The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Nathan East

Episode Date: June 16, 2021

As we continue to commemorate Black Music Month this episode of Questlove Supreme shall celebrate a musician who is defined by a body of work that encompasses some of the greatest (not debatable) songs of our time. Just to name a few; Saving All My Love For You, Tears In Heaven, Footloose, I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Easy Lover, Giving You The Best That I Got..... Nathan East has played on them all earning the title of most recorded bass player in the history of music. The fact that he has co-written and sang on this great American classics catalog of his has Quest and Team Supreme beyond anticipation of this conversation. Listen and learn..... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed human. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Ellen, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Mancini. My mind was blown.

I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production. of iHeart radio you guys been at 30 rock all along right for for a while yeah pretty much yeah pretty that's pretty cool yeah we made it through the story i can't believe it you know it's like uh everybody

everybody has everybody has story for the last year exactly exactly monta you the year you ready yeah i oh i thought i hit start video my bad okay all right what's up y'all what's up everybody what's up nice good what's up what's up ladies and gentlemen welcome welcome to another episode of Questlove Supreme. I'm your host, Questo. We have Team Supreme with us right now. I can't assign myself another moniker. You can.

It just took you a second. I wasn't sure if you knew. I'm glad you. I forgot who I was because, you know, whenever we're in the presence of greatness, I just, you know. I understand. My thinking just goes the other way. This dude has played on every record ever. Yeah, literally.

Like, seriously. I wish, I truly wish we had, like, James Brown's intro just so I can just start naming like literally, dude, tears in heaven, get lucky, foot loose, saving all my love for you, I just can't stop loving you, uh, oh, morning, Al Jaroa, morning, morning, Al Jaree, yeah. Steve, Steve's about to have a fit. Say it, say it, say it. I find out all this stuff. Easy lovers.

Oh, there you go. Yes. There you go. Through the fire. I mean, even underground classics like smooth sailing by the Isley brothers

can be the best I got. Freaking, who has any work with Tina Marie, Dionne Warwick, Aretha, Jill Withers. All the one-nameers. L.N.

Like, whoever. Eric Clapton, the weekend. Justin Timberlake. B.B. King, Mary J. Blise, Fitzh. Ladies and gentlemen,

the most used session musician of all. Wait, I'm kind of saying this in just, but. Nathan East, are you the most used session musician of all time? You know what, Amir, I'm not exactly sure how to verify that, but we can say that I've been busy.

Book and busy. Ladies and gentlemen, I love it. A great Philadelphian is on the show. Welcome to Nathan East to Questlove Supreme. It is a pleasure, a joy, and an honor to be here. I mean, you've had everybody from Michelle Obama to the Dalai Lama. We're working on him. We're working on the Dalai Lama.

And now Nathan East. Yeah, how are you right now? Where are you? Okay, I know that we can't see you because this is an audio show, but I should say that in the land of Zoom, when you're watching like news pundits sit behind their library collection of all their impressive books. Nah, Nathan East is stunning like a... I'm certain that all those guitars and basses hanging on your wall have a story to tell, correct? You know, they really do. There's the one that was on some of those early Barry White records.

That was like the white P-base in the background is my, like. That's your, Barry White was your first client as a professional bass player? Yes, yes. Wow. Jesus Christ, let's start. This is the thing, like, I've known you for the longest, and of course, like, you know, you've come to this. Tonight Show and you've sat in and all that stuff, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that you're a Philadelphia.

Like what is your, and at that, like, I'm really elated to speak to someone. Usually all the musical luminaries from Philadelphia that I talk to are kind of from a certain, like my dad's range, like born in the late 30s, early 40s, and really can't give me a lay of the land of what Philly was like. to grow up in Philly as a youngster in the 70s when all this magic was happening. But what is your Philadelphia story? Where in Philly were you born? Well, actually, North Philly, Doctors Hospital roughly 65 years ago.

And my folks... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what? That's some lotion. Are we supposed to give away those things? Right. Yeah, when you look like that, you are actually. You said that. Drop the skincare routine, Nathan.

Yeah. I need the skincare regimen. That's a retinal at least at night. I don't know. Even as you said that, I was like, oh, he might be like five years old than me. He might be born in, you know, 1960. 95, you know, and, you know, my dad went to Cheney State in Cheney, Pennsylvania. He had the world's record in the 50 and 100-yard dash.

Wow. He beat Jesse Owens in 1940. Wow. made the Olympics, but due to the war, the Olympics were canceled. So I didn't have that bragging right. But he was the world's fastest human. My daughter is now keeping it going. She runs track for UC Berkeley on their D1 Pactel 12 track team.

They're in Texas A&M this weekend, you know, for the regional finals. So, you know, there's a lot. But Philly, I left early when he had an aerodynamics aviation job in Convair in San Diego, where he moved the family. But we would go back to Philly every summer and kind of just jam. And a lot of great musical influences. And I don't know what's in the water, but there's so many bass players, Anthony Jackson and Eddie Henderson.

It's just like, what? It's bass heaven over there, you know. So was your family immersed in music as well? Or just like how, what was your first musical memory that you, you had. Yeah, there was there was always a piano kind of around the house that uh, uh, pops and moms, both would play. But, um, you know, it was like, you know, music, music filled the neighborhood and, and, and you know, so you'd hear Gladys night, Marm and Gay out, you know, blasting through the homes of this, of the

neighborhood, but it was really, I'll never forget my, my first 45 was a more love by Smokey Robinson. We were just always gathered around the radio and, and, and listening. into music. And I remember when I played cello for three years, and then I discovered the bass, and it was actually in church. My brothers and I were doing, they were doing like these folk masses back in the day when all that started. And then there was a bass on the altar, and I went up, picked it up, and nobody claimed it. And I picked it up, and I said, oh, Lord. So you taught yourself how to play? Yeah, I mean, I just started playing just out of my love for music.

And it only had four strings. So it wasn't that difficult. But you played the cello before. But I played the cello before anyway. I was in the range of the bass cleft. So that kind of got me going. Okay, this is interesting because usually anyone that we interview on the show, that's an axman or an axed woman, nine times out of ten, there's like a, the $30

Sears guitar thing story that happens like with Sears having these affordable instruments and you know

people teaching there getting their kids lessons and whatnot but you started on the cello and then worked your way to the bass right

and the weather is the 30 actually $49 story story from the pod shop where my mom got me my first bass was about that long you know

it was a you know short scale no name but, you know, that was my, you know, ticket to everything, you know, and I started playing in all the bands and stage band in high school. Okay. You know, the drill.

One thing leads to another. Next thing you know, you're doing a couple gigs. I learned the A string, the E string, and then I had a gig already. Oh, okay. I see. You know, and the first gigs, we were in church, and obviously, you know, I always say that's the best place to have your first gigs because if you make a mistake, they're ready for giving, you know. You don't get a, you don't get help to account.

They don't give you the eye. I see. Do you remember, well, at the time when you're learning your craft, were there any other notable musicians that you grew up with or artists that you were kind of hanging with during your formative years as a teen? Yeah, well, as a teen, we, um, as a teen, we, um, It's funny because we backed up, we had a band called Power, and there was a Stacks Review that Rufus Thomas, Barry White, a bunch of people came and played, and we were the house band for everybody. And after that gig, Barry White invited us all to his office up in Beverly Hills.

We went up there, and he hired our whole band on the spot to go tour with him. And so my first gig was at the Apollo Theater. Then we did Madison Square Garden. We did Cobo Arena in Detroit. You know, I'm like 16 years old. Wait, what year was this? This was like, let's see, 71 maybe. Okay.

So at the very beginning of Barry White's career. Yeah, 71, too. And he started, you know, he had all these hits. And were you lying about your age, like anybody? You know, I didn't volunteer my age. It was just one of those things where, you know, you're saying opportunity knocks, you got to go, you know. And how do you propose this to your parents? How did that conversation? Well, that was another thing that they were, you know, how parents are. They're always a little reluctant about that.

But they went along to it because I was with my brothers, you know, my, and all my, my homies from the neighborhood. So we were all together in this. And it was really special to be with an act like that, you know, an arena act. where you're, you know, selling out arenas. And it was unbelievable. So did you ever do the Philadelphia circuit that would have maybe eventually landed you in MFSB? Or was that already Anthony's gig and? Yeah, that was that was already done and dusted. And that would have been been his gig.

And I would have been already out on the West Coast by then. But those were the, you know, those were the dream gigs that everybody wanted, you know, gambling huff. and those tunes are very near and dear to my heart. But by that time, we were out on the West Coast, and then so Barry was kind of, he was kind of it. And then, you know, I played with him live before I started recording. But then, you know, started doing all those records.

And he would, you know, most people don't know. He'd drive up from Watson, a Stutz bear cat with gold emblems on it, and then he'd get out with the 357 magnum, you know, twirling it like we had. Like he's in a country Western movie. And he would sit on the console, you know, like this thing. No special occasion. That is what he do.

No special. I wanted to ask you. So you're the third guest of the show that's had Barry White interactions. But I've heard, you know, throughout my coming up in the industry, like some gangster Barry stories. But can't ever get. Like, what was he like to deal? deal with. Ray Parker Jr. told the story of like, you know, he accidentally crashed Barry White's Mercedes trying to play him the demo for one of those songs, I'll let the music play. And then

his former tour manager, Alan Leeds, had a few stories about, you know, Barry's whole modus operandi. And, you know, I knew of the gun, always there. Like, in general, was he, you know, was he he, I don't want to say Shug Naitish, like, was he fearsome or was he cool to get along with? You know, in general, he was, he was very cool. We had an amazing relationship. And he was just always, he was always very supportive. I mean, especially if he liked you, you know, he was one of those guys that, that, you know, if he liked you. And then, you know, Gene Page was the arranger for all those sessions and, you know, the great Gene page. And so there was always just when it was happening, it was, it was incredible. Like, you know, Barry was just, he loved the fact. And

you know, we're making some, some hits in there. So, I mean, he was, he was gracious and appreciative. We wrote a couple things together. I had a song on the 11th limited album called Eason. Okay. And we, you know, he would always end up with his name on everything. You know the write a word, get a third concept. Right, exactly. The side note, does anyone ever remember the bridge to Jay-Z's New York, New York song? Do you remember it? New York, which one?

Exactly. Jay-Z's New York song. Do you remember the bridge to that? New York State of mind? Yes. Concrete. Oh. Do you remember the bridge?

