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ecnirp vs prince : a lifetime of musical work
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Voici enfin la transcription que M!les a eu la gentillesse de faire pour nous. Je le remercie chaleureusement pour l'énorme travail fourni pour pouvoir publier cette transcription très attendue
le plus vite possible.
Les mots entre crochets sont des ajouts fait par M!les pour fluidifier la lecture. J'ai ajouté quelques mentions entre crochet également, suivies de NDLA (comme c'est l'usage).
2008-07-07 Paris, Le Réservoir
Workshop with Eric Leeds
Start : 20:55
Stop : 21:43
Duration : 00:48
Eric Leeds:
First of all, for those of you... you must understand I speak no French. So I have my friend Raphaelle, who is going to interpret. Before we get started: "Merci". That much I can say. Thank you so much.
[applause]
There are many musicians like myself who had the wonderful opportunity to work with Prince, and we sometimes tend to forget that what we do has some importance to people beyond what it means to us.
In Minneapolis we play around town and people don't pay much attention to us anymore because they know us so well so it's no big thing when we come out to play, so it's nice to come halfway around the world and know that there are people like you that want to come out and listen to myself and the other musicians that you can hear tonight so once again: "Merci".
[applause]
A long time ago, I won't say how many years, a long time ago, I, for the first time, played the club New Morning. I was wearing something very different, and I retired that, we don't do that anymore. Gave it to Batman, he did better with it than me.
I played a song there that meant a lot to me then because it represents where I come from as a musician before anything else. So I'd like to get this out of my system before we get to the other music that perhaps you're more familiar with.
[plays In A Sentimental Mood from Duke Ellington on the saxophone]
Duke Ellington. [followed by a couple of inaudible words, probably the title of the song he just played]
Beyond that I'm a firm believer that to talk a lot about music is not nearly as important as just playing the music, so I'm not gonna talk a lot about different things, if we have a wonderful performance for you, but right now I know that several of you from time to time would like to ask your question.
Rather than me to come out and say what's on my mind, I'd like to hear what's on your mind, so if anyone has a question then raise your hand, we're going to speak in English if you do, or just to Raphaelle in French, and we will try to see what's on your mind, ok?
Question:
Hello Eric, thank you very much for being here. Have you played a lot with big bands, and stuff like that, before playing solo?
EL:
Yes, in college. I played in college big band and I played saxophone baryton, the big one, and that was my main instrument for many years before I started playing tenor. And playing in a big band is one of the more enjoyable things that I can do in music.
For those of you who may not know a big band will have as many as four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, a rhythm section and the goal is for everybody in the band to breathe as one, and you learn so much about how to interpret music when you're listening and having to... everything that you play has to fit with the other instruments, which is... while we do that here, it's with just the rhythm section, when you play with all the other horn players and you really want to form your sound then the section becomes a sound above and beyond just the individual voices.
Plus it's a lot of fun.
Q:
Hello Eric. How about the band The Family? Is there [a future for] The Family?
EL:
The Family? Ok. By the way that was the first project that I worked with Prince, a long time ago. We had a reunion performance about a year and a half ago in Los Angeles, which was the first time that Paul Peterson, Susannah [Melvoin NDLA], Jerome [Benton NDLA], Jellybean [Johnson NDLA] and myself had gone together in twenty years. So it's basically up to you to tell us if you wanna...
[applause]
Get up on your computers, because the main problem is that you know about the band but people who promote music and own night clubs, they're too young so they never heard of us.
So we are working on some new music and we're just gonna take it a step at a time because Paul is out doing what he does, I'm out doing what I do, Susannah does what she does, Jellybean... so it's difficult for us to get together, but when we do, we're trying to work on [???] the music and when we have enough that we feel is ready to present then we will try to figure out a way to do that.
There's ... there's one, maybe one problem: there's a particular individual who I'm sure you all know, that owns the name. So we may call it something a little different. So if you see "Family Reunion" or "The New Family" or something like that, you know what it is.
And if you like the music, you say to us "Come play", we'll come play.
[applause]
Q:
Hi Eric.
EL:
Hello.
Q:
Good to have you.
EL:
Thank you.
Q:
I just wanna ask, what are your main... concerning the saxophone, what are your main influences, who did you learn from, who actually inspired you, with the [current] style that you have, or the style you've been playing during the [previous] years.
EL:
I am a musician because of Ray Charles. Ray Charles, in my opinion, is the most important American musician post-World War II. And when I was very young, it was his music that got in my heart so... more than any other music when I was growing up, and he had a saxophone player that worked with him, his name was David Newman, [his] nickname was Fathead, because when he was young, and he would make mistakes learning the saxophone, his teacher would call him "Fathead" which was an insult so...
And it was his sound on tenor saxophone that made me want to play the horn, so that was the first, where I started, from then I just started learning more and more about different players: Cannonball Adderley, a very big influence, obviously John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and then of course when... well, the names, the names, if you know the names, fine, the names' translation doesn't mean anything.
Alright, um... Maceo Parker.
