Collaborations

There are tunes that I like. I look at my discography as a whole body of work. You know when Robert DeNiro looks at his body of work there's the Godfather and The King of Comedy. The first recording "Bitches Brew"stands out. Red Clay I don't listen to, because I don't like the way I played on it, but it influences a lot of players. "Where Have I Known You Before" I like. Romantic Warrior was good. Venusian Summer was my first solo album and I like that record. The one everybody likes is The Adventures Of Astral Pirates.

What I like about producing is that you can accept a lot of different kinds of ideas and perspectives. You can blend the process and help an artist see, what he or she didn't see in their own music. I think the producer opens up the artist. Helps them hear what they didn't ordinarily hear and try things that they don't ordinarily try. The producer helps the artist interpret what it is that they hear a lot clearer to their audience. I kind of like that and the opportunity to do it.

Miles Davis touched everybody's life. How can you play music and not be touched by what Miles has done? Fortunately, I was a part of a seminal chapter in his musical life, the album "Bitches Brew." The first time I met Miles I was in High School. I went to the high school of Art and Design in New York City and I lived in Jamaica, Queens. To get to school I had to take a bus and train and it took about an hour and a half one way. I would get out of school at 3 o'clock, get on the train during rush hour, get home at about 4:30 or a quarter to 5, eat and change my clothes, get back on the train and go back into the city to see Miles Davis perform. Miles was my hero, along with Tony Williams who is my instrumental hero, and Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Wayne Shorter. When I was 19, Miles called my house looking for me, and asked me to play on his record "Bitches Brew". A partner of mine, who had a car, drove me over to Miles' house for rehearsal. All I had were cymbals and a snare drum. Jack DeJohnette was there, Dave Holland, Chick, Wayne and Miles. We rehearsed and than he said, "ok, see you at CBS Studios tomorrow at 10 o'clock for the session." I got there at 9:30 and the cleaning lady let me in. I set up my instrument and started practicing. As soon as Miles walked in he said, "Hey Jack tell the drummer to shut up."So, I was intimated right off the bat. After we recorded the record, I went to see him @ The Village Gate in New York, at the time Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, and Wayne Shorter were playing with the band and he saw me sitting out in the audience and called me to the back. He was dressed in all black and the first thing he asked me was, "can you play fast?" And I said, "yeah."He said "When?"And I said, "when ever anybody asks me to play fast."He says, "OK, I want you to be here every night this week". I was there every night listening and learning the music. Jack's wife Lydia was about to give birth to their first child so Jack was going to stay home with her while the band went to Boston to play. I was going to play for Jack but unfortunately Miles got shot and the gig never happened.

Aside, from being my drum mentor, my drum icon, the person I channel whatever it is I do on the drums through, he was a master musician. A guy like Tony comes along once in a lifetime. Just like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Art Tatum. These guys are the masters of their instruments.When I first heard Tony Williams I was 17 and I listened to a record by Miles called "Seven Steps To Heaven". I had heard that the drummer on the record was 17 years old and that was Tony Williams. I listened and my whole concept became really clear about my direction and the way I wanted to play the instrument. Even though, other people have influenced me I think that he had the major influence. His was the one voice that stuck out amongst the chorus of people that were saying play like this or play like that he's the one I tried to play like. Tony Williams transcended the instrument that he played. He's the actual father of Fusion. A lot of people will argue and say that Cannonball's group was doing Fusion, like soul-based Jazz, before Tony did it, and that might be true. But, back in 1969 Tony with his "Lifetime"group, which included, John McLaughlin and Larry Young, recorded "Emergency". When I saw that band it was a once in a lifetime experience and really something to behold! It totally changed my way of thinking about playing. I guess the saxophone players back in the 40's when they heard Bird, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane they changed their way of playing. When guys heard what Tony Williams was doing, forget it! For drummers it was unbelievable. He is the pinnacle! Everyone who played drums, after Tony, has been influenced by what he did. There is some lick that they play that pays homage to Tony Williams. He simply invented new additions to the drum nomenclature that were not there before. He is the #1 drummer.

