/iselyfenation

Since first gaining national attention as a member of the multifaceted Jazz group STRAIGHT AHEAD violinist Regina Carter has become recognized as one of the premier artisans of her instrument. Receiving universal acclaim as a solo artist, Regina’s versatility has been appreciated by not only Jazz fans and musicians but also artists as diverse as Mary J. Blige, Elliot Sharp, and Faith Evans among others who’ve utilized her talents on their recordings. A 2001 concert in Genoa, Italy where she was featured playing the II Cannone Guamerius (the violin made in 1743 and once owned by Niccolo Paganini) lead to the well received classical influenced recording PAGANINI: AFTER A DREAM. Her newest release, REVERSE THREAD, is a collection of African folk tunes from various countries of the continent. Recently Regina and I had the opportunity to talk about REVERSE THREAD, her MacArthur grant and more…

G1: REVERSE THREAD explores the music of Mali, Senegal and other regions of the African continent with a “jazzy” treatment. What lead you to this project?

Regina Carter: I’ve been thinking about doing a project like this for many, many years but when I was signed to a couple of major labels at the time they always thought that World music was not so popular here ’cause there weren’t radio stations to support it.  So, after receiving the MacArthur Grant I used part of the money to put towards this recording of REVERSE THREAD; not only just the recording, but also recording it in a specific way. I wanted to record like the Jazz musicians did back in the day, in the ’60′s, where everyone was in the same room. I had a lot more freedom since I took care of the record myself, so to speak, in the beginning.

It started off… it was going to be a project of Black composers from around the world, then it was going to be… it took on many different changes. It was a journey! And then just in talking with the pianist Randy Weston and getting some ideas from playing with him and some of the music he had recorded, and also Willard Jenkins and a few other people. When I went into the World Music Institute and just started looking at music it seemed like everything I came home with happened to be from the continent of Africa. So, I just started listening and researching and going through music that people had given to me or shared with me, and some of the music I’d brought back years ago when I took a trip to South Africa. That was my focus point, finding very beautiful, simple folk like melodies to record, paying homage to them and respecting them while giving them a modern take.

G1: Some of the songs you explore are traditional folk songs, some other types… What lead to the specific pieces that you chose?

Regina Carter: A lot of times if a piece strikes me immediately then I spend time with it, then I have to see if it’s going to work on violin with me playing it because everything doesn’t translate for the instrument or the way I would play it. They were all pieces that just immediately struck me. I found them to be beautiful.  Also researching where the pieces came from, I found that to be really interesting. I learned a lot of history, like a couple of the pieces are from the Ugandan Jews and I didn’t even know there were Jews from Uganda, so reading up on that was very interesting and intriguing, and I want to explore that even more. The music was just so beautiful. One of the pieces, I think it was Mwana Talitambula (The Child Will Never Walk), is a field recording of a woman singing alone this melody and it was just really captivating so I wanted to try and capture what I heard when I heard her sing. N’Teri was another piece, when I first heard it I wasn’t familiar with Habib Koite; he has one of the most beautiful voices that I’ve ever heard. Actually, after I recorded the piece I had the opportunity to meet and sit in with him when he was in New York.

G1: Wow! What was that experience like for you?

Regina Carter: Oh My God! I was so nervous I couldn’t believe it.

G1: Wait a minute… Regina Carter, world-renowned violinist, MacArthur Fellow, you still get nervous?

Regina Carter: Oh, are you kidding? I’m probably nervous 90 per cent of the time. Yeah, it was just a different world. I’d never met him. He had a killing band. I was on such a high for such a long time. The first time we met was when I showed up at his sound check and played the tune N’Teri with him. So, this music, the music that I’ve chosen and this project has lead me on a journey of meeting some people that maybe I wouldn’t have met before, and experiencing some music that I hadn’t heard, and meeting some other people that have been really helping me with the project or finding out about the project, and it’s something I want to continue. I’m getting a lot of help and a lot of support with it. I feel like I’m moving in the right direction and it’s just been a lot of fun for all of us.

G1: When recording music like this, the music of Africa and music of other lands you’ve explored, how do you keep its authentic integrity while giving it your Jazz treatment?

Regina Carter: Well, try not to stray from the melody so much.  Probably with any tune that I approach that’s not mine, even an American classical piece, I try not to stray too much from the melody. The treatment, the more contemporary treatment, it can’t help but be that because it’s coming from my experiences… someone living now in the present, and playing the instrument that I play, and growing up where I grew up, so as long as I’m respectful of the tune and trying to really respect the melody and not stray too far away from it… It’s gonna lose some of its authenticity in the sound because of what I’m bringing to it, my experiences.

G1: It sounds like also when you’re doing research for the particular songs and music that there’s also a bit of history, not just music history but also cultural history, that goes along with this research.