No. Exactly. So, you know, I teased all the time that. Oh, okay. Because when Jay won the Grammy for that, Alicia won two. And I was trying to figure out what the thing was and was like she insisted on adding that bridge so that she too can get right as credit for it. I never knew if that song had a bridge. I knew the hook. Exactly. Exactly. There's a bridge. There's a bridge at it. But conversely, the bridge to don't got, don't stop to you get enough, which was written by Greg Phillingames. Greg Pheligames, yes.

Now that's the, you know, we know that story. And conversely, now that was something that that was worthy of, you know, what, 25%? So it happens. It goes down. With those sessions, Ray told us that Barry tracked everything at the same time. with multiple, I mean, at least for Ray, you know, he would say like sometimes it'd be two, sometimes four guitars playing at the same time.

Absolutely. And that he didn't do a lot of post mixing and none of that stuff. So I'm just trying to figure out, the one question I never got to ask him about that in doing it, is if Barry doesn't do any post mixing once the song is cut, how long do you guys have to play a, song in the studio before the engineer captures the right EQ, the right compression, the right sound. Like someone has to play over and over again while they're like, okay, getting

levels. Right. While you're playing over and over and you're learning the tune and Barry's giving everybody apart, like if you're looking in the studio, literally there's three guitars, there's Ray Parker, there's Wawa, you know, it could be Lee Ritt Nower. Or sometimes Dean Parks, yeah. Dean Parks, I mean, David, he. And so you'd have those guys. He had like a touring band at the time, and they were not really known. So his name was Willie C-stra. But another bass player, because he was on there. The thing I remember about is he was always so nervous, he was sweating from the palms of his hand, you know, because when Barry came around you, there was a force to be reckoned with, you know,

and he'd start singing a part to you. And I, okay, you play bow, bow, bow. bulb, you know, and so he would, he would, so literally, you got a room full of musicians, Barry, there was a Rhodes in the middle of the room, Gene was in there, Ed Green was over on drums, and then he'd go around and sing the part to every guy. And you would literally start to hear a hit being just developed just right before your very eyes. And pretty soon, you're playing this thing like, like for hours. And next thing you know, when you add all those parts and bits and pieces, you know, they hit record. So Barry White didn't read or write music.

No, no. If you said, you said, play me middle C, he wouldn't, he would not know where to go. Really? Really. As many times as I thought, you know, see him at the piano and all that stuff. Even though he was the maestro, you know, but, but I mean, but at the same time, he knew, you know, that's what I love about music anyway, because you don't really have to, you know, be schooled for those notes to come out, you know. And we, we all have the same 12 notes,

like Quincy says, you know, we've got the same 12 notes for to work with. So, are you on the, do you know the, the, the, uh, the stretch of the, the, the, the Barry White discography that you were on at the time? Yeah, that I think one of the first ones that I was on was called the message is love. And it had, um, just the way you are on there. And, and it, um, I, um, A bunch of those tunes. I had, you know, whichever album had ecstasy when you lay down next to me. Just casually that baseline.

You know, and those, you know, that was my first kind of heartbreak in the business. Because, you know, when you're in the studio every day all day, and then you get that album, you crack it open, you look for your name, and it's not there. It was like, produced by Barry Wright, written by Barry White, album concept by Barry White, all songs. and no musicians. And I said, what's up with this? Oh, he doesn't want anybody steal his sound, you know? So you were surprised.

You didn't know ahead of time that your name ain't going to be on. Your name is not going to be on the record. Wow. Really, guys. See, that's why I always thought that, like, Rhythm Arranger and all those other, like, made-up credits is for, you know, we won't give you right as credit or production credit, but we'll just say that you did rhythm arrangement or, you know, just another existence. I mean, Love theme was a gene arrangement to a song.

And the arrangement was so bad that it was so powerful that they took the lyrics off the song and they didn't even finish the tune. Exactly. That was on ABC Wide World of Sports every Saturday. I mean, it was like watching the guy fall down. Exactly. Yeah. No, I remember it. How does one, I'm not saying, I'm not asking like, how does one stay territorial?

but okay so your Barry's go-to guy in your mind if you don't say how high when he says jump in terms of like all right we got a session next week can you make it can you make it who are you worried about that's right around the corner that might take your gig like were you territorial like okay I got Barry White now do you start sifting for other people see if you can go higher and keep Barry White or because I'm trying to figure out like if you're in LA and you're competing against like Chuck Rainey and Lewis Johnson and all those things. I know that mainly producers have their main guy that they always stick with.

Right. But you seem to be the main guy that everyone always sticks with. So how do you, how do you mark your territory to make sure that the next guy behind you doesn't take it in case you get sick one day or? Well, while still being a teenager? Well, the only way to really. really mark your territory is what you leave on the tape, you know. In the studio, yeah.

The notes you play are your marking it. And like Quincy used to always say, if he, to get the call is one thing. To get the call back is the other part of the equation that like. And I never really was too territorial. I was, I was always just so appreciative because I said, man, with all these bad cats in this town, Lewis Johnson and Abe LaBoya, I mean just, I mean, I mean, an A list of players. So whenever I kind of got a gig, I was just going, oh, man, either they weren't available

or, you know, just bring your A game, you know. So that, for me, it was just like, just leave it, you know, leave, leave your mark on the, on the tape. All right. So I want to ask this, hypothetically speaking, all right, let's say Ed Green does not exist. And it's 1974. And I'm Barry White's studio drummer. how much am I getting paid?

How do I get paid? Are you getting paid by the hour? Is it by the song or just by the session? Those sessions usually had a contractor. And as we all know, there's a lot of politics in this, you know, but the contractor was the, he was actually the one getting paid. And so he was like on double scale. And then because he was, he would put him

himself as the leader. Okay. So you had to be AFM? You had to be AFM, yeah. And then so there were two sessions a day. There was 10 to one, two to five, basically. So I see. So there was always someone there to make sure the musicians got paid. Yeah. So it wasn't like Barry was just like reaching in his pocket like, all right, here's $45. No, you didn't get an envelope. It was all, it was all very unionized and and people like Gene Page was there he was there to make sure that happened too

you know so you you got paid and then back in the day everybody would show up to the union and you'd have a stack of checks waiting for you. Right. And by the way, are you on are you on Gene Page's Love Look record?

Love Look. It came out in Atlantic 75 1975. You're not. In all honesty, I'd have to look. Okay, of course. There's over 2000.

I'm thinking no, because I wouldn't forget that, you know. Okay. But there's, you know, when there's been quite a few, you know, they start to blend together. It's hard to keep track. Yeah. Right. I always kind of go to allmusic.com when I went. Oh, wow.

Or even they forget stuff too. Yeah, exactly. So what was your next pivot after Barry? white. Like who's your next? And I can remember when I had to, because I started getting calls from Hubert Laws and and Ronnie Laws and some of the guys in the sort of in the jazz idiom. And I can remember having a call where it landed on the same day as Barry. And I can remember asking because theoretically the way you go from single scale, it'll double is if you have so much work that you, that you have to charge double in order to keep so.

so you could say no to somebody else, you know. So I can remember going to Barry and asking, you know, I said, man, what should I do? And the guy said, well, if you ask him, it's been nice knowing you, you know. They were just like giving me their blessings. But I pulled them aside and I got up the guts and I said, I was just wondering if I could just ask for double scale because I'm getting some other offers. And if I say no to you, you know, then it'll help me say no to them if I get to. double here. So he looked at me. I saw the 357 sitting there on the, on the console. Wow. And he put his arm around me. He said, mate, if you want that, you got that. I mean,

he gave me a big smile and it was like, of course. I mean, these are the moments in music that like people don't know about, you know. But you stay. So that was the, that was the first time. And then, then I was like a double-scale cat, you know, which was cool, you know. That's what's up. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of you. your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. in this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

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On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever. you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really

give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come look for up-and-coming talent. if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall

and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

All right. So are you on any of the Ronnie Law stuff or? Oh, yeah. I want to know if you're on the pressure-sensitive album, but that's with the... That's the, what you call it, sample. Yeah, well, tidal wave is the song we care about. Yeah, always there. Oh, always there.

That's with, that's on French. and strangers, correct? That's on Friends and Sir, yeah. Okay, I see. Again, I'd have to look because it's it's enough decades. It's longer than four decades ago, so I'd have to look. Quite all right, quite all right. When you are booked for a session, do you least get the courtesy of hearing the song first to see that this is something you might be into, or you just kind of jump into it and not know what it's going to wind up being? Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, of the song. It's, it's, you get there and it's baptism by, really? By demo or fire. Wow. And you, so you had to learn these songs on the spot?

On the spot, yeah. Wait a minute. Amir, let me ask Nathan this. What kind of music did you want to make? Like, when you started out, what was the dream? Oh, yeah. No, the dream was all these guys. I remember reading an article that Shaka Khan was talking about. She said, Anthony Jackson is my favorite bass player, because he laid down the gauntlet on all those records. You know, it was the Bible of bass, you know, what he played. And I studied it. But when I read that article, I thought, oh, man, I would like to be everybody's favorite bass player.

Like, that was my dream. And you live in the dream? And I'm still living the dream. I mean, you couldn't make it up, you know, once it started hitting. And January, I remember January 2nd, 1980, I did a Hertz, rent-a-car, jingle, commercial. Gene Page was a composer. James Gatson was on drums. Ray Parker and Lee Rittenauer on guitar.

Sonny Burke at the game. I mean, I'm up there writing in my diary, all these guys, you know, and I worked every day since then because then it was kind of like once these guys hear you, they start going telling people about you. And it was just like stepping songs. And it was crazy that way. And that's your tribe. So that's even crazier. Exactly. So for the musicians that listen to this podcast, and I'm going to try and ask this in a way, so it doesn't alienate or offend them. Fonte already knows where I go.

Come on now. You already know where I'm going. No, but I think this is important. And, you know, this is a battle I always work with because we live in a time now where musicianship is just in the wild. Wild West. And again, and I've talked about gospel chops for a long time where like the gospel chop community sort of sigh. I mean, like, yo man, why are you always coming down on us and playing on?

But and, you know, I don't know if the rules that apply then apply now. Now, I'm just, I'm, I come from a place where, you know, the musicianship of the 60s, 70s and some of the 80s, you know, that's my bread and butter because, you know, it's, you know, it's undeniably classic. However, you know, there's a new generation that sort of feels like the need to go from one, from zero to 60 in four seconds and kind of show you everything, you know, they have, but it's, it's almost like, in your opinion, where do you feel that that script got lost in? Or is this just a natural evolution? And now we just live in a time where you got to do everything but the kitchen sink to impress and keep your job.