[applause]
I have the wonderful opportunity to know James Brown when I was very young. My older brother, his name is Alan [Leeds NDLA], who was Prince's tour manager and also ran Paisley Park Records for Prince for many years, when he was younger he was James Brown's tour manager.
So when I was very young I knew Maceo Parker, as a kid. I also knew Fred Wesley, he was my teacher, my mentor... a teacher for me.
So I had played that kind of music for many years, having learned from Maceo Parker... also a very very fine saxophone player and rhythm'n'blues music, King Curtis, if you know who King Curtis is.
There are many many great saxophone players that play jazz and rythm'n'blues and funk but in my opinion probably the three greatest would be David Newman, King Curtis and Maceo Parker.
So having listened and played that music, that's... that's like the instruction book or the manual, so to speak.
[mic being passed]
Q:
What brought you to the saxophone precisely, among all the other horns? [...]
EL:
It's shining and has a lot of buttons!
[applause]
It was just the sound. Also, my uncle played the saxophone.
Q:
Hello Eric. We saw you in many Prince concerts with Atlanta Bliss. [Can] you tell us about your relationship with Atlanta Bliss and do you have any projects with him?
EL:
Atlanta Bliss, trumpet. His real name is Matt Blistan. We went to school together, to music school together, that's where we met and this was in 1970. So we had bands together, we grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that's where he is from and that's where I was living at the time. So that's where we went to school and we worked together in bands for over ten years before either one of us ever met Prince.
So when Prince asked me to join his band, he asked me, he said that maybe he was interested in adding a trumpet player, and did I know anyone, and I said yes I do, and I said the only person that I can think of is my friend Matt, so the fact that we already had this, our rhythm, our rhythmic [???], our feel, which was the most important thing between any musicians, like between a bass player and a drummer, but even with horn players, it has to be like that, and Matt and I are like that, so that's why it worked and it was very easy and Prince understood that from the first day he heard us play together.
Matt does not play professionnally anymore. He... he was smart, he got a real job, made a real earning, makes good money and has a family that is more important to him than anything else. So he lives still in outside of Pittsburgh and he plays for fun, which is... well I play but he... he doesn't ring.
Q: [from French fan Chak, asked in French, then translated]
I have at least two questions. On each of your solo albums, there are titles referring to Africa, "Kenya", "Yaounde" and "Djibouti". First, I would like to know if you already played in Africa and with African musicians.
EL:
No. But when I was young I used to collect stamps. And I'd see all these names in these wonderful countries, and the African countries had the most beautiful stamps. So I'd learn the capitals' names of the countries, and I'd always thought that the name "Yaounde", the capital of Cameroon, was just a beautiful name. So when I wrote that song, for whatever reason, I just thought of it. And it has nothing to do other than I just like the name. Like another song that I named "Djibouti". Djibouti had a wonderful stamp with a train on it.
I love trains! More than music.
Q:
Have you ever thought of writing a book together with your brother [Alan] ?
EL:
Um... um... my brother actually has a book out now, called "The James Brown Reader".
Q: [asked by Raphaelle, the interpreter]
Is it... is it out only in America or...?
EL:
It's out in America, I don't think it's out in Europe yet.
Q: [again by interpreter]
Under the name of...?
EL:
Alan Leeds and Nelson George. Nelson George is a very, very well-known music writer and critic in America. It is a collection of essays about James Brown. Alan also one day will finally finish his book about James Brown, that's basically... what he's concerned with. He's the writer in the family.
If I write a book it's not gonna be about music, it's gonna be about trains!
[laughs]
Now before I go any further I wanna talk a little bit about how I came here tonight.
You all know Raphy. I've known Raphy through the Internet for several years. And we met face to face last year when I was here with RAD playing [???]. And he wanted to bring me here to be able to speak with all of you and just enjoy each other's company, and there's a matter of how we would schedule that.
RAD's manager, the name is Michael [Kirsch? actual name not quite understandable], he's really... [he] has a lot of responsibility for this happening along with Raphy because Michael told me, he said you know we're gonna be in Paris all week playing with RAD so why don't you, instead of just run your mouth, why don't you play? And I said "Aha!". So I've been...
[applause] [a few of Eric's words made inaudible because of handclapping]
The band that you're going to be hearing this evening is the RAD band. That's really what it is.
[applause]
RAD, myself, Ray Obiedo on guitar, Marc van Wageningen on bass, we all played together with Sheila E. years ago. That's where we all know each other from. So when RAD asked me to work with her band last year and she told me who was in it, Billy Johnson on drums was the only person I had not yet met.
But when I knew who was gonna be in the band I said: "This sounds good. This sounds very [???]". Because I don't like to travel too much, I'm getting too old for this. So she got me out of the house, ok?
And I can't think of no better musicians to play my music with because my music... we all come from the same place, as far as our musical roots go, and when we suggested that when we come here maybe we would just run some of my music down, everybody in the band was very very appreciative and very supportive of that, because you know they could've had a night off tonight.
