0:00

Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

0:09

I'm ringing this hat quest Love for you. This is my

0:12

drumming hat in high school in the high school

0:14

bands.

0:18

Man.

0:20

Yeah, you still have that. Wow, that's

0:22

amazing. Yeah, all right,

0:24

Uh, I'm not nervous at all.

0:28

Good. We gotta

0:30

get your hat like that, amir.

0:35

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Quest Love Supreme.

0:38

I am quest Love, your host of the day.

0:40

We are here with fun Tigolo f Takeolo.

0:42

Where you at right now?

0:44

I'm at the crib man. I just uh, I came

0:46

in just straight from the gym, so you know, sweat

0:49

same shame here, yep,

0:51

shame.

0:53

It's it's something about uh March

0:55

that creeps in that says, okay, summer

0:58

coming. I gotta get my summer by yeah,

1:03

mineus picnic body, so

1:07

yeah, I want to look halfway presentable with the

1:09

picnic. H Steve, how are

1:11

you pal?

1:12

I'm good, really looking forward to this interview

1:15

like everybody else.

1:16

How interesting was your evening?

1:19

Super interesting? Definitely

1:21

trying to hear you pronounce words and so

1:23

forth.

1:24

All right, Steve, as you guys

1:26

know, I can't stop writing books and

1:29

one of the well I'm not trying to say unfortunate,

1:31

but one of the things that I am not

1:34

much of a fan of in the process of book writing

1:36

is doing the audio books, especially when

1:39

Steve is on standby to hear me struggle

1:42

with college words, and he

1:45

definitely got a ear full last night. But look,

1:48

we got more important pressing matters on our hands.

1:51

Let me just say that I know that

1:53

a line share of my personal

1:57

music knowledge, you know, honestly

1:59

came into play once hip hop contextualized

2:03

my parents boring record

2:06

made it interesting, which you know, basically

2:09

my age fourteen fifteen sixteen. Of

2:11

course I could ratle off any

2:13

musician's name, but I wasn't

2:15

in a slouch either when I was a kid. But you

2:17

know this, this knowledge I have a music really

2:20

became a thing when I was a teenager. However, I

2:22

will say that in

2:24

my life in real time, and

2:27

I'm talking about when I'm seven years old,

2:30

there were two particular drummers who

2:32

I idolized. And of course, if

2:34

you're a longtime listener of the podcast, you already

2:36

know that I've had the pleasure of doing

2:38

a one on one with my idol Steve

2:41

Rone, formerly of the Average White

2:43

Band Today is

2:46

no exception, and today we'll actually complete

2:48

that circle, because if I'm really honest

2:50

with myself, our guest today might be

2:53

the first air quote

2:56

fusion drummer that I

2:58

became familiar with. Not exactly

3:00

by choice. It just so happens that a

3:02

particular family excursion of

3:05

nineteen seventy seven on a trip

3:07

to Disney World in a van with

3:09

an A track tape player as

3:12

our entertainment and maybe six

3:14

A track tapes in rotation, and

3:17

one of those six A track tapes had

3:20

heavy rotation of the debut

3:22

album of our guest on the Show

3:24

today, entitled Garden of

3:27

Love Light. And one

3:29

song in particular that I know

3:32

that I personally put ten

3:34

thousand Gladwellian

3:36

hours in a practice was

3:38

a tune called The Sun Is Dancing. And

3:42

now that I think about it, I

3:44

think the very first time that I nerded

3:46

out on Bassis Megabasis

3:49

will Lee of The Letterman Show

3:51

was more about him playing on that

3:54

album than it was anything

3:56

else that Willy has done. Willie's done legendary

3:58

shit, but I will say

4:00

that his resume is beyond

4:03

impressive. Name It Whitney,

4:05

Arefa, Mariah, George, Michael,

4:08

Jeff Beck Campbell,

4:10

Yeah, Temi Campbell, Barbaris Streiss and Wynald

4:13

Richie Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Dinah

4:15

Ross, Rachel my Vision Orchestra.

4:19

He's worked with everyone but me, and

4:22

the time I think

4:24

I'm trying to be him, you know what

4:26

I mean. Not to mention,

4:28

I will say that he's probably the first

4:31

human being that I've

4:33

ever taken note

4:35

of that even mentioned the word that I'm

4:37

obsessed with now post pandemic, which is

4:39

meditation. So this

4:42

is a long overdue conversation with

4:44

the great legendary. Please welcome

4:47

Nordom, Michael Walton, finally

4:50

the Quest Love Supreme.

4:51

Thank you so much man, a

4:54

long time man. Wow, thank you

4:56

so much, happy to be here. This is

4:58

wonderful. I'm a big fan of yours, breath, a big

5:00

fan of yours. You know, you bring the funk,

5:02

man, you bring the soul, and you bring the integrity

5:05

to the music. Some I'm really really loving

5:07

you.

5:07

Then I'm bringing everything

5:09

I ever learned from you, man, so

5:13

now you know what it is. I'm also realizing

5:16

I've met you briefly

5:19

before, and I will say

5:21

that there are very few human

5:23

beings that have an instantaneous

5:26

disarming chip that I

5:28

wish I had. You have a level of calm

5:32

that I now know that. Of course, your

5:34

resume is that impressive because I believe that

5:37

you have a sort of calming element, because

5:40

you produced some

5:42

people that I would believe would be some

5:44

of the hardest people personality

5:47

wise to even step

5:50

with. I've said no to a few of these people were

5:52

just like drumming with them or any

5:54

of those things, because I couldn't

5:57

bear to think of the thought of, you

5:59

know, of dealing with that. But

6:02

can I ask you, like, what when

6:04

did you develop this personality of just

6:07

calmness, Like you have a very disarming

6:10

like have you ever gotten angry in your life?

6:12

Oh? Yeah, sure, sure I do, of course

6:14

I do. It's just that I learned,

6:18

like what you're speaking about in production

6:20

and working with other people that

6:22

I wanted to get their best, and I realized that

6:24

the love aspect was really powerful. It

6:27

is really powerful. And then you mentioned meditation,

6:30

So through meditation and the love aspect

6:33

that became the most important part,

6:35

and that the person I'm working with could

6:38

feel that love to do

6:40

their best, and then that

6:42

would just make everything just go. So

6:45

I kind of just pray, swim,

6:48

you know, get myself together physically, and

6:50

then get in that spirit that the person

6:52

you really feel like, oh you're not here to fight with me, You're

6:55

going to me that great music. Then they start singing

6:57

whatever they're going to do, and an endorphins kick in and

7:00

are gone. But that spirit of love is really

7:02

really important. That's what I want to say to

7:04

you about that.