Regina Carter: Right, you can’t help but learn. When I’m choosing a tune and seeing where the piece comes from and reading about the people that it comes from, or where the rhythms came from, where the melodies came from… there’s one piece on the record that was written by Papo Vasquez, Un Aguinaldo Pa Regina, which is,… Un Aguinaldo is from the mountains of Puerto Rico but the slaves that were in Puerto Rico used to escape to the mountains and so you have the mixture of the rhythms of the slaves and some melodies and chord structures of the Indians there. That was important for me to see; you just see how when people start mixing or they come in contact with each other what effect the music, or whatever we bring, what effect it has and what music gets created from that mixture.

G1: One thing you mentioned that I find interesting is that you funded this project yourself. Tell me about that end of the music business. It’s one thing to be with a major label and receive the type of support that label can give you, but moving from a major to independent status, what is that like for you? What kind of support comes along with that?

Regina Carter: First of all I’m very grateful that I was signed for many years to a couple of different major labels (Atlantic Jazz; Verve Music) because, of course, they had the funding in order to promote records and get them out there to sell. Now I’m leasing the record so it’s out on E1 Entertainment and I’m very happy that it’s with that label. Chuck Mitchell is there and he’s really excited about music and this project. He’s kind of a “hands off” type of person which I need right now. I knew what I wanted with this project, it’s very… every musician, when you make a project that’s your baby, and you know what you want, so I’m still very fortunate that he’s very much into supporting the record and getting it out here, getting radio interviews and getting publicity for the record so people know it’s out here.

With the computer, you know with Facebook and Myspace, Twitter, now people that don’t have the support of a major label or maybe don’t have the financial resources, there’s ways to still get your music out here and advertise it, and network with other musicians from way across the country and even have some of those people guest on your record. It’s provided ways for individuals to get their music heard and get it out here without having to depend on a major label.

G1: So musically, are you pretty active on the computer? Do you visit the social and networking sites and find out what people are responding to or if people are listening to Regina Carter?

Regina Carter: I came kicking and screaming. I didn’t grow up with a computer, so it was just very… I’m on there, I’m on Facebook. I’m relatively new to it; I have help with it. I feel like I spend so much time already on the computer and if you don’t watch it your whole day will get by you. I get on there maybe once a week and check things out, and see what’s going on but I can’t get on there every day. I find it’s very helpful. I’ve heard some music or have seen some videos that I may not have otherwise seen, and met some people or heard some people… I think it’s a great tool to have and to really use.

G1: There have been quite a few recordings that explore the connection between music of Mali and music from the United States, but usually those recordings explore the very evident Blues connection. For you, what were some of the things that you found easily adaptable to Jazz and some of the things you had to work harder with?

Regina Carter: Well I find that if a melody is something I could sing pretty much I can play it on my instrument. So a piece like N’Teri or Mwana Talitambula, those are vocal tunes that I could very easily sing on my instrument, if you will. But, when I heard Artistiya, the Amadou and Mariam piece, I thought immediately of James Brown! It’s just such a James Brown Piece. There was a lot of music where you hear that similarity and hear that connection. It’s funny because a friend of ours who recorded on the record, Mamadou Ba, he’s a bassist, he said some of the musicians (in Africa) they’d have bands and they wouldn’t understand what James Brown is saying… I told him half the time I don’t even know what James is saying…

G1: There are people still trying to decipher what James Brown was saying… There’s a school for that now

Regina Carter: Right… Just to see and hear the connection. I’d hear some things and immediately think James Brown or Parliament in some of the music. There’s just so many connections. When you listen to music or look at art and see how much we really are all connected, whether we want to be or not…

G1: Another thing I find really interesting is that a few years ago (2006) you were awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, which is also called the genius grant. So, how does it feel being a genius?

Regina Carter: Yeah, me and Wiley Coyote. My husband teases me still… he says, “you can’t even go around the block without getting lost”

G1: Well all of our genius lies in different places

Regina Carter: That’s for sure… Anytime you get a gift like that it’s right on time, for anyone. It represented such a huge light in my life because the year before that I’d just buried my mother and gone through a huge lawsuit, so that was perfect. It was the sun coming out in my world. It gave me a chance to explore some ideas I had. I went back to school and took a course in the intro to music therapy. I’m still interested in music therapy and helping patients who are terminally ill and children who have learning disabilities. And it gave me a chance to continue working on a suite I had started writing called Black Bottom which is about an area in Detroit that used to exist where my mother grew up in the ‘20’s, and some other musical projects as well, especially recording this project REVERSE THREAD. I also get to continue doing some more research for the next project.

G1: Wow. So the award has afforded you time to do a lot of things.

Regina Carter: Exactly, exactly. It relieves some of the stress of having to be out on the road or trying to work and take every single gig. I took some time off and just really thought about some ideas, and had a chance to see them through. It’s been great. The whole music therapy class was extremely interesting, it opened my eyes to the possibilities in using music… I love performing for people, but I want to use it in a way that helps heal people. Just seeing how it can help people, when you see it in action it’s pretty amazing.