The collaboration started in 1971 while I was working with a band called AZTECA (Pete and Coke Escovedo, Paul Jackson, Tom Harrell, Mel Martin, and Neil Schon) in San Francisco. I got a call from Chick Corea, who was in Japan with the early "Return to Forever"(Airto, Flora, Joe Farrell, Stanley, and Chick). Chick asked me to play with him and Stanley, because they were coming back to play an engagement at the Keystone Corner Club, in San Francisco and several band members could not make the gig. Stanley had played with me in Joe Henderson's band for about 18 months and we were friends. When they got to San Francisco we got together and played for a week at the Keystone Corner Club and it was fantastic music. I think that was the start of something new. We played for six days and on that Sunday, the last day my friend Mingo Lewis, (who was playing with Santana at the time) sat in with us. Also two local guitarists sat in, Barry Finerty and Bill Conners. It was a legendary gig in everybody's mind. Everybody remembered it and I happen to have live tapes of some it. I'm actually, going to release something from those tapes on a compilation record soon. Anyway, after that gig Chick asked me to join "Return to Forever", because he was thinking about making a change in direction into an electric band. I told him at that time I didn't really want to join, because I had an allegiance to the band I was with (Azteca). So, they went back to New York and Steve Gadd joined the band. They played for about six months or so and Steve decided to do more studio work. In that interim a manager out in S.F. by the name of, Herbie Herbert, was putting a band together. He asked me to play with bass player Ross Valerie and guitarist Neil Schon. He asked me, if I wanted to be part of a band. That band turned out to be Journey. At the same time Chick called me and asked me to join "Return to Forever"for a second time and I did. It was great, because it was new music. Fusion had started to get a grasp on the younger audience. It was their introduction to Jazz. The Jazz police hated us and the Rock and Roll guys didn't understand what it was we were trying to do and were in awe of what it was. It took hold for a while and people got into the personalities of our band and the band became very popular. While playing with "Return to Forever"I learned how to perform to an audience and developed certain musical skills. Every night was a challenge, because Chick is a great composer, so if you were going to write music, it had to be on a par with what Chick Corea wrote. So, during this period in my career I was getting my chops together. Aside from music, I learned a lot about life and myself.

Wayne Shorter is my most favorite musician! He, in my opinion, is one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. All of his music is great music no matter what composition it is. It has a way of speaking to me. He is a great person, just a great spirit. You can talk to Wayne about anything. We were going to play together for a while and we talked for maybe 3 or 4 weeks before we played. We didn't talk about music. We talked about movies. Wayne is a great Movie buff and I'm a movie trivia guy. Aside from Don Alias, in terms of movie trivia he's as good as me. Wayne and Don are two guys I compete with we go back and forth.There are different aspects of Wayne's life that kind of dip into his music. For instance, he once told me to listen to the baseline of one of his compositions "Foot Prints."He said he was trying to make it sound as though a giant was making big steps and the last step a little step. And if you listen to the baseline that's exactly how the baseline falls. I think that Wayne is the consummate musician.

"God Bass,"that's my name for Ron Carter. Tony Williams is "God Drums", Herbie Hancock is "God Piano", Miles "God Trumpet", and "God Saxophone"is John Coltrane. Ron Carter is a great friend. I'm honored and feel privileged to call him a friend. He is one of the most recorded musicians in musical history. When it comes to somebody that I would respect or ask their opinion about something musical it would be Ron. Ron has always been a rock and we call him "Checkpoint Charlie"because we know that he's stable as a rock. He is not going to waiver. He's also, a great teacher. He has the unique ability to play any situation and be a teacher. He can also, sit down and articulate what you need to know. He's teaching all the time. For instance, I wrote some music and I played it for a lot of key people, but it was a real big test for me to play it for Ron, because of the respect I have for him. I played it for him and he liked it, but he said this is what you should do and gave me an assignment. He said, "now, you don't have to do this it is just a suggestion." His suggestion was a good suggestion, because it made me better. To be able to ask someone their opinion and their opinion is valued can better your life. And Ron is like that someone for me.

Stanley Clarke is my "Special musical Friend". We grew up together musically and when we play there is a special magic. Stanley is an icon on the bass and he has managed to parlay what he knows about the bass into other, musical aspects. He has become an influential film composer. This is a guy that I've been all over the world with playing bass and drums. It's nice to see the success that he has doing what he's doing now. We don't always play together, but when we do play it's something special. We'll always have a special musical bond.