7:05

Do you have a pre studio ritual

7:08

that you do or something like the kind of get ready

7:10

to get into this.

7:11

You know you can see behind me. I have a

7:13

candle, two camels here and a candle up

7:15

there. You know. I burn a little incense

7:17

every now and again. I usually bring a gift

7:19

to the person I'm working with, just kind of make them feel

7:22

the love on a physical level. A

7:24

teddy bear flower, something sweet.

7:27

And then I want to say

7:29

one more thing about what you're asking about, because it's

7:31

really important for me that. Probably

7:33

the most incredible moment along this

7:35

line was after I

7:37

made the songs of two songs, Who's

7:40

the Man Who Until You Say You Love Me? And Here,

7:42

and flew back to Detroit, Michigan to meet Aretha.

7:45

It looking in her eyes is scary. That

7:49

would that would scare you? That would that scared me?

7:52

But there again, you

7:54

know, I let her know in my spirit, my

7:56

eyes, my love, I'm not here to fight, I'm not here

7:58

to make a problem. I want I want to serve

8:00

you, I love you, and help

8:03

us make the best music. And then once the music

8:05

comes on and then she starts opening up

8:07

and singing, then again, like I

8:09

said, it just gets happy. And then it's like, well,

8:11

what do you want to eat? You want cheeseburger, you want

8:13

you know, fried chicken? What you want? And all that sounds

8:15

happening.

8:18

See, I wish I'd known you

8:20

previously, Steve could have tested this.

8:23

You know. Of course, I'm still here

8:25

at the tonight show and Lovely

8:28

Lovely, and I've

8:30

only had one client sort

8:33

of put us through the ringer to the

8:35

point where I just walked away. And

8:39

you know, unfortunately, I've had

8:41

the pleasure of playing practically with every person

8:44

I've ever idolized. But when

8:47

it came to a refa and

8:49

the alpha level

8:52

of testing that we were

8:54

put through, I failed

8:57

that test. Oh no, you

9:01

know it was like my

9:04

ego was there because in my mind I'm like, well,

9:06

I'm holding up the tradition, like

9:08

we are holding up the tradition of Cornell dupri

9:11

and Bernard Purty like her seventies, her

9:13

seventies crack band, and

9:16

you know, she wanted to have a

9:18

long talk, and she wanted us to audition

9:21

and all this stuff, and

9:24

you know, I just now

9:27

regret that that move. But I was just

9:29

like, well, no, I'm fine. If

9:32

you want to sing behind your karaoke track, then

9:35

go ahead and do so. And she did so, and

9:38

it could have been magic, but you know it was definitely

9:42

I didn't know about what

9:44

you just said, like we're dealing with people

9:46

and how to disarm them and all that stuff. And

9:49

so first starters, Where were you born?

9:51

I'm from Calamazoo, Michigan, between

9:54

Chicago and Detroit, rightland middle

9:56

in the country, Calumboo where

9:59

they make gifts and guitars, you know, and Battle

10:01

Creek, Michigan is not far away with the Mick Kellogg's complex,

10:03

and that's where Junior Walk All the Star comes from, you know, with

10:06

all that funk. So I Calamus

10:08

in Michigan.

10:09

I'm only laughing because Kalamazoo

10:11

is always my go to random

10:15

hypothetical city when I say something

10:17

like, oh, you know, I always in Kalamazoo, miss

10:20

but I've never known one human being from

10:22

Kalamazoo, Michigan.

10:24

Now you do, Now you do.

10:26

I read a really interesting

10:28

story about you

10:31

in a magazine. I think it was right

10:33

on. I'm not certain, but

10:36

the very first thing I've ever read about you. I

10:39

happen to be reading this story a year

10:42

before were in Philadelphia.

10:44

And I don't remember the exact

10:47

lining of the earth whatever, but I do know

10:49

that we were about to go through

10:52

in nineteen eighty four a major

10:55

solar eclipse.

10:57

Oh wow.

10:58

And it was one of the things were

11:00

like the school was like handing out these these

11:02

sunglasses and you must never look in the

11:04

sun or else you'll go blind. And yes,

11:07

yes, And I remember reading an

11:09

interview of you where you said you were so inspired

11:12

by Stevie Wonder that

11:14

could you tell that story? Please?

11:16

Okay, brother, that's true story.

11:20

Okay, let me just go back up just for a second to say

11:23

that Ray, Charles, George

11:25

Sharing or blind men knocked

11:28

me out with their genius.

11:30

And then on the scene, my aunts,

11:33

my mom's sisters, they're Vicky and Valor there, their

11:35

twins. They said, well, you know, on the scene. Now is

11:37

a little boy your age, maybe a little

11:39

older than you, but he plays drums better than you

11:41

play. And he's incredible. I said, no,

11:43

no, no, I don't want to buy it.

11:46

And he said, oh no. His little name is little Stevie

11:48

Wonder you know. And he plays. I said, how can he's

11:50

blind? How can you even see the drums? Well he does, Okay,

11:54

okay, okay. But not long

11:56

after came out a song that was

11:58

a live version of Fingertips, and

12:01

Fingertips were smoking, and I mean

12:03

smoking, like smoking smoking. And

12:06

I was lucky enough to go to Chicago, my dad

12:08

comes from Chicago, and go to the Regal

12:11

Theater and see him play. And

12:13

when they walked him out,

12:15

it was like an alien. He walked like an alien, slowly,

12:19

kind of back and forth, like you know, like I've

12:21

never seen anything walk like like you walked. But

12:24

now in the audience it's packed with screaming

12:26

girls, like beatles, screaming,

12:29

you know. And when he gets the microphone,

12:32

he's just in control and

12:36

his voice is high like a little boy, but just

12:38

every little note just so perfect, just

12:41

so perfect, and the band

12:48

just rocking and on

12:51

the harmonica perfect,

12:54

and I just was like is true.

12:57

He is better than me. He's

13:00

got everyone in his pond of hand.

13:02

He's challeng God. And

13:06

that was the summer of the eclips you're talking about Signed

13:08

in Chicago. I

13:10

decide, Okay, if I'm blind, I can maybe be

13:12

as good as these guys are are my hero. So

13:15

I wouldn't stare at the sun make

13:17

myself blind. But the Good Lord said no, no,

13:19

no, you keep your sight. But I did try to make myself blind.

13:22

Yeah. Oh, I

13:24

read that story and I

13:26

guess we had. You know, the next

13:28

cycle of that was sometime in nineteen

13:30

eighty four, and

13:33

you know again this and also

13:36

you know, there's a thing like when you're a kid an adult

13:38

tells you no, you're

13:41

just instantly like, even if it's to your own

13:43

detriment. And there was one point

13:45

where I was like, yeah,

13:48

Nardi Michael's right, like if

13:50

I'm blind, like Stevie Wonder, I too can

13:52

have gifts. And I was actually thinking, let

13:55

me go outside and just

13:57

stick. Do

14:04

you remember your very first musical

14:06

memory.