G1: It’s really interesting you say that because when I was listening to the music of REVERSE THREAD I was thinking that in this country we look at music primarily as a source of entertainment, but in other lands music is used for numerous other things and some of the music in REVERSE THREAD is included in those multiple uses, so hearing you talk about the healing qualities and healing aspects of music is really important.

Regina Carter: It is, it really is. Doing the research I see how in pre-literate cultures music was used either for healing or, there were different parts of the body you’d use specific tones for or different music… seeing patients now, when I would go in for clinics and just observing… music strikes everyone in a different way, so we all have to figure out what works best for us. Where Mozart might work great for one patient the next person might need to listen to Led Zepplin. Just because a music is calming for one it might make someone else hyper. It’s really powerful, but like you said, we take it for granted as just a form of entertainment but it has so many other purposes… And entertainment is great I’m glad to say we need that too.

G1: You know Regina, before you Jazz violin was Jean-Luc Ponty, Stephane Grappelli,  Noel Pointer, or Ray Nance, but still not many violinists out in the forefront… what is it that lead you to where you are with your instrument?

Regina Carter: Well in high school my best friend, who is a great Jazz vocalist (Carla Cooke) would talk about Eddie Jefferson all the time, and Miles Davis and Sarah Vaughn, I didn’t know who any of these people were because I grew up playing strictly European classical music. She (Carla) brought me recordings of Noel Pointer, Jean-Luc Ponty and Stephane Grappelli, and that was my first introduction to Jazz and to Jazz violin. Those recordings really turned my world around. When we were 16 she got us tickets to see Stephane Grappelli live. I think it was really the live concert, being that close to him and seeing how much fun he was having… I wanted to have that; I wanted to feel that way and make an audience feel that way when I performed and I felt like there was so much freedom in the music. That was a turning point in my musical life. What’s interesting is when I went to college at New England Conservatory of Music, during my audition process I told them that I also wanted to play Jazz and some of them looked at me like I had three heads. They didn’t really know what to do with me. I joined a Jazz band there but I realized I really wanted to come back home to Detroit, Michigan because there was a huge Jazz community there and they just accepted me with open arms. I studied with trumpeter  Marcus Belgrave, pianist Kenny Cox, organist Lionel Woodard, Donald Walden had a Jazz orchestra, so there were so many people to study and play with. Barry Harris would come in and come back home and give his classes at the studio. So, all of that really helped me to grow and flower as a musician and then move to New York. I didn’t care when people said “there’s no such thing” or “you won’t make it”… I feel like it was something that chose me and I had to do it; my passion was extremely strong. I just came to New York and figured I’d just call people, I didn’t care if they were Jazz musicians. I played in a Black rock coalition for a while, I took gigs with string quartets, some Jazz string quartets, some that were more avant garde, just whoever would call for a gig. I played music, I just wanted to play music and be a part of the music scene in New York.

G1: One of my favorite early recordings with you was the String Trio of New York with John Lindberg and James Emery

Regina Carter: That was a fun group. For me that group really stretched me musically. We were playing pieces by Muhal Richard Abrams, Richard Davis… sometimes I’d get some of these pieces and I’d see music written in a way I’d never seen. I’d be like, “what does this mean”. There was a lot of math involved, or altered techniques, putting a paperclip behind the bridge, just some stuff I’d never seen before that really stretched my way of thinking, my way of playing… all of those experiences, I feel, helped my playing and helped me become who I am as a player; helped my voice develop into what it is.

G1: You’ve been involved in music for quite a large period of your life, what has music meant for you, not just as a musician but also in other aspects of your life?

Regina Carter: It’s been my lifesaver actually. It’s the only thing I know. I started playing music when I was 2. It’s the one thing I know, it’s the one thing I can rely on in my life. It’s my entire life. It’s so extremely important. For young kids now, it’s really dangerous that everyone doesn’t have a chance to experience music. It doesn’t matter if someone wants to become a musician or not, but to at least have exposure to it and be able to check it out, it’s so incredibly important. It helps in other parts of our lives. I’m horrible at math, but when I can relate it to music it helps me do better. It helped me to pay attention more; it helps with listening because you really have to be a keen listener. I know how to use music if I’m upset or angry… I’m very blessed that I had music and I had parents that thought it was important.

