WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Boney James 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.040 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:10.080 All Right, ladies and. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:15.800 Gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Quest Love Supreme. Young 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.079 addition is Quest Love and we are Team Supreme here? 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.880 Why yeah, what's going on? You had another room? 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.480 How about right? More talk show? 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.720 We now you're the queen of the castle because your 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:35.960 room choices. You literally know how to make new environments 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:36.839 in every episode. 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.440 We've worked on it every day. Yes, but look, seriously, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:41.400 I mean you see the difference though, right. 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.760 I'm impressed. There's funktually going on. Y'all can see. I'm 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:45.760 clearly cluttered. 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.440 Take it from mister himself. 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:54.680 Well, also, freaking star wars beams on me. What's good, Steve? 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:55.680 How's it going good? 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:56.960 How's everybody doing today? 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:57.080 Hi? 0:00:57.160 --> 0:00:58.840 Bony than good to see us, Steve. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:04.280 Steve are our resident instrumental music collegist and on paid bill. 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:08.800 Yes, sir, how's life man? As a former tenor sax player? 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:10.520 I could be more excited to this is the day? Man, 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:11.759 I'm into it. 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:17.039 Wait. I learned more and more about you each episode. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.000 You know this? So I I was a saxophone player 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:22.560 all my life, and then I like. 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.560 Then, how come you never came to a jam session 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:25.120 on paid. 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.319 Bill because I was never invited to a jam session. 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:30.800 To invite you on paid bill unless you've made it 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.360 known that you're more than a producer songwriting. 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:40.399 Well, okay, sorry, no, not at all. In fact, those 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.560 are Ludwig Quest Love drums behind me, just so we're 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:44.360 all on the same page. 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:46.120 Wow. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.160 The tom is the Tom's from the Breakbeats thing. This one. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.160 I was impressed. I was a little jealous. I was like, 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:53.880 how come you were rocking Quest Loves. 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.040 I like to pretend that this side of the room 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.000 that I pretend to play all of these things. I 0:01:58.000 --> 0:01:59.800 also pretend to play all of these things. You'll know 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:02.120 it that none of them are on. But it's okay, 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:05.040 it's cool. They look awesome. I guess that body James 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.800 only plays the saxophone to his left. All that other 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.080 shit is all fake too. I feel like that's the 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.359 vibe for sure. I'm kidding all right. 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:17.040 Anyway. Anyway, you know, we've had many musicians on the show, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.840 Ladies and Gentlemen in the past couple of episodes of 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.480 Quest of Supreme. Today's no exception. Our guest today is 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:30.639 a multi Grammy nominated chart topping arrangers, songwriter, musician, saxophone 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.480 player who's built an incredible career for the last forty 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:39.040 plus years with Luminaries, starting off with Barns Day. Okay, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.240 I'll get to the Marris date part because I'm very 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:45.560 familiar with the color of Success era of Mars, which 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.959 I definitely want to ask you questions about the Isley's 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.080 collaborations with al Ji Rod, George Duke, so many others. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:57.000 Right now, he is just released his new LP called 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:02.800 slow Burn with Corey Henry, dubbed Corey Henry mister Egyptian Musk. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.480 I think he bathes in about four gallons of Egyptian 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:07.480 musk a day. 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:12.680 I didn't we spent together, Dude, If you shake Corey. 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.840 I shook Corey's hand once and had to like shower 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:17.120 four times when I got home. 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:19.679 And that was like you and the good old days 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.480 with Shade Butter. You used to smell like a bakery 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:23.000 all the time. That was the joke that went around. 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:24.640 Now you don't as much, but you used to smell 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:25.200 like that too. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.400 Right, But I think Corey puts it on his hands, 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.919 which I'm like, wait a minute, I'm like, why do 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.680 I smell like Egyptian musk. Like literally, I'm like being 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.560 Corey's oils on like other people us. 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.920 He's going through that stage, you know, I see. 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.240 Well, not to mention Marcus Miller. October, London's on slow 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.520 Burn just got released, and uh, you know it's rather 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.680 fitting that, uh, we have a conversation with one and 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.480 only Bonie James on Quest Love Supreme. Welcome to be here. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.440 So this is the first time we're seeing you without 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.880 your signature? Is we say a ballero? 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.640 No, it's a fedora? 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.800 Really okay, I thought it was balleerro. This means that 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.720 you allowed joing your life if you're still this young environment. 