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So we had to like learn every song in four keys.

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And so you know the challenges of splits and all that kind of stuff when it comes to that.

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I was playing four different keyboards and pedals.

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Hello and welcome to the Keyboard Chronicles, podcast for keyboard players.

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I'm your host, David Holloway, and I'm particularly excited to be here with you.

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I've just finished an amazing hour interview with Mr.

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Mo Pleasure.

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It's hard to come up with new ways to phrase this stuff because we do say it all the time,
but the diversity of Mo's career, what he's experienced is just amazing and just a

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genuinely humble and lovely guy to boot.

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there is so much to unpick in this interview that I hope you'll love from, you know,
starting out relatively young with the Ray Charles Orchestra to working with Janet

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Jackson, Michael Jackson, David Foster.

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and there's a lot more I'm not even mentioning there.

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I think you'll get a great deal of enjoyment out of this and also learn quite a bit to
boot.

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So I'm going to shut up now and let you jump in and listen to both.

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Mo, sir, I can't thank you enough for joining us.

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It's so lovely to see you all the way from Wales.

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How are you?

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Great, David.

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It's great to be here.

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Thank you so much.

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No, pleasure is all ours and no pun intended.

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So I thought we'd start off with a little bit of a traditional question if you don't mind,
Mo, and that's your musical upbringing.

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I know you started in music extremely young and we're going to cover so much, but I just
thought a bit of context.

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What started you in music and got you into your teenage years, realizing that music was a
thing for you?

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You know, it's always been a part of my life.

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David, when I was four years old, my parents got me into piano lessons and they were
teaching them at my church.

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So it was kind of like a lot of music.

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My parents were educators.

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My dad was school principal.

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My mom was a math teacher and my dad also had this incredible voice.

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So he was a great singer and into music, but not in a professional way.

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So they got me into piano lessons classically at four years old.

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And that was the start of it.

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They actually brought me to the teacher and the teacher was like, well, he's too young to
start.

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then they said, well, just try one lesson with him and see how it goes.

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so I did the lesson and then he said, you know, when he was talking to my parents
afterwards, he okay, I'll take him as a student because you're going to have to make him

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practice and read the music because he wasn't reading the music.

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He was just watching me and tapping what I was doing.

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You know, so that's when I, that kind of knew that I had an ear.

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and all that.

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And then just all the way through school and high school and have my own band since like
seventh grade, had my own bands of horn sections and all that.

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I would write out the music for them, you know, all the way through high school and all
that.

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And then in college, I was playing in a lot of different types of bands like rock and roll
and fusion and straight-head jazz and all that kind of stuff and country and country.

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So that was kind of the, think when I started like learning a lot of

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types of music, you know, so.

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Yeah.

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That's been from this bit.

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And as we said in the introduction, you're an amazing multi-instrumentalist.

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just even if you can't remember back to four, because I know I can't remember much I was
doing at four, but just, you know, even a little bit after that, did you find the

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classical training tedious or you actually did enjoy part of it or a little bit of both?

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A little bit of both and then, you know, the other thing was I was playing other
instruments too.

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So I was playing the violin, trumpet, which I still play.

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So it was like, you know, I didn't, I wasn't a great student as far as like practicing
every day, you know, still, still, you know, but, so it was a little bit like that.

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And my parents, I'll say again, are academics.

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So they were very much like, you know, practice, practice and do your homework, you know,
so all school stuff and all that.

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So a lot of it, I did enjoy classical music and I love classical music now.

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And I still try to like take a stab at it every now and then.

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But the cool thing was when I was 14, I started burning fire.

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My big sister took me to a concert and had to get permission, you know, and that's when I
think that's when I know was my fighting moment of like, okay, this is music that I really

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love and really want to do.

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I want to play the bass.

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I started playing the bass.

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So I borrowed the school's bass from Jazz Band in the amplifier and bring it home.

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and even before that I plug into our Hi-Fi stereo with the skulls bass and just play along
with records and stuff.

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Yeah, that's amazing.

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So when you left school Mo, what was the bridge between that?

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Because I know one of your first big breaks was playing in Ray Charles's orchestra, which
is one hell of a gig on its own.

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What was the bridge between, you know, high school and getting to that stage?

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What was your life like?

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Well, I went to the University of and I was there for engineering, doing music on the
side.

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My parents and a lot of, especially black families then, coming up in like 70s and 80s and
stuff, were told that that was engineering was a way to kind of have a job for the rest of

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your life and maybe progress up in a company and that kind of thing.

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So they didn't really see music as being that kind of location.

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So when I got to, when I,

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I did my college degree, got my degree and everything, but I immediately went on the road
with Ray Charles because I was actually at a concert with Ray Charles at our school, in

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Connecticut.

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Went backstage to kind of talk to the musicians and just kind of find out, you know, how
do you get a gig like this and all that.

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And little did I know, I ended up taking the musical director, Clifton Solomon out for a
beer at our local hangout.

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And he gave me an address, sent a tape.

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and I sent it out to Los Angeles.

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I grew up in Connecticut.

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So sent it out to the West Coast, not thinking that anybody was gonna do anything with it.

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And I got a call, went out for audition.

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It's a more to the story, but I ended up getting the gig after getting my degree in
Georgetown.

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Wow.

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And just, I apologise, this is my ignorance.

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Was that that gig with Ray Charles?

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Was that on bass or keyboard or?

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Bass.

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Yeah, yeah.

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So my touring career started on bass, 1985.

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And what was your recollection of those first gigs?

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And what sort of venues was Ray Charles playing with an orchestra?

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I'm assuming larger venues, but what was your recollections of those first bigger gigs?

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Well, we did everything.

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know, I mean, everything from churches, the stadiums, to the Grand Ole Opry, because Ray
had country hits too.

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So, and we were all over the world.

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Like I went to Europe two, three times within a year, Japan, Australia, you know, we went
everywhere.

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So, Brazil.

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So it was everything you could think of.

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know, back then, I think We Are the World came out while I was there.

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Ray was on that too, so.

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He was like, there's kind of a new popularity to Ray Charles.

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And it was mind blowing, you know, just to be traveling and he brought the whole 28 piece
Ray Charles Orchestra with us.

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So that was, and you know, five singers, five Raylets, full big band.

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That was just incredible.

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mean, like rival say Basie band or something like that.

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You know, so I was definitely at the time I was the guy in the band.

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And they all took me under their wing and taught me the ways of the road and how to get
around and stuff.

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And it's a good thing because it was a tough little jig for that.

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We were like three in a room sometimes, four in a room.

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We had to pay our own hotel rooms and travel was tough.

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Even for a 20 year old kid, it was tough.

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But it was great.

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I learned so much.

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I learned so much playing with him, especially how to follow anybody.

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following singers, following the horn players kind of thing.

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Cause we had to literally watch his body movements in terms of tempo dynamics, all that
kind of stuff.

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So tell us a little bit more about that Mozo from two viewpoints.

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Tell us about why you needed to follow.

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And I have no doubt that Ray was a bit of an improviser and like going with the flow, but
also even though you're on bass, what you noticed about him as a piano player and

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performer that you picked up.

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Yeah, was and raised still to this day is my probably biggest keyboard influence, you
know?

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Well, I picked up a lot of things.

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First of all, just, you know, the basic feel of things, you know, was really important.

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I didn't really have even though I was doing it, I didn't realize that that was an
important thing.

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I always thought that like chops, virtuosity, that was like the goal, you know, but I
didn't realize that how far you could make the music, it felt was really as important as

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it was.