[laughs]
[applause]
So instead I hand'em up all this music and they actually learned it. Learned it better than I know because I have not played this music in a long time, so it's new for me too, and to be able to play with them I say I can't think of any group of individuals that could have made putting this together as enjoyable for me and I think you will understand that once you hear what we're gonna do.
[applause]
Q:
Hi.
EL:
Hi.
Q:
Once again thanks for being here tonight. I wanted to know, were you in a particular state of mind when you wrote "Times Squared" or was it a particular time [in] your life? ... But maybe it's not my business...
EL:
Oh no, no, it's...it's... um... it's.. it's a good question, because a lot of people sometimes think that musicians, like you say, are... write music because of something that's on our mind or something, or a state of mind that we're in, like we're in love, so we write a [???] song, or we're angry, so we write something that's, you know, angry. ... Not really.
Um... it's... it's... when I write music I don't enjoy writing music when I feel I have to write music, that is not enjoyable for me.
But for "Times Squared" particularly, most of the music on that album did not begin with me, it began with Prince. Prince was interested in doing what would have been a third Madhouse album, and that album started out with that in mind. Only Madhouse was really Prince and myself working closely together. This album, he was off doing other things.
So he gave me a lot of his music and said "Do whatever you want with this" which was... a lot of fun, because I could basically take his music and... destroy it!
[laughs]
So when I finished all of that music he listened to it and he kind of looked and said to me, he says "This does not sound like Madhouse". And I said "No it doesn't".
[laughs]
I don't know how it could. So, at that point I thought there was [???] [mimicks sound of throat cut] You know, that was the end of that. He said, "I like it, we're gonna put it out under your name". So, for that, I will always be grateful to him.
So, the greatest part of that was that it enabled me then to do another CD, which was my second one called "Things Left Unsaid", that I did mostly in New York City, with friends of mine in New York.
Um... if you like "Times Squared", you probably like it because of the Prince influence. If you don't like "Things Left Unsaid" it's my fault, because that one is all mine, so...
Uh... I also have a third CD that maybe many of you have never heard of, called "Now And Again".
[fan in the crowd says "Yeah!"]
You may have the only copy. [EL answers fan]
[laughs]
[fan addresses EL, words are barely audible]
Alright, well I appreciate. Um... I hope to have that CD re-released perhaps on the Internet sometime. But for those who don't have my CDs, we have them on sale tonight.
[laughs]
"Times Squared" and "Things Left Unsaid" will be sold later. If you wish... if you already own them buy another because they make nice ... um... coasters to put the drink on, and if you don't like [to drink] you can play freesbee!
Also a CD that I am very very very proud to be on is RAD's new CD which we recorded live in Yokohama, Japan last year, and that will also be on sale so if you want the most current from RAD, buy that, if you want the most current from me, that's the most current record that I'm on also so that will be also ...[on sale]
And it is this band that you're gonna hear on that CD, everybody in this band is on that CD so it's... if you like
what you hear tonight then definitely you're gonna like the RAD live album. End of advertisement
Q:
Good evening. On your second album you covered a song by Tom Waits. Are there any musicians or artists you'd like to work with? [question asked in French, then translated]
EL:
Hmmm... I'd like to work with Tom Waits! Uh... I've never met Tom Waits, I... I just really really liked that song, and... Most of the musicians that I have not worked with, that I would like to work with mostly, [are] just jazz musicians.
There are very few musicians in pop music that I would really be interested, maybe somebody like Sting, you know, who is... who I think along with Prince... I think Sting, in my opinion Sting and Prince are perhaps the two most creative musicians in pop music over the last twenty, twenty-five years.
The only problem with working with Sting is he had another saxophone player that worked with him many years ago, who in my opinion is the greatest saxophone player walking the earth today, and I'm proud to say he's also my friend, Mr. Branford Marsalis.
[applause]
Thank you.
So Sting doesn't need me!
Interpreter:
We can write to him!
EL:
Please do!
Q:
Good evening sir! I'm so delighted to eventually meet with your life tonight, as usually [???] the CD cover and see your face, so that's kind of a shock for me so...
EL:
Well those pictures are very old!
[laughs]
[???] [barely audible]
Q:
Ah come on! Just... you know, for me music from the eighties and of course Prince, and you mentioned previously Sheila E. but also Wendy and Lisa and all the people we love, they played such a great influence in the eighties for me and everything so, my question's a little bit personal, as Raphy said as an introduction that we can ask any kind of one question so, I'd love to know, what is your best memory from the eighties, music-wise, or your best, like, memory when working with Prince?
EL:
Well, there are memories that I have from working with Prince but music memories that I also have, have nothing to do with Prince. One of my favorite moments from music in the 1980s was in Los Angeles, California, the first time I heard Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
[laughs]
That was my favorite band from the eighties!
[applause]
And all of the people in France and elsewhere in Europe are much more sophisticated than that, because Kid Creole was never nearly as popular in the United States as he was in Europe, because his music went over the heads of many people, because they couldn't... they didn't know what it was, there was too... you know, so much music has to be categorized, has to be labelled.