Regina Carter continues to make important statements as a musician and musical educator, teaching at numerous institutions and inspiring students and audiences alike. Her new recording, REVERSE THREAD, is a transformative sonic voyage that is not only entertaining but also spiritually illuminating. More information can be found at www.reginacarter.com

Marcus Shelby first gained major public attention with the hard swinging unit BLACKNOTE and their debut recording from the indie label of rhythm master Billy Higgins (World Stage Records) in 1991. After four recordings from Blacknote the bassist/composer began seeking different avenues for his  musical expressions. From writing and recording with poet D Knowledge, Savage Dance, to film (love jones) and stage (Murder In B Flat), Marcus Shelby has continued to grow and develop as an artist while running his own label, Noir records. Today Marcus is an acclaimed band leader (Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, Marcus Shelby Septet, Marcus Shelby Trio) and award-winning composer whose recent works have touched on important moments of history (Port Chicago, Harriet Tubman). Also a dedicated educator, Marcus has helped instruct and influence many of Jazz’s upcoming artists and entrepreneurs.  The following interview is from a conversation that Marcus and I had in 1999…

Marcus Shelby: It’s interesting that you ask that, because I’ve recently been in conversation with Willie Jones, the drummer, and we’re in the creative stages of putting together a new recording project that we’re going to do on Noir Records, our label here. We’re real excited about that because we haven’t actually played together for some time. He was in town about six months ago, and we hung out for about a week and did some playing, but the group BLACKNOTE hasn’t actually done any work together for the last two years… at least two years. We’re excited about the new project because we’re going to have some guest artists: Anthony Wonsey, perhaps Roy Hargrove on some of the tracks, along with James Mahone. We’re going to record that in July. You know, BLACKNOTE, I don’t think we’ll ever break up. We took some time off; Willie went to New York, James went to New York, and I stayed here in San Francisco.

G1: BLACKNOTE’s first recording, 43rd & Degnan, was done on World Stage Records, an independent label run by legendary musician Billy Higgins.

Marcus: Yeah, Billy Higgins is the owner. Kamau Daaood (noted poet), he was also part of the whole World Stage movement and he provided the space. Billy was the one who financed the label and threw us in the studio when we could barely hold our instruments right. We went in there with a lot of heart and a lot of fire and we did 43rd & Degnan, and every now and then I’ve gotta pull it out and dust it off and remember where I came from.

G1: How did all of that come about?… the hookup with Billy and the recording??

Marcus: I moved to L.A. (Los Angeles) in 1990. I went there, I knew Billy was there, but I didn’t really know anybody else. I didn’t know any other musicians, so I started asking anybody who I saw was involved in music where Billy was and they told me to go down to Leimert Park. I went down there and hung out for about a month straight, then I heard that he was out on the road. I kept going back every day, and then one day he was there practicing. I told him that I had been looking for him. He didn’t know who I was, but he took me in. I guess he saw something in me, because he took me in, gave me a key to the World Stage and over the course of the next four months was when I met the different members of BLACKNOTE, Willie, Richard Grant (trumpet), and James.

We decided to put together a project after four months, but we didn’t want to play anywhere. We wanted to shed for about six months. We didn’t do any playing, no gigs or nothing. We just practiced for six months at the World Stage. Billy would bring in different cats, like he brought Elvin Jones in, Cedar Walton came, like, every Wednesday and worked with us. Barry Harris, Ron Carter, anyone who was in town he’d bring down to the World Stage and have them work with us. We’d talk about concept, technique… After, I would say, six months we got our first gig at a health food restaurant, this place called The Good Life. We played there every Tuesday.

G1: Having the chance to shed like that, I could only imagine the value in that. It seems like a lot of musicians, once they learn a few phrases on their instrument they want to get out and gig right away. For you, what was the benefit of just taking that time to actually just shed and connect with the group?

Marcus: The big benefit was that I got an opportunity to work out different concepts about playing and learn different concepts. You can do a lot on your own, but when you have a collective of musicians who want certain music aesthetics as you do… I mean we thought the same way, we breathed the same way, and we all wanted… we all had a clear vision, which was the same. Four guys, and that’s really incredible, when four people see the same goal and are willing to work hard to reach it. That was really what BLACKNOTE was all about. We all had this clear vision, musically. We had the same influences: Miles’ bands in the 60′s, Coltrane’s rhythm section, Clifford Brown’s rhythm section with Max Roach and George Morrow, Wynton Marsalis’ first band… We all worshiped the same Jazz gods, and that influence you can only get when you have four people like that. You can’t really individually get it yourself. We worked out the kinks, we worked on concepts, we worked on skills, we all wrote music, we brought music in, we shed… it was like a workshop. Those were the type of things that made us jump from just four guys who knew how to play, to being a real strong unit that was headed in the same direction. We got on each others case, you know, in love and only within the rehearsal situation, once we were outside the rehearsal situation it was all laughs and jokes. But when we were together, playing on the bandstand it was very, very serious.

G1: …And now, down the line, four albums later, and you’re the owner and head of a record label, NOIR records. Was that in your vision back at that time?