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.240 So I feel younger every day. I'm noticing more since 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.800 I turned sixty a few years ago, that I'm getting 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:18.760 younger every day. That's my feeling. 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.880 Yeah, I think as these generation passes, like you remember 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.800 what sixty looked like when we were kids, I think 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.080 it's the amount of stress that you allowed it in 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.560 your life that determines like how you're going to look. 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.159 So, but my career path is very very helpful to 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:39.039 my general demeanor and sense of well being, very fortunate. 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.640 So I take it you're in an environment that is 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:44.719 your home studio. 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.120 This is my home studio, the backyard. 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:49.320 Where do you reside in the world. 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.720 I live in West Hollywood in Los Angeles, okay, and 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:55.440 this is when I'm not on the road. This is 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.479 where I spend most of my time here in the 0:04:57.480 --> 0:04:58.440 backyard studio. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.240 Nice. Okay, that's what's up. How long have you had 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:01.760 this setup? 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:06.480 I've been living here for like twenty seven years, okay. 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.279 The previous owner had been a stockbroker and had an 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.080 office out here, and then when I moved in, I 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.000 turned it into my studio. So this is where I've 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:14.120 been working ever since. Then. 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.520 I see, I got it, I got it. Where are 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:18.400 you originally from? 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.280 I well, I was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, which is 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.600 a little town outside of Boston. And I grew up 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.880 mostly in New Rochelle, New York, which is a little 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:28.120 town outside of Manhattan. 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.839 New Rochelle. Okay, yeah, and I know that from brand 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:32.880 Nubian rhymes. 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:36.800 Halfway through high school, my whole family moved to Los 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:39.560 Angeles to my dad's job, moved us and I've been 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:40.320 here ever since. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.680 Oh okay, So I always start with this question. Could 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:50.159 you tell me what your first musical memory. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.320 Was my first musical memory. You know, there was a 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.600 lot of music in my house. My father was an 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.599 attorney that when I was young five sixty seven worked 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.719 for Columbia Records, so there were a lot of records around, 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:09.840 and I loved music right away, and I love to dance. 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.800 I remember he had a lot of film soundtracks and 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.560 I remember what is popping into my head is the 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:19.799 soundtrack for Zorba of the Greek. Really yeah, that music 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.080 just really excited me and I used to dance around 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:24.680 the living room to disorber the Greek. And I think 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:26.880 that's one of my very first musical memories. 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:31.720 Strangely enough, what era did your dad work at Columbia? 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.760 Well, this has got to be, you know, mid late sixties. 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.359 You know there was also Dave Brubak Records were there, 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.880 and golly, you know Bill Evans Records. And I mean 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.400 the very first record I remember buying with my own 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:48.080 money was Chick Courrey is No Mystery. So this is 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:53.640 what early mid seventies, yeah somewhere yeah, well, yeah, yeah, 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:55.520 it was. It was early Return to Forever. 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.560 Okay. So that's a curious thing for me because normally, 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:05.560 if something outside of the pop frame speaks to someone 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.840 under the age of fifteen, then they kind of think 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:16.000 different to me, like, what was it about that period, 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.320 because I know that, you know, you were like ten 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:22.720 years old when when jazz was changing, like with Bitches 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.600 Brew and the Headhunters and kind of jazz was figuring out, 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.040 like what it's new metamorphosis was. How many siblings do 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:31.240 you have? 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.440 I had, Well, I I only have one brother left. 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:34.880 I had two brothers when I was growing up. My 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.600 older brother passed away about twenty some odd years ago. 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:39.160 Are you the youngest. 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.400 I was the middle child. Yeah, my younger brother is 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:45.200 five years younger. My older brother was like eleven months older. 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.239 You know, I mean to go back to your question. 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.440 I mean I also loved pop music and R and 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:52.840 B music too. I love to listen to the radio, 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.920 and I remember being really excited by you know, Stevie 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.080 Wonder and things like that, and Bitches Brew was not 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.040 my thing, even when everyone was digging it. You know. 