Steve Winwood revives his love of the Hammond B-3 organ on his latest CD and updates his R&B-influenced sound with world music.
By GINA VIVINETTO
Published April 30, 2004
British rocker Steve Winwood has made so many contributions to pop music it's dizzying. Winwood, 55, began in 1963 as a 15-year-old playing keyboards and singing in the soulful Spencer Davis Group. He went on to found Traffic in 1967, then put together Blind Faith, rock's first supergroup, with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker just two years later.
Winwood then went solo, scoring huge hits in the '80s with While You See a Chance, Valerie, Higher Love and Roll With It. His most recent release, 2003's About Time, has R&B-based jams flavored with Latin and jazz sounds.
Calling from the home he shares with his wife, Eugenie, in Nashville, Winwood answers 10 Pressing Questions about his beloved Hammond B-3 organ, playing with Jimi Hendrix and being shocked by his own voice.
(1) You're one of the few musicians who got started in the 1960s that doesn't drag out the oldies. You evolve and try new things. Why not just milk the past? As long as people want to listen to me, I can keep coming up with stuff. I'm very lucky that people are still interested in what I do. I prefer to try new things.
(2) You released "About Time" on your own label. Does commercial success matter to you? I must admit, with this last record, we made absolutely no concession to marketing or commercial forces. I just literally made the record that I wanted to do and really didn't listen to anybody but my own heart. Perhaps that's how it should be.
Of course, if it hadn't been so well-received, I very well may have had to hire session musicians and gone back to doing Gimme Some Lovin' and Keep On Running in order to support the family. (Laughs).
(3) You've been in so many diverse bands, as well as a solo artist. Are you restless? I love music. Lots of different kinds of music. Earlier this year, I went to Europe and I got involved with the people who did the film Standing In The Shadows of Motown.
Although it's kind of a departure from what I do, it was a fantastic experience to play with these musicians, many of them in their 70s and 80s, musicians that played on these records that I grew up with.
(4) What do you consider a career highlight? I was lucky enough a few years ago to play with Tito Puente on his tour just before he passed away.
(5) Your songs - "Roll With It," "Higher Love" - are so buoyant. Are you a very happy guy? I enjoy life. I feel lucky and very blessed. A lot of music has this dark side to it. For every dark side, there has to be a lighter side. I like to try to make positive music and sing about positive things rather than negative things, absolutely.
(6) Your relationship with the Hammond B-3 organ has been long and loving. You two are reunited on "About Time." Why do you love the instrument so? Mostly, I love the sound of it. And it's interesting: It's a sort of glitch in technology. Here we are in the world of wireless broadband and we have to play this instrument that was made by a clockmaker in the 1930s and they stopped making it in 1972.
The thing is, nothing actually sounds like it. Particularly when it's used to lay the bass. It has a particular sound, a sound I've always loved.
(7) The sound of "About Time" is very odd. Like different eras and regions melded. Explain. I had the idea with this record - although we wanted to keep very much of a rock element to the music, I wanted to combine these world musics, Latin and Brazilian elements with rock, particularly with the Hammond organ. The Hammond organ is not associated with world music - you just don't hear it on African music or Brazilian music.
I thought it would make a very interesting combination. It's also the first record I've ever made in 40 years that I haven't played guitar on.
There's also no bass. I did the bass on the Hammond organ.
(8) The expanded edition of your album features a new recording of "Voodoo Chile," the Jimi Hendrix tune you played keyboards on in 1971. Was the recording this time different than it was back then? Are you asking, "Were you experienced?" (laughs).
What was it like recording with Jimi at Electric Ladyland? It was great. We just did three takes. The second take, Jimi broke a string, the third take, that was it. It was later at night, probably 2 in the morning.
And recording the new version? This version was more in the early evening. Having said that, I don't think they were worlds apart.
(9) Any wild Hendrix stories? I'm afraid not. We kind of shared stages in Europe. We were quite friendly with Jimi at the time. I was in New York and he called me and said, "Would you come and play on this record?'
I went down to Electric Ladyland and played it and left. The whole thing about Jimi goes back to the whole "wild man" in his music. Interestingly enough, in real life, Jimi was a very mild-mannered gentleman, really.
(10) You began in the Spencer Davis Group when you were barely a teen, with no singing experience. Were you shocked when you opened your mouth and this big bluesy growl came out? I was shocked. I started playing in bands before my voice broke, playing with my dad and then my brother. I discovered the blues when I was about 10 or 11. I had this squeaky voice that hadn't broken. I decided, "I'm not going to sing, I'm just going to play."
And then, we got hooked up with the guys in the Spencer Davis Group, my brother and I. We didn't really have a singer. I thought, "Well, I'll have a go at it."
I never really had any training. I was a choral singer in the Anglican Church, although that was quite different. It was beautiful music, and I try to touch on that now and again.
But no, I never expected that voice. It was as much as a surprise to me as everyone else.
And now you are regarded as one of the most famous "blue-eyed soul singers" of all-time.
It is rather strange.
- Gina Vivinetto can be reached at 727 893-8565 or gina@sptimes.com
At a glance
Steve Winwood performs at 8 p.m. Sunday at Jannus Landing, 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. $25 advance, $30 day of show. (727) 896-2276.