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So,

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that you call lagging the time stuff, know, like playing with the time and pulling back on
it and pushing ahead with it and all that.

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I think that was a big part of what I learned, especially even as a keyboard player, how
much you affect the rhythm section.

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And he was amazing with it because, you know, if you really soloed his tracks, as we say,
of his, what he was singing and what he was playing, you can't believe it was the same

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person, you know, just masterful.

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the way he played with the big band and where he put the things in the spaces, where he
took his time and played nothing sometimes, where he would slow down, once again, the body

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movements.

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He might do a song two, three different ways, three different tempos, especially here,
what I'd say.

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We had no idea what was coming at us until he'd start.

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Sometimes he would do like double time almost, and sometimes he would lay weight back on
it, and we were just learning how to follow him.

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Yeah, that's amazing.

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And was he a guy that had a sort of would mix things up each night?

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Like what sort of song list did you have to learn for that tour?

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And were you constantly, you know, needing to do new stuff or it was fairly well set?

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You know, some David had a book, but the book had about 500 charts, full big band charts.

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you know, a lot of them hits, know, but a lot of them just like Quincy Jones charts and
Steve Turi and you know, lot of different great, Szydowski and all that kind of stuff.

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So if you could pull up anything at any time, and he always kind of liked to test the
band.

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We'd a tune before he came out.

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So a band tune without him, and then they would introduce him.

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So we would actually get a little strip of paper.

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I actually found one recently, a little strip of paper that had like the numbers of the
charts on them.

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So it would be like 108, 96.

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And of course it would have, you know, Georgia, what I say and all that would be included.

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But the other charts sometimes you may never have never seen them.

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So as we're side reading, as I'm side reading this up tempo Big Band chart, I'm looking to
my right and he's in the wings, you know.

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listening to every note and ready to find somebody if we play the wrong note.

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you know, he did like to switch, especially that part up of the show.

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And he would change in the middle of show sometimes he would just say, call, just go into
something and he's going to be like 96, you know, whatever this kind of thing.

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But after we played with him for a while, we really knew.

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Yeah, that's amazing.

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And I mean, by the late eighties, Mo, you were then kicked off some work with Najee and
ended up being their musical director as well.

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Tell us a little bit about how you transitioned from Ray to that.

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And again, what you learned with that potentially more senior role.

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Well, Ray was a West Coast gig, I thought my career was gonna take off as a bass player in
Los Angeles.

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In actuality, what happened was I did a full tour with Ray, 86, and something just told me
that there were other things waiting.

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So I'm from the East Coast.

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My friend who was with Ray Charles, Jeff Devar, a great guitarist, had a gig in New York
City, a steady gig, down in the village.

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they needed a keyboardist and he would remember me playing keyboards basically at
soundcheck on Ray's stuff, know, on his roads and piano and stuff.

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So he asked me if I would do it.

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So now I ended up doing keyboard gigs on the East coast of New York City.

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And what would happen would be like a lot of acts would come through New York City and at
night, of course, after their shows, they would come out and hang out in the village.

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And sometimes you could get kind of picked up on a tour from playing there.

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And that's basically

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kind of the gist of what happened to me as far as being a keyboard player out of the New
York area.

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But yeah, Najee, my good friend, Ron Lawrence, rest in peace, who was actually from New
Haven where I'm from.

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I ended up playing with him quite a bit and when they needed a keyboard, he brought me in.

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00:13:09,326 --> 00:13:16,458
And so Najee eventually became music director and we did a lot of writing songs and we had
a gold album.

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That thing, was really something that would go, a gold album that was smooth jazz,
basically.

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kind of a genre at that particular time.

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And that took me on, believe it or not, back to Los Angeles because now she ended up doing
a tour with George Doode and Diane Reeves and 101 North and a couple of other of the X.

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And what they were doing on the West Coast was one band, several artists, one band, and
they would call it the Jazz, forget what they call it.

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But they started doing a lot of those and I got hired for those.

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That brought me into George Doode and brought me back into the West Side.

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And as you can imagine, being a keyboard podcast, can't let George Duke go by.

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tell us about, I mean, George was obviously an icon and had his own style to say the
least.

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00:14:01,587 --> 00:14:07,080
Tell us about George and what, again, you'd learned from him or what you observed about
his performance and style.

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00:14:07,512 --> 00:14:19,112
Well, he certainly became a huge influence on me musically, of course, you know, and just
so much soul and so much feeling and so much giving and generosity even in his playing,

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you know.

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He was just a master, actually, obviously one of the very best ever, you know.

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00:14:25,997 --> 00:14:28,839
But he was also that kind of person too, very giving.

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He actually took me kind of under his wing.

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00:14:30,771 --> 00:14:37,090
I call him my musical dad because he's the one that introduced me to so many of the gigs
that I...

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00:14:37,090 --> 00:14:43,673
like kept on going and doing, including with Shelfarell or If One Is Fire and on and on.

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00:14:43,673 --> 00:14:45,714
And that led me off to other things.

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00:14:45,714 --> 00:14:48,345
without George Duke, I would not have had the career that I've had.

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00:14:48,345 --> 00:14:51,263
But he was just a great, great man, very kind guy.

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00:14:51,263 --> 00:14:54,587
Of course, you know, he's great singer, very humble.

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00:14:54,587 --> 00:14:57,058
I did not even think he was a good singer.

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00:14:57,058 --> 00:15:03,701
And this gave me a lot of confidence, know, really believed in me and was always there for
me.

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00:15:03,701 --> 00:15:05,814
Hired me to do some of the recording.

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and stuff like that.

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00:15:11,980 --> 00:15:12,561
Yeah.

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00:15:12,561 --> 00:15:17,086
And so was that one of your earlier introductions to synthesize and stuff?

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00:15:17,086 --> 00:15:21,422
Cause obviously George was renowned for using a lot of really cool sounds and stuff like
that.

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00:15:21,422 --> 00:15:25,086
Was that one of your earlier exposure to that side of keyboard playing?

204
00:15:25,282 --> 00:15:27,342
I would say sure at that level.

205
00:15:27,343 --> 00:15:33,544
I had already been playing with bands and using synths and all that and doing a little bit
of programming and all that.

206
00:15:33,544 --> 00:15:42,167
But when I got to George, the Moog and all that and just even the sounds that he had on
the newer keyboards, he was very generous with that.

207
00:15:42,167 --> 00:15:47,015
He would often use the sounds for the samplers and all that kind of stuff.

208
00:15:47,015 --> 00:15:48,389
He was very giving in that way.

209
00:15:48,389 --> 00:15:53,902
I pretty much copied him in terms of like he was playing to Kurtzweil.

210
00:15:53,902 --> 00:15:57,162
I get to KurtzweilPC88.

211
00:15:57,162 --> 00:16:00,522
He actually played two waiting keyboards.

212
00:16:01,162 --> 00:16:12,402
His station was movable so he could push it around the stage and of course the duty stick
and being able to walk out in the audience with wireless MIDI which was really new back

213
00:16:12,402 --> 00:16:13,402
then too.

214
00:16:13,722 --> 00:16:21,422
yeah, I did learn a lot from him in that way and how to use those sounds and again in a
classical way as well.

215
00:16:21,422 --> 00:16:23,262
George is a great classical player.

216
00:16:23,692 --> 00:16:28,746
You know, that handles Messiah, if really check that out, if anybody's listening.

217
00:16:29,528 --> 00:16:36,214
But the way they like to use it, how class one punk worked together in God school and all
that, really went from George to...

218
00:16:36,770 --> 00:16:38,571
Yeah, absolutely amazing artist.