I'll tell you a story about that. Kid Creole came up with an album and there was a song on the album called "Dancin' At The Bains Douches" [Note: on his 1987 release called "I, Too, Have Seen The Woods", source: www.allmusic.com]
It's a great great song and the lyrics talk about, if Americans visiting Europe were finally gonna be kicked out because Europeans finally had enough of us, how would you spend your last moments in Europe?
Would you go see the Taj ... or Asia, or wherever... would you go see the Taj Mahal, would you go see uh... the Eiffel Tower, whatever, he says no, I'd go dancing at the Bains Douches, that's what the song was about, [it was] a great song.
So I really liked the song. So I was at Paisley Park in the studio and there was a new song that Prince had just written and I... he wasn't around, I asked the recording engineer, I said "Play me what he's working on" and he played the song, and all of a sudden I thought "Wow! That sounds like something Kid Creole might do" [???] so I just...
I got my horn and I wrote a horn arrangement for it, Prince didn't even know, I just said "And if he doesn't like it he doesn't have to pay me this time, I just wanna do this" so I did that. So when Prince heard it I asked him, I said "What is... what are you gonna do with the song?" and he said "I'm sending it to Kid Creole" .
[laughs]
The song is called "The Sex Of It".
[applause]
See, because what I didn't know is that Prince had just heard "Dancin' At The Bains Douches" also.
[laughs]
So that song was his influence and I came in and [???]
Q:
Very nice to meet you. I came out two weeks ago to listen to David Sanborn at the Duc des Lombards [Note: a renowned jazz club in Paris] and he really looks like a twenty-year-old guy like you. Is the music your secret?
EL:
Pardon me?
Q:
Is music your secret?
EL:
Um...mmm... you know, yeah... I met David Sanborn many, many years ago. And first of all David is a wonderful, wonderful person, before anything else. If you don't like his music you'd like him as a person. He's a great, great person and the first thing he said to me when he met me was: "You must love Ray Charles!" and when he said that I said "Ah!" because I know he did also and he was influenced by the same influences and ... um ...
I would love to work with David Sanborn, that would be fun, and if, you know, sometimes somebody asked me about saxophone players playing with Prince or something, I would love to hear David Sanborn play with Prince. I mean David Sanborn would take Prince's music and just ... destroy it, you know, if I [???] Prince play and I have nothing to do with it and I could choose any saxophone player I might want to hear play with him, it would probably be David, you know.
I think we're gonna have just a couple more questions, because we wanna play!
Q:
Hi, hello.
EL:
Hello.
Q:
Just one [???] question, it's about the Madhouse project, and I just want to know, who's playing on the record... the instruments?
EL:
The first one?
Q:
Both.
EL:
Ok, the first one, two people: Prince, and myself.
Q:
ok, and the second [one]?
EL:
For all of you, you know, I think most of you knew that from the beginning.
Q:
And the second one?
EL:
Um... Sheila E. played on some of the songs, not all of them, some of the songs, Levi Seacer on bass, um... Prince played most of the keyboards although I played some keyboards on some of the songs and Dr.Fink played
keyboards on a couple of the songs also.
Alright, uh... maybe one more?
Q:
Could you tell us about Miles Davis?
EL:
Oh, we could be here all night!
[laughs]
If there is, from the standpoint of... you know ... my, my ... I'll give it to you in shorthand... there are maybe... you see, a lot of people think about my relationship with Prince being something maybe that it is not. My respect for Prince was what I learned working with him, because I was not a fan of Prince when I first met him ... um ... there were songs of his that I liked but I was not necessarily into his music so the opportunity was not something I aspired to.
So my respect for Prince is because of his being a musician, not because he's a star. The reason I liked the fact that he was a star: because it enabled him to pay me more money.
[laughs]
But he could have, if he wasn't a star, but he would have been the same musician if he was poor and just playing the night clubs, and that would have still been as much fun anyway ... um ... the musicians who really define me are James Brown, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and people like Joe Zawinul, who was the leader of the group Weather Report, along with Wayne Shorter.
And also, my favorite music in the world is the music of Cuba.
And [???] Porto Rico, and in Afro-Cuban and Porto Rico and salsa music, Eddie Palmieri, it's my [field?]. So, as a player, the music of Miles Davis probably defined me from a standpoint of how I hear music, how I want to present music, probably more than anybody else, and getting to meet Miles Davis [???] just a little bit because of Prince was certainly something that I never bargained for, but it certainly was one of the more enjoyable and fascinating aspects and, like I say, you can talk about Miles all night, but the main thing is that, like anyone else, if you really wanna know Miles Davis, you just listen to his music, like Prince.
It's like, I have to say, you know, I understand the interest everyone has in Prince, but you know, if you really wanna know Prince, you just gotta listen to his music, because it's all right there.
Ok, we're going to take a short break and then, we're gonna come back and we're gonna play music, because that's...
[applause]
Fin du Workshop.