Right. Whereas, you know, all the time I tell musicians like, dude, just play. You know, in the beginning, I used to take their stuff away and just like, play this one thing and this one thing only. But like, does someone have to tell you that? Like, what's, I guess what I'm asking is what stopped you from trying to showboat to let people know, like, I'm the shit. just do what's called for. And that's it. Yeah, you know, it's very seductive to want to,

and certain instruments, I think, like piano, like this crazy Olympic fast chops, you know, it kind of lends itself to people wanting to really. But I never wanted somebody to walk away from a gig saying, well, he was the fastest guy ever heard. Right, right. What I actually like to do now is I go down the Instagram feed with the sound off, you know.

So and then, you know, you see everybody playing and, and you try to figure out who's playing something that's worth listening. And very rarely do I, you want to, when I turn it off, you know, is like very few notes. But I learned early on, too, just play the groove and the ink and the, and let it, you know, play that funk. Does that, but does that truly matter? Like, I think all of us in this room right now, like, agree with you. But then it's also like, does that matter anymore? Does it truly matter? Yeah, I think it will always matter.

And the only thing that I base that on is that I'm still, I'm still fairly busy, like really, really busy, you know, where every day, there's something to do after we finish here. I'm running the studio. And I got about four songs waiting. So to me, it's the same concept of, and I remember when Barry said, when the Lynn drum machine came, he said, it's over for drummers, you know. And so, like, it can't be over for drummers that can play, you know, because this is a machine and it will not come up with something that God put in its head by itself, you know. And so I think that regard, but it's tempting, it's seductive when you hear a machine.

to think that that's going to be the way of the world. But when it gets right down to it, just like you, you know, you play every day of your life and that's what you do, you know, and that's what people, that's what I think the humans want to hear, you know. They don't necessarily want to hear a machine. And I don't think they want to hear a person playing like a machine. But isn't that proof in like certain new artists putting, like they still have to dip back.

Like Bruno Marr still got a dip back. Like Anderson has still got a dip back. Like there's just a, there are some artists that see, I'm gonna need this if I'm gonna be funky. And when they dip back, everybody, oh man, if you heard this is the most amazing thing I've heard. Exactly. Like it's new. Y'all remember Child is Gambino? Who's that?

You're right. I'm playing. I'm playing. I'm playing. I'm playing. For you, though, what personally, what do you prefer? Do you prefer studio rats or do you use? prefer like being a road dog?

Which is a great question, you know, because some people are either, either or, I've, I've enjoyed being both, you know. I've enjoyed my life on the road. It comes with experiences and something that, you know, when it's live, there's nothing like that, you know, especially if you're playing, you know, we did live aid, 250,000 people in Philly, you know. There's no feeling like that, you know, and to, look out and see that. But then there's nothing else like being in the studio and hearing your instrument, just like being recorded pristinely by one of the top engineers.

And then when you hear that playback, it just sounds like heaven, you know. And so those are the two kind of sides of the coin of a musician, you know. And I think it's important to have both of those qualities. How did COVID change your workflow in terms of, you know, how did you, you have to shift once the pandemic hit. Yeah, you know, I watched, and I had some very significant touring set up, you know, Eric Clapton had three months in the summer and we were going to do like six Royal Arborate Hall shows and then go to Europe and we had all that plan.

And then I had that. We've seen his tweets. I'm playing. I'm playing. I don't say that. Go ahead, go, go, go. I had a Russian tour, you know, lined up and play. with this Russian orchestra, so I was looking forward to that.

And so I watched, I watched, like, literally the revenue for the whole year that would have tightened me up go right out the window, you know. And when COVID hit, it's like, you are instantly becoming an entrepreneur now. You got some merchandise. Let's talk about it. You get to see how to deal with plan B, you know, and then what you're going to do, whether that's Uber driving or have some friends that had to hit, you know, or coming up with the way, you know, never let a good pandemic go to waste, you know.

Or your voice work because like when you said that, I was like, yeah, you are a voice actor, duh, I hear it. And that's what you do. I was blessed. I did some voiceover work. And since I have a studio, it really came in handy because people send me songs and files. And so I could do that until four in the morning. I end up doing a lot.

Have you written a book? You know what? I have a book in the works. and definitely there's some fun stories. So that's in the works at the moment. No, I was just going to say you could probably just list all the albums you played on and that would be the whole book.

Right, for real. Have you had a session that you were kind of not satisfied with your performance and you're shocked at like, oh, I got away with that or that sort of thing? You know, it's funny. it because are you allowed to like

I'm certain that you're being hired because it's like okay Nathan will be you know Nathan will knock this out in one or two takes won't be that hard let's go through it or you know

have you had a moment where you felt like I could have did better and they were like no no I'm fine with that it's good and then the song blows up you know what's funny

is every everything that I ever hear back I always think I always hear something that I say oh man if I did it again I would have made that little hipper-od. It would just put a little something extra on that note or something.

I mean, everything I hear that I do, I always feel like there's a room for some kind of improvement. But however, you know, when the guys, like when Daft Punk, they did get lucky and they were mixing the bass part. And I actually had a chance to redo that because we recorded the track and then they sent it back and then Nile put his guitar on. and when Nile put the guitar on, that's where the funk just, like,

it just pulled the funk out of the thing. So I asked the guys, I said, you know, if I could have another shot at the bass, and I kind of went from my Bernard Edwards impersonation. Nice. And I was actually happy because they edited everything to the T, but they said, hey, your bass part, we ended up just using most of the one same take, one whole take.

Oh, cool. Wow. which was cool and you know it was funded now that was a fun one to hear and and my kids thought I was cool because I played on it right a question um okay so I guess um for most bass players especially bass players that are coming of it sort of coming of age um in the 70s you being born 55, you would have been 15 years old in 1970. And I'm certain by this point, you were playing, yeah, you were a fully realized bass player by 1970, correct?

Yeah, I think I was like just jumping, getting into the realization. Okay, so that said, can you describe to me what the reaction or what the feeling was when you first heard, thank you for let me be myself again? because, okay, so I have this thing with Christopher McBride about my disdain for songs in E minor because, like, I have an obsession with collecting really horrible funk songs in E minor because, you know, it's like when you're playing E minor, that's the easiest key for a beginner and bass to play. And of course, my thought is that

you're trying to top the Mount Rushmore of E minor, which is basically, thank you for letting me be myself again. Is it play that funky music? Is that a thing on? That's in there, but no, that's, I wouldn't even consider that the Mount Rushmore. I mean, I would consider... Oh, no, it's definitely not round.

I was just trying to think was that the same key? Yeah, yeah. All songs in the key of E. So thank you for letting me be myself. Shining Star could be in there. Shining Star, hair. I would think, well, it's kind of weird because I don't know if I can let Larry in twice. I mean, he's already the alpha. So anything that comes out to think you for letting me be myself, no matter what song in is.

Release yourself, hair. Standing on shaky ground. Right, all those things. But for you, though, did you have a, like, come to Jesus moment when you heard that? Like, what did you make of the sound? Because I always wanted to ask a bass player. that was of age, who knew what bass playing was beforehand, which I'm certain that, you know, James Jamerson was the leader of that.

Yeah. But what was, thank you for let me be myself for you in terms of hearing that? I mean, I'd have to say that was, that was one of the wheels. You know what I mean? It was like, and I can remember the guys in my band, you know, as I said, man, have you heard this cat Larry Graham, you know? And so they came in with Graham Central Station, and they came in with that.

And like you're listening and you're just going, I mean, to be that innovative at that time period where there wasn't too much before that, that said that much, you know. And I love those YouTube now where you can see Sly in the studio listening to those tracks, you know, just going, wow, this is crazy, you know. And so it was a big revelation.

I mean, I'm not going to lie. And E minor, I mean, you know, as a bass player, it's always funk in E, you know, Everybody, Lewis Johnson, he's just hung down. It's just funk and he, you know, I get, I get asked to judge these Battle of the base, base contest sometimes. Oh, no. And you know, you almost, I'd rather have a root canals.

Oh, God, no. I mean, I walk out of there and everybody comes, walks in the room with their thumb out. And, you know, they don't check the tune. They don't check the volume. They just start whacking the base, you know, and it's like funk. and it's like, please, guys. It's like how many ways can they reinvent the wheel? But for you, it's, okay, well, I mean, is there still challenges that have yet to be

discovered or just in terms of the sport of bass playing? Well, if you think about baselines, like for the love of money when Anthony Jackson walked in and saw a D minor on the paper, and he came up with that bass line, you know. Right. And then when you think about, till you come back to me, Chuck Rainey, you know, these are to me where the bass really caresses the song, you know. And if there's one thing that I would tell, and I have students at my online school of bass, and I say, make every single note count.

Don't just go in there and start playing. First you have to listen and know what the song is all about, you know. And we're just part of a big picture. So, you know, when everybody goes in whackin and smacking the base, it's like, really, guys? And I remember Anthony Jackson used to say, if you want slapping and popping, you got to call Marcus. And he said, that cost me $250,000 a year. But he refused to do it. Really?

Yeah. Anthony never played with his thumb at all? you have not heard if you find it if you can find it please did he always did he always play with a pick at least or he used a pick um yeah a pick in his fingers but but i think for the love of money is is with a did it did you know you can hear the pick yeah for you though what is your what is your preferred weapon of choice your thumb what i do is um i grow my i grow my nail just long enough so that i can switch between if i need a little extra percussive sound, I'll hit it with the nail.

And actually that came from an article I read about Chuck Rainey said he did the same thing. So you'd use the meat, the meaty, fleshy part of your finger, you know, get that big fat Jamerson sound. But if you wanted to have a little more percussive, like a pick sound, instead of using a pick, I just use my fingernails. And what is your preferred weapon as far as your bass collections? And one of the basses, like all those songs you named, it's my, It was the predecessor to my signature Yamaha base, but it's called a motion base.

And it's just, we had like this base that they had made for me, and then this box that I used to carry around. And it was like an EQ box that would shave the mid frequencies. And that's been the base I've played on, you know, like countless Anita Baker record. I mean, everything, you know, all those two you name change the world. You get lucky. And so that's my five string. It's the equivalent to my five string signature. It's like a prototype.

What was your, okay, so, you know, there's over 2,000 credits you have, and at least 200 of those songs are like life-changing songs, so, you know, I won't even pick your brain about each and every song, but what was the first song that you recalled out of your comfort zone that you played on? Like, there's a difference between Barry White's Exitacy when you lay next to me and Footloose by Kenny Loggins. so like or was it just a gradual thing where it's like oh a rock gig today or or a pop gig or a yacht rock gig or but what was the first like okay this is out of out of my normal my out of my normal realm of client

clientele well well one of the one of the most challenging records was a wayne shorter joyrider and Patrice Russian played on that. Robin Ford, I think was on guitar. And it's one of those things like Wayne's writing, it doesn't take into account like how the stuff lays under your fingers. It's just these notes that are in a uniquely random order that are amazing.