219
00:16:38,571 --> 00:16:40,561
And let's move on to Earth, Wind and Fire.

220
00:16:40,561 --> 00:16:44,323
Although just for the sake of our audience, this is an example of how diverse most careers
been.

221
00:16:44,323 --> 00:16:51,395
I'm skipping over people like Philip Bailey, Patty Austin, John Lucian, but I'm going to
jump to Earth, Wind and Fire at this stage.

222
00:16:51,395 --> 00:16:54,356
So how did that contact come about?

223
00:16:54,356 --> 00:16:59,858
Particularly given you said your first, you know, big concert you went to was Earth, Wind
and Fire and they blew your mind.

224
00:16:59,858 --> 00:17:01,248
How did that come about?

225
00:17:01,774 --> 00:17:07,754
Well, I was living in LA, starving, you know, and I came to LA because George said, hey
man, you can work in LA.

226
00:17:07,754 --> 00:17:11,074
So I came out there and I was, you know, I'd get the occasional gigs.

227
00:17:11,074 --> 00:17:17,434
I was working with Everett Hart a lot and, you know, a few things here and there and I was
still doing my East Coast stuff.

228
00:17:17,554 --> 00:17:20,194
So, you know, I'm staying alive basically.

229
00:17:20,194 --> 00:17:31,154
But one day I got a call saying that Philip Bailey is working on a solo project and
looking for people to write with him and George Duke recommended to.

230
00:17:31,330 --> 00:17:36,993
So I'll say, my God, Philip Bailey, know, I was a super fan.

231
00:17:36,993 --> 00:17:38,814
And he came out from my house.

232
00:17:38,934 --> 00:17:45,308
was, trying to tell you David, was starstruck to the point where I couldn't hardly speak,
you know, much less play anything.

233
00:17:45,308 --> 00:17:48,110
He just saw something in me.

234
00:17:48,110 --> 00:17:51,190
I had this little demo tape that I had made.

235
00:17:51,190 --> 00:17:55,684
I just gave it to him, you know, when he left.

236
00:17:55,684 --> 00:17:59,476
And I just hit it right, the Earth, Fire was reforming.

237
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:09,704
They had done some gigs with Phillip and Breeding White, I think some jazz festival down
in San Diego or something, and they saw the reaction of the audience just going nuts and

238
00:18:09,704 --> 00:18:10,575
stuff.

239
00:18:10,575 --> 00:18:14,256
they said, hey, know something, we could maybe try to put this back together again.

240
00:18:14,256 --> 00:18:15,437
And they did.

241
00:18:15,457 --> 00:18:16,918
So that was 1993.

242
00:18:16,918 --> 00:18:19,658
They put out an album called Millennium.

243
00:18:19,859 --> 00:18:23,200
I just hit it right to where they needed a keyboard player.

244
00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:27,722
And George recommended me, and he had the tape that I'd given him, Phillip did.

245
00:18:27,790 --> 00:18:30,290
played it for Maurice, Maurice liked it.

246
00:18:30,330 --> 00:18:42,330
And I get this call, you know, want to know if you want to come play with us on the
Arsenio Paul show, which is a TV show, it's the first thing I Then we ended up going to

247
00:18:42,330 --> 00:18:44,630
Japan in 94.

248
00:18:45,070 --> 00:18:46,530
We did a couple other TV gigs.

249
00:18:46,530 --> 00:18:48,230
went to Japan in 94.

250
00:18:48,350 --> 00:18:57,590
And after the 94 tour, that's when Maurice decided that he was gonna, know, Parkinson's
got the best of him.

251
00:18:57,772 --> 00:19:01,407
and he wanted to do less gigging, less touring.

252
00:19:01,468 --> 00:19:08,458
So then Philip kind of took over as lead man and he made me the music director of the
band.

253
00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:10,792
And that's when it started.

254
00:19:10,860 --> 00:19:11,520
Yeah, absolutely.

255
00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:18,633
Now I do want to take a bit of a side trip using Earth, Wind and Fire as the example, but
you've mentioned that you're a musical director now already with two artists and you've

256
00:19:18,633 --> 00:19:22,334
done a lot since including one of your current gigs that we'll talk about.

257
00:19:22,334 --> 00:19:25,876
But what is your approach broadly as a musical director?

258
00:19:25,876 --> 00:19:32,138
I know it changes by artists and what they expect, but just tell us about what your
approach is as a musical director.

259
00:19:32,421 --> 00:19:36,502
I try to get the right people in the world.

260
00:19:37,282 --> 00:19:38,122
half of it.

261
00:19:38,122 --> 00:19:39,542
That's three quarters of it right there.

262
00:19:39,542 --> 00:19:40,362
You got the right people.

263
00:19:40,362 --> 00:19:41,862
And I don't just mean talented people.

264
00:19:41,862 --> 00:19:45,742
I'm talking about people that get along, people that are willing to...

265
00:19:45,742 --> 00:19:46,762
I mean, everybody's different.

266
00:19:46,762 --> 00:19:48,862
Some people read music, some people don't read music.

267
00:19:48,862 --> 00:19:50,402
A lot of people learn this way, that way.

268
00:19:50,402 --> 00:19:51,482
It takes longer.

269
00:19:51,482 --> 00:19:53,962
So it doesn't matter to me.

270
00:19:53,962 --> 00:19:58,882
I try to just get people that, to me, fit.

271
00:19:59,162 --> 00:20:00,046
And also...

272
00:20:00,046 --> 00:20:01,116
and play their butts off.

273
00:20:01,116 --> 00:20:03,547
that's, you know, there's no shortage of those kind of people.

274
00:20:03,547 --> 00:20:11,930
And then I just try to like, you know, let them give them enough space to where they can
do what they do and let the artists know that I've got their back.

275
00:20:11,930 --> 00:20:20,142
So kind of like say, I don't know, airplane pilot or something, certainly nobody can get
hurt, but to give them the confidence, give the artists confidence that like no matter

276
00:20:20,142 --> 00:20:25,772
what happened, even on stage, that I could get them through it, but give the band the
confidence.

277
00:20:25,772 --> 00:20:32,664
that they're able to be themselves even though they're playing whatever type of style or
type of music.

278
00:20:32,764 --> 00:20:35,405
Let's say there's somebody that doesn't read music or something.

279
00:20:35,405 --> 00:20:39,026
find ways to like take, let's take a break here.

280
00:20:39,026 --> 00:20:40,156
Maybe we do this one tomorrow.

281
00:20:40,156 --> 00:20:41,617
Okay, here's the tape of it.

282
00:20:41,617 --> 00:20:44,147
Listen to it or that'd be great.

283
00:20:44,147 --> 00:20:45,568
So not to embarrass them.

284
00:20:45,568 --> 00:20:49,909
I'm always somebody that, you know, I happen to negotiate salaries sometimes.

285
00:20:49,909 --> 00:20:52,470
I'm always a pro musician.

286
00:20:53,518 --> 00:20:56,218
I have to deal with the managements as well.

287
00:20:56,538 --> 00:21:09,538
there's always that kind of, I'm that bridge between band and artists, artists, know, band
and management, artists and band, you know, and it's, it's a, sometimes a thin line to

288
00:21:09,538 --> 00:21:15,798
walk, but you know, somehow I've been able to do it and I'm always praising people.

289
00:21:15,798 --> 00:21:19,058
I'm always giving them a pat on the back when they do something good.

290
00:21:19,058 --> 00:21:20,958
So I try to stay positive.

291
00:21:20,974 --> 00:21:21,874
Yeah.

