By Rodney Jones
I always look at each recording that I make in at least two ways. Each
recording marks a completion of a cycle of growth and awareness. It
documents and shares with others the musical skills and abilities that I
have acquired to that point. It also expresses who I am at that moment.
A person who learns to listen for the awareness within the sounds can
perceive and make choices about the following:
- The intent of the artists.
- The group consciousness of the musicians.
- Consciousness of the individual soloists.
- The inward roadmap that the music is built upon.
- The consciousness from which the tune was written.
- The point of resonance within themselves.
- The change that takes place within themselves as they listen to a
piece of music.
- Make a conscious choice about the way in which they will be affected
by music.
- Actually gain wisdom (self knowledge) from the music which can
assist them in many areas of their lives.
Remember that everything that is good to you is not necessarily
goodfor you! You alone are responsible for the musical choices
that you make. The same is true for the musician. Most musicians have
spent many years working on "the how?", and only after developing "the
how?" do they begin to plumb the depths of "the why?"!
What do I mean by all this? I mean that the process of developing
musical mastery is often an all-consuming desire and practice for those
hearty Souls who attempt it. There are hours spent in the repetition of
scales and melodic patterns; years of technique exercises and acquiring
repertoire; a lifetime spent developing a sound on your instrument; an
eternity spent in the understanding of harmony and the components of
composition.
Why? This for me has always been the most important part of being a
musician. I always ask my new students the following questions:
- Why are you playing music?
- What is your intent when you play?
- Are you trying to communicate something to the listener when you
play? If so, what?
- Are you trying to express yourself when you play?
- What you are you trying to express? You can only express yourself to
the degree that you know yourself!
- Are you only expressing yourself or are you a vehicle for a greater
awareness to express Itself through you?
Clearly the idea is not to over-mentalize music, yet you would probably
be surprised at the number of world class musicians who only address
these issues in a cursory way. When they are playing they might have
anything on their minds and hearts or nothing. Mental mastery of these
principles is not required for great art.
Listen to the Blues or Folk Music. You will find great art and music
there. All I know is that if I need a lawyer in court, I want him to be
thinking about my case and to know the "how and why" of his
presentation. Music is, of course, art... but you understand my point.
One does not want to spend weeks pondering one's navel in order to
micromanage every nuance of their playing or listening. Yet there is a
place for being an aware individual as a player and a listener. Later in
this series I will share some of the exercises that I used to be a more
aware player and listener. You can try them for yourself and then post
your results!
Well, that is the background of what is going on inside me prior to a
recording session. For me it is almost a totally non-mental process at
this point because I have been doing it for so long. As with most
things, "practice makes better."
The truly wonderful and amazing thing that took place during the
recording of Soul Manifesto was the feeling and awareness among
all of the musicians that we were all playing for the same reasons. We
found a unity of intent and purpose about the music that transcended the
notes that we played. The feeling of friendship and brotherhood in the
studio alone would have been enough to make a great recording but the
bond of common purpose and understanding that made it something really
special. Let me list the personnel again for you:
- Rodney Jones, Guitar
- Maceo Parker, Alto Sax
- Arthur Blythe, Alto Sax
- Dr. Lonnie Smith, Organ
- Lonnie Plaxico, Bass
- Idris Muhammad, Drums
Why not take a minute now and visit http://www.allmusic.com; type in
each of their names. You will get a clear picture of the history and
experience that is on Soul Manifesto.
Welcome back! Now you have a greater knowledge about the musicians on
Soul Manifesto.
Soul Manifesto is about those qualities, those elements that
define truly great art. The Soul Manifesto is not about pretending,
it is about being. The music onSoul Manifesto is real. The
players share a foundation in the root of the tree, not the branches.
There were no overdubbed solos, no trying to be slick. No pretense, and
no faking. Just great players reaching down to the Soul Bone to play
the groove. The music was created from a spirit of joy, brotherhood and
common cause.