But you really, I mean, I remember all of us having our heads buried in the music thinking, and I think somebody said, hey, would it be cool to take this home for a couple days and then come and shed it and come back? And they were kind of, because you don't want to, you want to make it sound like you own it when you're playing the music, you know. The song Footloose was a baseline that we had, I had the benefit of playing on the road every day, like for months with Kenny. We'd go practice the tune.

And by the time we recorded it, that was like one take, you know, but it was cool. Early on with Hubert Laws, there was an album called Family. Yes, that's my joint. Bobby Lyle, Chick-Korea was on. there. His sister was singing and Debra was singing. Debra sang.

And that was one of the more kind of challenging. I wrote a song that I played with the electric bass and piccolo played the melody together. It was kind of a little bit of a chopbuster. It's called Wildfire. And the piccolo together.

Yeah. So Piccolo and bass. Yeah. Or separate tracks? And the separate tracks, you know. Oh, I was like, wait a I was thinking. Stanley George's shot.

Yeah. And so it was one of those that, you know, required a little bit of shedding before going in the studio. But for the most part, you go in the studio like sight unseen. And they, you know, they either throw this music in front of you or play a demo, like, you know, one of the many ways to articulate what they want you to play. And you go from there. I was going to ask, are there things that you need for your session that you have to have?

You know, normally it's not a. One of the last things we did, and we, I got to congratulate John Batiste because we did the music for soul and we were in Capitol. Yes, congratulations to you both. Yeah, and we were over there January 2020, like the first week of January 2020, we were in Capital Studio A. And that was interesting because he, I had my upright base. I had my electric upright, my electric bass, and we kind of auditioned all three and we ended up using my, my, my, my electric bass. And we kind of auditioned all three and we ended up using my, my, my upright bass, you know, the real wood base engineer got a fantastic sound out of it. And I was, I was just so proud to see him walk away with the statue.

You know, that was amazing. Yeah, that was awesome. You always bring a choice with you at every session of instrument. If I can, a lot of times, they, if they just say, you know, they may just say bring the electric base, you know. And for baby face, you know. you know, there's probably not going to be a lot of upright playing. Right. All right.

So when you're doing sessions, for instance, with, all right, let's say through the fire, do you mostly, do you have good relationships with the producer that chooses you for the session or is it just? All right. So what was it like working with? I don't hear stories about R.F. Martin. It's hard to pronounce his name. Areth Martin.

Yeah, Areth Martin. Yeah. Because, you know, Shaka's album was such, I feel for you, I'm a landmark album, which was sitting somewhere between the past and the future that was to come, you know, them sort of exploring new sounds and new technology. Were you on that entire record or were you just on through the fire? See, I was on a few.

A few cuts on that I'd have to look, but through the fire was actually produced by written and produced by David Foster. And my buddy, who I share a studio with Tom Keen wrote it, his co-writer on that song. Okay. That was a cool song because David Foster, years before, he came up with this kind of like a solo album of all instrumentals. And that tune was actually on it. I don't know if you heard the metal version. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay, I'll hook you up.

I was through the fire second go-round. Yeah, and so I was familiar with the tune, loved the tune. And so again, you know, to get to play on it, I was, I had a, my heart was already connected to it. And then David was a friend. And so we were, we were having a great time in the studio, you know, John Robinson on drums, I think Mike Landau on guitar, David, on Keys. And so the tune kind of played itself like that.

Every song is unique as we all know. like a song like Tears in Heaven, I always say that that I didn't play that song. It played me because I knew Connor Clapton, beautiful little boy. Right. And just the emotion of going in the studio and recording that knowing what it was all about. You know, I mean, I don't even remember the notes I played. And, you know, like I say, the song kind of just plays you. Are there two versions of, is there a studio version of Tears in Heaven and the unplugged version?

or is it just one definitive? Yeah, there's two. The studio version is on a soundtrack called Rush. Yes. Yeah. That was Jennifer Jason Lee joined. Yeah.

Yeah. And you did both versions. Were you on the, I'm plug one too? Yeah. So you play with Ferroni. Okay. I see. Yeah, when I, I think when I first met you,

I'm sure that we met before, but the first time I really got to talk to you, we were in a carousel, and it was one of the most surreal. gigs of my life because it was at the time you were playing with Toto correct right yeah yeah so it was it was Toto Dina Ross right the roots Prince wow right and the roots oh and Los Lobos and yeah what's this the one the one fest in London or something they'd be real no it was it was okay

what's what's the event what's the festival in Rotterdam. It's the North Sea Jazz Festival. Okay, it was like, because Carousel is sort of occupied by connected, yeah. Yeah, the Netherlands, like, it's the North Sea Jazz Festival

before Carousel. I was going to act like I knew where that was. Y'all kept saying that. And is it slightly between like South America and it's somewhere in the middle of nowhere? Right. It's not Europe and it's not South America.

It's like that, you know, like, it's like way below Cuba okay so they brown they're brown there yeah they're kind of brown Jose James was on that yeah there was yes there was a lot but just that was the one because we were there for I think

four days before the gig even started like I thought it was weird that we all came out early yeah me too to hang I've never done that usually I get there the day of the gig do the gig and I'm out and I'm out and then I'm like wow one you'll never catch me, uh, swimming or in the beach, but yet here I am swimming in the beach like, and I'm

talking to, you know, to Toto and, and, you know, like, everyone, everyone's there. So yeah, wait a minute. Was Journey also on that gig as well? They may have been on that gig as well. Wow. Yeah. I, okay. So I'll bet you I could find the poster or something of that gig because I try to save, you know, all the, all the information. But I mean, it was like all these people, You know, I sat next to Dyn and Ross on the flight back home. It was crazy. Really? Yeah.

So we got to talk. It was incredible. Yeah, it was a very, it was a very surreal, surreal gig. Even like the fact that Prince was so accessible. It was like, wow. Prince was kind of weird. Everybody stayed up to see Prince's, I mean, it was unbelievable. Prince was so killing that he did an additional two hours.

That was the Roots time. Oh. Oh. Oh. So on Prince's side of the stage, there's like 60,000. people, one more song, one more song. And then on our side of the stage, it was like

300 people. I mean, and if Prince wants to go overtime, what promoter is going to get mad at him? You know what I'm saying? Right. We told the promoter, what do you want us to do? Because Princeton took our time. He's just like, just do the seat and go home. So literally like, we did

we did three songs. We did the next movement, you got me. The scene. It's like, all right, good night, people. You literally heard like a golf clap like. It's a promoter's dream. Like Prince will not get off the stage. Right. Unbelievable.

Dude, I wasn't, we were over there watching him. And there was like, oh shit, we got to go on stage. Like, and I'm asking, I'm literally asking him backstage. Like, are you doing another encore because I got to run to the other stage? And, all right, I'm going to do one more. I'm just like, okay, well, there's no more Root Show. But when you're in that situation, like, especially with legacy bands and whatnot, how often, like, with Toto.

I'm certain that you're not just doing it for that gig, but do they hire you for like a year duration, or is it just like for this particular tour? Yeah, that particular tour was, they actually called me and said, you know, Mike Piccaro, who's the bass player, is suffering with ALS. And what we would like to do is go on tour

and raise some money to help him with his medical expenses. So this was the tour where it was just from the heart, You know, and these guys, I know 30 years and those are all my boys. And so we got together and the proceed from the tour was going to his family to help him. Because he at that point, he was, you know, he was off the circuit. Well, okay, speaking of like, Toto, can you explain the sort of the somewhat stranglehold that they had on just a particular sound and sign? Like, I know, I'm not insulting when I say, like, oh, yacht rock or whatever, because, like, I'm a really big fan of all that Michael Master, Yamaha DX-7, fretless bass sound. Like, I like, you know, easy, like, I love that yacht rock stuff.

But, I mean, at the time when you're doing it, when you're doing it in real time, like, between that period of, like, 81 and 87, when this new sort of L.A. glossy, sound sort of takes over. Like, are you realizing that sonically, it's a little bit different than what was kind of like with the grid of the 70s sound? Like, did you notice a change? Yeah, I mean, it, and they got, they got beat up for, oh, they're so slick.

They got beat up in the beginning, but now it's like, in hindsight, I love the shit out of that sound. So it's like, it's almost like Revisionous History. Like, yeah, I always loved Africa and Rosanna and all those things. Right. But like, were they, were they

the, who was who was the and it's always like some up for debate like who's technically the first yacht rock, smooth L.A. sound. Like people say like, whoever the the producer was of a Captain and Teneal's love will keep us together. Like many

will cite that as the first moment in 1973 where it's suddenly like the Neil Sedaka does it and then right but you know at the time when you're gigging in LA like what was the basic perception of like the the the procaro guys like oh they're some badass motherfuckers or like absolutely and you know and and back in the day too you like you had A&M studios you know where the carpenters you know and there were there were all these like very very lush kind of sound and record it's funny I was over there the other day we were doing a Mary Clayton Tiny Desk concert.

Nice. Yeah, and it was really cool. But every time I go in there, it just takes me back because, I mean, I was in there. I did Johnny, I did Johnny Mathis with a 50-piece orchestra. I did Dionne Warwick. A lot of people in there. You know, Don Henley. I mean, so many, you say the 10,000 hours, like, like, we all have 10,000 hours in a lot of studios, you know.

And the total. The TOTO project, if you think about every one of those guys has such a powerful individual voice on their instrument. I'm Steve Piccaro. My man wrote, he wrote Human Nature from Michael Jackson, and you can hear in those chords, that's Steve Piccaro, you know, one guy plays like that. David Page, same thing, very powerful personality. And those guys were, like all of us, you know, students of music, they studied, they studied sly and everything, you know. So, When they went in the studio, those were the standards that they kept,

you Jeff McCarrow. You know, these are some bad, they're LA finest, basically, you know. And so they went in and you listen to, you listen to Africa now and those songs like, hold the line. And so it was fun for me because as soon as, as soon as they asked me to play, you know, it was like playing on top 40 band. He played great songs and Rosanna. And, you know, I, I could.

couldn't never really figure out why they were getting such a bad rap. Oh, they're too slick. And, you know, I mean, what, you're getting punished for trying to have a good sound and come up with some good tunes, you know? A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my. my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

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It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up. through and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah.