292
00:21:21,874 --> 00:21:26,194
No, great perspective and totally meeting this in an anonymous way most.

293
00:21:26,194 --> 00:21:33,894
So not talking about Earth, Wind or Fire or any other artists, but have there been
challenges for you as a musical director that you never thought you would have to face?

294
00:21:33,894 --> 00:21:40,874
So whether it's personnel or personalities or whatever, without mentioning any names, have
you had some big challenges as an MD?

295
00:21:41,430 --> 00:21:47,733
So many, so many, because I can tell people that I kind of train or mentor.

296
00:21:47,894 --> 00:21:51,996
It's about psychology, even more than music.

297
00:21:51,996 --> 00:21:57,278
And sometimes you're a music director for, say, case of Earth, Moon, and Fire, I'm music
director for a whole band.

298
00:21:57,278 --> 00:22:00,000
I'm not just one person.

299
00:22:00,501 --> 00:22:05,904
And there's a lot of personalities, a lot of people with lot of different needs and wants,
and people want to...

300
00:22:05,904 --> 00:22:08,605
The thing about it is it's a weird balance of...

301
00:22:09,324 --> 00:22:12,846
being a kind of democratic thing, like, okay, what does everybody think?

302
00:22:12,846 --> 00:22:17,069
You know, and then there's that time I just kind of laid out a lot.

303
00:22:17,069 --> 00:22:23,283
So here's what we're doing, you know, even if I'm wrong, you know, let's, or let's try
this, you know.

304
00:22:23,724 --> 00:22:31,449
So like, I think that I've been able to maneuver somehow through all the situations I've
had.

305
00:22:31,509 --> 00:22:39,092
And they've been very, they've been very, you know, the types of artists that I've worked
with, and the styles of music I've worked with.

306
00:22:39,092 --> 00:22:53,249
know and what those what those people want what the artists wants with the band needs you
know preparation before before we actually even get in the room it's very very important

307
00:22:54,090 --> 00:23:03,826
and now it's become a lot easier in the digital world you know back in the day we had to
send out tapes you know consent tapes to everybody now it's just you know sending up three

308
00:23:03,826 --> 00:23:08,628
charts every window so I've watched it change a lot

309
00:23:08,790 --> 00:23:19,174
watch that change the way rehearsals are run as well because now you have less rehearsals,
save money, you you less time to do it.

310
00:23:19,174 --> 00:23:28,468
Sometimes you have no time to do it, you know, a lot of the way things are now like you're
expected to show up kind of knowing everything, quick rehearsal in the afternoon, boom,

311
00:23:28,468 --> 00:23:30,079
we're playing it that night.

312
00:23:30,079 --> 00:23:32,460
So I don't think that's great.

313
00:23:32,460 --> 00:23:37,996
But I think that, you know, I've been able to do that if I have to in most situations.

314
00:23:37,996 --> 00:23:38,916
Yeah, that's great.

315
00:23:38,916 --> 00:23:47,622
And just probably that that leads to my last MD sort of question was, yeah, how do you
like to run a rehearsal if you do have time, if you have a couple of days, what's your

316
00:23:47,622 --> 00:23:52,394
sort of approach to getting everyone on board and making sure you cover the material?

317
00:23:52,878 --> 00:24:01,458
Well, first of all, if I do have the time, and sometimes I do, I think the most important
thing is to get to know each other musically and get a band sound, know, whatever that is,

318
00:24:01,458 --> 00:24:08,658
get a good sound check, make sure everybody's hearing each other, make sure everybody's
listening to each other, you know, as we're playing.

319
00:24:08,658 --> 00:24:18,018
So I want everybody to be comfortable and not, you know, not going, oh God, I didn't even
hear the other guitar player, you know, I was playing all over them or whatever.

320
00:24:18,018 --> 00:24:21,336
I try to build it up from the bottom to where like everybody...

321
00:24:21,336 --> 00:24:23,437
play as little as you can right now.

322
00:24:23,437 --> 00:24:24,107
You know what I mean?

323
00:24:24,107 --> 00:24:26,349
Let's just think about it as a classical piece.

324
00:24:26,349 --> 00:24:29,230
Your part goes like this, yours is that.

325
00:24:29,249 --> 00:24:30,571
Dynamics change here.

326
00:24:30,571 --> 00:24:36,784
You want to build up to this here and that's gonna be the money note that the singer's
gonna sing, you know, in this and that.

327
00:24:36,784 --> 00:24:41,147
then, you know, take it on up from there or come back down again.

328
00:24:41,147 --> 00:24:47,970
And I want everybody to watch me and I want everybody to watch my body movements because
I'm directing the whole time.

329
00:24:47,970 --> 00:24:51,562
I'm playing, so I'm not able to conduct, but.

330
00:24:52,098 --> 00:25:02,001
my Miami, but I want you to get used to me and what I do get used to the drummer because
sometimes he has to end the song.

331
00:25:02,001 --> 00:25:05,892
So, you know, I'll be like, okay, this one, the drum was going to end it.

332
00:25:05,892 --> 00:25:12,884
So everybody watched him and watch where it's at, you know, just like we're raising, you
know, Ray Charles, basically the same thing.

333
00:25:13,364 --> 00:25:15,484
so that's important to me as well.

334
00:25:15,965 --> 00:25:21,518
are we already teaching them like my style and the way I move, you know, what it reading
some

335
00:25:21,518 --> 00:25:23,370
with the hand signal guard on.

336
00:25:24,024 --> 00:25:25,575
Yeah, no, great.

337
00:25:25,575 --> 00:25:31,260
And I mean, so you're only in your early thirties, you're musical director for Earth, Wind
and Fire.

338
00:25:31,260 --> 00:25:36,384
And then by your early forties, so only a matter of years later, you're touring with Janet
Jackson.

339
00:25:36,385 --> 00:25:43,771
And that's obviously when she's at her absolute, you know, she's still at her peak doing
stadiums and arenas.

340
00:25:43,771 --> 00:25:45,413
What was the contact there again?

341
00:25:45,413 --> 00:25:51,938
Who put you in touch with, you know, the Immortal Jackson family and got you, and allowed
you to do that gig.

342
00:25:52,558 --> 00:25:56,561
There was somebody named, he's now music director for The Voice.

343
00:25:57,018 --> 00:25:58,783
His name's Paul Mirkovic.

344
00:26:00,185 --> 00:26:01,005
You know Paul?

345
00:26:01,005 --> 00:26:02,447
Yeah, Paul's great.

346
00:26:02,447 --> 00:26:07,030
Unbeknownst to me, Paul had seen me play with their phone in fire.

347
00:26:07,131 --> 00:26:15,157
So for Janet, was an audition, there were only a few people asked to audition, and I was
one of them.

348
00:26:15,858 --> 00:26:18,501
So that's how that got started.

349
00:26:18,501 --> 00:26:20,354
I learned a lot in that game because...

350
00:26:20,354 --> 00:26:23,505
You know, on Earth, Fire, we were really encouraged to play.

351
00:26:23,505 --> 00:26:28,417
I mean, it's still jazz, you know, even September, you know.

352
00:26:28,417 --> 00:26:32,759
All those songs have room in them for you to kind of be yourself, you know.

353
00:26:32,759 --> 00:26:42,433
And I came in after, you know, well, Vance Taylor was on before me, but Larry Dunn, you
know, was just Charles Stanton.

354
00:26:42,433 --> 00:26:50,208
All those Bill Meyers, all those keyboardists put their stamp on that music in a way that

355
00:26:50,208 --> 00:26:59,516
I could never could so I just kind of tried to be myself as much as I could so I had a
completely different style and Sonny Emery who was the drummer was Earth, & Fire and I

356
00:26:59,516 --> 00:27:04,090
were best buddies and really connected so we were always trying to take it to different
places.