14:08

When I was really little, my dad bought a record home

14:10

called Froggy went a court and he did lie Froggy

14:13

went according he did

14:16

you know I was a little kid, kid, kid, kid kid, I

14:18

remember that kind of thing. I also remember, very

14:20

very young, I was so blessed by Santa

14:22

with a toy toy Land drum set

14:25

for Christmas. That blew my mind.

14:28

These little drums with the paper heads, so

14:30

you play them, but the head's been last

14:32

very long because it's bit of paper. But

14:34

I get orgasmic beating these damn things. And I see

14:36

the happiness of my parents, my grandparents,

14:39

and I got so happy. That's bigger when

14:41

I knew that's it, that's a little little

14:44

kid. I guess just after that would be

14:46

like then making pillows

14:49

and getting a pie ten and playing

14:51

along with Na Simone live a town Hall, you

14:53

know, Summertime and that album, the live

14:55

album of hers playing along with that, and

14:58

then that became like kind of going on like that, you

15:00

know, Ama Jamal and those

15:02

those those type of records, playing along with them. But

15:04

yeah, it's just always there, that

15:07

record, the young, the young vibe, catching

15:09

the spirit of the music so important.

15:13

High tens were your symbols.

15:15

Yeah A ten ten.

15:16

A we are the same

15:19

person? Yeah yeah,

15:21

yeah, that's crazy.

15:24

Yeah, that's right. So what is the significant

15:26

of a pie tin symbol. What what what will we hear

15:28

that on? Well, you know, it just makes a

15:30

high, high tending tink tink,

15:33

you know it kind of if you don't have a symbol, at

15:35

least it can make high kind of a sound like

15:37

a symbol, so you know. And

15:40

a pillow, like a flat pillow, can

15:42

be like a bass drum or whatever you want it to be.

15:44

I was set up chairs, Yeah, that's it.

15:47

I was set up chairs, as my drum said. And then

15:50

either the lamp, lamp shade or

15:52

a pie ten was always my damn.

15:55

I thought I was the only person.

15:56

That thought about no, no, man. I

16:00

bet Steven want it too.

16:02

That is crazy. Recently

16:04

I went back to my old neighborhood

16:07

and I saw there's a lady that

16:09

you know, still living and down the block, and

16:12

she was telling like people's stories off like, eh, he

16:14

used to always wail in the drums. I used to hear him five

16:17

six houses away. So

16:19

your parents lived in a household in

16:21

which they encouraged

16:24

you to make noise and all these things, and.

16:26

Yeah, yeah, I got to say. My dad was like eighteen

16:28

when he had me. My mom was nineteen when they had me, and

16:30

my dad wanted to be a drummer, and he would

16:32

carry his best friend's drums around in a

16:35

cat named Bill Dowdy from the Three Sounds. So

16:37

he wasn't a drummer, but he loved it. So that

16:39

was a big yes, you know, build out it from

16:41

Three Sounds. Yes, well that was

16:43

my dad's friend, and that's another record I was

16:45

raised up playing along with him and my dad. Quite

16:48

frankly, the only time he really kind of gave me

16:50

the kudos like iuld I could play was

16:52

when I could play a note for note that

16:54

record he bought. That was when he knew, oh, well, I

16:57

guess you can play. But it wasn't until

16:59

that.

17:00

Wow.

17:01

Yeah, I'm letting you know that. The whole Billdouti

17:03

thing in our family was a big to do and

17:06

and I was I could

17:08

make noise. So you're right, the parents

17:10

loving you, loving what the sound? It's

17:14

important.

17:15

How old were you when you first started drumming?

17:19

A little kid? Five, six, seven years old?

17:21

But I didn't take stare droom lessons until like

17:23

ten years old. You know, rudiment,

17:25

five stroke, role paradiddles,

17:28

you know like that, and then oh, your left hand is not as fast

17:30

as your right hand. You gotta work right your left hand, all that kind

17:32

of behavior. But then I'm

17:35

really blessed. Maybe you're around the age of eleven

17:39

twelve. There was a drummer

17:41

on the north side of Kalamazoo, not apart from my grandparents

17:43

house named Harold Mason. And

17:46

Harold was a black cat who

17:48

knew independency,

17:51

and he had a Blue Book of Independency

17:54

by Jim Chapin. So that book

17:56

you play right hand written Jane Jane

17:58

K Jean Chane k Jean Inge Chang

18:01

like that, but then against it on the left

18:03

hand. The pattern keeps changing, so

18:06

you have to kind of, you know, keep reading the changing

18:08

and like learning your mind how to break it up. Then

18:10

you bring your feet into it, your bass drum, your

18:12

high hat. But then he'd be so advanced.

18:14

He would say, well, you know the jazz capts

18:17

in New York, now you know what they're doing. They aren't just playing two

18:19

and four in the hide anymore. They're playing with

18:21

the high hand, you know, whatever they

18:23

want to do on the on the on the left foot. I

18:26

thought that was that would be too much. I don't want to get into all

18:28

that. I was happy just playing to do on the high hat

18:30

with my foot. But he was

18:32

that advanced breaking the mind up for independency,

18:35

which really, to this day helped

18:37

me. A lot of people don't understand its like learning to ride a

18:39

bike. You can do it, then you can play

18:42

all kind of crazy stuff. So it

18:44

happened early in my life that I got with peril Maze.

18:46

And then guess what happened. Harold went on to play

18:48

the drumps for Stevie. Wonder. Now Stevie's

18:50

a little older now, you know, signed to deliver.

18:53

Those records are out and they came through Calumu Zoo

18:55

a place called Western Michigan

18:57

University of the College, and

18:59

the place is to see Stevie won. He's a big star. So

19:01

here's my teacher, Harold Maston, drums and the

19:03

thing that caught the fire is this, and you'll appreciate you

19:06

You're you're bad. Harold

19:08

starts playing this groove, goes on the bell like

19:11

one, two, the four dean

19:13

t kitting dan tingan but pan

19:15

to kitting thing thing being

19:18

kitting thing thing

19:22

ticketing thing pan like that, and

19:24

Steve's catching fire with us. Stevene runs

19:27

over the blind

19:29

stuff pushes us get off the drums, Harold

19:32

gets on the drums and starts playing the same

19:34

thing stronger Dean Ti Kadan.

19:38

King.

