Smitty: That’s amazing.
WD: Yeah, I actually did a remake of….check this out….John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”
Smitty: Yeah. Now, that I remember. So, Will, tell me, what accounts for that? I mean, the U.K. and Europe go nuts….And the U.S. says “Who’s this guy Will Downing?”
WD: Ah pretty much. (Both laughing) Yup. My first two records did absolutely nothing here. I think we sold 25,000-30,000 copies here in America. And we sold 600,000 in Europe.
Smitty: Amazing how they get the vibe.
WD: Yes. And then the third record that I released, which was A Dream Fulfilled, I had a really big argument with the president of the record company at the time. It was a guy….and he was the owner….a guy named Chris Blackwell, and Chris Blackwell is the same person that pretty much discovered Bob Marley and Grace Jones….he owned Island Records….and he wanted me to continue doing what I was doing, from following the vibe that made me popular in the U.K. And I just, you know, I got to the point where I didn’t enjoy it anymore. I said “Hey, man, I wanna do something else. I’m, you know, I can really sing. I wanna do some more, you know, some stuff with more substance.” And we had a huge fight and he said “Okay, I tell you what. I’m gonna let you do what you wanna do, but I’m gonna cut your budget in half.” And I said “I tell you what. I’ll record under the budget that you give me, but if we reach a certain plateau, you have to pay me the other half.”
Smitty: I like that, yeah.
WD: So it was a warped sort of a bet and it was a big chance, but it really made me dig deep and look at myself as an artist, and as to who I was and what I wanted to say and then I said it, and on that album, that album had “I Try,” that album had “I Go Crazy.”
Smitty: Yeah.
WD: It was a huge record, huge record. And that’s what made me here in The States.
Smitty: Yeah, that was the one that had “Something Going On.”
WD: “Something Going On,” yeah, do-do-bu-bu, do-bu-bu, do-do-bu-bu. Oh, absolutely.
Smitty: Oh yeah. And for those that have not seen that album cover, the great Will Downing had some hair, he was in a double breasted suit. (Both laughing)
WD: And had hair, and had plenty of it, good hair.
Smitty: Yeah. Oh, man.
WD: Oh yeah. That was a breakthrough record.
Smitty: Yeah. Just kinda moving forward a little bit.
WD: Sure.
Smitty: I know you and Gerald Albright are buds. Talk about how you met Gerald ‘cause, I mean, he’s a close friend of mine and just a beautiful dude and….’cause I know….I’ll get to where I’m going with that, but just talk a little bit about how you guys, you cats met and how that relationship has grown over the years.
WD: Well, what’s so odd is neither one of us can really remember exactly how we met and where it was. I’m thinking….we actually tried to trace it back this weekend. I was with Gerald this weekend. I did a show with him this past weekend. And I traced it back to when I was working with Art Porter and Jeff Lorber.
Smitty: Oh, cool.
WD: And that’s where we could trace it back to, so that’s gotta be like 1991-92, somewhere around there. And we have just been musical and laughing buddies since we met. He and I get together and we act like we’re 14 years old.
Smitty: You don’t have to tell me! (Both laughing) But that’s cool, man, I tell ya, ‘cause I know whenever I mentioned you when I’m around him, he’d just light up. (Both laughing)
WD: We get together, boy, and we wear each other out before the show. I mean, we laughed so much this past weekend; it’s illegal how much fun we had. And then we’re on stage acting up and the people are enjoying themselves. We never lose sight of what the job is.
Smitty: Right.
WD: But when he and I get together, boy, it’s a good time had by all, and we have been kinda guesting on each other’s records from the moment we met. He just called me one day and said “Hey, man, can you sing this on my record?” “Aw, man, sure. Man, can you play sax on this song for me?” “Yeah, sure, no problem.” “Can you play flute on this?” “Can you sing on this?” Then we got together in ’98 and we did Pleasures of the Night.
Smitty: Yeah, man.
WD: And I ain’t gonna say no more after that.
Smitty: You really don’t have to. I mean, that’s still just a beautiful project. Both you cats are mirrors, actually, of each other when you think about it, and I love to see that kind of camaraderie of two cats doing their thing and making a living too at the same time, you know?
WD: Absolutely, absolutely, man. There’s a brother I truly love that cat, man, and if talent is….there’s only but a few players out there that I could….that I can honestly say that when you hear them play, you feel them and you know exactly who is playing. He’s one of those folks for me. Him and Kirk Whalum is one of them. To hear him, you just know. You just say “Oh, yes, that’s Kirk” or “That’s Gerald right there.” He’s just a quality guy, man.
Smitty: Now, this record, Soul Symphony, man, “Crazy Love.” What a track. I mean, how do you come up with these hits, man?
WD: I often ask myself the same question. (Both laughing) With a song like “Crazy Love,” a buddy of mine who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, a guy named Dwight Thompson, a singer that I’ve known for a very long time, he’s always submitting songs to me. Always. And for the most part, they don’t fit what I’m looking for. Though they’re not bad songs. But one day he hands me this CD and it’s got, I don’t know, like 20 tracks on it, and I’m going “Oh, God, I gotta sit here and listen to this stuff.” And I put it on and that’s the first thing I hear. And you know when something is for you. You can feel it. As soon as the first phrase went by, I’m like “I don’t care if you’re talking about killing somebody in verse two. I want this song.” (Both laughing) And I just lucked up on it just like that. And but it’s happened to me so many times that, like, it’s, I don’t know, and I guess it’s my guardian angel looking out for me.
It happened like that with a song called “A Million Ways.” I lucked up one day. We were calling around looking for songs. We called a publishing house and they said “Eh, we have these songs by this guy Joe,” who had, you know, written these songs “and I’m gonna send them over to you,” and I’m thinking to myself, Joe is a recording artist. I’m going, “Well, if they were so great, why didn’t he take them?” (Both laughing) You know, I don’t want anybody’s leftovers. I put the CD on, that’s the first thing I heard. I’m like “You gotta be kidding me. You telling me he never recorded this?” “Nope. This song has never been recorded anywhere. Nope.” I had a top ten hit with it.
Smitty: How about that?
WD: It just….you just….you luck out and you find them or you write them. The ones that I write are life experience songs.
Smitty: Yeah, and you can feel that too, you know? It’s like “This has gotta be something real. This isn’t make believe.”
WD: Oh, no, nah, nah, no, it’ll never sell if it went to that. You know what I mean? That’s the whole catch to this music thing, man. Doing things that other people can identify with.
Smitty: Real, absolutely. Well, you’ve got several hits on this latest project. I mean….
WD: I think they’re all hits. (Both laughing) If you ask me, I haven’t recorded anything that wasn’t a million seller yet.
Smitty: That’s right. But one of the standouts, “A Promise.” Oh, man, what a beautiful tune. I mean, that’s one song that you could just hit the repeat button over and over or just tell the CD player “just stay there.”
WD: Hey, man. You know what? I felt the same way. That’s another song. A gentleman by the name of John Stoddard had written that song. And he and I were just talking one day and I said “Man, I’m working on this project, but I know you don’t have any songs.” He was like “Yeah, I got something.” And I ride over and that’s what it was: “A Promise.”
Smitty: And it’s so nonchalant. “Yeah, I got something.”