357
00:27:04,090 --> 00:27:16,970
Janet Jackson on the other hand was the first dancer gig that I'd done where the dancer
was then you know, Wind Fire we had dancers but they were you know, ornamental to what we

358
00:27:16,970 --> 00:27:18,521
were doing as music group.

359
00:27:18,521 --> 00:27:19,732
This was like

360
00:27:19,982 --> 00:27:22,642
We need to play that same sound every night.

361
00:27:22,642 --> 00:27:24,082
It's got to go just like that.

362
00:27:24,082 --> 00:27:32,582
All the levels of the keyboards and everything has to be the same every night because
they're coming out of the side fills and the dancers are used to wearing the same thing,

363
00:27:32,582 --> 00:27:33,382
same show.

364
00:27:33,382 --> 00:27:35,522
So there was this consistency thing.

365
00:27:35,522 --> 00:27:38,822
And also that was kind of the advent of in-ear monitors.

366
00:27:39,442 --> 00:27:49,502
So that's the first time I used in-ears, which was a really, really different experience
having the band be like a straight line to where normally we wouldn't be able to hear each

367
00:27:49,502 --> 00:27:49,858
other.

368
00:27:49,858 --> 00:28:01,902
but hearing every little bit of it having it sound like you listen to a CD and cheap
excessive keyboard programming where every little sound was, you know, and then

369
00:28:01,902 --> 00:28:06,313
troubleshooting on the fly, which was because that was those are the midi days.

370
00:28:06,313 --> 00:28:15,886
So I had my rap was under the stage, the mic tech and I had a microphone that I could talk
to the tech.

371
00:28:15,886 --> 00:28:17,066
So if there were

372
00:28:17,066 --> 00:28:28,616
any kind of problems or anything like that I will be saying okay turn off the D550 it's
sticking you don't turn it on until I tell you you know boom we end it's like okay turn it

373
00:28:28,616 --> 00:28:36,122
on now you know we'd have to wait 20 seconds for the thing to fire back up again push the
sound again

374
00:28:36,942 --> 00:28:37,502
Wow.

375
00:28:37,502 --> 00:28:40,622
And just on that Mo, let's talk gear just for a sec.

376
00:28:40,622 --> 00:28:44,842
We're not a gear focused podcast, but I'm going to take a slight step back to Earth
Windify.

377
00:28:44,842 --> 00:28:48,922
What were you playing keyboard wise in that band?

378
00:28:50,152 --> 00:28:52,984
so many things on different tours, David.

379
00:28:52,984 --> 00:29:02,870
I remember I had PC-88, Kurtzweil for one bar, I think the live album we did out of PC-88.

380
00:29:02,870 --> 00:29:08,483
And then on top I believe I had the, I want to say JV-80 or something.

381
00:29:08,483 --> 00:29:11,915
was playing a lot of Roland gear in a rat.

382
00:29:11,915 --> 00:29:17,550
I had D-550s, had the Kana Maja, the MKF 20.

383
00:29:17,646 --> 00:29:23,346
I had the catch 50, the 80, 70, know, just stuff like that.

384
00:29:23,346 --> 00:29:28,586
I had the Kurtzweil sampler 2000 in my rack.

385
00:29:28,946 --> 00:29:31,966
And then another year I took out a Fender Rhodes.

386
00:29:31,966 --> 00:29:32,866
Oh wow.

387
00:29:32,866 --> 00:29:37,166
88 key Rhodes, which we had put through like some pedals.

388
00:29:37,166 --> 00:29:40,766
We had like Camelot pedal, know, Phaser and stuff like that.

389
00:29:40,766 --> 00:29:42,646
So there was that.

390
00:29:42,646 --> 00:29:44,226
I'm trying to think of what else.

391
00:29:44,898 --> 00:29:47,519
Then of course I had the wireless MIDI thing.

392
00:29:47,519 --> 00:29:51,920
So I had my own little stick that was painted with earth on the bar symbol.

393
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:53,539
So still have it.

394
00:29:54,421 --> 00:29:56,571
that was a roll in the X with the X1.

395
00:29:56,571 --> 00:30:02,323
for a at one point I had the smaller one too, KX5.

396
00:30:04,044 --> 00:30:08,035
But I had wireless MIDI, which was getting affordable.

397
00:30:08,035 --> 00:30:12,126
I had the one from the guy in Sonic guys, Aquila.

398
00:30:12,810 --> 00:30:17,938
and used to cellular phone antennas to read it.

399
00:30:17,938 --> 00:30:21,433
Sometimes it would stick, know, like I'm thinking about how to panic button.

400
00:30:21,433 --> 00:30:23,458
Yeah, so that's what I remember the most.

401
00:30:23,458 --> 00:30:24,239
no, that's okay.

402
00:30:24,239 --> 00:30:25,379
That no, that's brilliant.

403
00:30:25,379 --> 00:30:25,789
Thank you.

404
00:30:25,789 --> 00:30:31,092
And with Janet, obviously that's a highly, as you said, highly dance and pop driven act.

405
00:30:31,092 --> 00:30:32,373
Lots of different sounds.

406
00:30:32,373 --> 00:30:33,914
had a rack you mentioned the D550.

407
00:30:33,914 --> 00:30:38,986
I imagine there were a lot of sort of, yeah, in sonic and samplers and stuff like that.

408
00:30:39,030 --> 00:30:48,033
Yeah, yeah, had some, well we had, yeah, of course we had that in sonnet, because that's
the classic orchestra hit sound that Jim and Lewis used, you know.

409
00:30:48,033 --> 00:30:58,655
And we'd have two of everything, so in each rack, we had two racks, so like actually,
that's first of my experience, if your rack goes down, roll in another one, one big, you

410
00:30:58,655 --> 00:31:03,497
know, attachment, and then your back will it up and running again.

411
00:31:04,477 --> 00:31:08,328
I started with two keyboard players, then the one left.

412
00:31:08,364 --> 00:31:10,057
and I was covering it by myself.

413
00:31:10,057 --> 00:31:13,602
when we had two, we had identical systems.

414
00:31:13,602 --> 00:31:18,894
then they could, so you could use either RAP or either WIR.

415
00:31:19,211 --> 00:31:21,494
And it just passes through different places.

416
00:31:21,742 --> 00:31:27,402
And with some, 2001 obviously tracks were used to some extent, not as much as they are
nowadays.

417
00:31:27,402 --> 00:31:30,942
Would you have had to have synced in with click tracks and tracks as well?

418
00:31:31,436 --> 00:31:32,326
Yeah, absolutely.

419
00:31:32,326 --> 00:31:33,217
Yeah.

420
00:31:33,217 --> 00:31:34,509
That was a big part of it.

421
00:31:34,509 --> 00:31:35,379
And it was easy.

422
00:31:35,379 --> 00:31:42,955
You know, I mean, it was really an easy thing for me to do because we had a great drummer,
Brian Fraser Moore, who's now gone out to beat the cat.

423
00:31:42,955 --> 00:31:52,783
And Ethan Farmer and, you know, the band was such that everyone was just so, so tight and
so locked in, that we could follow anything, you know?

424
00:31:52,783 --> 00:32:00,049
And literally, what people don't realize is that when it's really good and we have a great
drummer, the click goes away.

425
00:32:00,189 --> 00:32:01,344
You know, you don't...

426
00:32:01,344 --> 00:32:06,269
really hear it anymore because the drummer has kind of buried it in their groove.