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:04.840 I liked a little bit more accessible music. And I 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.080 think I still that's kind of you know, the tradition 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.000 that I'm in, and I think that that was probably 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.720 a seed that was planted when I was young. The 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.640 fusion thing, you know. I don't know. I think I 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.080 was just I loved instrumental music quite a bit. I 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.520 remember Barry White and Love Unlimited Orchestra. I was so 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.440 excited when there was a pop hit of instrumental music 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.000 on the radio, and that was always my thing. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.960 It's weird, assuming, Matt, you played stacks all your life, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:31.800 do you play any other instruments as well? 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.480 I started on clarinet. You know, back in the days 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.880 when I was a kid in New Rochelle, everybody basically 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:39.800 in third grade would sign up to play an instrument. 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.400 There was a band class and I wanted to get 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:45.200 a trumpet. We went to the music store. All they 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.840 had were clarinet, so I took a clarinet home. We 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.000 rented one, and then two years later there were so 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.400 many clarinets in this band. The teacher had gotten a 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.400 saxophone and he leaned on me to switch to the saxophone. 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.240 And I really resisted it because it was so much 0:08:58.240 --> 0:08:59.960 heavier case I was going to have to carry too 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.000 and from the school. But he said, if you play 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:05.839 the saxophone, you can be in the stage band when 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:07.679 you get to junior high and the stage band had 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.000 just come to visit and they had very snazzy satin 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.640 jackets and ascot ties and a drummer and a bass player. 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.920 And so that was really what convinced me was the 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.120 chance to get stage when I got to junior high 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.560 school and that's when I picked up the saxophone at ten. 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.280 I fig you're the perfect age for me to ask 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:27.360 this question because you can answer it sort of in 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:32.080 retrospect because oftentimes, especially with a lot of my hip 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:37.360 hop constituents and my first generation hip hop constituents, you know, 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:43.559 like grand Master Flash or Graham Wizard Theatore. Now, those 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:47.559 particular guys would tell me that, you know, there was 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.880 a period when they were in elementary school or middle 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:56.720 school in which some sort of art class was required 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.280 and sometimes you had to do multiple things. You had 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.560 to take arts and crafts, but you also had to 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.000 take music. You had to like the word had is 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:11.040 key here. It wasn't like an elective or an option. 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.839 And then they said that there was a shift or 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:19.559 a tied kind of at the end of the pre 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:24.960 Watergate Nixon administration in which a lot of these programs 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.720 got cut. They were all telling me, like, you know, 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.800 I really wanted to play bass, but we didn't have 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.880 any bass classes. So I became a DJ. And that's 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.680 kind of how a lot of the first generation hip 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:43.040 hop class was. But a lot of the generation of 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.800 musicians now, is that how they came to music? 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.840 Well, by now, I mean from Michael Hort, I think 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:51.679 a lot of them did. 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.720 Yeah, I mean specifically, you're like, you know, the sixties 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:56.360 seventies generation. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.560 Yeah, it was a trip. And it seems like such 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.360 an ancient history, doesn't it, that that was the deal, 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.680 you know, And this was a public school, middle class, 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:07.320 lower middle class, mixed. 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:12.760 I'm only asking simply because I think kind of in 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:17.280 my rose colored bubble view of it, I thought like, 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.599 if you come out the womb with some sort of 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.360 musical talent and your parents are like, oh, this is 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.440 what you want to do, and then you pursue it. 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:30.760 But a lot of my idols of the kind of 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:34.839 Midwest migration, you know, families who moved from down south 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:40.000 to Detroit or Ohio, Indiana, whatever, you know, they were like, no, 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.839 like I did have natural talent. I just saw bass 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.720 one day. I mean, even Christian McBride told me like, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:48.880 even though his dad was a bass player like he 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:52.400 came to risk, came to base late, like when he 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.160 was twelve or thirteen. I thought he came out the 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.800 womb like with a bass in hand. So not knowing 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.920 how to play a clarinet, How did it take you 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:05.440 to literally figure out the fingering and all those things? 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.520 Boy, that's you know. I don't remember exactly, but my 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:11.840 recollection is says that I was pretty good at it 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.000 compared to the other kids in the class, pretty quick, 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:15.480 and that was one of the reasons that he thought 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:17.000 it would be easier for me to switch to the 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.200 saxophone two years later. I mean, clarinet never really warmed 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.240 up too, but as soon as I picked up the saxophone, 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:24.800 it really did become my favorite thing to do, and 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.040 all my hobbies fell away. But prior to that, I 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.079 did not come up. I mean, my my family has 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.320 no musical talent whatsoever other than me. My parents can't 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:35.520 even carry a tune. You know, if they sing Happy Birthday, 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:36.920 you can't even tell what song it is. 