From the June 2005 issue of Uncut (Take 97). In a global exclusive interview, Uncut visited the soul legend in his studio while he worked on his upcoming album A Time 2 Love…
By the early hours of Saturday morning, the Koreatown area of Los Angeles was quiet and still. The strange vehicle cruises along Western Avenue, but most of Friday’s nightclub patrons have dispersed and headed home. “Little Seoul,” if we can call it that, is slowing down.
Unbeknownst to the few locals who were still awake, the Spirit Legend was formerly known as Little Stevie Wonder He works hard in his studio, tucked in the middle of this unlikely neighborhood where there are few signs or billboards in English. The blind genius who recorded no fewer than five of the most notable albums in American music history wraps up another night behind the massive SSL console at Wonderland, putting the finishing touches on a track for his upcoming album. Time 2 love.
The wonder at work is everything you might imagine. His head swings from side to side as he mumbles along in a sweet voice.Please don’t hurt my baby“, the track he’s working on tonight. The famous gums of his open, smiling mouth are visible above his upper teeth. His braided hair is gathered behind him, and small seashells dangle at the ends. He is dressed in all black to match his sunglasses.
The TV screen above the console shows a group of women wearing jeans and cornrows standing around a microphone lowered from the ceiling. And the oldest of them, Shirley BrewerHe has sung with Stevie since the 1970s A talking book; Hers is the booming one that comes in the middle of “Ordinary Pain” in his 1976 masterpiece Songs in the key of life. Like the others, Shirley is trying to master a distinctive vocal line that involves squeezing ten syllables into roughly two seconds. The wonder makes women repeat the phrase over and over again – not like some tyrant is punishing them, just like a producer who hears every misplaced nuance and needs to hear it done right. He explained it to them again, blasting the line into their headphones. Eventually, they drop it, sensually purring the phrase “before you use it like a toy” in a way that makes it all too clear what “it” is.
Wonder is like a little brother around these women. It’s not hard to imagine 12-year-old Little Stevie on the buses that transported the famous Motown Revue band around America in the early 1960s – the little Japster sneaking out the back Diana Ross And pinch her little one last. He walks over to one of the singers and takes a box of Frito Lays out of her pocket. Before putting one in his mouth, he raises it to his nose. “Oh, it smells like dirty feet,” he says in the voice of a Mississippi cotton picker. “It smells like Uncle Charlie’s feet…” cried the ladies with great dissatisfaction. He repeats the phrase several times and then devours his Frito-Lay.
Wonderland is a hermetic haven for the studio. The family of employees that Stevie creates around him creates a secluded but always friendly atmosphere. Even the security personnel are teddy bears. The laughs come thick and fast here, and one of the most contagious is the harpist Nathan WattsWho played with Wonder for 30 years. “I should be in Guinness Book of World Records “For the longest-serving bass player,” he says. It’s Watts’ birthday today, which is why he’s stayed here so long after the last request for his services, postponing the long trip back to his home in Chino Hills.
Stephanie Andrewsthe president of Stevie’s production company, is also sitting down tonight. A petite woman with a pretty, light-skinned face bought an ice cream birthday cake for Watts, whose adorable physique — pressed into a pair of high-waisted denim shorts — suggests such a treat isn’t entirely foreign to his diet. . Wonder himself packs his stomach under his baggy shirt when he steps out to join the impromptu party, which inevitably entails a performance of “Happy Birthday,” his jubilant 1980 tribute to the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
When the cake is devoured, Wonder challenges one of the singers to a game of air hockey at a table located in the studio’s main entertainment room. Despite being unable to see the plastic disc, Stevie wins the game time and time again, demonstrating what he no doubt calls his revolutionary need to win at all costs. Then it’s time to get back to work.
“We try to stay in the realm of getting things done at a reasonable time of day,” Wonder answers when asked if his sessions always run this late. “Sometimes we work long hours, but rarely do we work and sleep here for a whole week.”
It turns out that music has been echoing within these walls for decades. In the 1940s, Wonderland was affiliated with McGregor, a studio he used Benny Goodman, Nat “King” Cole And others. The interior of the building resembles something outside Roman Polanski‘s ChinatownWith intricate tiles and wood panels.
As you wander around the back of the studio, outside the bubble-like control room room, you stumble upon traces of Wonder’s own past. Standing alone and somewhat neglected is the original Moog synthesizer he used Music of my mind, A talking book and Enervisions. Not far from this magnificent creature, covered in a black cloth, is a Yamaha bike.Dream machine“Use on Songs in the key of life.
Given the dangers of obsession with technology, there is a kind of awe in seeing these outdated dinosaurs. The role played by Moog and Yamaha was very important in the radical brilliance of Wonder’s collection of masterpieces music (1972) to songs (1976) that one feels as if one is prostrating before such ancient devices.
“I am always fascinated by his orchestral use of synthesizers,” the jazz giant said. Herbie Hancockwho played on Songs in the key of life“As” emotional. “It allows them to be who they are — something other than my voice.” Listen to semi-classical arrangements of songs like ‘Heaven is a hobby‘and’Ghetto Land Village“, one appreciates what Hancock meant: it is as if Wonder is celebrating the skill of synthetic sound.
“I think everything has its own character,” Stevie says. “Even sampling strings, a keyboard player can’t really play like a string player. You can have different samples in different places on the keyboard to accentuate the feeling and give you a feel of it, but the main purpose of my use of synthesizers is to make a statement and express myself Musically – getting as close as possible to what these instruments can do, but also to express how I would allow those things to sound.
Wonder’s discovery of electronics was just part of the extraordinary burst of creativity that blossomed when he came of age in 1971, ten years after he signed on as a small-time prodigy. Berry GordyEmerging Motown label. In a hectic four-year career, Little Stevie left behind the 1960s and became one of the defining artists of the new decade.
Imagine black American music without…Wonder Woman“,”Myth“,”Very high“,”Live for the city“,”High ground“,”You didn’t do anything“, “I hope“,”Sir Duke“or”Heaven is a hobby“.or without”Blame it on the sun“,”He is a know-it-all Mistra“,”They won’t go when I go“,”It sweeps me off my feet“,”The joy inside my tearsThis is a focused collection of works that stand alongside and often surpass the best of The Beatles or Brian Wilson.
It’s also a body of work under which Stevie Wonder has lived ever since. The question in 2005 is: Will he ever get out of it?
Find the full interview from UNCUT JUNE 2005/Take 97 in the archive