He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat just. hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, so oftentimes if I get asked to do a gig, nine times out of ten, I'll ask, like, well, if I think they're hiring me because of a certain sound that I had, then I'll recommend

them. Well, you should go to this studio because this is where I recorded this particular record. This is where you'll get the sound. Yeah. Right. You'll get the sound that you want. How much control do you have over like the sound and the texture of what

you want or you just got to trust the engineer and the producer and that's it. You know, Al Schmidt, who we just lost and worked to Capitol a lot and we Warner Brothers used to have a studio and that we did when we first started foreplay.

The first real forplay album was a Bob James album. called Grand Piano Canyon. And that was what he called me, Harvey Lee, Lee Rittenauer. And actually, Harvey Mason and Lee Rittenhauer both recommended me when he asked about who should I get on bass, you know? So the four of us got in that quartet. There's a song called Restoration.

I call that the first four-play song. It's on that album. And Al Schmidt recorded that. And I used to take that recording around to O'Shea and Sunset Sound Ocean Way and say, guys, my bass sounds like this, you know. Oh, yeah. Because, you know, like, your drum, you could play in 10 different studios,

and it'll sound like 10 different guys, you know. And I can't ever figure out, like, how does the same instrument translate so differently in different studios, you know? So whenever possible, yeah, I'll recommend, and one of my favorites spent tons of time in was Ocean Way Studio. Oh, okay. We did the first, well, we did so much stuff there, but first four play record, but we used to record there with Lionel Richie.

We did, we did Kenny Loggins Love Will Follow. I mean, tons of, I did. One of the things I'm most proud of is we did a song called If You Think You're Lonely Now, Bobby Womack. Yeah, I was going to say, you were on the monster song, yeah. Ocean Way Studio a day. And it's funny is all these tunes, I can remember, I could kind of just remember being there. It's almost like the day.

And so that being one of my mom. my favorites, you know, when I went to go my solo album, you know, where did I go Ocean Way, which is now called United Studio. Oh. Have we recorded there, Steve? Yeah, we did podcasts there.

Yeah. We did like three of the studios he dropped so far. A&M. Yeah. Okay. And capital. Those are the big ones, Capitol. I have a question, Nathan.

At any point in your career, did you mess with Key bass? You know, playing bass. on a keyboard. You know, there was a, there was a, oh, sorry, there was a time in the Algerow days that he had a couple tunes that had key bass on. Like, uh, boogie down. Yeah, like boogie down.

There was one I can't right, quite remember the name, but it was, that is like really funky key base. And so, uh, so I got, darked in, the roof. Yeah, the roof. That's my jam. That's my jam with you're not. I love him so much. I loved him so much.

I couldn't even like him, but I'm trying to get that in now. From Milwaukee, you know. Yes, yes. Used to call me Naifamese. Naifamese. Naifamese. Naifemise.

Nateful. Wait, Nathan, can I ask, have you ever worked with Tommy La Puma? Yes, many, many, many times. Okay. Have you worked with him between, like, the error that you work with him was at least between 75 and 85? Yes. Okay. Tommy Lapuma has such, he has such a distinct sound.

He has a very distinct sound with his production for all of his stuff, for his Al Jaro's stuff, for any record that he produces that I'm almost under the impression that whatever studio he used, he kept it on. one setting and never ever adjusted. Because it's, to me, it's, it's so like, even with the stuff they did with like Brenda Russell and. Oh my God. There's a sound that he gets in his base and his Fender Roads where I instantly know. That's Tommy. That's Tommy.

Well, first of all, Tommy, Tommy LaPuma would start every session off with lunch at Beach. You know, so like, you would, like, he was more concerned about taking. making everybody to lunch and get the best bottle of wine in the place. And then once you got that, then you were cool. Let's go make some music. Is this another Quincy fake out? Do you know Quincy's theory about this? No.

So Quincy does the same thing. He wants the sessions late at night and he wants the guys to have theitis and to be a little tipsy and somewhat sleepy. And then he'll start usually at one in the morning because he knows. that any arguments. Your brain is in the... Yeah, yeah, you're not thinking. You're tired and all that stuff.

So he purposely will track important things between like one and six in the morning because like you're not as alert and you won't challenge him on something and overthink and overplay. I've had many sunrise services with Quincy, by the way. And Al Jouro for that matter. But, you know, it's funny because Stevie is the king. You know, he called. Well, he just show up late. You know, he, his time, he marches to a different.

I mean, we recorded the last record. It was me, Ricky Lawson, and him in the studio. And he got to take at 4 a.m. And I remember thinking, oh, man, I got, I got a 10 a.m. with Jay Graydon on something. Man, he doesn't care. Nope. And, but, but yet, you know, getting back to Tommy,

I mean, he was that guy that, he wasn't the kind of producer that told you, hey, I need an A flat on the third bar of the, you know, of the bridge, you know. But he, he just knew how to put people together. And to this day, Anita Baker will tell you the record she did with him is sonically, her favorite record. Giving you the best that I got? No, it was, um, was it rhythm of love?

I think it's rhythm of love. I'll have to check. It was the one would I apologize. I apologize and body and soul. It was the one that came out in 94. I think Fonte went on record and saying that was his favorite. It's not my favorite. I think my favorite was compositions.

Yeah, compositions. I was going to say we had the most fun on compositions and fair tales being one of my favorite tunes. 11 minutes long. Bill and Gaines is going acting a fool at the end and Ferroni. You know what it is? Okay. Well, one, her. entire discography is not available for streaming.

I know. So I really, I can't even lay judgment. I mean, I have a cassette somewhere, but it's like, I haven't touched my cassettes in eons. So, you know, for me, I'm just like, no, rapture, nothing else. But you're, well, I mean, songstress was, was the, was our first time in the studio together and, and that the song, Angel. You're on songstress? Oh, yeah. That's you on angel? Yeah. Of course you. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Hey, my, really? I from day one

I love it wow yeah what was her producer the guy Michael J. Powell what was he like because I've always

you know read stuff about it Michael J. Powell the great gentle giant and the greatest I mean one of the greatest producers ever I we speak

we speak from time to time and and again a producer's producer that's really really soft spoken but knew what he knew what he needed and got the best out of everybody, you know,

and put some great cats together, you know. All right. So without naming names, because I know there's always two sides to a coin. Right. Have you ever been in a situation where it was kind of like amateur hour with the producer, like he didn't know what he's doing

or not too communicative with knowing what they want it? Every now and then you get those guys that you say, how did they get to be the producer for this important project, you know? And one of the things those kind of producers do, and I have to give it to their credit, is they'll call the cats, you know. And one guy who will remain nameless,

but we were in and Jeff Piccaro was playing drums. And after every take, he would look to Jeff, and Jeff would either say, yay or nay. That either was the take or wasn't. You know, and that's how you would determine if you do another take again. But I mean, for the take, you'd look at you. the most part and a lot of people say oh there have been some some session that you've hated but

for the most part i've enjoyed all of them and been blessed with like some really talented gifted producers how how do you know if a session is bad like if you have to spend more than an hour on a particular song or yeah if you're beating up on a song and next thing you know everybody's looking up at their watch and you don't have a take And like you keep trying and then the takes just get worse. And I mean, for whatever reason, maybe it wasn't in the song. But, you know, even up till recently, you know, sometimes people bring a song in and somebody is saying, oh man, this isn't really a great song, but they'll have, like, if you got filling gains on keys,

he's going to make the first. Different color. Yeah, he's going to. And I was telling David Foster the other day, I'll never forget. And of course, Quincy is the, you know, one of the top guys ever. But we were doing Patty Austin, James Ingram, how do you keep the music playing? Mm.

Drop it, drop it, Nathan, drop them. Oh, come on now. But we were in there and we don't have, just like Quincy said, well, we don't have an intro for this. And anybody, and David Foster literally, he has his legs closed and he says, cross and he goes, what about this? And he plays the intro exactly what you hear on the record.

Oh, God, just that's what I did. Yes, David Foster, Lord. Okay, speaking of which, and I'm sorry, Fonte, I feel like I'm about to steal your question, but I gotta ask. Okay. The intro to after the dance. Ooh, that's my question.

Foreplay after the dance, El DeBarch. Yes. I feel like that intro to me is the, probably the first thing that I think of if I start thinking of like smooth jazz FM. Yes, yes. It just reeks of it. It's such an earworm.

It never leaves you. So it's not like I have an opinion on it. It's not like, oh, that's my favorite. Or I hate that intro. But it's like it lives in my head rent free. That was my favorite. Who came up with that intro and why? Because I can't get rid of it.

Bob James. You know what? And that's the same thing. That's what he just said, how about, you know, he always writes everything else. And he says, stand by and he writes this. He says, how about this? and you play it. And now I'll go on record saying that's probably my favorite intro.

Wow. Of course, you know, only second to minute by minute by Michael McDonald's right. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, before that, Nathan, can you tell the story of Nathan East and Bob James? Because, like, how did that marriage come together? And when did y'all know it was like, right? Like, you don't know. We knew we had something special on Bob's record.

And he was an A&R. He was an executive at Warner Brothers Records when we did his. solo album. So he said, guys, I could, I could propose this to the Warner Brothers. He said, I think we could get a deal right away. He came back. And, and, you know, they didn't even have to hear a demo or anything. There's a sign. And when we did our first session, we showed up at Ocean Way. And there was Mo Austin, Michael Austin, Lenny Warner. I mean, the big, the Morgan Brothers, where they beat us to the studio. They were excited. That excited. Dang. How was Moe Austin as an executive man i've heard like a lot of stories about him but how was he you know the last of the mohicans

you know he was really record when you look up record executive there's his picture right there you know and uh but that that was like uh our first you know and it's it's it's here it is 1990 19 1991 and we go in the studio and and when bob wrote that intro i just said bro and but of course like he wrote you know that crazy arrangement of uh feel like making love And matter of fact, he had a hit with that instrumentally. And Roberta Flack had a hit with it. I mean, it was like a hit at the same time on two different formats. Right, right.

And so it's been, you know, and believe it or not, we're having our 30th anniversary right now, you know. Yeah, in my mind, my child mind, you're like the best of friends and y'all eat together, y'all have Sunday dinner. Oh, no, we're brothers. We're brothers without a doubt from another mother. And, you know, we've had a chance to have a chance of you to go around the world together and just have, you know, have the best time.