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.000 James and I are very similar. I just want to say, 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.880 the clarinet to the saxophone. The parents, my parents are doctors. 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:45.920 I'm loving all this. I feel like I'm watching a show. 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.559 Yes, no, no, you're not the same. Because Bonie James 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.120 let me know that he played the saxophone on Paatee Bill. 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.240 Oh, here you go, here you go. Here's that moment. 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:55.560 It's happening. It just happened. 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:57.840 When So last time you picked up the saxophone, do 0:12:57.880 --> 0:12:58.719 you do you still play it? 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.120 It's right over there the case. No, I don't, as 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:01.840 much as I like to. 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.000 Walk over there, let me challenge. 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:10.040 Challenge, no way, but I appreciate it. But no, not 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.240 in front of body James. That feels like sacrilegious and weird. 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:13.080 Let's move on. 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.880 You co created Hamilton. You can do anything. 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:18.080 I did not. We produced the album together. I did 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:20.160 not make Hamilton. We made an album together a long 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:20.680 time ago. 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:26.560 So was switching to saxophone? Is that transferable? In other words, like, 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.840 if given a clarinet or saxophone, is it the same fingering? 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:32.080 Is it the same? Similar? 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:33.040 Similar point? 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.199 Yeah, it's similar to a point. Part of the clarinet 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.120 is the same. And then when you switch to you 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.320 go over the octave and it changes. It's a little 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.360 bit more confusing. The clarinet. Plus the clarinet is an 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.560 open holding strut in the saxophone is a close holding 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:51.000 string with keys. The ambisher completely different. To get a 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.120 good sound out of the saxophone, you have to hold 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.760 your your interior mouth and you know, teeth and lips 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.880 and everything is different. But many sax players also play 0:13:59.920 --> 0:14:03.920 the clarinet and flute because they're all similar fingerings. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:09.360 Have you ever challenged yourself for other brass instruments like trumpet, trombone. No. 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.320 And I a clarinet for many, many years, and I 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:14.280 have a flute in the closet that every now and 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.280 then if I need a flute on one of my records, 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.000 I will shed for a day or two enough to 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.840 get a wispy sound. But yeah, I mainly have been 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.320 concentrating on the saxophone. And I did play keyboards for 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.080 a long time too. That was, you know, my entree 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.640 into professional show business was playing keyboards. 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.240 But just to be clear, you never played the recorder. 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:36.240 I did play the recorder as well. Really, quarter is 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.120 a very challenging, It's true, really hard is. 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:40.560 When they give all the kids first. 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.280 So yeah, but if you've ever heard someone really play 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.480 the recorder, it's quite impressive because it's who. 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:48.960 Are your early influences in the early days, like clarinet 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.560 transitioning to saxophone, like clearly you picked it up, and 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:53.960 then with somebody like you should listen to this was 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.120 there like a touchstone artist. 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:58.280 I left on when you're a kid and you're picking 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.840 up the saxophone. And I took, you know, private lessons 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.240 in addition to the school into Rochelle. The private teacher 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:05.880 that taught me, he was a guy named Stanley Hammer, 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.720 and I came to find out that Bob Mintzer, famous 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:11.240 sax player from the Yellow Jackets, also studied with him, 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.360 although he was a few years older. And what I 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:15.560 remember about him was he had a couple of dogs 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.720 that were yapping incessantly during the lessons. You know, when 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.120 you first start on the saxophone, people will push you. 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.120 I started on alto, and people will push you to 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.640 listen to Charlie Parker and you know that kind of 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.280 beatbop music. He was not really didn't warm me up 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.720 because I was, like I said, I loved radio. I 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:34.960 loved the R and B. The fusion thing came a 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.240 little later, but when I heard Grover Washington Junior in 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.440 seventy five, you know, it's the first cat I heard 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:43.560 that was mixing up sort of a go go beat 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:48.400 with a lovely saxophone tone and improvisational spirit, but with 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.760 a song that you could hear. And that was what really, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.960 you know, was like wow, man, this is dope. And 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.000 that was kind of the path that it started. That's 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:58.960 what started me down this path. And that's a tradition 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:05.400 I think I'm sort of carrying on today. 