427
00:32:06,269 --> 00:32:12,306
They know how to like make it breathe and pull back on this and then snap it in on the one
and all this kind of stuff.

428
00:32:12,306 --> 00:32:16,650
You're really just really so used to it at that point you forget that it's there.

429
00:32:17,014 --> 00:32:18,175
Yep, exactly.

430
00:32:18,175 --> 00:32:24,081
And I mean, on that tour, Tummo, you weren't just playing keyboards, you were playing
guitar and trumpet as well from memory.

431
00:32:24,081 --> 00:32:27,104
what, I mean, it must've been hectic every show.

432
00:32:27,104 --> 00:32:29,076
You must've been working hard.

433
00:32:29,516 --> 00:32:34,889
It was a lot of changes, know, and sometimes the keyboards and trumpet, you know.

434
00:32:35,410 --> 00:32:43,966
So I had to choreograph everything, but it's just like everything else when you're playing
keyboards, when you're you know, especially a lot of parts and all that.

435
00:32:43,966 --> 00:32:54,665
Choreography is, you know, it's okay, now I hit the button, now that'll be this, the
split's gonna be here for this, and then, you know, make sure I don't go past that because

436
00:32:54,665 --> 00:32:58,232
that's the exposure here, something, and the string parts, the...

437
00:32:58,232 --> 00:33:02,385
to middle C and then up, you know, this kind of thing.

438
00:33:02,385 --> 00:33:04,807
And so I had to do it also with the horn.

439
00:33:04,807 --> 00:33:06,709
So I'd be like, okay, I pick up the horn.

440
00:33:06,709 --> 00:33:16,037
I had a stance, like grab the horn, maybe blow a few notes out at the warm up while I'm
you know, orchestra hits or whatever.

441
00:33:16,037 --> 00:33:18,448
And then, you know, kind of be ready to do that.

442
00:33:18,448 --> 00:33:22,041
But it was just, it was just choreography, you know, same thing with the guitar.

443
00:33:22,041 --> 00:33:27,306
I was just playing acoustic guitar on one the tracks, just knowing that you got it coming
up.

444
00:33:27,306 --> 00:33:27,938
So you like,

445
00:33:27,938 --> 00:33:35,430
we would be ready, boom, and on the blackout, know, and maybe you had checks to help you,
which are a big help.

446
00:33:35,670 --> 00:33:42,380
And I mean, obviously nowadays, most of us having that level of complexity will use iPads
or computers to prompt us.

447
00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:46,846
Did you have stuff written down or was it you running on memory a hundred percent?

448
00:33:47,118 --> 00:33:50,018
100 % memory by the time you're out there.

449
00:33:50,018 --> 00:33:51,978
you rehearse for a month.

450
00:33:53,118 --> 00:34:00,018
Later on, I was on gigs, I don't want to surprise anyone, but I was on some gig where we
had to play songs in different keys.

451
00:34:00,018 --> 00:34:01,958
And that would be Michael Jackson.

452
00:34:01,958 --> 00:34:05,898
So we had to learn every song in four keys.

453
00:34:06,418 --> 00:34:10,958
so know the challenges of splits and all that kind of stuff when it comes to that.

454
00:34:10,958 --> 00:34:13,618
I was playing four different keyboards and pedals.

455
00:34:15,022 --> 00:34:24,442
and just memorize it you know sometimes it wouldn't work to where you know that split
wouldn't work anymore because you need a little bit more for that high string to your

456
00:34:24,442 --> 00:34:32,202
playing with your left hand you'd have to change it if you played it in A flat now you
have to it straight with your right hand and do the other thing with your left hand.

457
00:34:33,262 --> 00:34:35,546
We're in the Jackson family, Mo, we might as well talk about that.

458
00:34:35,546 --> 00:34:43,329
So even though I'm probably jumping ahead a little bit, but yeah, what, what was the role
with Michael and, and, and yeah, what, again, what you learned?

459
00:34:43,329 --> 00:34:45,802
that's, as you know, another whole level again.

460
00:34:45,966 --> 00:34:51,046
Yeah, well that was second keyboards, Michael Bearden first keyboards.

461
00:34:51,486 --> 00:34:55,686
Michael just conducted the Oscars.

462
00:34:55,806 --> 00:34:56,606
true.

463
00:34:57,926 --> 00:35:02,986
You see somebody I've known since the 80s, we were both kind of playing up and coming
artists.

464
00:35:02,986 --> 00:35:12,026
So I'm playing second keyboards, so I'm playing horns, spins, bells, whistles, organ,
playing explosions, sound effects.

465
00:35:12,406 --> 00:35:15,118
Because a lot of the things on the Michael Jackson show,

466
00:35:15,118 --> 00:35:27,238
We just had to watch him because there's just no way to program that in when he's gonna
point and do an explosion or Walk across the floor open up his suitcase or so a lot of

467
00:35:27,238 --> 00:35:41,818
that was us watching him and Once again splits and knowing which ones Are the funds are
which you know and not not messing that up, you know But I have to do that even with I

468
00:35:41,818 --> 00:35:44,398
even played the Ringling Brothers circuits for a while

469
00:35:44,876 --> 00:35:47,287
Yeah, I the circus and I played on bass.

470
00:35:47,287 --> 00:35:52,070
I played on keyboards and I had to watch the clouds.

471
00:35:53,211 --> 00:35:57,133
They had they do a segment and somebody hit over the head with a piano.

472
00:35:57,133 --> 00:36:01,875
You have to that sound and then you know the string boring boring boring and all that kind
of stuff.

473
00:36:01,875 --> 00:36:14,168
And I literally when I started on the gig subbing for somebody else deafening for someone
and I had a cloud in the works of it with me telling me OK here comes the piano.

474
00:36:14,168 --> 00:36:15,281
crash you

475
00:36:17,011 --> 00:36:17,702
I love that.

476
00:36:17,702 --> 00:36:20,530
That's probably the most unique music related story.

477
00:36:20,530 --> 00:36:21,548
That's amazing.

478
00:36:21,548 --> 00:36:23,539
Yeah, the circus is no joke.

479
00:36:23,539 --> 00:36:33,896
Circus is long show that is in three rings at the same time, you know, and moves like this
and has a million sound effects and it's a live band playing everything.

480
00:36:34,510 --> 00:36:40,790
I can't think of a better preparation for a Michael Jackson show just because of that
diversity and how hectic it is.

481
00:36:40,790 --> 00:36:45,370
I imagine the rehearsals for something like Michael Jackson, like Janet, there would have
been many weeks.

482
00:36:45,370 --> 00:36:52,170
mean, as you know, the documentary or the This Is It, it shows you just how obsessed he
was with perfection.

483
00:36:52,170 --> 00:36:55,150
So it must have been a challenging rehearsal process.

484
00:36:55,638 --> 00:36:56,128
It was.

485
00:36:56,128 --> 00:36:58,641
Once again, know, the band was incredible.

486
00:36:58,641 --> 00:37:09,269
And there were so many of us like sharing the work, know, the Sherry who was playing
percussion, Sherry Johnson, people didn't realize it, but he had foot pedals to play

487
00:37:09,269 --> 00:37:12,482
percussion sounds, as well as what he was doing here.

488
00:37:12,482 --> 00:37:15,834
So sometimes you look like he was running or something while he was playing.

489
00:37:15,834 --> 00:37:18,116
He was actually hitting triggers with his feet.

490
00:37:18,116 --> 00:37:22,720
Sugarfoot had triggers for sounds in addition to his drums.

