Jazz Monthly.com Interview with will downing

“Jazz Monthly Feature Interview” Will Downing

Smitty: Finally, after all the requests to get this cat to appear with JazzMonthly.com, that time has arrived. He has a uniquely gifted voice, one that is unmatched on the planet. He can reach the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and his live performances are not just a concert, but it is an event, an event that will peak your innermost emotions. You know him from his hits like “Sorry I,” “If She Knew,” “The Rhythm of You and Me,” and his latest CD called Soul Symphony. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the incomparable Mr. Will Downing. What’s up, Will?

Will Downing (WD): Hey, man. How you doing, man? You had me looking around, man, when you were saying all these great things about somebody else. Like, man, who else is on the line? (Both laughing)

Smitty: Hey, it’s all about you, baby.

WD: Well, thank you very much, Smitty.

Smitty: I know that Soul Symphony, your latest record has been out there on the street for a minute, but hey, it’s still doing well, you know?

WD: Well, good music is supposed to last forever. I mean, I’ve never been the type of artist to record stuff that is supposed to be here today and gone tomorrow.

Smitty: Yeah man.

WD: Well a good song lasts forever. I mean, Soul Symphony as well as a lot of the other things that I’ve recorded in the past. I mean, that stuff is, to me, is made to last forever.

Smitty: Yes indeed, and it has.

WD: I don’t wanna hear about the nastiness that goes on with my music, man.

Smitty: Yeah, I’d have to rate the show differently if I did that. (Both laughing)

WD: Trust me, I hear it. There’s not a day that goes by where I run into someone, whether it be a man or a woman, that has something to say that is sexually related around some of the songs that I’ve recorded.

Smitty: Yeah, or what happened after the last show.

WD: Exactly, exactly.

Smitty: Well, you know, Will, when you got that vibe going on, man, the body takes over.

WD: Well…….., all I can say is amen. (Both laughing)

Smitty: Well, just to back up a little bit and give the fans that perhaps haven’t seen an interview with you, how did you discover your voice? You know, how did that all happen?

WD: Well, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, at a time when….I mean, these days they don’t have music programs in school anymore or as prevalent as much as they did then….and I grew up at a time when you had to take up an instrument and everybody sang. So I’m in school one day and, you know, the whole class is in this little chorus thing, and the teacher is walking up and down the line as each person is singing. And every time she walked by me, she’d kinda stopped, look at me a little bit, then move on. Come back, stop, look at me, and move on. So the next time she came by, she said “Listen, after class I want you to stay and I want to talk to you.” “Okay.” Class is over, she pulls me to the side, she says “Listen, I run a program, an extracurricular program, on Saturdays that’s, you know, for singers, and it’s supposed to be like the best singers around the city and they all come together and it’s called the Brooklyn Boroughwide Chorus and I want you to be in it.” And, you know, of course, I said “No! (Both laughing)

Saturday’s my day to go play ball and to go do the things that I wanna do.”

Well, to make a long story even longer, by the time I got home, she had already called my parents, my parents had already volunteered me for this program, and I went in there and that’s where my real appreciation for music came from. It was the first time I was around a group of people who sung and were enthusiastic about it, as enthusiastic about music as I was. And that’s where it started. And it was around that time that I also finally discovered that that’s what girls liked, was some guy that could sing, so after that it was pretty much a done deal. I was gonna be a singer for the rest of my life.

Smitty: So that’s my problem! (Both laughing)

WD: Yeah, this life could’ve been yours.

Smitty: Yeah, man. So you never got to pick up that instrument, then?

WD: I’ve never had patience enough to learn how to play an instrument. In college I studied upright bass a little bit. I stunk. I was terrible. Each student had to take up piano. I just somehow always weaseled out of really learning anything on piano or an instrument. I just never had the knack for it. Some people do, some people don’t.

Smitty: Talk about your first gig.

WD: Mm. You know what? I don’t even know if you can really call it a gig. It was another one of those high school kind of things where you got up and they gave you an opportunity to do what you wanted to do.

Smitty: Yeah.

WD: And I sang “Sad and So Distracted” by Al Jarreau.

Smitty: (Laughing) Does Al know about this?