And so he's actually, he and Greg are actually godfathers to my son, Noah, who plays King's. Wow. And now, man, I was going to ask you about Noah, but I wait until we talk about. And now me and Noah, we want to do a record because we've been playing a couple of gigs over the weekend. We played in Omaha for Walter Scott Jr.'s 90th birthday celebration. And we had the best time ever. and you know David Foster was there and all

all the guys and and he's turned into one of my favorite musicians man. The four play catalog man that for me like the between the sheets album and the Elixie album those came out when I was in high school and so I used to do my homework to those records and like

chant was my joint, Elixir. I love those joints and y'all like I noticed like Lee Writon hour he was on those records and then the guitarist y'all switch what was the reason for the changing personnel yeah i think after three records lee lee really got um into the more of the executive branch of the of the record record business in one of his friends and he and dave grusin and and g r p g r p yeah larry rosen he started getting

busy with kind of doing doing records on the executive level level and so that takes up so much time too. Yeah, y'all record the joint, the, um, the Phil Collins, the why can't it wait till morning? Man. And y'all, tell me about that session, man. I love that. You know, we sent that over to Phil. Um, I called Phil's manager and, uh, you know,

it's great when these guys are your friends, too, but I called Phil's manager and, uh, uh, secretary answers upon him. She said, uh, she said, what's this regarding? I said, as far regarding for play, they said, well, I don't know if he can help you with that, but, um, I'll get. I'm not sure that he, but I mean, he, we sent, and we wanted to do something obscure. So we kind of found this song that wasn't necessary, like it wasn't a number one pop hit, but I can't wait till morning.

It was a little obscure, and we sent him over. And again, Bob came up with this brilliant arrangement. We sent it over, and he went into his studio, put the vocal on. And when he sent it back, we all sat in the studio and cried, you know, it was just like, what is this? Nah, that's a gorgeous song, man. Yeah. There was a singer that, there was a singer that Lee used to work with a lot. Eric Tag.

Did you ever do any sessions with him? Yes. Dude, what was he like, man? Because he's like one of my favorite singers ever, but he's solo key. I don't even know if he's still making music now. Yeah, no, he's a monster. He sang like Stevie Wonder, too, you know. Yes, yes, real, big Stevie influence.

He was from, he was from Texas. Mm-hmm. Really great guy. And he was in Lee's band. I remember when I, Lee's band was one of the first ones I was in. First time I went to Japan was with Lee and, you know, Eric was in those bands. You know, that's the thing I love about music. There's so many great people out there that a lot of people haven't even heard of.

But, you know, this. It was something about the way y'all pulled stuff out of people. We were talking about that earlier about the Michael McDonald record. I was like, the way that Michael was singing on that record but just felt different. Michael's different. Yeah, yeah. We know that. Michael's different.

If I could have a voice, it would be his, you know, and then I really enjoyed his, his Quest Love Supreme Court podcast, too. He's so down. He sang on my first solo album. We did a version of Moon Dance, you know, like a big band version. Yeah, yeah. Came in and crushed this record.

Yeah, what's the process of picking the songs to reinvent? because I was just listening to a song you did with Bob. It was, oh, and Vince Gill. Oh, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Yeah, from crazy. Everybody knew that.

I was singing. This is Quest Love Supreme, Nathanese. You do our homework. You guys are unbelievable. But, yeah, how do y'all decide which songs to reinvent? Which in your mind, are you thinking, this is how I always heard it? Or, man, if I could only touch it, this is what I was. There's a story behind every song.

And if you can apply that answer, to your arrangement to Sir Duke. I would appreciate that because we still haven't forgive you. We still have not forgiven you for that. It's some genius shit. To this day, we've studied it so much that it never loses. First of all, you can't, like, you can't touch a Stevie song. Like, if you're doing a Stevie song, it's, it's already the Bible, you know, so you do that.

But then for some weird reason, like, right in the middle of the studio. I said, what if we, when we got to this part, we just changed like every four bars. Wait, let me, let me explain to put in perspective. And I feel like I got to go listen to it because I forgot about it. Yeah, like, you know, he's taking, he's taking songs you know and sort of putting a new spin on it. So the song that he really did that to was there's an arrangement of Sir Duke, of which that horn part is very intricate just as is. Anyway.

And what he decided to do was to just modulate, in some sort of non-sequitur way, modulate the key into keys that aren't supposed to fit. So in other words, instead of the regular, and the same kid, he goes to another key. And then another key. So you basically have to transpose

every four bars. is a new key that's not related to what you did before. And then you did mad at this Stevie song. So it's like, there's no rhyme or reason. Literally, it's kind of random, just like pulling them out of the air and saying, oh, well, that works. And then, okay, we got to get back.

So what will we end? Which one? You know, so the first one, you know, is the original, the last one has to lead you back. And then the other two, heaven knows with it. I'll put it this way. I'll put it this way. Hip Hop heads,

if you're familiar with, most Yassim Bays Casa Bay song and the constant switching This has nothing on that song We I mean we practiced Casa Bay like maybe

As a whole song An hour straight But this one part of that Stevie Wonder song Oh God That was almost like a two hour nightmare thing Oh that's true about that guy I'm glad we survived it It was fun hitting it with you.

No rhyme or reason. There was no song that y'all picked, and y'all were like, yeah, no, this is why I want to do. You know, no, Stevie, and I realized that everything I've ever recorded, I had Stevie, I've done like at least two or three Stevie. Yes. We did Overjoyed, which came out of, I do these sting rainforest benefits. We do in the Carnegie Hall every year. And Stevie was on one. And I was just fooling with the changes of overreaching.

rejoined on bass. It's kind of like at rehearsal when nothing was happening and I'm kind of trying to figure him out. And next thing you know, I hear harmonica. And now he's playing. And now I look up there, Sting, Elton John, Bonnie Rae. They're all just standing there looking. Like looking on and I'm going, oh, Lord. And as I'm learning the changes, Stevie is playing and we get to the end and, you know, they all give, they all start clapping. Then Stevie comes over and says, if you ever record that, call me, I want to play on it. So that was my next question. Some of the responses from these revisions, can you share?

Like, what have been those? Like, I wish I would have done that, Nathan. I wish you would suggest it. Well, I mean, if Stevie offers to play on your record, you have to do it. Right, right, right, right. Man, I could have had Stevie on my record, you know. So he came and blessed the record. And the way we did was we recorded a track.

And then when I played on his record, I brought the track over. And then he, you know, two in the morning, he popped that on. one take. See you later. Wow. Because he wrote it. Really? All right. A former Quest Love Supreme guest that we just had was El DeBarge.

I know your name is on the In a Special Way album, but do you recall anything from that DeBard session? Do you know what songs you played on? Are you on Stay with me? Are you on Time? Roll Reveal. Are you on a dream? You know, I'm embarrassed.

This is, this, dude, man, don't be embarrassed. Many records you don't been on. It's called greatness, Nathan. You're on one of those songs. There's an album called, did he do an album called Gemini? Yes, indeed, yes. Yep. Do you know?

Yeah. That one, we did the whole thing and there are few songs that really like stand out in my mind like, broken dreams. Okay. And, uh, turned away. I mean, check, check out these tunes. these are elder barge at his finest writing style you know and and and I'd have to look on the on the other one because back in those days you were just ripping and running in and out of

Motown studios and these studios and literally everything was like a machine you know and I know Freddie Washington's on on at least yeah the Freddie yeah the reason why I asked was because the other two names on base were already Freddie Washington right but But then James James Jamerson, Jr. And Jameson Jr. I didn't realize that James James Jameson, Jr. had a career as a professional basis on records. You know, I didn't know that.

So I was trying to figure out, like, what songs were yours and what songs were. Yeah, he was getting called. And sometimes it's a little unfair because the way they listed, they just, they would have bass and they'd have three names. So you wouldn't really know who played what, unless you were very familiar with their style. But speaking of James James James, at that very studio that we used to record at Motan, one day somebody asked me to replace a Jameson part.

And that's the only time I've ever refused to play a part because I am not going to replace James Jamerson. Right. Please. Are you the type of, can you shape-shift your sound? So if I say like, okay, I want to go for something more, more pastoral sounding and you're like, okay, well, I know exactly how to approximate that sound. Absolutely.

It's like, you know, it's like drawbars on the Hammond. You know, you can go from church to jazz, you know, and everything in between, you know. But on the bass, if I want to go for the jackal sound, I go for the back pickup, you know, which is what he used to do. And then, of course, I have Fender Jazz basses, Yamaha. I mean, I have a lot of bases that we can just get different sounds on. So yeah, that's, and that's one of the fun things to do. You know, you listen to the song, figure out, you know, what does this song call for?

Oh, I was going to ask, who was some of your favorite players? Like, who were the guys that you learned from and that you learned from when you were younger and some of the guys that you still pick up stuff from now? Yeah, I mean, the guys I mentioned in early on, it was like Verdeen White from Earthwind, you know, Rocco from Tower of Power, James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, Ron Carter, Charlie Mingus. I mean, it was like... Just the best. So many, yeah, only the best.

So many great guys, Anthony Jackson, Marcus. Marks Miller, yeah. Abe LaBoyal, you know, Jocco, of course. So excluding your foreplay guys, who would you pick in your starting five lineup? Like career retrospective,

who's on drums? Wow. Who's on drums? And you play with the best. Dead or alive? Yeah, dead or alive. Who did you gel with the, like what drummer brought the best out of you? I'll tell you, I have to say Jeffrey Piccaro.

If you listen to a song called Lady Love Me by George Benson, Areef Martin produced it. Is that on 2020? Love me? I think so. 85, yes. I know this song, yes. Okay.

You know the song? Yes. Listen to the fade. And what you hear in me and Jeff, it sounds like two kids playing in sandboxing. I mean, it was like, it was, and he was just, every time we walked in the studio and saw each other, we just started smiling. I mean, we did, we did everything from Maurice White's solo album, B.G.'s, Barbara Streisand. We did Randy Newman, I Love LA, all that kind of stuff. Oh, wow.

Wow. Oh, wow. Okay, I was going to ask you next. We love it. In doing, and doing, why do I feel like you're more or less referring to what's her name's video of that as opposed to the actual song? Right, right. Oh, wait. No, Chris Jenner made out.

Oh, no, no, no. You're allergic to that name. Oh, they're original. I love L.A. Right. But I'm only asking because that's one of my favorite Randy Newman. albums ever. And

Real Emotional girl is like one of my all-time favorite songs. Oh, I'm an idiot. That's not David Lee Roth, the original. I'm an idiot. Yeah, no, people, Randy,

Randy was first. But yeah, what were your memories of doing that the Randy Newman album? You know, the memories was, basically that was, that was the entire total band, you know. David Page,

Luke 3, Lenny Castro was playing percussion Steve McCarrow I mean it was like Jeff Piccaro it was literally and those guys were the go-to guys for everybody when Eric Clapton came to record his first

one of the album it's called Behind the Sun in L.A. The Warner Brothers guys said okay use our guys and there you go again Jeff Carl, Philling Gaines Lukather Michael O'Mardi and I mean it was like the the session aces of that that time. So that was, the Randy Newman record was just amazing because he'd sit around the

piano and he'd show it to tunes. And then we just start go cutting. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. this new season of The Girlfriends. Oh my God, this is the same man.