I met Chaka back in 1972 in Pittsburgh going through the airport. And I heard somebody yell out, "Lenny White,"turned around and she said, "Chaka Khan, Rufus", and that's how I met her. At the time I was doing the "Streamline"record and I had rented a house in LA and we were rehearsing in the house and doing the record in a studio out in Malibu. A friend came by and he happened to come by with Chaka. We were rehearsing an arrangement of "Lady Madonna,"the Beatles tune. So, she came in and heard it and said, "Man that is killin"(keyboardist Denzel Miller, wrote the arrangement). She said, "I should sing on that." I told her if she wanted to she could. So, she sang on it. Later, she said, "that was one of the best recordings she ever made." She was actually pregnant at the time and she sounded great. She was hitting those high notes with no audio trickery or anything.We worked together again in 1981, and saw each other at various gigs. After Rufus she had done her own album and on it she did a great version of the Dizzy Gillespie classic "A Night in Tunisia". I saw her and said, "your kind of stretching out, that's really great." At the time she was doing a reunion with "Rufus"and I went to see them in a club in New York. I said, "You know I think the jazz stuff you could really do it, would you want to do this record that I'm thinking about doing?" I had this idea for a record. I wanted to recreate the Billie Holliday "Lady Day Sessions"with contemporary musicians. I thought I could probably get Chaka Khan, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Chick Corea, and Stanley Clarke, to join me. So, I went over to Bruce Lundvall, who was at Electra at the time, and asked him what he thought about my idea. He thought it was a great idea, and if I could get everyone we had a deal. So, I contacted Chick, Chaka, Freddie, Joe, and Stanley. Everybody said the same thing; if they'll do it I'll do it. So, everybody came together. I flew out to LA. We recorded two records in four days. We did a record called "The Griffith Park Collection"that was an instrumental record and another record called "Echoes of an Era", that was with Chaka. We had one rehearsal at Chick's house and I gave Chaka a list of tunes that she could choose from. She chose some of the songs that were on the "Lady Day Sessions". Like "Them There Eyes"and "I Hear Music"and then we did one of Chick's tunes called "High Wire"Chick wrote an arrangement of "Take the ‘A' Train"and "I Loves You Porgy". We did Thelonius Monk's; "I Mean You"and Chaka wrote lyrics to it. It was great! She also, did "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most", (which, she heard only one time in rehearsal at Chick's house). It's a classic record and she was nominated for "Best Jazz Vocalist"at the Grammys. It opened up a whole new career for her. We worked together again in '95 when I did my "Present Tense Record"on a song that I wrote with Bernard Wright and Marcus Miller, called "Who Do You Love".   Chaka is unique. Her voice is really identifiable and no matter what kind of music she sings everyone knows it's Chaka

Wallace Roney says we are brothers. There are a few guys that when I play together with them it's a special thing. There are not too many bands that I would play in or play somebody else's music all the time, but Buster is one of those guys that I would do that with, because we do have a true affinity when it comes to playing. The relationship that we have with bass and drums is deep. When other people comment about it then you know that it's right. Hearing "You guys sound great together"that's always a plus. I hear that with Stanley and myself and I hear that with Marcus and myself. So, it's a special relationship and when you have it with somebody it needs to be explored as much as possible, so people can really hear it. Fortunately, I do get a chance to play with Buster and he's special.

I met Larry back in 1971. There's a book by the name of "Hit Man"about the music industry and payola. Actually it's about what was going on with Walter Yetnokof, former President of Columbia Records. At any rate, one of the chapters in that book talks about Clive Davis coming in and becoming the head of Columbia Records. The book mentions the Columbia Records convention in London at the Groveners House Hotel. And Clive had a secret band that he was going to unfold at 12 o'clock midnight. And that band was "Azteca"(the band that I was playing in then). At that same time period at the same convention CBS was showcasing a lot of their new acts. And "Earth Wind and Fire"were at the convention and they had just come over from Warner Bros. to CBS and that's when I met all the guys, and we became friends. Through the years I followed them. Larry was very instrumental in the sound of that band.The first record that I did with Electra Records "Astral Pirates,"I did with legendary rock producer Al Cooper. The second record I wanted to try something different so, I contacted Larry Dunn. He had produced " Caldera"so; we collaborated on "Streamline", "Best Of Friends", and "Lenny White and Twennynine". Larry's a real good friend and a great musician and he had some other sensibilities and insights into music that I hadn't thought about. I learned a lot bouncing ideas off of his head. They were great musical experiences. We also produced together Silvia St. James and Larry introduced me to Dianne Reeves (Both Larry and Dianne are from Denver). Dianne sang on "Streamline", which is also the record that Chaka Khan sang on too.