WD: Oh, probably not. Something tells me he’s about to. (Both laughing)

Smitty: Oh, I think he’d get a charge out of that, man. That’s too cool. Wow. So, now, here you are, you know, you’ve discovered this voice, who discovered the voice to say “You need to be in front of hundreds, thousands”?

WD: Well, it’s odd. I mean, there’ll be a few people that say that take claim to that. I’ve always been the type of person that’s been very self-motivated and I started recording my very first demo for a project when I was a like a sophomore in high school.

Smitty: Wow.

WD: And sending stuff out to record companies and, you know, hoping for someone to kinda give me a break. Oddly enough, it really came when like after my first year of college and I moved back to New York. I went to college in Virginia, in Richmond, Virginia. A school called Virginia Union University.

Smitty: Oh yeah.

WD: And when I came out of there, I came back to Brooklyn and friends of mine were already recording. So I started doing session work and, you know, singing in the background, and I did a whole lotta that. And then I started doing a bunch of 12-inch records under alias names. I was on Prelude Records, I was on Sire Records, I was on Criminal Records. I did a whole lotta dance music. That’s how I started. I was very entrenched in the dance music world. All the club stuff that you might’ve partied to years More than likely you heard my voice on something.

Smitty: I never would’ve known that.

WD: Yup, and that’s how I started. And then one year I released a record with one of the stupidest names or aliases I’ve ever been under. I worked with a guy named Arthur Baker, and Arthur did a record….he had some concept for a group called Wally Jump Jr. & the Criminal Element on Criminal Records. And this was for real, my hand to God: Wally Jump Jr. & the Criminal Element on Criminal Records. We released this record….it was an answer record to Gwen Guthrie. Gwen Guthrie had a record out called “Ain’t Nothing Going on But the Rent.” We did an answer record called “Ain’t Gonna Pay You One Red Cent.” I kid you not. This record somehow hits in England. I’m not talking about like “We gotta have this record.” We were flying to England seems like once a month to perform. So the record company that had released the record in the U.K. wanted me to do a record. So that prompted me to start my own record in 19….I think I started recording it in 1986-87 and it came out and it was self-titled Will Downing. And that came out in 1988. And it did absolutely nothing here in America and it went gold and platinum in Europe.

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.”

WD: Yeah, I mean, it really was. He said “Yeah, I got something, I’ll send you something.” He sent me this MP3 and that’s the first thing I heard and I was….I’ll be the first to admit I was downstairs in my basement, man, this song came on, man, I’m in there, tears are streaming down my face as I’m hearing this song. I’m crying uncontrollably. I’m like “Please, Lord, don’t let my daughter come downstairs and see Daddy crying.” (Both laughing)

Smitty: And you’ve got some great cats on this project, some of my favorite musicians, like Rex Rideout.

WD: Oh yeah, yeah.

Smitty: And my boy Dwayne “Smitty” Smith.

WD: Oh, yeah, Dwayne “Smitty” Smith.

Smitty: Yeah, man. That’s my boy!

WD: Yeah, he’s one of my favorites. I’ve tried to surround myself with quality folks and I’ve tried to do that from the inception, man.

Smitty: Yes indeed. Let’s talk about something that I know is dear to your heart and that’s the American Stroke Association, and I know you’ve done some work with them and you do a charity event for them. Talk about how you became associated with this and what that’s done for the Association as well as yourself.

WD: Well, I’ve been a spokesperson for the American Stroke Association for the last two years, and it’s another project that I kinda lucked up upon because they needed someone just to do a voiceover, they needed someone to read the copy, and I do that from time to time as well here in New York. So I’m reading the copy, the guy likes what he’s hearing and he said “Listen, man, we’re trying to kinda bump up our status out here and we’re looking for folk to be, you know, heavily involved as spokespeople for the Stroke Association. Are you interested?” I said, “Sure. Let me make sure I read up on it, you know, what I’m promoting.” Come to find out that, like, I have a lot of people that are in my family that have unfortunately suffered from strokes. So then it kinda hit home even more. And I got heavily involved. Now, my thing is it’s easy to be involved and to make a speech here or there or to do a little sound bite, but I really tried to get involved and I created something to really attract people to stroke awareness, and I do an event, it’s called Strike Against Stroke, and what Strike Against Stroke is, we do a play on the word “strike” and we throw bowling events across the country.

Smitty: Oh, cool.