19:39

I was like, damn. Then

19:42

Stephen gets crazy. He stands up on the stool

19:44

and the police goes ah. He

19:46

falls off the stool on the floor, gets back

19:48

up up again, falls on the floor

19:51

and starts playing his groove. I'm

19:53

like, these people are nuts. They're

19:56

nuts, But it showed me that the level

20:00

craziness you can go to and it's okay.

20:02

You're one of the rare artists that I

20:05

mean, We've had a few artists on the show that I

20:07

have recollections of seeing one concert or

20:10

two concerts or whatever. But am

20:12

I to believed that even since childhood you were

20:14

just regularly seeing shows of

20:16

musicians.

20:18

In Kalamus and Michigan. We're in the country, so it's

20:20

not like I'm in the city. So no, I wouldn't

20:22

say like I'm like a New York where Ucats were or Philadelphia.

20:25

No, we're country cats. We're country mice. But

20:27

our ears are big because we're hearing all the music out of Detroit,

20:30

We're hearing all the music out of Chicago. You know,

20:32

five stairsteps Curtis Mayfield. We're

20:34

hearing everything. We're hearing everything. We're hearing them the brand

20:36

new motown, you know, shop around Miracles,

20:39

We're hearing all the new stuff. You know, baby,

20:41

I need you to love them before you don't even hears it. It's

20:43

there at our parties. So that's

20:45

what it was. It was just hearing the radio.

20:47

And then I gotta say pop music

20:50

like Patty Page, Old Cape Cod Johnny

20:52

Mathis's. Chances are all that music is just

20:54

as huge in Michigan.

20:58

So you

21:00

love Prince. That's why Prince is so bad ass,

21:02

because Prince not only got the funks, but

21:04

but he got all the white pop stuff just as wrong.

21:07

That's what it is back there, miss Minnesota, Michigan.

21:10

Right, it's like a big old

21:12

gumbo.

21:13

I see. Were you a big record collector as a kid.

21:16

Yeah, I love the records. I love the records, and

21:18

I loved also like playing

21:20

that song by the who I Can See for miles and miles

21:22

of miles in my basement. That was that caught my

21:24

attention. I didn't even know who Keith Moon or anything that was.

21:26

I just like the I can See

21:30

I Can see you know that left power yeah,

21:34

who was your idol?

21:36

Drumming? Wise? Uh wait, do you

21:38

play any other instruments besides drums?

21:40

I just played keyboard piano to write my

21:43

songs. You know, keyboards

21:45

to right, So drumming is still your first left?

21:48

Yeah? Yeah?

21:49

Who were your idols?

21:50

Like?

21:51

Once you develop your style, like, who's

21:53

the person that I'm that person?

21:55

Who's your north star?

21:59

I learned from everybody. Harold taught me so much,

22:02

Harold Mason, Stevie that that thing I just

22:04

told you about. I was blown out by

22:06

the charisma ringo star. I gotta tell you. On

22:08

the Ed Sullivan Show, to see him

22:10

flirt with the chicks in the upper balcony

22:13

as he was playing the open slushy high

22:15

hands, smiling

22:19

at the chicks above. I thought that was

22:21

badass. See

22:24

the chrism aspect got me more than the chops,

22:26

just the swinging and the smiling.

22:29

Wow man, Okay. Then

22:33

Mitch Mitchell with Hendricks

22:36

was mean. It was mean, so

22:38

I had to give him a lot of love.

22:40

All right. So I've talked to many an artist

22:42

and of a certain

22:45

age, of a certain age for a lot

22:47

of them. There north star was

22:50

the Beatles on Sullivan the same way like

22:53

twenty years later. Of course, like Motown twenty

22:55

five was another north Star moment

22:57

for people that watched the Moon.

23:00

But I'm more fascinated when black people

23:03

speak of the

23:06

Beatles on Sullivan, like,

23:08

could you explain what the fascination was? Because

23:12

was it just that there was nothing else? Like what made

23:14

black people even open to that moment?

23:17

Well, okay,

23:20

I knew the Beatles were coming because I saw their album cover

23:22

in downtown Kalamazoo and Paul McCartney had a

23:24

cigarette on the cover and that was unusual, just to see

23:26

a cat having a cigarette bowl on the cover. Just

23:28

small things like that. There's a Catholic school

23:30

and so the girls were already certain

23:33

rumble about the Beatles. It was already catch

23:35

them fire, and that was unusual because no

23:37

one ever talked about music. So here they are

23:39

rumbling about the Beatles. It's like, really, you guys are into

23:41

this. So when it hit and

23:44

the best thing was this man, not just that

23:46

show, but check this out. It'd be John

23:48

Lennon saying, well, our

23:51

favorite female vocalist

23:53

is Mary Wells. It's like, damn Mary well That's that's Detroit,

23:56

That's where I live. But little white

23:58

girls a little better at the school. They who's married. It's

24:00

like, damn, that's Mary Wells. They don't die. I don't know Mary

24:02

Wells, they would say, and then ring

24:04

John would say, well, also, our favorite male singer

24:07

is a little Richard, Little

24:09

Richard, little Richard that was on a seven year you know, long

24:11

tall Sally all those records.

24:13

So, but they have no idea who they were. So

24:15

the Beatles really educated all

24:17

these people who I knew, the little white kids whatever

24:20

to what was really going down. So

24:22

I do and I liked that. I liked that that's

24:24

caught. That caught us because they're not the're talking about black

24:26

people and given a shine which we never had.

24:30

You know what I'm saying. That was a big to do. And

24:32

I'm telling you, man, this whole beatle Mania

24:35

thing was real. So you're born with seventy

24:37

one? What do what do you born right?

24:39

Seventy one?

24:39

Yeah? Okay, so this is like sixty three, sixty

24:42

four. It was on fire. We never

24:44

experienced like it. Just even the plane, the

24:46

plane landing, looking at them coming out the plane,

24:48

people going hysterical, so

24:51

just it just you go wow, wow. The music

24:53

was good, but it was all the frenzy

24:55

around it me like incredible, damn. But

24:58

then when they started loving black people, I was like, I

25:00

like these kids, you know what I was talking to talk about,

25:02

talk about litle Richard, you know what I was talking about by your married

25:04

wells. So that's what it was, man, the

25:06

catching of all these things that were like cool.

25:09

Got it? Got yeah? All right?

25:11

So how far is Detroit from Kalamazoo?

25:14

And at any point did you make a

25:16

move to Detroit? Like was Motown calling

25:19

you or that sort of thing.

25:21

I would love. I would love to have gone to to Motown.

25:23

I've gone. We would drive to Detroit to go visit

25:25

a family friend or whatever and just go

25:28

by the street. But you know, you could

25:30

never go in there. It was like a sacred territory.