All praises 2 M!les.
Peace. BLR.
All items in this article are intended for non-commercial, informational and discussion purposes only. Reproduction of any items on this article, in whole or in part, is prohibited unless prior written consent is obtained from the author(s).
Les mots entre crochets sont des ajouts fait par M!les pour fluidifier la lecture. J'ai ajouté quelques mentions entre crochet également, suivies de NDLA (comme c'est l'usage).
2008-07-07 Paris, Le Réservoir
Workshop with Eric Leeds
Start : 20:55
Stop : 21:43
Duration : 00:48
Eric Leeds:
First of all, for those of you... you must understand I speak no French. So I have my friend Raphaelle, who is going to interpret. Before we get started: "Merci". That much I can say. Thank you so much.
[applause]
There are many musicians like myself who had the wonderful opportunity to work with Prince, and we sometimes tend to forget that what we do has some importance to people beyond what it means to us.
In Minneapolis we play around town and people don't pay much attention to us anymore because they know us so well so it's no big thing when we come out to play, so it's nice to come halfway around the world and know that there are people like you that want to come out and listen to myself and the other musicians that you can hear tonight so once again: "Merci".
[applause]
A long time ago, I won't say how many years, a long time ago, I, for the first time, played the club New Morning. I was wearing something very different, and I retired that, we don't do that anymore. Gave it to Batman, he did better with it than me.
I played a song there that meant a lot to me then because it represents where I come from as a musician before anything else. So I'd like to get this out of my system before we get to the other music that perhaps you're more familiar with.
[plays In A Sentimental Mood from Duke Ellington on the saxophone]
Duke Ellington. [followed by a couple of inaudible words, probably the title of the song he just played]
Beyond that I'm a firm believer that to talk a lot about music is not nearly as important as just playing the music, so I'm not gonna talk a lot about different things, if we have a wonderful performance for you, but right now I know that several of you from time to time would like to ask your question.
Rather than me to come out and say what's on my mind, I'd like to hear what's on your mind, so if anyone has a question then raise your hand, we're going to speak in English if you do, or just to Raphaelle in French, and we will try to see what's on your mind, ok?
Question:
Hello Eric, thank you very much for being here. Have you played a lot with big bands, and stuff like that, before playing solo?
EL:
Yes, in college. I played in college big band and I played saxophone baryton, the big one, and that was my main instrument for many years before I started playing tenor. And playing in a big band is one of the more enjoyable things that I can do in music.
For those of you who may not know a big band will have as many as four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, a rhythm section and the goal is for everybody in the band to breathe as one, and you learn so much about how to interpret music when you're listening and having to... everything that you play has to fit with the other instruments, which is... while we do that here, it's with just the rhythm section, when you play with all the other horn players and you really want to form your sound then the section becomes a sound above and beyond just the individual voices.
Plus it's a lot of fun.
Q:
Hello Eric. How about the band The Family? Is there [a future for] The Family?
EL:
The Family? Ok. By the way that was the first project that I worked with Prince, a long time ago. We had a reunion performance about a year and a half ago in Los Angeles, which was the first time that Paul Peterson, Susannah [Melvoin NDLA], Jerome [Benton NDLA], Jellybean [Johnson NDLA] and myself had gone together in twenty years. So it's basically up to you to tell us if you wanna...
[applause]
Get up on your computers, because the main problem is that you know about the band but people who promote music and own night clubs, they're too young so they never heard of us.
So we are working on some new music and we're just gonna take it a step at a time because Paul is out doing what he does, I'm out doing what I do, Susannah does what she does, Jellybean... so it's difficult for us to get together, but when we do, we're trying to work on [???] the music and when we have enough that we feel is ready to present then we will try to figure out a way to do that.
There's ... there's one, maybe one problem: there's a particular individual who I'm sure you all know, that owns the name. So we may call it something a little different. So if you see "Family Reunion" or "The New Family" or something like that, you know what it is.
And if you like the music, you say to us "Come play", we'll come play.
[applause]
Q:
Hi Eric.
EL:
Hello.
Q:
Good to have you.
EL:
Thank you.
Q:
I just wanna ask, what are your main... concerning the saxophone, what are your main influences, who did you learn from, who actually inspired you, with the [current] style that you have, or the style you've been playing during the [previous] years.
EL:
I am a musician because of Ray Charles. Ray Charles, in my opinion, is the most important American musician post-World War II. And when I was very young, it was his music that got in my heart so... more than any other music when I was growing up, and he had a saxophone player that worked with him, his name was David Newman, [his] nickname was Fathead, because when he was young, and he would make mistakes learning the saxophone, his teacher would call him "Fathead" which was an insult so...
And it was his sound on tenor saxophone that made me want to play the horn, so that was the first, where I started, from then I just started learning more and more about different players: Cannonball Adderley, a very big influence, obviously John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and then of course when... well, the names, the names, if you know the names, fine, the names' translation doesn't mean anything.
Alright, um... Maceo Parker.