WD: And what we do is we ask folks to come out to make a donation of $20 and they get to bowl as much as they like between an allotted amount of time, we get other celebrities and athletes to come out, and the American Stroke Association comes out and they do screening sometimes and I hand out pamphlets and, you know, really just to raise the awareness. If you can get folk to come out and listen, they’ll understand how serious, you know, of an issue this is. So it’s been ridiculously successful. We have another one coming up very soon in L.A. and I’m calling on my buddies. Wayman Tisdale’s gonna come out and I talked to George Duke just a little while ago, he’s gonna come out, and Vesta and Phil Perry, and, you know….

Smitty: Wow.

WD: Oh yeah, it’s the real deal. We have a ball. And it’s non-competitive ‘cause they would all lose to me anyway. (Both laughing)

Smitty: Now, that’s at the Midtown AMF Lanes in LA?

WD: Midtown AMF Lanes, right.

Smitty: Very cool, and that’s a great way of reaching people with the whole “strike” thing, to “strike” against stroke, because that’s the whole objective of bowling. Yeah, I like that. That’s a very creative way to call attention to the cause.

WD: Every once in a while we get it right.

Smitty: Yeah, man, yeah. And speaking of getting it right, man, you have put together something I think is very special, a book, and this is not just your ordinary book. This is a book of some serious substance. Just talk a little bit about it. It’s called Unveiled.

WD: Right.

Smitty: Talk a little bit about this and how you came about this. This is kind of unique.

WD: Well, I have a book entitled Unveiled, and what it is, for those who don’t know, when I’m not singing, I’m a photographer, and it’s something that I’ve been doing for the last, I’d say, ten years or so, and sometimes you’ll see me at concerts or you’ll see a big lens come from the side of the stage. (Both laughing) More than likely it’s me. And what I do, and what I started doing many years ago, is if I’m in concert with someone, if I go on first, I’ll perform, I’ll go get myself cleaned up, I grab my camera, I come out, and I’m shooting from the side of the stage. Or if I’m closing the show, I’m out there first and I’m shooting the other people that I’m performing with, and then I’ll put my camera down and I go get dressed and then I perform. So I have amassed a pretty nice array of musical talent on film, or on disc these days, digital, and I decided to put it in book form, and this book is called Unveiled, obviously because no one knows that, well, few people know that I’m a photographer, so this is my way of unveiling my work, so that’s where the title came from.

Also, what I’ve done in the book is I’ve given an opportunity for seven young African American artists….painters, most of them, and given them an outlet for their work on a more national scale. I’m not saying that these are all newly discovered unknown talent, but they’re known in their circle and I’ve decided to kind of give them a national, forum to show their work. So it’s a book of artwork and photography which you have actually never seen before.

Smitty: Yeah, that’s beautiful. Well, I must say, I was one of those fans that did not know it either until I saw the book, but I’m here to confirm that this is a magnificent piece of work.

WD: Thank you.

Smitty: Wow. I stood there with one other musician and all we did as we turned the pages was ooh and aah and ooh and wow, and “I know who that is.” And we kept saying “I didn’t know he did this cool stuff.” I’m just gonna give everyone one little precursor. There’s a photo of, I believe it’s, yeah, Chris Botti….

WD: Yes, and do you know where that was shot?

Smitty: No.

WD: That was shot at the Twin Towers, the World Trade Center in New York.

Smitty: Really?

WD: That was shot two weeks before it went down.

Smitty: Oh man, oh man.

WD: Yeah, a lot of the shots….in New York they have a series. There’s a radio station in New York called CD101, and they did a series, it was a Wednesday series, and every Wednesday in the afternoon at lunchtime they have quality artists come out and perform. So every Wednesday you could go down there and, you know, you could see just about anybody. Chris Botti, you’d see Bob Baldwin, you’d see Marion Meadows, anybody. So I went down there on this Wednesday and photographed Chris, and then two weeks later….the buildings went down.

Smitty: Unbelievable photo. I knew there was something special about that picture, man.

WD: Thank you.

Smitty: Yeah, and it’s a great shot. I mean, the angles, and I’m sort of….I hope I’m not giving too much away here, but I just wanna sorta set the table and give people an idea of what they’re missing because this is not just this stand up, pose and take a picture kind of thing. I mean….

WD: Oh no, no.