Marcus: You know, I thought about it. I entertained the idea of a record label, but I was always kind of intimidated because there are so many components to a record label that you can’t even imagine. A lot of people think it’s just making a record and then putting it out and hoping the world likes it. That’s far from the truth, I mean, it’s a business so there are business issues that you have to deal with… from the lights, to having computers, to having phones, and then when you think you have all of that together you have to think about what kind of business it is. We’re going to make records, so we have to promote them, we have to market them, we have to make GOOD records, we have to have people to produce records, we have to have distribution, we have to have some sort of promotion. Ok, where do you get all of this money to do it? So I was always intimidated. I always thought owning your own record label could be pretty cool. Even though we did an indie for Billy Higgins there really wasn’t a machine behind pushing those records; it was like “Let’s make the record, send it out, and see where it lands.” When I came out here I really wanted to do something that was going to have a, I don’t want to call it a machine, but something that would be able to sustain itself and something that would allow multi talented artists working in Jazz, working in Spoken Word and classical music to have a place where they could be promoted, be marketed, produce their own works, have control of their own compositions, and have the distribution that could compete with the major labels.

I was with Columbia records for three years, Impulse for two years, Chrysalis music I was with for three years. I saw what the majors were doing, and I knew that if we could take some of the ideas and concepts, it’s almost impossible to have the resources because they’ve got billions of dollars, but if you could do things where you can compete with them, like innovative recording techniques, internet stuff, which is free pretty much, creative art work, and those areas where we can compete with the majors, and have some sort of message that the world can hear…

It was intimidating four or five years ago, but two and a half years ago when we started the label I felt that this is something that could happen. If I can get a collective of people who were interested in music, an artists’ base, that’s why I chose the Bay Area. The Bay Area has the artist base and the support of the public on the live situations. So, I ended up here. I love this city and this is where I felt something like this could happen.

G1: How long did it take from the actual thought of starting a label, to putting everything together, to putting out that first disc?

Marcus: It took about nine months. I did some research. I thought about how I was going to do it. We didn’t start with investors. We didn’t start with a bank loan. None of us has a rich uncle. So it was like, the thing to do was to put together a project that could get the ball rollin’ so we did the first trio cd Un Faux Pas! (with Jaz Sawyer and Matt Clark) that helped us get our distribution, that was kind of our calling card. Then we figured we’d keep knocking on the doors and learn the distribution game… because it is a game and if you can learn all of the options and opportunities that you can get out of distribution, and know how to speak the language, you can start to make things happen. It took us about two years to do that. We did another project, a Langston Hughes/Romare Bearden project (Midtown Sunset vol.1), then we did a spoken word project with Jazz, and then we did The Sophisticate and by the time we got there, we’d figured out how to promote and we’d raised enough capitol and resources to promote. It does cost a lot of money, even if you know the game you still got to have some money to play it. We were able to pull that together and at the same time make sure that the creative aspect, which is the most important thing, was still progressing and getting to a level where we could feel proud about what we were creating and being able to promote that with pride.

G1: Noir Records is more than just a Jazz label, you record and distribute different types of music. One of the things that you’ve done is the disc Spoken City, which features some of the talent from the Bay Area’s ever-growing poetry and spoken word scene.

Marcus: That’s something that came from a project that we pitched to Levi’s, or Dockers Khakis more specifically, to record shows they had already set up to produce live. We had a very nice contact and friend at Dockers who saw the value and how it could work and still be a part of their overall marketing strategy. Their whole idea and concept was to work with companies that are involved in grass roots type projects, and that’s what this was about. All of the proceeds go to this organization called YOUTH SPEAKS, which is a youth organization that’s committed to poetry from kids; a community based non-profit organization. We’re very active in spoken word, so this project and the live concerts were right up our alley. Recording them is something that we would do whether Levi’s sponsored it or not.

G1: Marcus Poston is another spoken word artist on the label, did you know him before signing him to Noir?

Marcus: Yes. I met him at different art gatherings in the city and we became friends. He told me he was a writer, and showed me some of his work, and I thought it was interesting. It was like an extension of Kerouac into the 90′s. I felt like there was something that could happen that would celebrate the beat poetry of Jazz without being too stuck into it. So, we spent about nine months plotting and planning his album. It was the first time he’d ever been in a studio, and he went in like a true professional to knock out his work and consequently put out a great album. That was a very rewarding project because here’s a guy who was, like, 21 at the time who, from one year didn’t know that anyone would ever read his work to the next year having it recorded on a cd. It completely changed his life. Now he’s totally active on the arts’ scene and he’s doing workshops for kids, he’s launching a magazine under the Noir label, that deals specifically with art and culture in the Bay Area. That’s what this label is trying to do, inspire people to try to reach their full potential.

G1: How did the concept of the label come about? Noir Records. I mean, when I look at the cd covers and just hearing the name Noir, it reminds me of film. Film noir… black and white, sharp images. What did you have in mind?