[applause]
I have the wonderful opportunity to know James Brown when I was very young. My older brother, his name is Alan [Leeds NDLA], who was Prince's tour manager and also ran Paisley Park Records for Prince for many years, when he was younger he was James Brown's tour manager.
So when I was very young I knew Maceo Parker, as a kid. I also knew Fred Wesley, he was my teacher, my mentor... a teacher for me.
So I had played that kind of music for many years, having learned from Maceo Parker... also a very very fine saxophone player and rhythm'n'blues music, King Curtis, if you know who King Curtis is.
There are many many great saxophone players that play jazz and rythm'n'blues and funk but in my opinion probably the three greatest would be David Newman, King Curtis and Maceo Parker.
So having listened and played that music, that's... that's like the instruction book or the manual, so to speak.
[mic being passed]
Q:
What brought you to the saxophone precisely, among all the other horns? [...]
EL:
It's shining and has a lot of buttons!
[applause]
It was just the sound. Also, my uncle played the saxophone.
Q:
Hello Eric. We saw you in many Prince concerts with Atlanta Bliss. [Can] you tell us about your relationship with Atlanta Bliss and do you have any projects with him?
EL:
Atlanta Bliss, trumpet. His real name is Matt Blistan. We went to school together, to music school together, that's where we met and this was in 1970. So we had bands together, we grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that's where he is from and that's where I was living at the time. So that's where we went to school and we worked together in bands for over ten years before either one of us ever met Prince.
So when Prince asked me to join his band, he asked me, he said that maybe he was interested in adding a trumpet player, and did I know anyone, and I said yes I do, and I said the only person that I can think of is my friend Matt, so the fact that we already had this, our rhythm, our rhythmic [???], our feel, which was the most important thing between any musicians, like between a bass player and a drummer, but even with horn players, it has to be like that, and Matt and I are like that, so that's why it worked and it was very easy and Prince understood that from the first day he heard us play together.
Matt does not play professionnally anymore. He... he was smart, he got a real job, made a real earning, makes good money and has a family that is more important to him than anything else. So he lives still in outside of Pittsburgh and he plays for fun, which is... well I play but he... he doesn't ring.
Q: [from French fan Chak, asked in French, then translated]
I have at least two questions. On each of your solo albums, there are titles referring to Africa, "Kenya", "Yaounde" and "Djibouti". First, I would like to know if you already played in Africa and with African musicians.
EL:
No. But when I was young I used to collect stamps. And I'd see all these names in these wonderful countries, and the African countries had the most beautiful stamps. So I'd learn the capitals' names of the countries, and I'd always thought that the name "Yaounde", the capital of Cameroon, was just a beautiful name. So when I wrote that song, for whatever reason, I just thought of it. And it has nothing to do other than I just like the name. Like another song that I named "Djibouti". Djibouti had a wonderful stamp with a train on it.
I love trains! More than music.
Q:
Have you ever thought of writing a book together with your brother [Alan] ?
EL:
Um... um... my brother actually has a book out now, called "The James Brown Reader".
Q: [asked by Raphaelle, the interpreter]
Is it... is it out only in America or...?
EL:
It's out in America, I don't think it's out in Europe yet.
Q: [again by interpreter]
Under the name of...?
EL:
Alan Leeds and Nelson George. Nelson George is a very, very well-known music writer and critic in America. It is a collection of essays about James Brown. Alan also one day will finally finish his book about James Brown, that's basically... what he's concerned with. He's the writer in the family.
If I write a book it's not gonna be about music, it's gonna be about trains!
[laughs]
Now before I go any further I wanna talk a little bit about how I came here tonight.
You all know Raphy. I've known Raphy through the Internet for several years. And we met face to face last year when I was here with RAD playing [???]. And he wanted to bring me here to be able to speak with all of you and just enjoy each other's company, and there's a matter of how we would schedule that.
RAD's manager, the name is Michael [Kirsch? actual name not quite understandable], he's really... [he] has a lot of responsibility for this happening along with Raphy because Michael told me, he said you know we're gonna be in Paris all week playing with RAD so why don't you, instead of just run your mouth, why don't you play? And I said "Aha!". So I've been...
[applause] [a few of Eric's words made inaudible because of handclapping]
The band that you're going to be hearing this evening is the RAD band. That's really what it is.
[applause]
RAD, myself, Ray Obiedo on guitar, Marc van Wageningen on bass, we all played together with Sheila E. years ago. That's where we all know each other from. So when RAD asked me to work with her band last year and she told me who was in it, Billy Johnson on drums was the only person I had not yet met.
But when I knew who was gonna be in the band I said: "This sounds good. This sounds very [???]". Because I don't like to travel too much, I'm getting too old for this. So she got me out of the house, ok?
And I can't think of no better musicians to play my music with because my music... we all come from the same place, as far as our musical roots go, and when we suggested that when we come here maybe we would just run some of my music down, everybody in the band was very very appreciative and very supportive of that, because you know they could've had a night off tonight.