25:32

You know, you could never go in there. But just to

25:34

go buy it, just drive by it would be like a big deal.

25:37

So I don't have any stories of like, you know,

25:39

going inside there or anything. But we all were

25:41

just like religion. The

25:44

chord changes and the way they put it together with the sounds

25:47

and the great singers. It was just a religion man.

25:49

Damn.

25:50

Yeah.

25:51

What was your what was your band

25:54

experience? Like in your teen years, like were

25:56

you forming bands in high.

25:57

School or yes, yeah,

25:59

my first band was I was eleven and

26:01

he'd be ten. He played Hammond

26:04

B three and his name

26:06

is Joel Brooks and he was brilliant, like

26:09

Jimmy Smith, a young kid, Jimmy Smith.

26:11

So it just drums me and him on organ. And

26:13

his uncle owned a little

26:15

nightclub called the Ambassador Lounge on

26:18

the North side of Caladizoo, the Black side of Calamazoo.

26:21

So he can go on in the Ambassador Lounge

26:23

and be the opening at because his

26:25

uncle owned the place before Jim

26:27

mcgrifford, whoever's coming through town is not gonna play

26:30

what it was, Yes, so it

26:32

was like first hand experienced playing Jane

26:34

Jane or where we were gonna play before

26:37

they came on. And you

26:39

know that was just mind

26:41

blowing, because I must tell you also a part of

26:43

what I love there is a record by Kennat

26:45

Jimmy Smith called The Sermon Is

26:48

twenty two minutes long. Were

26:50

what it did to my brain is

26:52

e equals empty square. Art

26:54

Blakey played a batbeat two

26:56

and four the whole record,

26:59

because you know those cat jazz guys are busy no,

27:02

but dude, it

27:11

just rocks like a blues record. I

27:14

realized the power that and

27:17

that really helped me a lot that you could just put

27:20

down and it's and people love

27:22

it even more so. Man, those

27:24

experience when I was eleven with the Ambassadors, that helped

27:27

me that band. And then we bring

27:29

a little horn player into it. You know, Captain

27:31

was studying at the at the university on trumpet Pierre or a Sacic

27:34

player or a vis player, Carl. You

27:36

know, I gonna expand the sound. So I had great experience

27:38

playing the young like that, and then

27:40

uh, I would do that. Then

27:42

the rock thing of my own bands. Then

27:44

as I got a little I left home when I was about sixteen years

27:46

old, right, and I had now go to keyboards.

27:49

I played Fender bass Oregon

27:51

and we do like what does It Take by Junior Walker all Stars,

27:53

those type of songs. But I'm playing keyboards now.

27:56

So and then that band was called Distance in the Far. Then

27:58

I had another band I played bass that's called the Mother

28:00

Thump with the Flunkies. Now we're doing Expressway to

28:02

Your Heart and Grand Funk Railroad.

28:04

You know, are you ready

28:07

all that music? Yeah? So, and

28:09

then before I left Kalamazoo. I joined a

28:11

horn band, kind of a Chicago horn band, but very progressive

28:14

called Avatar and they were really, really,

28:16

like, probably the most progressive band I've been with. And

28:19

then my friend who played trouble with that band, Bobby Napp,

28:21

he said, do you know about this

28:23

record by Cold

28:25

Blood called I said no.

28:28

He played me this cap man named Sandy McGee

28:30

on an album called Siss. And to this day,

28:33

you say north Star moment, that's still

28:35

my north Star moment. Sandy McGee on drums.

28:38

Wow, Okay, So when's

28:40

the moment in which you're

28:43

like, Okay, this is my profession.

28:45

I am going to be a drummer.

28:48

Always. I didn't want to ever do anything else.

28:50

I remember one day I had joined a band called

28:52

dickon Wingims so Revival that came to Calama Zoo. They

28:54

took me up after I did want to be in college anymore.

28:56

I went three semesters of college. I packed my drums in their

28:58

school bus and went out to play them Flint, Michigan,

29:00

these little nasty joints. But

29:02

it was so important that I did that because

29:05

that I really knew how to connect with the people. People,

29:07

people, the people, people

29:10

people, and that was that same

29:12

and my dad. I come back to Calendars to go play some more clubs,

29:14

and my dad would saying, why didn't you just become a policeman, you know,

29:16

because this whole road thing for you, I don't know if you should be doing

29:18

that. But now now I was always a drummer.

29:21

Then that band decided to go out to California. Now here

29:23

we are going out to California. I came out to California,

29:25

you know, we played shows out here and you know, in Hollywood

29:28

and all that. Then that band broke up. Then

29:30

I decided, no, I want to stay in California. And then

29:32

that became hard. Now my ship from receiving clerk

29:34

downtown LA, wrapping boxes, hearing

29:36

music constantly, just trying to get

29:39

out of here, you know, how to save myself.

29:42

And I had a few cousins, one that helped me out

29:44

out in the Englewood area and then another one

29:46

out in Pasadena. He said, come stay with me, and

29:49

I did, and then it was there I

29:51

could like really shed was

29:53

now the Mobblished Workers album just came out. I had enough

29:55

money to buy that Inner Mounting Flame album that

29:59

just crush to me, I'd never heard

30:01

anything like Colbum vishnu on

30:03

that effort and seven nine eleven whatever,

30:06

what the hell funk you like

30:08

a fucking dog God?

30:11

So that became my shedding shed

30:14

And then I also love Buddy Miles, the live album

30:16

that got that Bam

30:18

S Joe text. You know, then for

30:21

spiritual moments you put on Alice Coltrane's Universal

30:23

Consciousness side too. You

30:25

know, it could be Jack Vignette, you know, just like,

30:29

so how kind of got off on mixing these worlds, the

30:32

Colbumn, cleanless Buddy funk

30:34

and the Jackie net symbols. I

30:37

love all that stuff that I got that I met this cat man

30:39

you might know him, Eddie Hazel.

30:44

I had a band with him called Ouch. Why

30:46

he was so mean because me

30:49

being good that he could play the funk

30:51

really fast. That prepared

30:53

me for provision you later. But he'd be like, look at

31:01

and then you pass around this joint, but it'd be laced

31:04

with PCP the angel dust, So now you're

31:06

really getting out there. But you know you're looking at him because he's

31:08

gorgeous, got his things on and gorgeous

31:11

and just playing so clean and so fast.

31:13

Aries So

31:15

those type of things happen for me. You know, I've

31:18

had great experiences.

31:19

I need I need to hear what Eddie Hazel

31:22

was like from a person not in the p funk atmosphere.

31:26

Just a big, big, big brain,

31:29

you know, like Hendrick's a big brain, you

31:32

know, and not afraid of anything. The

31:34

rock, the tone, the funk, the

31:36

black, like early prince, like a

31:38

prince could hug like he

31:40

was, that could do anything like in those

31:43

worlds and not not scared of anything.