A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target.

He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wadam. My next guest, you know from

Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever.

I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come, look for up-and-coming talent,

He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there.

Yeah. It would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot in luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There's two guys that I often see their names on credits, but they're not in the total circle because, of course, the page cats, but. Right. Did you work a lot with, like Bill Wolfer or Michael Bodkich, Michael Bodiker?

Bodiker, at all? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And Michael Boddicker was another one Those names, you'd look on all these records And there's Michael Botiker Prince John George Benson Give me the night There's Michael Baudiker, you know, like all these records

And I did several several things with him Including the Academy Awards Yeah, he was down We were down underneath the stage Wait a minute, guys I knew I know this is going to be an episode

We always have like a post-mortem thing where we finish an episode and then we start getting mad because we forgot. Oh, I forgot the asshole. We forgot to ask. It's not a choice with Nathan. That's going to happen regardless. I believe, I was trying to sit here and figure out, like,

what is the ultimate signature bass performance you've given on a record? I'm praying this is you. Are you playing bass on Dennis Edwards, don't look any further? Yes, sir. Yes, indeed. Yeah, yeah. You want to be here, you won. Okay, you win.

What do we have for? Yes. I can't believe. That's the one thing I did. Yes. That's the one thing I did do my homework. I was just like, wait a minute. We do not get paid in full without that song.

Wow. Yeah. Dude, I totally forgot. I was like, I know he has a signature song that is like a tattoo that's worth forgetting about. You know that. You know that is just incredible to me. This is perfect. Fitting the pieces. We had Saida.

This is great. psychologist. But it's such an iconic baseline that did you write that baseline or was it just like, like it's such a baseless thing. Did you get right as credit for it or did they tell you this is what you're playing? The baseline is the hook of that song. It's a combination. And that's one of my favorite lines.

It's a combination of what was already, it was basically already there. And so I was I was the executioner of that line. Wow. So did you, how many times did you work with, because you mentioned Dennis Lambert, did you work with them at all after that? Yeah, lots. Yeah. And Dennis, I mean, you know, it was a very fertile period. I mean, we're talking, you know, I'm just thankful that we were born at a time like the 70s, 80s, 90s where music was just, it was so fertile. I mean, there was so much music. Now, I had a, somebody sent me a picture of a piano with two keys on it the other day. And then the captain was. Because they used to write a tune out. Pretty much.

And like, you almost get penalized for having too many chords now. You know, where this, you had lines, bass lines, you had chords, you had melodies. And so, you know, another one of those baselines that it was the Elda Barge. That's what I was saying, a dream. Okay, that is you. Okay, good. But all of these, do, do do do do do do do do do do.

I mean, and I'll never forget, you know, being in the studio that day knowing that this one is special, very special. Okay, I was going to ask. You win. All right, good, Steve. Ask the question. Hit it.

It's your question. He never answered it at the dream lineup. We only got to the drummer. We didn't get to the other. Way to go, Steve. Way to referee. Way to go. Yeah.

Greg Philly. games. Okay. That's your keyboard player. That's your keyboard player. Who's your guitarist? We got guitars. I have to say, and this is, you're gonna, you're gonna, you may, you may laugh at this one, but Pat Mathini is my favorite guitar player. Yes. Yes. I wouldn't, I'm not mad at that. Wait a minute. Uh, spring isn't here. Not even. How many, how many, how many Mathini albums are you on? None. you're not okay I'm not on a single

Mathini that's that's my bucket list yeah that is okay wow story really yep we uh we played a we played a concert for uh we did this thing at Dodger stadium

it was Elton John and Eric Clapton and Mathini came and Steve and I quoted one of the songs that Steve's playing on it's in 7-4 and Steve and we started playing that during a solo and Pat went crazy you know it was like you know 50 thousand people out there. We saw Pat giving his wife a high-fi when we played this tune. But, you know, Pat, he's just, he's just a consummate musician. And I've always, he's always been one of the

guys on my bucket list to play with, you know, to record with. We've played together, kind of jammed up at his place on the Upper West Side. But I've never had the pleasure being on one of his records. Of course, George Manson. I mean, and then, you know, as bands go, you know, if you look at, you know, We lost, for play lost, Chuck Loeb, who's ours, you know. The guy could do no wrong by me. He could play funk, jazz, rock, and, and on top of all that, he was the sweetest guy. So, you know, Chuck, I think about him every day. When did he pass?

When did Chuck pass? 2017. Yeah, okay. Nathan, can I ask what musicians or music you and Noah talk about? What does he put you on to since he is, like, an amazing musician, so? Well, you know, he's amazing. Well, of course, everybody's, you know, onto Jacob Kaya. So he's like, he's like phenom of phenoms.

But we, you know, we go with Herbie. And I look at his, you know, because he goes to the, not only does he go to University of California, but Berkeley, but he goes to YouTube University. Well, yeah, you started him there. And he studies, you know, Billy Preston, go, you know, and people like, Billy and

Herbie you know he's kind of all over the map you know with everything and he love we do one of our favorite songs to play Sunny Side of the Street you know which is a 60 year old song that Louis Armstrong

sang back in the day so he knows everything but then we we love Al Jaro and you know kind of kind of A to Z I mean he's just a musical musical guy. Yeah by the It looks at YouTube, but like you had a baby music genius on you. So I'm sorry I was.

Well, you know, he has perfect pitch and he not only does. He's not one of these guys that like if he look, you're going to hear a million Olympic chops, you know. But he's got heart and soul and the choices, you know. It's the it's what you don't play. It's the space you leave that makes it special, you know. And that's what I, I'd like to see a lot of the younger guys kind of understanding because, you know, now I just, you start scrolling. and it's like you just hear everything. A to Z in the first bar.

Right. Steve, do you want to ask the question or should I go? Well, actually, I'm curious about you said you played it live in Philly. Was that with Phil Collins? That was with Kenny Loggins. Oh, Kenny Loggins. Yeah. You're also very well known for playing with 1885.

And. So, Kenny Lawton put a set at, in Philly at Live Aid. Yeah. Yeah, but you're, I guess you're, you're, implying that my obsession with Easy Lover and your association with Phil. How many Phil Collins, that was a Philip Bailey album that that song was on? Yeah, you know, it was a Philip and my relationship with Philip is what got me on the gig, Phil Collins, he was going to be the producer, and Philip said, hey, I want to bring, I want to bring

Nate East over to London with me. And so, yeah, you know, so we, we went to London and recorded that in townhouse. And you co-wrote that song, correct? Yeah, we wrote that song. It was the last song that we recorded. It was like, after two weeks of recording, and Phillips said, man, we still need like an undeniable single. And we went to, went over the piano, and about 20 minutes later, that came out. Wow. Just 20 minutes later? Yeah, and what it was, we kind of like had the,

we had all the parts. And we said, let's make a demo over the track. And then tomorrow we'll listen to the demo and come back. And so we made the demo the next morning, we put it up. And George Massenberg was the engineer. He recorded.

We played it. And everybody liked it. What's wrong with that? Let's go with that. And then I heard Phil Collins kind of singing and these choosy lover was the name, you know, was the lyric he was singing. But as he was singing,

I said, man, his voice sounds like I said, man, why don't you guys just do it as a duet? Okay. Really? Yeah. Nathanese, everyone. It was a Phil Bailey record, you know, but then you could hear like Phil's voice.

And at that particular week, the song Against All Odds was number one, Phil's first number one. And it was like number one on the charts. So it was like, this is a no-brainer. The two of them is a do-it. And man, I used to hear it on like three radio stations at once. It's still one of the greatest. So that was, I love that song.

That was, that allowed me to kind of solidify my, my standing with the folks I bought in my house. And finally they said, you know, because you know, your parents were saying, yeah, but you should have something fall back on. Get a real job. Right. Yeah, your dad had a whole job. I still can't repeat.

Arrow something. Blah, blah, blah. So I knew the pressure. was in the aerospace business design engineer aircraft. Yeah, he designed the F-16 swept wings and the C-5A tail, you know, and East always bring these rocket pictures home of these rockets and silos.

So that's where we got our kind of, we had four pilots in the family. I fly, my brother's fly. My dad was a rocket scientist, precious. Is there, is there a session or song that you had to pass on that wound up becoming like like did you get the call first for like

we are the world or something like that and you had to pass on it because you were already doing a gig somewhere well fortunately I can't tell that story because no is one of the words that I have not been able to say and I don't turn down anything but my collar no no no no no that's not possible that's not possible so I should take all the gigs

all right thank you You know what I mean? I learned early on, like my accountant said, nobody's following you around with a pension plan. And we got to, you know, the career. Well, a studio musician's career is four years. So we got to figure out what to do with your money. And he told me that in 1980, you know.

Wow. So, you know, you're always thinking, you know, is this, is this it? Am I in the peak? And is it going to, am I going to be on the other side? You know, they say the four stages of a musician's, careers. Who's Nathan East? Get me a get me Nathan East. Get me a young

Nathan East. Who's Nathan East? Wow. Oh, no. Can you repeat that one more time? No, I've read that before. Yeah. One more time. Say it again. Who's Nathan East? Get me Nathan East. Get me a young Nathan East. Who's Nathan East? I hate that. David Foster told me that. That hurts. I've read that in one of my voiceover books

They say the same thing The fright of that has kept me going for 40 years now Wow I've never heard it put that way And now that totally Don't don't you start feeling The other part they say

The only other part I've heard Of that same saying only other variation I've heard Is the additional stage of Get Me Nathan East at any price So like that's kind of before Right Yeah I mean I like that

To this day, my brothers call me and they always go. And as soon as they answer, they get me a young Nathan East, you know, they always, you know. But it's good to kind of have a little bit of that fear because especially back in the day, there was always the new guy, you know, like in the 80s, you know, like especially on guitar, you know, that you had, you had Larry Carlton and then you had Lee Rittenauer and all these guys coming in and then Lukather. So there was always like this, this heavy hitter waiting in the wings, you know, to be. be the next guy, you know. So now I think we can rest a little easier because there's not a million studios and a million gigs going on like there were back then. Well, who in your eyes was kind of a who do you admire of the, well, I guess like young lions to you are now established musicians. But I mean, if I'm talking to you,

mid-90s Nathan East, like who were the musicians that were coming up that you were like, okay, I mess with them, or you know, like, who do you feel that the future is safe with? Yeah, I mean, when, because I remember

you know, first tier in Esperanza Spalding and she was one of these like she was young, new newcomer, and then next thing you know, she had album in the year, you know, the Grammys. And then again, there's people like Jacob Kuyer and Justin Lee Schultz now that I think are very, very promising that I feel comfortable leaving them with the torch, you know, because they seem to be putting in some serious time. And they're quite a few.