Smitty: They’re intimate, they’re well thought out shots, and it’s like something you never would’ve imagined, and they’re beautiful. They are very creative.

WD: Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Smitty: Yes indeed, and I must say there’s a whole list of everyone’s favorite musicians in here.

WD: Oh yeah. I mean, I have some great shots of George Benson and Earl Klugh when we toured together, I have some really good shots of Jill Scott, she allowed me to come to her home and photograph her, and Dianne Reeves and Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau when he was in the studio. He and Joe Cocker were doing a song together off of Al’s last project and Paul Brown was producing the project, and they allowed me to come and photograph that. So that was a great experience. It was Al, like, really in his element singing, doing his thing. So it’s a series of shots like that and this book is actually called Unveiled: Series One, so it’s the first of many that I plan on bringing to the public.

Smitty: Very cool. And the book is available now?

WD: Correct, yeah. It’s actually self-published so you can go to my Web site, www.willdowning.com, and purchase a copy, or come see me in concert. Normally we sell them at concerts as well.

Smitty: Very cool. And speaking of concerts and the book, I know you’re going to be doing a special event to do an unveiling of the book in Houston, Texas the day before your performance at the Verizon Wireless Theater on May 26th. Talk about that a little bit, where it’s going to be, and how people can come out and enjoy this wonderful project.

WD: Well, we’re gonna do a signing, a book signing, at a place the day before the concert, and the concert will include myself and Lalah Hathaway, who’s also in the book as well….one photograph of her is in the book. Probably the easiest way to find out exactly where it’s gonna be in Houston, once again, visit the Web site and it’ll tell you where we will be doing the signing and the times as well. But it’s something that I’ve been doing across the country as well, just come in a day early and meet and greet folks, which is something that a lot of artists don’t get an opportunity to do. I get to have some quality time with the listeners and the folks that have supported me and vice versa.

Smitty: Nice.

WD: And at the same time, you get to check out the book and purchase a copy and I’ll autograph it for you and make it special.

Smitty: Yeah, man. Wow. One of the things I asked Kyle (Newport), I said “How did he find time to do all this great work?” (Both laughing)

WD: You know what? I still think I’m not doing enough. My parents had actually told me just the other day and, you know, my folks have always been like the motivation for me doing what I do.

Smitty: That’s beautiful.

WD: They’re great people, the salt of the earth, but always pushing you, you know? “Is that all you’re doing? Well, come on. I didn’t hear anything about it, so you’re not doing enough,” you know? I told my mother the other day, she turned to me, she was like “You know what? You have really made me proud.”

Smitty: Oh, man. That’s too cool.

WD: “You’ve got a full plate, you’re doing personal things that you enjoy doing, you’re bringing art to the world, you’re doing things that from a health standpoint is very helpful to folks, and you’re doing your music, so like….slow down. You know, next thing you know, you’ll be running for office or something like that,” but I thought about that, you know.

Smitty: Oh man that’s a beautiful thing.

WD: No, really, I mean, life is to be lived, and I sincerely believe that, my mentor just passed away, which is Gordon, Gordon Parks, and he’s someone that lived life to the fullest. I mean, he didn’t get himself painted into a corner, he made movies, he made music, and he was a photographer for Life Magazine. That’s what it’s all about.

Smitty: Absolutely. Live your life, man.

WD: Live your life and you only get one. No one ever came back and told me otherwise. (Both laughing)

Smitty: That’s right, absolutely. Well, I love the full plate that you have, I think you’re doing just a magnificent service in so many different ways, and just keep making great music, my friend, and stay involved with what you’re doing because I think you’re touching a lot of hearts and it’s a beautiful thing and you will always be blessed for those things.

WD: Thank you very much, Smitty. Thank you.

Smitty: Yes indeed. We have been talking with GRP recording artist Mr. Will Downing, the busy Mr. Will Downing. He’s got a great project out there, it’s called Soul Symphony. If you have not picked it up, you’ve gotta hear it, and please check out his live performance, it’s not just a show, it’s an event. His fantastic book of photography and art is appropriately entitled Unveiled will be there, the whole camaraderie of the great music, from the past and present as well. And certainly you’re to be commended for the wonderful work you’re doing with the charity association of the American Stroke Association.

WD: Thank you very much, Smitty.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.willdowning.com or www.vervemusicgroup.com.