31:46

And again this powerful, it's

31:49

powerful, this powerful thing that would go around and would

31:51

be like, oh my god, I almost can't mess with that because

31:53

I'm too I'm too sensitive, but it would

31:56

just make you feel like whoa you

31:58

know. So Eddie Hayes was

32:00

an influent I didn't stayed them very long, you know, because

32:02

he was always moving. But you know, but he

32:04

made a big influence in my life. You

32:07

know. You hear Maggot brains that how he plays on that record,

32:09

It's like that's who he is.

32:15

I would look to know at what point did the teachings

32:17

of Sri Chamoy

32:20

enter your life, Like was it during

32:23

this period or was it later on.

32:25

Just after this period? This is my passage

32:28

in the LA experience I'm talking about, right,

32:30

you know. And then I had to work hard to try to find

32:32

work out in LA, you know, very hard.

32:34

And they even go back in the big what's called a

32:36

you know, an orderly in the hospitals to make

32:39

ends meet. But it wasn't

32:41

long after I got a phone call from Miami. A cat

32:43

and down there named Santa Toronto, guitar

32:45

player from a winter band down the Santa Morono.

32:48

He found he heard about me. He said, come down to Miami.

32:51

So he bought my first plane

32:54

ticket. I'd never been on the plane before.

32:56

What it be it

33:00

maybe seventy one, seventy two, seventy

33:02

one there, see, because I got to my high school

33:04

seventy so that's now the year you're

33:06

born seventy one around that area. One

33:08

that I fled in Miami, and I like Miami,

33:11

and it really opened my eyes again because I'm at

33:13

the universe. I wasn't at the university, but at

33:15

the university would be all these great cats coming

33:17

up. Pat Matheeni, you know, Danny

33:19

Gotlieb hiring Bullock, Cliff Card and

33:21

Patty Scoff who's now married to Bruce Bringsteen. They

33:24

are all these young people like that. But

33:26

my friend was one of the teachers them stand SMOLDI

33:29

and I stayed with him and he'd have books

33:32

on the group. I said, okay, I

33:34

said, this is the cat who's inspiring my

33:36

vision news. Yes, so then you start

33:38

reading the books of poetry on she

33:40

was treaching moy that were inspiring my

33:42

vision news. The poems of birds of fire, you know, my

33:45

flute and immortality, all these

33:47

things he was writing that were just beautiful and

33:50

very God ordained. So

33:53

I had a band down there called the New MacGuire Sisters.

33:55

Now we really went full fledge

33:58

rock spusion out

34:01

there, odd meters

34:04

to the limit because now mobbys Storchestra

34:06

made it go there. And

34:09

we'd have this big warehouse where

34:11

the sound would just be like enormous, Like I could mic

34:13

my bass drum with a big SVT amplifier.

34:15

So I got used to just making this huge sound

34:17

in there. And then not long after

34:20

we got all this together, that band then moved to Connecticut,

34:23

a place called Canan, Connecticut, way

34:25

up on the bord of matth Housts in Connecticut, a farm

34:29

a bard where we could play. It was an awesome

34:32

sound and then the little cabins in a

34:34

main house and

34:36

so we could keep kept working. But

34:38

I was always scratching how am I gonna make it? But how am I

34:40

gonna make it? How am I gonna make it? I was always on my soul. And

34:43

then not long after came through Hartford

34:48

the Mobys Shtorkers' second album, playing the

34:50

Birds of Fire. And I had my friend,

34:52

our manager, take me down to that show and

34:54

dropped me off at the show. And what

34:56

this is really important because you asked about Guru.

35:00

It was my first time laying eyes on the real

35:03

living Mobbish new and cobblem.

35:06

And as I'm getting the I'm bit late, the

35:09

place is packed. There's a bright light

35:11

on vish you and it's

35:13

just him on double neck guitar and Cob

35:16

going at it maybe in seventeen something

35:19

so out there you would never you can't even count

35:21

it. But they were like so intense with

35:23

it. It was just nuts. So

35:26

I decided to walk right down to the edge of the stage

35:28

and look up in his eyes and see what the hell is going on?

35:31

And I did. I looked right up in

35:33

his eyes and he's he's just the bullets, just

35:35

bullets. Just

35:39

like an adimal on fire and

35:42

his eyes are back in his head

35:45

and I go, yeah, this is real. It's

35:48

too intense to be made to me, to be like memorized.

35:52

It's just flowing through him. And it went up for so long.

35:56

I could have been like tw many minutes of

35:58

this. I

36:00

heard John Coltrane on record with Elvin

36:03

Jones just be out there for the longest times. I've

36:05

never seen anything live in

36:08

a rock setting. Marshals

36:11

five's drum set, loud clean

36:15

vibes. Oh my god, clear fives,

36:18

loud clean. It

36:21

could stop like that and

36:25

back at it together.

36:30

Oh Holy God, this

36:32

is this is now my life.

36:35

This is now gotta be what I gotta go to because if

36:37

I if I do another direction of my life, I could die.

36:40

I don't want to die. Jimmy, who are my fruit? My

36:42

heroes? Now I knew that that vision

36:44

was into God. He'd found the meditation way

36:47

because I knew about his guru. So

36:51

that night I saw a guy in white.

36:53

I knew his disciple. His name is

36:55

a Pikshah. I said, please, a paic Shaw, I really have

36:57

to meet Morvish new team back to meet

36:59

him, and he was so kind to me of the whole

37:02

audience something I'm nobody. He

37:04

gets me backstage and

37:07

Marvish to pokes his head and said, go in that little room and I'll meet

37:10

you in one minute. And I wait that little tiny

37:12

room and I'm scared because

37:14

I've never seen anything like this. And I can

37:16

hear Cobbm and Joan Hamer you

37:18

know, Hi talk in the other room like Mcca

37:22

you know, and Jon They're

37:24

all and then Maister comes

37:26

in and he's like English

37:29

with this black mob. Miles

37:31

Davis talk, hello, brother, how are

37:34

you?

37:35

You know?

37:35

Just like what is that? But that's how he was.

37:38

And I said, well, my name is Michael Wallas and I said I've

37:40

never seen anything like you, and I want to be like

37:42

you. I played drums

37:45

and he said, well, you know what

37:48

I'm doing is larg as I do to my prayer life, my meditation

37:50

life. I said, yeah, I know, because I

37:52

ran on the back of your jackets. These the poems by

37:54

your group. He said yeah. He said, I'm gonna see my grou at

37:56

six in the morning and I'll tell I

37:58

met you. And that was like damn.