Marcus: The name has a lot to do with my personal influences in art. Film noir is an art form that I’m very fond of. Old films, old French films, old American classic films that were shot in film noir fashion have influenced me as a composer, as an artist, and I just think the word Noir has a very strong significant meaning to it, just being Black and being strong. I wanted something to represent what we were doing, having something that was strong and spoke about who we were, you know, without being too much in the face. But, I think there’s a message there about being Black and strong, and Noir was the best way that I could do that without being pretentious or catchy or self absorbing. I think all of my interests kind of came together in that word, Noir. BLACKNOTE was the same thing, something that was strong and positive, and had a musical connotation to it.

G1: On the BLACKNOTE cd, Jungle Music, you used a Malcolm X soundbite…

Marcus: Willie and myself, we came up with that idea. There were a lot of Malcolm X tapes floating around Leimert Park and we heard this one speech and we were like “Man, let’s use that at the beginning of our album”, it was like “It’s time to stop singing and start swinging”. Our whole concept was swing, from A to Z and that’s what BLACKNOTE was all about. This was our first major release and that’s the way we wanted to step to the public eye. We were heavily into Malcolm’s work at that time and we heard this speech that was like an eye opener. We thought, whoa that’s the beginning of the album. They made us pay for it too. That few seconds cost a couple of grand, man.

G1: Since BLACKNOTE, you’ve taken your music into different arenas; you’ve composed for dance companies, and film, and even had an acting role in a play about musicians. Is this something that you just see as a natural extension of what you do as a musician?

Marcus: I kind of wanted to be… My interest in art extends to dance, ballet, theatre, and film, and in performance. I’ve had the fortunate experience of being in every aspect of the record business, as an artist, involved with management, involved with publishing and production. Some of the other things that have happened have been by chance, I didn’t plan it. It was just by chance, as an artist and then on the other side. So, I was able to bring some experience to the table. The timing, being here in San Francisco at a time that’s ripe with art, and meeting certain people that wanted to do the type of project that was community and grass-roots based and having the artists to work with. There are probably a number of Jazz musicians who could do an operation like this. It takes a lot of patience, it takes a lot of perseverance, and it takes a lot of resources and a lot of heart. If you can think business wise, because you have to have some sort of business acumen… My background is, I was an engineer before I did all of this, an electrical engineer. I went to Cal Poly and studied double E. So I learned how to think in college, and how to problem solve, and was into technology based discipline. That may have a little bit to do with my business background.

G1: How do you see Noir records as time goes on?

Marcus: I would like to see us maintaining our independent spirit of helping artists do things that allow them to control their own work and still have their work have the same type of exposure that they’d get from the major labels. We’d also like to provide opportunities for people to work as artists and with artists without having to move to New York or Los Angeles. We’ve been lucky that we’ve been able to pull together what we have, and do what we have. We just want to continue to build on that. There are other people who want to work in promotions, marketing, and business affairs, they’re not necessarily artists but they want to work with artists. There’s got to be some sort of machine set up for them to do that.

Industry has to keep supporting the works or it will die. By supporting I mean recording and distributing the works so that other people could recognize that there’s something going on. Writers have to continue to write about it. That’s how things keep going, because if people turn their backs on it, no one records it and no one writes about it they’ll go by as if it never happened.

Marcus Shelby continues to flourish as one of today’s true Jazz ambassadors. When he’s not leading his award winning orchestra or one of his swinging smaller units he can be heard accompanying masters such as John Handy or Faye Carol, collaborating with contemporaries such as Howard Wiley, or providing soundscapes for a dance company. More information about Marcus Shelby and Noir records can be found at www.marcusshelby.com

G1: Anybody who knows the history of Funk knows the name Larry Graham. You have totally changed the way bass is played once you picked it up and started doing your thing with it. Tell us the history of your technique.

Larry Graham: Well, it actually started in the Bay Area. My mother, Dell Graham, was a pianist and vocalist and when I was 15 I was playing other instruments including guitar, which I considered my main instrument. So, my mother decided to start a trio, the Del Graham trio: me on guitar and vocals, her on piano and vocals, and my drummer who was also on vocals. We worked at this club that had an organ that had bass pedals at the bottom, and I learned to play the bass pedals along with the guitar and singing. So, we sounded full now having bottom. We got used to that, then the organ broke down; now it sounded empty. We didn’t have that bottom we’d started to get used to, so I went to Music Unlimited (music store) over in San Leandro and I rented a St. George bass temporarily until the organ could be repaired. As it turned out the organ could not be repaired so I was stuck on the bass. After a short while my mother decided we were going to lose the drummer and just be a duo, piano and bass. So now we didn’t have drums, so to make up for not having the bass drum I would thump the strings, and we didn’t have the backbeat of the snare drum so I would pluck the strings, kind of playing drums on bass with that rhythm thing. I wasn’t trying to play the so-called correct overhand style of playing ’cause I didn’t listen to bass players, I listened to guitar players ’cause that was my main love at the time. Out of necessity I would do this thumping and plucking; I wasn’t concerned with what other people thought, I gotta  get my job done.