[laughs]
[applause]
So instead I hand'em up all this music and they actually learned it. Learned it better than I know because I have not played this music in a long time, so it's new for me too, and to be able to play with them I say I can't think of any group of individuals that could have made putting this together as enjoyable for me and I think you will understand that once you hear what we're gonna do.
[applause]
Q:
Hi.
EL:
Hi.
Q:
Once again thanks for being here tonight. I wanted to know, were you in a particular state of mind when you wrote "Times Squared" or was it a particular time [in] your life? ... But maybe it's not my business...
EL:
Oh no, no, it's...it's... um... it's.. it's a good question, because a lot of people sometimes think that musicians, like you say, are... write music because of something that's on our mind or something, or a state of mind that we're in, like we're in love, so we write a [???] song, or we're angry, so we write something that's, you know, angry. ... Not really.
Um... it's... it's... when I write music I don't enjoy writing music when I feel I have to write music, that is not enjoyable for me.
But for "Times Squared" particularly, most of the music on that album did not begin with me, it began with Prince. Prince was interested in doing what would have been a third Madhouse album, and that album started out with that in mind. Only Madhouse was really Prince and myself working closely together. This album, he was off doing other things.
So he gave me a lot of his music and said "Do whatever you want with this" which was... a lot of fun, because I could basically take his music and... destroy it!
[laughs]
So when I finished all of that music he listened to it and he kind of looked and said to me, he says "This does not sound like Madhouse". And I said "No it doesn't".
[laughs]
I don't know how it could. So, at that point I thought there was [???] [mimicks sound of throat cut] You know, that was the end of that. He said, "I like it, we're gonna put it out under your name". So, for that, I will always be grateful to him.
So, the greatest part of that was that it enabled me then to do another CD, which was my second one called "Things Left Unsaid", that I did mostly in New York City, with friends of mine in New York.
Um... if you like "Times Squared", you probably like it because of the Prince influence. If you don't like "Things Left Unsaid" it's my fault, because that one is all mine, so...
Uh... I also have a third CD that maybe many of you have never heard of, called "Now And Again".
[fan in the crowd says "Yeah!"]
You may have the only copy. [EL answers fan]
[laughs]
[fan addresses EL, words are barely audible]
Alright, well I appreciate. Um... I hope to have that CD re-released perhaps on the Internet sometime. But for those who don't have my CDs, we have them on sale tonight.
[laughs]
"Times Squared" and "Things Left Unsaid" will be sold later. If you wish... if you already own them buy another because they make nice ... um... coasters to put the drink on, and if you don't like [to drink] you can play freesbee!
Also a CD that I am very very very proud to be on is RAD's new CD which we recorded live in Yokohama, Japan last year, and that will also be on sale so if you want the most current from RAD, buy that, if you want the most current from me, that's the most current record that I'm on also so that will be also ...[on sale]
And it is this band that you're gonna hear on that CD, everybody in this band is on that CD so it's... if you like
what you hear tonight then definitely you're gonna like the RAD live album. End of advertisement
Q:
Good evening. On your second album you covered a song by Tom Waits. Are there any musicians or artists you'd like to work with? [question asked in French, then translated]
EL:
Hmmm... I'd like to work with Tom Waits! Uh... I've never met Tom Waits, I... I just really really liked that song, and... Most of the musicians that I have not worked with, that I would like to work with mostly, [are] just jazz musicians.
There are very few musicians in pop music that I would really be interested, maybe somebody like Sting, you know, who is... who I think along with Prince... I think Sting, in my opinion Sting and Prince are perhaps the two most creative musicians in pop music over the last twenty, twenty-five years.
The only problem with working with Sting is he had another saxophone player that worked with him many years ago, who in my opinion is the greatest saxophone player walking the earth today, and I'm proud to say he's also my friend, Mr. Branford Marsalis.
[applause]
Thank you.
So Sting doesn't need me!
Interpreter:
We can write to him!
EL:
Please do!
Q:
Good evening sir! I'm so delighted to eventually meet with your life tonight, as usually [???] the CD cover and see your face, so that's kind of a shock for me so...
EL:
Well those pictures are very old!
[laughs]
[???] [barely audible]
Q:
Ah come on! Just... you know, for me music from the eighties and of course Prince, and you mentioned previously Sheila E. but also Wendy and Lisa and all the people we love, they played such a great influence in the eighties for me and everything so, my question's a little bit personal, as Raphy said as an introduction that we can ask any kind of one question so, I'd love to know, what is your best memory from the eighties, music-wise, or your best, like, memory when working with Prince?
EL:
Well, there are memories that I have from working with Prince but music memories that I also have, have nothing to do with Prince. One of my favorite moments from music in the 1980s was in Los Angeles, California, the first time I heard Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
[laughs]
That was my favorite band from the eighties!
[applause]
And all of the people in France and elsewhere in Europe are much more sophisticated than that, because Kid Creole was never nearly as popular in the United States as he was in Europe, because his music went over the heads of many people, because they couldn't... they didn't know what it was, there was too... you know, so much music has to be categorized, has to be labelled.