38:02

Here We're on the backstage in Hartford. It's

38:05

almost one in the morning. He

38:07

is going to drive all night, go back to Queens, New York

38:09

and see the grew at six am.

38:12

That's not he's not going to sleep after

38:15

just what I saw him do. Something

38:17

is so small like that just rock my world.

38:20

This is too much. And you know what happened.

38:22

It's just God. Because about a week

38:24

later, I'm way out in the country of Hayman, Connecticut,

38:27

in the woods at this farm I lived

38:29

in, and the throne rings and it's

38:32

Mahavish New. He says, Ah, Man, it's

38:34

Marvish New. And I can't be

38:36

the tonight, but I want you to go to

38:38

the meditation in Norwalk

38:40

and meet the Grew tonight. I said, okay,

38:44

So man, I had

38:46

long hair. I brushed my hair

38:48

back, you know, and

38:51

I got my shaver and I shaved my beard off

38:53

because I know they have no beards.

38:56

And my mom had made me a kind of a white dog shiki. I

38:59

put that white does she k on? And

39:02

we had an old limousine that

39:04

the new McGuire sisters had and my friend

39:06

Greg Felt drove me down there and

39:09

to nor Walk. And when I got there that was I was a little bit late

39:11

too, so guess what happened. I go inside and

39:13

I leave my eyes on the grou The area is singing and playing

39:15

the harmonium and singing, and he sees

39:18

me and keep singing. And the girls

39:20

are on one side, and the boys and the other side. They're all wearing white,

39:22

and the girls are all wearing these kind of Indian sories.

39:25

So there's one chair left on the girl's sides. I sit down with

39:27

the girls, and then this

39:30

old lady named Akoutie, she gets up front and she reads

39:33

out of his new book called The Dance of Life, Part two.

39:36

And the poems in this book were

39:38

just like knives in my heart, because

39:41

you know, it was just just crying

39:43

to God. You know, Oh Lord, how many days,

39:46

how many nights, how many minutes, seconds,

39:48

hours must I cry to see your face?

39:51

How long must I wait to see you?

39:54

It go on and on like that, And

39:56

then that hit me again. Maybe what you're

39:58

asking for, Michael, It was not an ard, I was, Michael.

40:02

Maybe what you're asking for you're not really ready for. That's

40:04

what hit me again. Then I met

40:06

a black gentleman just after the whole thing, named Lelehan.

40:09

He's all, let's

40:11

go stare at the library, you know me by guy

40:13

by a book, and then I can take you to the to the UH

40:16

to the restaurant called Love and Serve.

40:19

Okay, So I go up to the library

40:22

and all these books you have written, I

40:24

have just enough moneed to buy a book called

40:26

The Dance of Life Part two that they had read the downstairs

40:29

they had read from So I buy that one

40:31

book and I said'm walking down the stairs. Man, here

40:34

is the gurul in the living room,

40:36

just standing there kind of meditating,

40:39

and so I stopped and

40:41

he says, so you are mobbish and his friend I

40:43

said, yes, said

40:46

you would like you would like to become my disciple. I said,

40:48

I think I'm ready. And he went into a long

40:51

meditation like just all moblished

40:53

and the eyes back in his head, and

40:55

just this feeling came over me as

40:57

I stood before him. And

41:00

then long after he said I accept through

41:02

him my heart, and then he kind of

41:04

walked away. But as he walked away, I

41:07

kind of felt like an explosion and happening inside

41:09

of me, and maybe

41:11

explosion of gratitude that now I've not met

41:13

my vision you now, I mean it's girl. His giru

41:16

has just accepted me who am

41:18

I. That's

41:20

what happened to me. And I was so

41:22

grateful that to be to be accepted, and

41:25

I knew that would

41:27

save my life because I did not want to die. I'm

41:30

the kind of cat LSD loved

41:32

the experiences of being so high. But you can have a bad experience

41:34

and be out of here or at

41:36

his BSPs and the angel dosts

41:38

and those things can just get you out

41:41

of here. Man, so here, this

41:43

is the God way. You just love God. You know you

41:45

pray, you meditate, you know you

41:47

you you do beautiful things that you offer your music

41:49

to God. That change the

41:51

whole trick is obtected in my life.

41:53

All right, let me ask you something because it took

41:56

me. No no, no, no

41:58

no. I appreciate you sharing

42:00

that because the thing is is that it

42:03

might have taken me about five decades

42:07

to even be open

42:10

to that level of spirituality. Because

42:14

you know, for a lot of African Americans

42:16

in America, like we

42:18

clutch onto our Christianity

42:21

like no one's business and

42:23

any other kind

42:26

of straying

42:28

from you

42:30

know, what your grandmom taught to you, what her

42:32

grandmother taught her, what and

42:34

so on and so forth. Back to you

42:36

know, our presence in this country

42:40

is often frowned

42:42

upon amongst other Black

42:44

people. Like I remember

42:47

seeing an interview with like

42:49

Maurice White of earth Wood Fire maybe

42:51

like in the late seventies early eighties, where

42:53

he's talking about this level

42:55

of spirituality and kind

42:58

of looking at the adults in the room

43:00

as he's saying it's on television. They're frowning

43:02

like mm hmm, see that's that double

43:04

shit. He ain't talking about Christianity.

43:07

Da da da, So like, what made

43:09

you? Because this is not even

43:11

though this, this level of spirituality is

43:14

our African origins?

43:17

Yes, what made

43:19

you.

43:20

Just sort of bypass the

43:23

fear of what will others

43:25

think about me? Or what will my parents say? Or what

43:28

will my fellow Michigan's people or a fellow black

43:30

people? They think like, I'm this weird? What

43:33

made you just bypass that?

43:35

I want to save my life? It

43:37

was just me against the world. It's

43:39

just me against the world. How am I going to make

43:42

it? This is the way to make it? Narada, My

43:44

visions accepted you as a friend. He's calling

43:46

you the phone. This is his guru, his

43:48

grou's accepted you. It felt good to

43:50

me. It was a way of living

43:54

a good life, of having a way of

43:57

directing my attention, my focus.

44:00

And I needed that. I know, I knew I needed it.

44:02

I was raised Catholic, I was raised with mother, married

44:04

Jesus and all that, and

44:06

I hold the communion and all that and all those

44:08

things, you know, the your stay and

44:11

the sanctuary and all the beautiful music. But

44:15

but that wasn't saving me. And

44:17

I had been clobbered by Morvish

44:19

News Live, not only

44:21

on record, you know, unspoken

44:24

heights live, I

44:27

see. And then to meet this teacher,

44:30

he was beautiful, It was nothing wrong.