There was a lady that used to come into this club in San Francisco, it was called Relax With Yvonne, almost right there on the corner of Haight and Ashbury…I didn’t know this story at the time, but she used to frequent the club and was a big fan of my mother and I, she was also a fan of Sly Stone who was on the radio at KSOL at the time. She found out that he was going to be starting a band and took it upon herself to start calling the station telling him “you gotta go hear this bass player and what he’s doing”. She was so persistent ’til one evening he did come to hear what I was doing, liked it, and approached me about joining this new band he was going to be starting and that band turned out to be Sly & the Family Stone. It was through that music that my style of thumping and plucking, my bass playing, became popular through songs like “Dance To The Music“, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” and others. Other bass players at first didn’t know what I was doing. Videos weren’t as popular as they are now, television appearances weren’t as many as you can have now, but eventually people did see us on things like The Ed Sullivan Show, and others… and seeing us in concert, other bass players became aware of how I was doing this thumping and plucking and then they started doing it to cover our songs and incorporating it into their own music and that made the style even more popular.

G1: You mentioning Sly and the early days of your career, those were really innovative times musically; do you look back and look at exactly what it is you’ve done and how you changed the sound of things?

Larry Graham: I can see it now; I didn’t see it at the time. I didn’t even think that my way of playing the bass was anything special, I was just doing it out of necessity. I wasn’t thinking “Oh, I’m creating something new”, I just wasn’t thinking that. Even in the early part of Sly & the Family Stone I never even thought about it at all. As time passed, and I think what really impressed it on my mind the most is when I started hearing and seeing other bass players playing like me as opposed to playing like the other bass players that I was aware of. When people start to imitate you then it makes you take a look and say, “Hey, I’ve been able to contribute something to the world of music”, and that just started to make me feel wonderful, that I could make a contribution.

G1: One of the things that was great and seems really timeless about the Sly & the Family Stone band was a lot of the songs that came out of that… A lot of those songs were about everyday people, which is also the title of one of the songs, but a lot of those songs were about people in a more spiritual way, it wasn’t just party music. It seemed like you carried that theme over to Graham Central Station. I remember listening to those songs and thinking this sounds just like something I’d hear in church.

Larry Graham: Well like you mentioned, there being a message in the music… songs like “People” from the first Graham Central Station album does carry a message of not only what was going on then, but it’s even more relevant today, I think, as far as lyric content is concerned, because the world has gone on to do even more things that draws attention to the fact that We need some help. So, it’s more indications of that today than it was when I wrote the song. So yeah, messages or message music was carried over to Graham Central Station, of course influenced by Sly & the Family Stone.

G1: The message though, the message music that I’d hear from Graham Central Station really has, to me, religious and spiritual themes… songs like “Release Yourself” which sounds like it’s straight out of the Pentecostal church, or “Tis Your Kind Of Music”, which, listening to it the first time around sounds like it could be sung to a particular individual, but listening to the lyrics of it again sounds like it’s definitely a song to the Most High… how does religion or spirituality factor in to how you write and how you perform?

Larry Graham: Well, out of the heart’s abundance the mouth speaks, so what’s in my heart comes out of my mouth and also comes through my pen. So, you know, the scriptures and what I feel spiritually are definitely going to influence my music… not only what I write, but even the way that I play because I consider it all to be a gift from God. I try to use it in a positive way to try to bring a positive message to try to make people feel good. It’s all coming from the same place, how I feel spiritually, how I feel musically… What you hear come out of me, whether it be on records or live in concert it’s all coming from the same place, I can’t separate the two. The two have become one in my heart.

G1: You know Larry, another thing that stands out about those Graham Central Station albums is the introductions. It seems that each album had a special tailored introduction for that particular album to introduce the audience to the band. From the very first album with “We’ve Been Waiting”, to “GCS”,  “Entrow”, “The Jam”… they were more than intros, they were songs unto themselves…

Larry Graham: Well you pegged it right… Introducing ourselves to the audience(s) whether it be on the record (or cd now), or live in concert…

G1: When you listen now what is it that you hear that you think you may have done differently, or do you hear things and think that’s perfect as it is?

Larry Graham: Well, I don’t think anything I’ve ever done is perfect, but I think that what I did at the time and the way it came out was the way it was supposed to come out for that time. I’m happy when I listen back from the first album to the current. I’m happy with what was done then, even if I change up something a little in the future after it’s recorded I don’t consider it making it better, but I consider it making that particular song the way it’s supposed to be done for the current time, like I may do something a little different now than I did 10 or 20 years ago, but it’s all relevant to the time.

G1: Graham Central Station is also a band that had their own individual look. When Graham Central Station came about that was really important in bands establishing themselves, not just their sound, but also their look; it seems more important at that time than it is today. For artists who are striving to assert their individuality what is some of the advice you have?