She's a gem. I met her when she was 17 years old. I spoke at Patrice and Ndugu Chancellor's High School in LA. Patrice is so amazing, constantly growing. We have played together in different configurations throughout the years. I recently, got her to be a part of Wallace Roneys band and we played together. We also played together with Buster Williams. She can play any kind of music. She's written symphonies, movie scores, and everybody knows her for "Forget Me Knots". She's a great person and a consummate musician. She has given me great encouragement toward my symphonic writing and has helped me a great deal.

Joe Henderson is an icon too. You've got to understand that Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, and Chick, and Freddie Hubbard are guys that I used to listen to on records coming up. So, I got my perspective of playing from listening to records with Miles, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, George Coleman, Elvin Jones, and McCoy Tyner. And then to get the opportunity to play with these guys is incredible. I had finished making a record with Miles Davis and all these guys, so I was like walking on air. Then I get a call from Freddie Hubbard saying, "I'd like you to play a record date". I said, "Sure who's going to be on it?" He says, "Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Joe Henderson."I thought he had to be kidding, these are the guys I grew up listening to. So, I went from making "Bitches Brew"with Miles Davis to making "Red Clay"with Freddie Hubbard. It was a great thing.Joe Henderson was one of the guys on that record and Joe was just so unique in the way that he heard. He was kind of a recluse, but I used to room with him on the road and got to know him well. Joe is a really sweet guy. He can be kind of distant to a lot of people, but he's a really sweet guy. He is a great, great musician, and individual. I miss him.

Marcus Miller is probably the best musician around. I gave Marcus his first record date when he was 16 while recording "Big City". One day he came to the studio with me and he had his bass, because he always carries his bass with him. I said "Marcus you got your bass, take it out I want you to play something for me". So, he came in there and played on a tract called "Egypt".He's a master musician, great writer, and great bassist. His first instrument was the bass clarinet and he plays soprano saxophone, and the piano. His father plays too and his uncle is Winton Kelly, so it runs in the family. Marcus is a generation behind me, from the hood. Along with Bernard Wright we have made some real great, great music as the "Jamaica Boys"and outside of the "Jamaica Boys". Also, Marcus played on my "Streamline"record and has scored many films. We did the first "House Party" film together. It's interesting when you have a friend from the neighborhood whose become a great musician and world renown. Nevertheless, he'll always be just Marcus to me.

Wallace is one of the cats. He's played with everybody, and has a unique way of hearing what he hears. He's just about the only trumpet player to play with Miles Davis. "Live in Montreax,"was one of the last recorded performance that Miles did with Gil Evan's musical scores that Quincy Jones conducted. Wallace played a lot of his solos. Miles was like a second father to Wallace. Because, of the great experiences he's had playing with Tony Williams, Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Elvin Jones, to name just a few, he really keeps the bar raised and presents a refreshing challenge every night. Especially for a drummer.

I worked with Freddie for about 18 months and Freddie is a masterful musician, a masterful trumpet player. I learned a lot and played a lot of great music with him and of course, he is a jazz icon.Our collaboration began when Freddie called me to do a record date called "Red Clay". It was the second record that I ever did. He told me Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, and Ron Carter were also playing on it. These are all guys that I listened to while I was growing up, so it was a major thing for me to play with them. I had just finished a record with Miles and that was a great thing. So, I was coming off playing with Miles Davis and recording with Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Joe Henderson. Freddie told me that Miles had recommended me to do the record date, but I spoke to Wallace Roney who played with Tony Williams and he said Freddie had called Tony to do the record date and he recommended me, so that's how I got it. It was great being in the presence of those guys, but it was a little traumatic. I had a metal bass drum that a friend had made. It was a great little sounding drum and I had used it on "Bitches Brew". So, I went over to "Rudy Van Gelder's"studio in Inglewood Cliffs, New Jersey, which was hallowed ground. John Coltrane recorded "A Love Supreme"there and Herbie Hancock's "Empyrean Isles"and a lot of those other great "Blue Note"records were recorded there. Anyway, I brought my drum and set it up and I hit it and Ron Carter said, "No, no, no you can't use that drum it's too resonate". So, Rudy said, "let's see what else we can find There was a big 36"bass drum over in the corner collecting dust with a painting of a lake with birds and stuff on it. It was like one of those drums that Chick Webb would have played and it sounded horrible to me. So, I wound up using this big bass drum and I hated the way it sounded. So, it's kind of hard for me to listen to that record and I don't very often. But, everybody likes the way I played on it and that's great, so I'm not going to refute that.   Unfortunately, Freddie's not playing now and we really do need to have more of our icons continue to play, because it's kind of slim pickings out here now. Freddie had a problem with his lips and had to stop playing. I've been hoping that he would get them back and come back out here and play. He's one of the masters and when he plays the music that's the way the music is supposed to be played. We all learned from guys like Miles, Freddie, and Dizzy. Miles and Dizzy are no longer here, but Freddie is and he's not playing. There are still guys to hold the torch, Wallace is still around and a few other guys are still holding the torch, but Freddie is an original.