The word Soul is defined in the dictionary as: 1. the animating and
vital principle in a person; 2. the central or vital part of something;
3. emotional or expressive intensity; 4. a person considered as the
embodiment of an intangible quality. The definition of Manifesto is: a
public declaration of principles or intentions. Thus Soul
Manifesto is a musical declaration of what music from the roots is
about. It is a musical expression of what the brotherhood of musicians
that appear on this recording have spoken about for years: Groove,
Soulfulness, Honesty, Truth, Spirituality, and the world of music!
The recording session was scheduled to be from 12 noon to 8 pm. I always
arrive at the studio early so I got there around 10:30 am in order to
set up my amplifier and guitars and get a basic working sound. We
recorded at Sound On Sound Studios here in New York City--a wonderful
studio. I had recorded there many times before including with Maceo for
his Mo Roots CD. My engineer was Peter Darmi, who has won Grammys
for his work. He is also George Benson's engineer of choice so I figured
that he knew how to record the guitar pretty well!
One of the ways that I like to help up-and-coming young musicians is to
hire them to assist on sessions and performances. In that way they get
to be around the music and musicians and gain experience that could
never be found on a blackboard. For this recording I had three assistants:
Miles Okazaki, an amazing young guitarist/composer who served as
my ears in the control room. He was also the copyist, entering the music
into the computer for printing and distributing the music to the musicians.
Josh Maxey, a developing guitarist who serve as my production
assistant. He coordinated transport for the other musicians and did a
million things in the studio to allow me to focus on just making music.
Cyrus Pace, a fine young guitarist who assisted Josh and provided
great logistical support.
I mention these three young men because there help was invaluable. They
are served with joy and enthusiasm and humility.
Arthur Blythe was the first to arrive. He went into the studio,
and after getting situated he began to warm up. His warm-up could have
been a CD it was so amazing! He opened the studio up in an invisible way
with his soaring notes and free sound. I loved it!
Next was Dr. Lonnie Smith! Now the studio was really heating up.
After greeting myself and Arthur he sat down at the organ and began to
stoke the musical fire. I should have brought a fire extinguisher into
the place at that moment. I could almost smell fried chicken cooking and
a glass of cool sweetened ice tea.
When Idris Muhammad walks into the studio, you know it! He is a
man filled with soulful dignity, spirituality and humor. The four of us
immediately started laughing and joking when Idris told a story about a
guy who soaked his knife in garlic so that if he ever had to "cut"
someone their wounds would not heal! It was the silliest story and we
all fell out laughing.
Lonnie Plaxico was next. He set up and began to lay down some
serious bass grooves. I should have been running the tape just to catch
his groove. The love, good feelings, and groove in the studio were
tangible--and Maceo had not even arrived yet!
Maceo Parker! That is not a name--it is a statement. It is a
statement that defines the essence of soulfulness and groove, as well as
just being a great human being. When he walked in, it was like the whole
studio shifted into a different space. He grooves like no one else. I
included as part of the recording some of the laughter and joking
around. That joyous spirit was so present in the music I thought that it
would be cool to actually let you hear the voices of the musicians and
the laughter. I "crack up" every time I hear it!
Now the laughing and joking were out of control. Here we were, getting
ready to make music for the world to hear, and there was nothing but
love in the room. I really felt so blessed and privileged to be a part
of the recording and it was my recording! As I looked around the studio,
I really did have one of those timeless moments as if a part of myself
was saying "remember this. this is something special".
I could describe each tune one by one and how the recording process
progressed, but I think I've said enough for now. In the next
installment I will talk more about the actual recording process and the
tunes. It was magic, pure and simple! It was one of the highlights of my
career and my life!
Next installment: The Recording Part 2
Photo from left to right: Lonnie Plaxico, Maceo Parker, Rodney Jones, Idris Muhammad, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Arthur Blythe. Photo Credit: Jimmy Katz.
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