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:11.280 So with the saxophone, how hard is it to find 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:17.080 your Like? I know Coltrane when I first hear it. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.120 I know Herb Albert when I first hear him. I 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:28.960 always wondered how a brass player finds a tone Like. 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.240 I think that's kind of harder for me to be 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.440 objective about, but I mean I when I think about 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.600 it on my own term. So I think it was 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.800 when I really started to write songs for me as 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.760 an artist, you know, when I really started to think when, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:44.840 you know, because so much of my life prior to 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.080 when I started making records was working as a sideman, 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:49.760 and you have to be a chameleon, and and you 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:51.960 would often you know, I played keyboards a lot, but 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:53.680 when I got to play the saxophone, I have to 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.920 learn someone else's solo. So I would, you know, pretend 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.000 to be Ernie Watts, or pretend to be David Sandborn 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:01.680 or you know, an imitative kind. 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.080 Of thing Ernie what Wow. Okay, But when I. 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.760 Really got frustrated with that lifestyle and I thought, man, 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:09.359 I really should just try and do my own thing. 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:11.280 I wasn't liking any of the songs I was writing 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:12.680 for other people. I was trying to, you know, get 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.600 a publishing deal, all the things young musicians do, and 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.800 I thought, let me just try and make records, make 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.119 music for me. That was when I think I started 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.480 to feel what I was playing more and to really 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.320 just become more immeshed in the music. And that was 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:31.000 when the horn became more my voice and distinguishable. And 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:32.959 people tell me now that they can always tell it's 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:33.679 me and I'm. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.000 Very slow Burn. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.080 You can tell from some of the other records, like 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.359 the actual slow Burn record Thank You. 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:39.720 Yeah. 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.359 And I think hopefully my sound has continued to evolve. 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.480 I mean, I'm always working on trying to become more 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:46.879 and more the essence of whatever it is that I'm doing, 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.280 and so much of that is the more adept you 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.119 get at the horn, the fewer barriers that are for 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:54.840 expressing yourself. And if you're really playing from the heart, 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.520 I think you're going to have an identific thought and 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:01.880 identifiable voice, whether you're singing were playing an instrument. So 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.040 that's my theory. 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:09.520 Wow, okay, So what was your first creative project before 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.200 you're taking this seriously or like once once you get 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.240 your chops in order as a kid into your teens 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.639 was what was the first creative project that you put together? 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.560 I was in a band called Line One. This was 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:29.200 probably late high school through most of college. Another member 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.520 that band is a guitar player producer named John Shanks 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:32.600 you might be familiar with. 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:33.840 I heard the name. 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:37.000 Yes, he does a lot of rock and roll records. 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.240 He won Producer of the Year a few years back. 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.480 He was the guitar player in that band. We're not 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:45.800 really in touch now, but you know. And that was 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:47.159 like it was started out as a sort of a 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.320 fusion R and B instrumental band, and then we tried 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:52.439 to sort of turn into Level forty two or something 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.879 like that, and we werehearseding Kenny Gradney's garage. Kenny Gradney, 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.160 the bass player from Little Feet, was like our mentor 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.800 and that was like my life for the whole main 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.960 part of my late teens, early twenties, and until I 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.320 actually got my gig with Morris Day, and that was 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.600 you know, we were going to try and be stars, 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:12.160 but it never happened for us. 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:14.240 What was your first professional gig? 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.679 Well, you know, I had decided when I graduated from 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.439 high school that I was not going to pursue a 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:21.880 career music. I thought it was not possible. 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.480 Yeah, here's another job. Okay, another job. 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.199 Okay, watch it ass. What did you want to be 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:27.920 when you were a kid. 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:30.960 I was not sure, but I mean, my father was 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.040 an attorney, so I thought, well, maybe I'll eventually go 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.080 to law school. I studied history in college. I went 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.359 away to UC Berkeley. I didn't practice my horn at 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.760