I'll tell you a story about that. Kid Creole came up with an album and there was a song on the album called "Dancin' At The Bains Douches" [Note: on his 1987 release called "I, Too, Have Seen The Woods", source: www.allmusic.com]
It's a great great song and the lyrics talk about, if Americans visiting Europe were finally gonna be kicked out because Europeans finally had enough of us, how would you spend your last moments in Europe?
Would you go see the Taj ... or Asia, or wherever... would you go see the Taj Mahal, would you go see uh... the Eiffel Tower, whatever, he says no, I'd go dancing at the Bains Douches, that's what the song was about, [it was] a great song.
So I really liked the song. So I was at Paisley Park in the studio and there was a new song that Prince had just written and I... he wasn't around, I asked the recording engineer, I said "Play me what he's working on" and he played the song, and all of a sudden I thought "Wow! That sounds like something Kid Creole might do" [???] so I just...
I got my horn and I wrote a horn arrangement for it, Prince didn't even know, I just said "And if he doesn't like it he doesn't have to pay me this time, I just wanna do this" so I did that. So when Prince heard it I asked him, I said "What is... what are you gonna do with the song?" and he said "I'm sending it to Kid Creole" .
[laughs]
The song is called "The Sex Of It".
[applause]
See, because what I didn't know is that Prince had just heard "Dancin' At The Bains Douches" also.
[laughs]
So that song was his influence and I came in and [???]
Q:
Very nice to meet you. I came out two weeks ago to listen to David Sanborn at the Duc des Lombards [Note: a renowned jazz club in Paris] and he really looks like a twenty-year-old guy like you. Is the music your secret?
EL:
Pardon me?
Q:
Is music your secret?
EL:
Um...mmm... you know, yeah... I met David Sanborn many, many years ago. And first of all David is a wonderful, wonderful person, before anything else. If you don't like his music you'd like him as a person. He's a great, great person and the first thing he said to me when he met me was: "You must love Ray Charles!" and when he said that I said "Ah!" because I know he did also and he was influenced by the same influences and ... um ...
I would love to work with David Sanborn, that would be fun, and if, you know, sometimes somebody asked me about saxophone players playing with Prince or something, I would love to hear David Sanborn play with Prince. I mean David Sanborn would take Prince's music and just ... destroy it, you know, if I [???] Prince play and I have nothing to do with it and I could choose any saxophone player I might want to hear play with him, it would probably be David, you know.
I think we're gonna have just a couple more questions, because we wanna play!
Q:
Hi, hello.
EL:
Hello.
Q:
Just one [???] question, it's about the Madhouse project, and I just want to know, who's playing on the record... the instruments?
EL:
The first one?
Q:
Both.
EL:
Ok, the first one, two people: Prince, and myself.
Q:
ok, and the second [one]?
EL:
For all of you, you know, I think most of you knew that from the beginning.
Q:
And the second one?
EL:
Um... Sheila E. played on some of the songs, not all of them, some of the songs, Levi Seacer on bass, um... Prince played most of the keyboards although I played some keyboards on some of the songs and Dr.Fink played
keyboards on a couple of the songs also.
Alright, uh... maybe one more?
Q:
Could you tell us about Miles Davis?
EL:
Oh, we could be here all night!
[laughs]
If there is, from the standpoint of... you know ... my, my ... I'll give it to you in shorthand... there are maybe... you see, a lot of people think about my relationship with Prince being something maybe that it is not. My respect for Prince was what I learned working with him, because I was not a fan of Prince when I first met him ... um ... there were songs of his that I liked but I was not necessarily into his music so the opportunity was not something I aspired to.
So my respect for Prince is because of his being a musician, not because he's a star. The reason I liked the fact that he was a star: because it enabled him to pay me more money.
[laughs]
But he could have, if he wasn't a star, but he would have been the same musician if he was poor and just playing the night clubs, and that would have still been as much fun anyway ... um ... the musicians who really define me are James Brown, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and people like Joe Zawinul, who was the leader of the group Weather Report, along with Wayne Shorter.
And also, my favorite music in the world is the music of Cuba.
And [???] Porto Rico, and in Afro-Cuban and Porto Rico and salsa music, Eddie Palmieri, it's my [field?]. So, as a player, the music of Miles Davis probably defined me from a standpoint of how I hear music, how I want to present music, probably more than anybody else, and getting to meet Miles Davis [???] just a little bit because of Prince was certainly something that I never bargained for, but it certainly was one of the more enjoyable and fascinating aspects and, like I say, you can talk about Miles all night, but the main thing is that, like anyone else, if you really wanna know Miles Davis, you just listen to his music, like Prince.
It's like, I have to say, you know, I understand the interest everyone has in Prince, but you know, if you really wanna know Prince, you just gotta listen to his music, because it's all right there.
Ok, we're going to take a short break and then, we're gonna come back and we're gonna play music, because that's...
[applause]
Fin du Workshop.
All praises 2 M!les.
Peace. BLR.
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