Dianne Reeves has become a great star, and a great singer. I always knew she was great, but she has become a really big jazz music icon. When I first met her she was singing R&B kind of stuff. She sang on my "Streamline"record and we actually did a gig together. She came and sang with me when I was playing at the Roxy. In fact, one of the pictures I have in the photo gallery is with Dianne Reeves. I used her on my "Edge"record on the song "A Very Good Year". Dianne is one of the top singers we have today.

I met Rachelle doing a session for Nicki Richards. I think she was the second winner of the "Star Search"competition. She's a fantastic musician. She sang with everybody (e.g. "The Rolling Stones", and Mariah Carey). Well, Nicki was doing her first record for Atlantic and Rachelle was recommended to me as a great background vocalist. I was producing Nicki's record and Rachelle came in for a session and we went over some things. I went back into the control room and she went into the studio, sat down and played piano. My son came in and he was crying. He was like "man this girl is incredible!"I went out and she had an audience around her while she was playing and singing. It was fantastic! Later, she told me she was getting ready to make a record for Bruce Lundvall at "Blue Note", on a Japanese label. asked who was producing and she said they were looking for a producer. I told her to call me, because, I would love to do something with her and she did.She didn't know a lot about the music business at that point. She sent me her tapes and I listened to them and made some suggestions. We used her working trio and I called a few other people to come in and play. When the record was finished it didn't come out and I wondered what had happened? I found out that her manager, at the time, wanted her to be known as a pop artist as opposed to a jazz artist, so they didn't release that record in the United States. However, the record was released in Japan and it won a whole bunch of awards and was very, very well received.   Sometime later, I got a call from George Duke, and George said, "listen man there's this girl they want me to produce, Rachelle Ferrelle". I said she's fantastic, really great! Next thing I know she does a record for Capitol here in the United States. There's this big hoopla and they say George Duke discovers Rachelle Ferrelle, and it's ok, whatever.

That was an interesting situation. I got a call to write a Miller Lite commercial and Big Daddy Kane was the artist. He was going to do a whole campaign. He's a great guy. He's one of the original Hip Hop MC's. He was really cool to work with in the studio. We came in and hit it off. It was real great. Actually, I would love to work with him again right now. I have some things that I would like to try that are perfect for him.

Opera is a lifelong work. It's the kind of thing where it's not like music where it's done and that's it. But with Opera, it's like taking a great play that has great content and all of the words spoken are sung. So, aside from the music it has to have a good story line. I'm really, really intent on getting a great story. If the story is good I really feel the music itself will help the story grow and they'll work hand in hand. Then there's the aspect of trying to find the right people to cast. You have to get the right singers to be able to get the nuances of what it should be out of the music. Plus they have to know how to act. If you get that then you have to have somebody who can produce it right. If you get that then you have to get somebody who can direct it right. So, it's really in the incubation phase. I have a whole lot of music that I think is really, really good. I've jumped off the mountain with a parachute, where I'm going to end

I'm working with two friends of mine on a project called "Orchestra Earthquake Music". This is focused more on what's happening today with the Hip Hop scene.

Recently, I did some music along with Buster. I did a couple of sessions for the tour of the Empire State Building. Along with Stephan Harris and Barry Allen, Paul Bowerback and Melissa Walker.

I think a lot of people would want to see "Return to Forever"play together. That's what people would want to see more than anything else. When I'm playing with Patrice and Buster Williams we're playing in a club and there might be 300 people, 200 people, maybe 100 people in the club. But, a dream situation would be to play in front of 30,000 people or 300,000 people. To be able to play that kind of music with that intensity at like Madison Square Garden and have people cheer and jump up and down like they do Rock & Roll Bands. That is a dream.