Interview with Steve Winwood in Keyboard Magazine

[Guy Berger]

Apparently he's a big fan...

link

Who were your influences as a keyboard player?

Ray Charles was an early influence, but before that, in the very early days with my father I heard standards, Broadway tunes and pop music of the early ’50s. Then of course during the mid-’50s, rock ’n’ roll came along, and that interested me; some of the early Elvis stuff, Little Richard, Fats Domino, that kind of thing. And then through the dance band music I was discovering jazz, things like Charlie Parker and early Miles Davis and some of the Blue Note stuff. Later on, of course, the early Jimmy Smith stuff which remains a great influence on me. And then through that I discovered Ray Charles, who seemed to combine many of the elements of jazz, blues, and everything. He seemed to cover all those areas, which I found really intriguing...

Steve Winwood’s Best-Kept Secret

“I’ve been discovering as much as I can about the technique that Jimmy Smith pioneered for playing organ bass,” Steve Winwood told us. “And of course that’s the style I’ve been trying to incorporate into the About Time record and into the live show. I recently came across this website by Scott Hawthorne, a.k.a. Scott the Organ Freak (organfreak.tripod.com) He’s very knowledgeable: There’s a lot of myth about organ bass and he knows how it’s done.”

Edited November 15, 2006 by Guy

[Jim Alfredson]

Scott used to be on this board. Funny guy.

The "myth" about organ bass comes mainly from liner notes and biographies. When I saw Dr. Lonnie Smith and talked to him after the gig, I finally found out how the Jimmy Smith style is done.

In fact, watching pretty much any jazz organist these days would clue you in to what's actually going on.

Steve Winwood is a great musician. That record, "About Time" is well worth picking up. It's a trio (organ, guitar and drums) with some percussion added here and there and Winwood singing his ass off.

[Jim Alfredson]

This is what I'm talking about... from that article:

On this tour, Winwood not only sings and plays keyboards and guitar, but he holds down all the bass lines with his feet on the Hammond organ pedals.

Well, if he's really "discovering as much as [he] can about the technique that Jimmy Smith pioneered for playing organ bass", then he's not playing all the bass lines on the pedals. He's using a combination of left-hand and pedals, like 99.9% of jazz/blues organists out there who play pedals. The very article is perpetuating the myth.

[Rooster_Ties]

Winwood needs to release a live date (something he hasn't done in decades, best as I can tell), reworking material from his entire career (including his solo career too). Maybe a solo concert even...

Steve Winwood - Higher Love (piano only version)

Steve Winwood - Gimme Some Lovin' (piano only version)

I'd buy something like that in a heartbeat. My wife would love it too.

Edited November 15, 2006 by Rooster_Ties