And I'm excited by my son Noah, too, because I think he's becoming a student of music and really like a sponge, you know, just absorbing. everybody from Keith Jarrett to Bill Evans to, you know, to Herbie and everybody in between. Now he's playing Hammond, Oregon, B3. And so he's listening to a lot of the cats there, Jimmy Smith, Joey D. It's crazy. All right. Before we wind up, I just, I'm still thinking of the post-mortem talk. There's no way.

You cannot avoid it. Nah, I just, okay. Are you I know you play with the Pointer Sisters Are you on? I'm so excited I'm on I'm so excited Jesus I play the Pointer Sisters are my cousins

by marriage So we actually We actually re-recorded all the hits And they asked me to produce it Because a lot of times You know like Pepsi will say hey we want to use I'm so excited and the record label say,

okay, give us a master. Give us something crazy. And so they hired me to produce it. So it was so easy because then I just called Greg and John Barnes and all the guys that played on the original. And we went in and recreated all those songs. Oh, wow. And use them on, you know, now when you see them on a Pepsi commercial,

those are the ones and they're benefiting from it, which is great. Wow. Oh, cool. And that's what Prince did, you know. Yeah, you can re-record, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because you, you know, the label owns the masters. And, you know, that's when Prince put slave on his head.

And he just went in and recut him. But sometimes it backfires. Like, you know, before, thank you, thank you, Sylvia Rohn for finally releasing the heatwave discography for streaming because I don't know if I could have taken another like Boogie Knights 2020. Like, you know, some acts like re-recording it, not really quite nailing it the way that. You know, some cases, it doesn't work, but in this case, it does work.

Another dance classic of yours, is that your base work on Womack and Womack's baby, I'm scared of you? I'm on Womack and Womack, and I'd have to look and remember if I could, the particular tune. So let me look that up and I'll get back to you on that one. That's a great problem to have. I fully accept it. I guess they start stacking them on, you know, after a few, 10,000 tunes. it's crazy. Yo, Fonte,

he's on another iconic hip-hop bass sample. Which one? So you're, you're playing on Flack and Bryson's Born to Love album, correct? Oh my God. They're their duet record.

Yeah. Yeah, second childhood, Primo. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. Boom, bam, bang, bang, bang. You know what? You reminded me of stuff

that I that I complete and you know this happens in Japan because they pay attention to everything and sometimes I'm walking out of the street and they'll come up with a big arm full of vinyl of records that you completely forgot that you played on you know they went to the sign and everything but uh see that's

and that's what I I wish that you know the the powers that be and the red tape the red tape people and the lawyers and whatnot um would realize

that the beauty of sampling is that cats like us will see what gets sampled. And now not only will we purchase the Roberta Flack and People Bryson album, but then we're going to read the credits and see who played on it. And then purchase everything that they played on and so on. It just leads further down the rabbit hole. P.S. I would like to tell the masses who are listening to this,

there's an app for that and it's called Deeper. Just saying Black-on, go get it. Deeper. It's an app called deeper. Like, if you find a song, you like the bass player, you touch the bass player's name, and you can see everything that the bass player did. Wow. Okay.

B-E-P-B-R, yeah. Deeper. And, you know, it's like Aaron Schwartz did with Reddit. He wanted to make available legal documents that usually people that are in MIT studying, they have to pay 35 bucks to get a legal, things. So he got he started making those things available

and that's where he got in trouble. He got sued by the government. But it's one of those things where are we going, are we going to keep it going moving forward so that people can know

what happened before? Because we don't want them to forget about Natalie Cole and, you know, Ella Fitzgerald and you just don't want you know, Billy Holiday. And you want our youth to really have access to that. You know, so if we put too many restrictions,

and again, you know, they'll figure out a way to monetize and get it. But I think to kind of put so many restrictions on everything, it's just rough. Okay. One more thing. Okay. Give me three more. Because it's too many, man.

Because I'd be remiss and I would hate it. was Greg Philly games. I'm trying to remember because it was a two-parter. I'm going to nab this. I'm going to nip this in the whole. But you've also worked with Nara Michael Walden, of course, doing his magic streak with Aretha and Whitney and whatnot. That's

you on saving all my love for you? Yes. Dude. That, okay, what kind of base are you playing on on saving all my life for you? It's that white base right, it's this white base right behind me. It's a BB 3000 Yamaha base.

Wow. It's Gene Page wrote, listen, Gene Page wrote all those notes, too. Michael Masser was producing. We were at Devonshire Studios. You know, that, the greatest love of all. Right. Right behind me. You okay, I'm here?

But my question about saving all my love for you, though, and is that a five-string bass? It's five-string bass. Okay, that explains everything. Because the thing is, is that even though I didn't, I didn't, when the album came out, I was 14 years old. It was in the 80s. Yeah, 85.

And so for me, though, when you get to the last bridge, because tonight is the night going to feel and all right, you played in such a low register. that I was like there's no there's no base that can actually pay like he's playing below an e right you were and I'd never heard that like normally someone would go to the upper register to play it right but you went low with it and okay you played on a five string and and I was I was actually shocked that because that was the first kind of some of the first five string records I was playing on and I was kind of saying as is this really going to be cool or am I going to get away with

this? You know, because it was low. That was a risk. It was unusual to hear because I just never heard a bass go that low before. Yeah. And okay. You know, I have to say, and by the way, congratulations, you did an amazing job as musical director for the Oscars.

And I appreciate. But you have, you know, to me you brought the show into the current state. And listen, let's talk about it. Is it something beyond 1950? No, but I'm going to tell you, it seemed like on paper, it just seems easy like, oh, Questlove DJed it. But man, the only reason why I know those three letters, AFM,

yes, of course we have an AFM here at the Tonight Show, and we deal with the rigmarriage of whatever. But, yo, they. do not play in Los Angeles. And I thought everything was going to be gravy. And then the AFM rep came and was like he wanted to know every song I was playing. And I guess the deal they made was like basically, if these are AFM orchestrated members, then you have to pay a certain rate for this and that.

So it's, it's, it's, it's, the night before I had to redo and clear a whole bunch of songs. Because, you know, I plan on just playing like movie themes and John Williams scores and all, like, do the normal thing. And then the AFM guy was like, nope, they're AFM union members. We got to pay them all. Like, we were trying to find our way to safety in a pandemic. And then like the last minute, the guy's like, no, you must play. You must pay all 70 members of the people who played the theme to Rocky in order for you to play the song there. And I was like, no, we're not doing that.

So I had to get super, super creative. and it was just like, okay, I'm just going to play regular songs. Are most young musicians in the union? Well, those particular things that you mentioned are going to be a lot of the strings players that, you know, had recorded those. Right. That's why I was thinking. And a lot of them aren't even living.

Right. So that's why I'm like, do the new generation? Do they know it? Where did that money go on? The money goes to the AFM. Some of them are, yeah. But it's great that if it's possible for it to get to the people that have recorded. Yeah.

They're a state. Deal. but but they yeah they will uh they will come and and and check on you now and you had access to the tracks right i mean you yeah well for uh for as um as was great by the way i took a risk and i was just like i i hit up stevie and was just like can i can i get the master please and you know wow had to explain like what i wanted to do and all that stuff and when he heard it one i didn't know that Dean Parks was playing acoustic guitar on that.

And what's even funnier was, you think you're bad, Stevie didn't know that. And so he was sort of like, you know, how did you make this? It's like a country song. And I was like, no, that's just Dean Parks. I just left you and Dean Parks singing alone. He felt like we redid and did a whole other arrangement to it.

And I'm like, no, I just took what was there and just accented some things and that sort of thing. But that's literally, you know, from songs in the key of life. It was really a beautiful person. And how great is it that you can get the original master from Stevie and be able to do that? You know, that's that's impressive. That's the perk.

That's the perk of the job. I enjoy that. And I was with Dean Parks over the weekend. And it's, we, we were playing, we went to a club and sat in. And I said, man, it's not every day. We get to hear Dean Park stretch out like this. You know, I mean, he was, he brought it. And here he is, you know, still doing it after all.

these years. But he's he's he's another dream guest of mine. Yeah. Yeah. He's I got to meet him, uh, two years ago at the at the Oscars and he's such a, such a cool cat. Yeah, very cool. And, uh, but yeah, the, uh, the, the, uh, the original open, I'm going, wait a second. I think a mayor got the track. Oh, this is incredible. Hashtack flex. Yeah. Yeah, I got lucky. Talk about working your magic. No, it was really great. Thank you. Thank you. You know, I, I know, I know, I know, there's like 49 other songs that I can nerd out on and albums that you've played on. But, you know, the whole thing is that you,

you're the, you're the magic touch. And I really appreciate you for coming on the show. Oh, man. I was so excited. Last night I kept looking at my watch. Oh, man, okay, it's only 12 more hours. I'm so excited to come up. Because listen, I mean, you've, you've had everybody.

Come on, Michelle Obama. No, man, Michelle Obama now Nathan East. Yeah, Nathan East, I'm excited about it. But wait, now that Laia mentioned it, yo, you should really, because when I'm closing my eyes, I thought I was talking to Donnie Simpson for half a second. You really have, you have a future in voiceover work, man. He already doing it. But really have a future.

Like, that should be your pivot, bread and butter, man. It's a lot of fun. You know, I was friends with Don Lafontein, who was. the yes who is the guy yes yes family and i still very dear and very close but he he's a you have great pipes you know wow he had the voice of god you know yeah well i thank you very much for doing the show and um thank you guys and uh nah thanks man this was yeah thank you for the music what you're doing hours it's it's very relevant it's not irrelevant Very much so.

Thank you very much. Thanks for everything you do. And congratulations on everything. Disney collaboration and, you know. Thank you. We're looking forward to the next generation of East. Shout out to Noah. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, it's been a joy, pleasure, and an honor. And let's keep it going. Absolutely. Well, you heard it from the horse's mouth, ladies and gentlemen, that was Nathan East. and on behalf of Fontaello, like you and Chick-Steed,

my name is Questlove, and this is Questlove Supreme, and we'll see you on the next go-round for the next episode of Questlove Supreme. All right. Yo, what's up? This is Fonte.

Make sure you keep up with us on Instagram at QLS and let us know what you think and who should be next to sit down with her. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast. All right?

Peace. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. For more podcasts from I-HeartRadio, visit the I-HeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you live,

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