491
00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:25,452
And there was me and Mike and you know, so.

492
00:37:25,452 --> 00:37:28,077
you know, two guitar players, four singers and all that.

493
00:37:28,077 --> 00:37:30,025
We covered a lot of ground.

494
00:37:30,656 --> 00:37:38,083
It's hard to mention someone as iconic as Michael, but I think Roberta Flack definitely
fits that description.

495
00:37:38,083 --> 00:37:39,474
She obviously passed recently.

496
00:37:39,474 --> 00:37:42,516
Tell us about what your involvement was there as well.

497
00:37:42,516 --> 00:37:44,618
mean, know, rest her soul.

498
00:37:45,132 --> 00:37:51,585
Yeah, well, if, as I've always said, if George Duke is my musical dad, Roberta is my
musical mom.

499
00:37:51,585 --> 00:38:01,489
Although I should really say auntie or something because I said that on stage one time and
she was like, you know, said, mean, you know, young auntie, you know.

500
00:38:01,489 --> 00:38:04,560
So I, know, I love Roberta.

501
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:06,966
I love her very dearly as a person.

502
00:38:06,966 --> 00:38:08,381
I love her music.

503
00:38:08,381 --> 00:38:14,702
And that was whole different kind of learning because Roberta's musicality is so

504
00:38:14,702 --> 00:38:16,522
She's so sensitive.

505
00:38:18,222 --> 00:38:23,082
Her touch on the piano is so beautiful and so classical.

506
00:38:23,082 --> 00:38:28,222
A lot of people don't realize that she's that deep a player, that she can play
classically.

507
00:38:28,222 --> 00:38:29,262
And she's a teacher.

508
00:38:29,262 --> 00:38:30,982
So I grew up around teachers.

509
00:38:31,042 --> 00:38:39,942
So that kind of mentality and the way it comes into everything that she does, including
how she talks to an audience, how she talks to us, what she's actually doing musically to

510
00:38:39,942 --> 00:38:41,562
teach us.

511
00:38:42,062 --> 00:38:43,374
And she was

512
00:38:43,374 --> 00:38:46,014
just great at mixing styles.

513
00:38:46,794 --> 00:38:53,054
And she was just great at letting us be, know, bring out everything that we had as far as
our talent.

514
00:38:53,054 --> 00:38:54,814
didn't hold us back.

515
00:38:54,814 --> 00:38:57,254
And she was a very giving person as well.

516
00:38:57,294 --> 00:39:00,634
Like what I mentioned, I called her my musical model at stage.

517
00:39:00,634 --> 00:39:09,994
That's when she had come up to Connecticut for me and done a show for my old high school.

518
00:39:10,614 --> 00:39:13,554
Things that I do in my high school for a style.

519
00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:15,891
scholarship program for something called ABC.

520
00:39:15,891 --> 00:39:19,712
And she came all the way from New York, came up and did it, no charge and everything.

521
00:39:19,833 --> 00:39:23,114
And she's also my daughter, Nadya's godmother.

522
00:39:23,114 --> 00:39:25,985
So yeah, we're very close.

523
00:39:25,985 --> 00:39:27,736
That wouldn't me really hard.

524
00:39:27,736 --> 00:39:29,556
imagine, yeah.

525
00:39:29,556 --> 00:39:37,430
I had spoken to her, last time I'd spoken to her was maybe two months ago on FaceTime.

526
00:39:37,430 --> 00:39:42,581
She wasn't even able to speak, but I played a song that I wrote for her.

527
00:39:44,370 --> 00:39:50,118
and i'm about to release it and she's saying it

528
00:39:50,734 --> 00:39:51,755
great.

529
00:39:53,517 --> 00:39:55,639
Well, let's actually talk briefly about that then.

530
00:39:55,639 --> 00:40:03,005
Cause you on top of the, are going to talk about a couple more artists, but tell us about
your own amazing solo output, which has been consistent as well.

531
00:40:03,005 --> 00:40:08,570
So tell us what you've got coming up and also what you're most proud of from your previous
releases.

532
00:40:09,356 --> 00:40:10,667
Wow, great questions.

533
00:40:10,667 --> 00:40:17,099
know, I have from, yes, my only solo album that I've released, it's called Elements of
Pleasure.

534
00:40:17,099 --> 00:40:30,715
And when I say release, it's not on Spotify, it's not in Apple Music, it's not, it was
done in my garage in LA and it was also done in hotel rooms and in my basement in Georgia.

535
00:40:31,015 --> 00:40:34,396
But it's got so many great musicians on it.

536
00:40:34,396 --> 00:40:37,237
And it was, that was my learning album.

537
00:40:37,237 --> 00:40:38,894
I'd done an album before,

538
00:40:38,894 --> 00:40:43,014
called Audio Caviar, with someone that kind of plucked me out.

539
00:40:43,034 --> 00:40:45,474
It was done with Ralph Johnson from Earth, Wind & Fire.

540
00:40:45,474 --> 00:40:49,054
He kind of plucked me out of the band and said, I want to do Project Review.

541
00:40:49,054 --> 00:40:53,134
We ended up connecting people in Copenhagen, Denmark.

542
00:40:53,474 --> 00:40:56,354
Started the album over there and ended up finishing in LA.

543
00:40:56,354 --> 00:41:05,114
that album's got Jonathan Butler and Howard Hughes on there and just tons of other guests.

544
00:41:05,454 --> 00:41:06,854
Earth, Wind Fire always were on there.

545
00:41:06,854 --> 00:41:09,134
Earth, Wind Fire is on the Alma K and

546
00:41:09,725 --> 00:41:12,646
um, for me and Philip and all there are all on one track.

547
00:41:12,646 --> 00:41:17,306
We actually reunited, um, some members, but that was kind of what I learned.

548
00:41:17,306 --> 00:41:17,586
Okay.

549
00:41:17,586 --> 00:41:18,966
I can do this myself.

550
00:41:18,966 --> 00:41:21,326
So I got a microphone.

551
00:41:21,726 --> 00:41:26,326
We got a preamp learning how to, it got digital performer.

552
00:41:26,326 --> 00:41:27,406
Someone kind of taught me how to use it.

553
00:41:27,406 --> 00:41:32,366
Some senior monitors and I just started on my own, um, and did elements of pleasure.

554
00:41:32,366 --> 00:41:37,806
Um, that would, I just hit, that's about 2001 and I just hit it right where everybody was
starting to do that.

555
00:41:37,806 --> 00:41:38,822
You know,

556
00:41:39,022 --> 00:41:48,282
I had learned on audio caviar, to this day, I think it's the earliest I've heard anybody
ever doing this, what we now call wave sharing.

557
00:41:48,502 --> 00:41:55,442
I was in Copenhagen and we sent a track to George Duke and he played on it and sent it
back to us.

558
00:41:55,982 --> 00:42:04,382
And that was a lot harder then because high speed internet was the last beginning and
there was no media to actually do that on.

559
00:42:04,382 --> 00:42:07,822
was one DIRG that we found that would do it.

560
00:42:07,822 --> 00:42:12,202
Um, and it took forever, you know, just to my blood, my file.

561
00:42:12,722 --> 00:42:19,182
But, um, but yeah, so, but when I got to elements of pleasure, I found out that that could
be done a lot quicker, better.

562
00:42:19,182 --> 00:42:32,142
So I was, um, I remember being in Japan, Canada, Jackson, 2002, I had, um, a keyboard and
my, and my speakers and stuff brought to my room every day.

563
00:42:32,142 --> 00:42:35,362
And I had a CD burner.

