On Talking Book's album opener (and #1 hit), You Are the Sunshine of my Life, Stevie let background vocalists sing the opening lines. That always seemed incredibly cool and selfless to me.
Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
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Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#22I learnt the other day that Stevie Wonder inspired Kurzweil to create one of the first synthesizer . "In 1982 Stevie Wonder invited Raymond Kurzweil to his new studio in Los Angeles, and asked if "we could use the extraordinarily flexible computer control methods on the beautiful sounds of acoustic instruments?"[2] In response to this query, Raymond Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Music Systems, with Stevie Wonder as music…
That is not even close to being 'one of the first synthesizers'. It's probably the first digital piano anyone took seriously, in addition to introducing sampling keyboards into the world, but synths had been around for more-or-less thirty years by 1983.
I first thought of the Abbey Road usage of the Moog (in 1969), and that certainly couldn't have been the first synth use (although probably one of the more popularizations of it). (maybe my def of 'synth' is a bit loose though)
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#23I've always loved Stevie Wonder. It's a show of how far we can go when we apply ourselves.
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#24This pales in comparison to Prince's outpourings.
I love Stevie Wonder's "Classic" work and his early period too but why would you bring in Prince? Is there not room enough for both in your musical heart?
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#25I love the linked article on Stevie's drumming prowess: he is indeed a fantastic drummer, one of the best.
Stevie also had the great bassist James Jamerson on many of these tunes: check out Jamerson's amazing lines on "For once in my life"!
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#26I love the linked article on Stevie's drumming prowess: he is indeed a fantastic drummer, one of the best. Stevie also had the great bassist James Jamerson on many of these tunes: check out Jamerson's amazing lines on "For once in my life"!
Absolutely!
There's a great visualisation of his line here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At3OP5CvIRY
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#27> Wonder negotiated a new contract with Motown that would grant him full artistic control over his music, his own publishing company, and an unprecedented royalty rate
I wonder if this could ever happen again, given the state of the music industry now.
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#28I love the linked article on Stevie's drumming prowess: he is indeed a fantastic drummer, one of the best. Stevie also had the great bassist James Jamerson on many of these tunes: check out Jamerson's amazing lines on "For once in my life"!
Absolutely! There's a great visualisation of his line here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At3OP5CvIRY
I forgot about this! So cool! also forgot that Joe Dart from Vulfpeck put this together. very, very cool.
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely! There's a great visualisation of his line here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At3OP5CvIRY
I forgot about this! So cool! also forgot that Joe Dart from Vulfpeck put this together. very, very cool.
I think it's Jack playing on this one. He's still pretty handy, even if he isn't Joe Dart :)
Re: Stevie Wonder’s “classic period”
#30I learnt the other day that Stevie Wonder inspired Kurzweil to create one of the first synthesizer . "In 1982 Stevie Wonder invited Raymond Kurzweil to his new studio in Los Angeles, and asked if "we could use the extraordinarily flexible computer control methods on the beautiful sounds of acoustic instruments?"[2] In response to this query, Raymond Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Music Systems, with Stevie Wonder as music…
That is not even close to being 'one of the first synthesizers'. It's probably the first digital piano anyone took seriously, in addition to introducing sampling keyboards into the world, but synths had been around for more-or-less thirty years by 1983.
Stevie had used the Moog extensively during his golden period and was very familiar with the capabilities of synthesizers of the day. I believe his complaint was essentially boiled down to: while they provided new sonic vistas, they did a terrible job of reproducing the sounds of real instruments. Samples were poor and lacked dynamics.
What he wanted from Kurzweil was a synth to mimic an actual piano. He wanted to play a 'piano' on stage without the heft and burden of an actual piano. Further down in that wiki:
"The Kurzweil K250 is generally recognized as the first electronic instrument to faithfully reproduce the sounds of an acoustic grand piano."