44:32

It was like, okay, would you follow Jesus. Yeah,

44:34

well there's a living example of

44:37

someone living truth, talking truth. What

44:39

you're gonna do? So for me, it was a

44:41

blessing, absolute blessing. There was no

44:43

doubt about that at all. Only data was Am I

44:45

Am I good enough? Am I ready enough? Like I told

44:47

you? When did you

44:50

when did he grant you with the name Nara? Well

44:52

that came later, he told me, laters, and I'm gonna I'm

44:54

not gonna spoil you. I've spoiled so many,

44:56

given them names too fast or do early.

44:58

I'm not gonna spoil, I'm gonna make you. And it wasn't until

45:01

the release of Garden of Lovelight that

45:05

he gave me a min named Narda. And

45:08

he said, no row dumb,

45:12

no ruh. That went on for so

45:14

long, I don't know if a name is nah rah ar Da.

45:17

So he said, Narda, Narda

45:20

supreme musician. Narda' soul brings from

45:22

having to Earth light, delight and compassion and

45:24

takes back to having from Earth earth sufferings.

45:28

So the music, this is my role now as

45:30

Narda. Michael Oldham and

45:33

uh yeah.

45:34

What leads to your

45:36

deal at Atlantic Records?

45:39

And on top of that, how

45:41

did you link with of all people Tom Dowd

45:44

on your first album.

45:46

I went through after I joined Mavish Orchestra

45:49

and did like two and a half years with my Vish Orchestra.

45:51

When that band stopped and

45:53

Vishnu then went to Shakti with

45:56

you know, Zakia Hussein and that genius stuff. Then

45:58

I was really into a funk, in a depression

46:01

because now I didn't know what to do with my life. I mean, I'm

46:03

I'm high now now all my chop everything is.

46:06

But what are you gonna do? You're not in the band anymore. It was

46:08

like the Beatle brook up. So

46:12

I just tried to think of what I was going to do. I

46:14

became a teacher for a while, the drama

46:16

workshop, the teacher's thing, what the word was called someplace.

46:19

I played top talk down there for a while. Anyway,

46:21

I'm saying to you, I just had

46:23

to focus, and I thought,

46:26

well, that's just going to my solo career. So then

46:28

my attorney was Barry Plattine. He said, you know

46:30

what, Epic Records will pay for you to make a demo, you

46:33

know, because at least you've got some names from coming to mobs structure.

46:35

I said, okay. So then I heard off Lenny White's

46:37

album of Phoenician Summers, this cat named Raymond

46:40

Gomez, who I thought, damn, this

46:42

guy has got the chops like I'm wanting to

46:44

hear. And then when I met him, he had

46:46

the both sides of Candridge Blues with chops

46:48

and infusionary. So I said, okay,

46:51

I want you. Would you play make my demo with

46:53

me and David Sanchez who had made his album Hime

46:55

on keyboards and then a guy like Rule Lee

46:57

was David's bass player at the time, so then I went to

47:00

Epic and made son Is Dancing, maybe

47:03

delightful and one wan one of the songs, or maybe maybe

47:05

delfe on one of the songs three three things,

47:07

and the Epic turned it down. So then

47:10

walk on the streets thinking how you're gonna make it, How you're gonna make it, how

47:12

you're gonna make And then Barry said, just

47:14

you know, stay patient. And I got a phone

47:17

call from my cat named Raymond Silva from Atlantic.

47:20

They were doing well with now colbum

47:23

and he said, you know, uh,

47:26

you know, maybe we'd be interested in you. So

47:29

then I gave them my tape that I've done for the

47:32

Epic of the Sun Is Dancing

47:34

and maybe with a few things I've cut,

47:37

and I met Jerry Greenberg, who was a president at

47:39

the time, and then they

47:41

offered me a deal. But guess what, they

47:44

said, we want half your publishing. I

47:46

said, okay, I wanted to deal that bad. I was

47:48

doing well with Wired. I wrote four sols

47:50

on Wire for Jeff Beeck, so I'm making money so

47:53

that they said we won't have to publish. I said not, I don't care.

47:55

Just sign me, give me a shot, and

47:58

they did. And then they said you

48:00

have your choice of two producers in house

48:03

producers or Reef Martin or

48:05

Tommy Dowd. And I said,

48:07

well, I love them both, but

48:10

this album is more on the rock side, and

48:13

I want to use this engineer from London

48:16

who did the last Mobbish album called Inner

48:18

Worlds, named Dennis McKay right,

48:20

So I thought maybe I should use Timy Tommy Dowd because

48:22

he's more on that side of things. And

48:25

I did. Tommy said hey, let's work, and

48:27

Tomy was so cool and he just let

48:30

me be me and help me. And

48:32

I was in that studio brother, where Aretha and ray

48:34

and all that. That's why I cut the Garden Love

48:36

and that main studio and it'd

48:39

be on I want to say, another cat was there as

48:41

Jimmy Douglas, a young backup cat.

48:43

He was my He was the second.

48:46

So it'd be him and Dens mc kay and Tommy,

48:48

Tommy Dowd and my hot band of Raymond Gomez

48:51

David Sanchez will Lee on bass and

48:53

myself. That was the core. I deliverhearsal

48:55

forts so they'd know what to expect in the studio so we

48:57

could cut it fast because you know, as you know still your time

48:59

and all that expensive. So we

49:01

went in there and know I knew White Knight

49:03

Ray and I wrote that and we knew how to do

49:05

it. I brought in a created ranger

49:08

named Michael Gibbs who did the Apocalypse album Mama

49:10

Short, because he was brought up to range my strings

49:12

when I wanted that. And

49:15

then my friends came, like Carlos Santannaka did to

49:17

think of First Love, which is beautiful, Jeff

49:20

Beck Game to do Satan Lurascal, which is

49:22

beautiful. So I'm just really honored

49:24

by that album, and I'm glad that you know about

49:27

it, because some people don't even know about it. But that was

49:29

my first soul album. My baby, Yo,

49:32

Yo, what up everybody. This is Fonte Fontibelo

49:34

from Team Supreme. We haven't done this in.

49:36

A while, but this conversation is so great

49:38

and we had so much to cover that we had to make

49:40

it too parter. Look out for part two,

49:42

drop it next week or above this in your podcast

49:45

feed. In that conversation, Narta talks

49:47

about his work with Whitney Houston, Aretha

49:49

Franklin Starship, and becoming

49:51

one of the most in Deman.

49:53

Producers and all of music of

49:55

all time, Top flight.

49:57

Security of the world, Craig this conversation,

50:00

it was mind blowing from me and I know you're

50:02

gonna enjoy it, all right, that's happen.

50:05

How Much Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

50:12

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50:14

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50:17

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