Larry Graham: When you look at “the look” of Sly & the Family Stone for example each individual was allowed to express themselves in his or her dress and music. One of the things that really contributed to Sly & the Family Stone, and I tried to carry into Graham Central Station as well, was we didn’t stifle the abilities of each individual. For example, Sly was the writer of the music but he would allow Freddie Stone to play the way Freddie plays on guitar because nobody could play like Freddie; nobody could play the drums like Greg Errico, he (Sly) would allow him to be himself; he would allow me to play the way I play(ed) as opposed to trying to change me up. That freedom of expression you hear and appreciate in the music is the same thing I tried to the best of my ability to do with Graham Central Station, allow people’s individuality to come out in the music and the way they wanted to express themselves in their appearance.

G1: One of the things that was seen in Sly’s band and that you continued with Graham Central Station was also the role of women in the music. Sly’s band was the first time for many people seeing a woman playing trumpet (Cynthia Robinson); usually women musicians were relegated to piano, or being the “cute” vocalist, but in Sly’s band and your band women had a different and more inclusive role… speak on the importance of that, at that time and today.

Larry Graham: Well see, I always appreciated that from the standpoint that my mother was in the same position. My mother played trumpet originally, so she stood out as different in that time. Later on being the pianist and lead vocalist she also stood out in a band that was male dominated, so that was right up my alley when it happened with Sly & the Family Stone… That was just a natural thing for me, but publicly, you’re right, it hadn’t been done. That was something that was unique and I tried to carry that over too and give the female a prominent role in Graham Central Station.

G1: Larry, in your career you were known for the Funk, but then the ballads… once you did “One In A Million” it seems that opened up a wider audience to you. What did that song do for you?

Larry Graham: Well at the time I did the song it wasn’t a song that the record company (Warner Bros.) was happy with me releasing because all of my records were mostly Funk oriented, so I know that made them a little nervous, but I had the right to choose the single and that’s the one I felt in my heart was the one. With the support of folks who love me they heard the song, and despite the fact that at first it didn’t get a lot of attention from the record company the folks who love and support me heard it and they made it what it became, so I’ve always been appreciative of that. Of course, in time, the record company did see that “Hey, there’s something here”, and then of course they got behind it and supported it as well. The end result was everybody got a chance, or more people got a chance, to hear that side of me which was really going back to the times when my mother and I performed together, because she would always have me singing ballads. In fact the first Sly & the Family Stone album “A WHOLE NEW THING“, one of the songs that I’m featured on is “Let Me Hear It From You“, which is a ballad. So when I did “One In A Million” I was really going back to something that I’ve always been comfortable with.

G1: “One In A Million” is one of those songs that even today is high on everybody’s request list, it’s one of those songs that had become The wedding song of that decade… I couldn’t be at a wedding without hearing One In A Million, or a talent show. That song really, in addition to opening up a lot more ears to you, that song has become a part of popular standards.

Larry Graham: I found that out over the years because I’ve had a lot of requests for, like you said, weddings and receptions… that song did become the wedding song… Again, when I did it I wasn’t thinking that, but I’m happy it turned out that way because those are happy occasions, the beginning of a new life for many folks, so if I can contribute to the joy of that in some kind of way then, hey, I’m happy that became the wedding song.

G1: You know Larry, when folks see you they’re used to seeing that big, pristine, white funky Fender Jazz bass… was that your first preference of bass? How did you choose that?

Larry Graham: Well, when I started playing guitar my father gave me his guitar and amp I taught myself to play…. it was a hollow body Epiphone. He played a kind of Jazzy, Bluesy style, and it was this big hollow body and I was a little guy you know, especially at 11 (years old) when a strong wind could pick me up and carry me to the next county… to have this big old guitar, it was like Wow! So, one day when I went downtown Oakland to the coffee shop to get my grandmamma some coffee I passed by this store named Minaccetti Music and in the window was a white slim body Supro guitar…white with gold knobs. I ran all the way home, “Mommy El! Mommy El! Mommy El! You gotta come see this guitar! You gotta…!” I begged her and begged… we didn’t have much money, and she dug into the little savings and got me that white guitar. That stuck in my brain and heart forever, so when I did end up on the bass of course, naturally it’s white with gold knobs.

G1: What has it been like for you working with Prince and getting the chance to work with and connect with a lot of  the younger artists who came up with you as their food, their source of knowledge?

Larry Graham: It does the heart good. It makes me feel really, really good. Like I was saying earlier about being able to know that I contributed to the world of music with my bass…as an artist, period, to know that I had an influence on Prince and other artists it really, really makes me feel good, it makes me feel like I’ve been able to give them something…and we all want to do that. We’re all givers by nature. It’s better to give than to receive, right? So when we can give a gift like that, we can share a big part of our life like that with somebody, aw man, it does the heart good.

Larry Graham continues to deliver soulful spirit through Funk layered grooves with his band Graham Central Station as they tour the world, and he’s often heard bringing the bottom to the syncopated rhythms of Prince. Find out more about Larry Graham at www.larrygraham.com