564
00:42:35,602 --> 00:42:37,606
I'd made, um,

565
00:42:37,868 --> 00:42:44,881
meetings with record labels in Japan that would come meet me in my hotel downstairs.

566
00:42:44,962 --> 00:42:49,965
was also like a Kinko's, you guys don't have Kinko's over here but.

567
00:42:49,965 --> 00:42:50,905
Yeah.

568
00:42:50,905 --> 00:43:04,052
So I my little artwork going out there, out a Kinko's, burn my CDs that I just been making
upstairs in my room, come downstairs and have meetings with Sonia Reverend and my demo.

569
00:43:04,192 --> 00:43:07,934
So I felt like I was like kind of on the cutting edge of

570
00:43:09,070 --> 00:43:16,170
doing things independently and you know was going to meet him and can a lot and selling
artists.

571
00:43:16,170 --> 00:43:30,770
I had had partners in France and Copenhagen and all that kind of stuff so I was really
busy kind of promoting American musicians all over the world you know and I felt like kind

572
00:43:30,770 --> 00:43:34,750
of a little bit of a pioneer in that regard but now it's just done.

573
00:43:35,052 --> 00:43:37,834
No, it definitely wasn't cutting edge time though.

574
00:43:37,834 --> 00:43:40,783
And Moe, you mentioned you've got something coming up.

575
00:43:40,783 --> 00:43:43,567
you mentioned the song that Roberta sang on.

576
00:43:43,567 --> 00:43:48,750
Is it an album or just like a single coming out or what is it you've got coming up?

577
00:43:48,750 --> 00:43:51,370
I do have another album coming up.

578
00:43:52,930 --> 00:44:02,230
The thing is though, now the way it's gonna be coming out is possibly Spotify in terms of
streaming it and then selling it at my gigs.

579
00:44:02,230 --> 00:44:06,630
I've got some people that are interested in seeing it another tabloid too.

580
00:44:06,630 --> 00:44:10,510
So I'm in this new world of how our music put out.

581
00:44:10,510 --> 00:44:14,510
I'm trying to figure it out and I've got social media people that wanna do certain things.

582
00:44:14,510 --> 00:44:17,560
But I have a hard drive full of...

583
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:21,945
means that I've not released yet and it's just like it's gonna be coming out.

584
00:44:21,945 --> 00:44:26,019
Yeah so I'm proud of that.

585
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:35,390
My wife now is quite a singer her name's Tadma and she's on a lot of the material as well
working on her stuff for her own album as well.

586
00:44:35,822 --> 00:44:36,393
That's amazing.

587
00:44:36,393 --> 00:44:37,685
I look forward to that.

588
00:44:37,685 --> 00:44:44,514
And so just taking a quick step back and please correct me if I'm wrong, Mo, but I believe
one of your current gigs is as Bette Midler's MD.

589
00:44:45,324 --> 00:44:50,246
Yes, we haven't done anything in a while, but yes, I'm still as far as I know, still
having...

590
00:44:50,382 --> 00:44:52,364
another absolutely iconic artist.

591
00:44:52,364 --> 00:44:54,977
You know, what a set, what a voice and so on.

592
00:44:54,977 --> 00:44:56,769
So again, tell us your approach there.

593
00:44:56,769 --> 00:45:01,344
mean, are you, you're, assume you're playing piano or keyboards with, with that.

594
00:45:01,646 --> 00:45:04,366
Yes, I'm a piano, I'm pianist.

595
00:45:04,366 --> 00:45:19,206
And we have an incredible band, like 15 piece band, three harlots, female singers, five
piece horn section, two keyboards, two guitar players, percussion, and all the very, best

596
00:45:19,206 --> 00:45:20,946
at what they do, bass.

597
00:45:21,826 --> 00:45:26,746
Her show is great because it's a collective and I'm very proud of that show because I
helped her put it together.

598
00:45:26,746 --> 00:45:30,286
I wrote some of the songs for her, co-wrote some of the songs for the show.

599
00:45:31,438 --> 00:45:33,018
We picked the band together.

600
00:45:33,018 --> 00:45:36,818
literally handpicked almost everybody in the band.

601
00:45:37,338 --> 00:45:40,738
She gave me that kind of power, which doesn't always happen.

602
00:45:40,738 --> 00:45:45,178
A lot of times, a new musical director is showing up and the band is already there.

603
00:45:45,958 --> 00:45:48,698
So we picked every person.

604
00:45:49,258 --> 00:45:50,978
We went through every song.

605
00:45:50,978 --> 00:45:58,998
We started with like 70 songs and brought it down through, slowly got it down to an hour
and a half show.

606
00:45:59,776 --> 00:46:05,760
And what I love about her show is it's very collected because we go through so many
different styles.

607
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:16,368
We got a Latin tune and we a funk tune and the next thing is some vibe build section where
she's telling jokes and we're doing, know, we're answering her jokes with little sound

608
00:46:16,368 --> 00:46:17,589
effects and all this kind of stuff.

609
00:46:17,589 --> 00:46:23,602
And then the next thing would be some beautiful overture for the Disney movie.

610
00:46:24,143 --> 00:46:26,845
And then the next thing, you know, on and on and on.

611
00:46:26,845 --> 00:46:28,586
Hit after hit after hit.

612
00:46:28,961 --> 00:46:31,242
People just love her.

613
00:46:31,442 --> 00:46:38,402
So it was a really great show and she treated us so well as So, big fan of Betts.

614
00:46:38,776 --> 00:46:43,168
So I mentioned before that it's nearly impossible to cover the roster of people you worked
with.

615
00:46:43,168 --> 00:46:52,373
I'm just going to throw three or four names at you Mo, just for a shorter sort of couple
of sentences on your view on that gig and what you got most out of it.

616
00:46:52,373 --> 00:46:53,744
So I thought I'd start Mary J.

617
00:46:53,744 --> 00:46:54,734
Blysh.

618
00:46:55,384 --> 00:46:57,194
Well, Mary was a very short thing.

619
00:46:57,194 --> 00:47:00,372
I was subbing, actually subbing for David Plasta.

620
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:04,842
I was going to ask you about David Foster, so feel free to merge into that after Mary T.

621
00:47:04,842 --> 00:47:08,122
God, we could do interview just on David.

622
00:47:08,122 --> 00:47:13,982
But yeah, so he had produced her Christmas album and I had done some gigs with her on
that.

623
00:47:14,022 --> 00:47:15,582
This is very professional.

624
00:47:15,802 --> 00:47:20,702
know, my experience with her was, because some of the stuff was just her and I.

625
00:47:21,142 --> 00:47:25,942
And it's very professional, came into the job, very nice.

626
00:47:25,942 --> 00:47:28,278
You know, I didn't really spend a lot of time with her.

627
00:47:28,278 --> 00:47:28,920
No.

628
00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:35,446
And so David Foster, mean, again, I've used the word icon too many times, but he
definitely deserves the title.

629
00:47:35,446 --> 00:47:36,638
Tell us about that.

630
00:47:36,814 --> 00:47:37,794
Well, that's another one.

631
00:47:37,794 --> 00:47:46,574
was another, uh, you know, star struck moment for me or me and David Foster and getting to
play with them was just amazing.

632
00:47:46,854 --> 00:47:49,634
Um, he is a monster, monster musician.

633
00:47:49,634 --> 00:47:57,434
And I will say this out of all the artists that I've worked with, uh, through him and
there have been many, everyone shot the car on it.

634
00:47:57,434 --> 00:47:58,834
I've very much Shelley.

635
00:47:59,014 --> 00:48:05,624
Um, or if one of the fires that you didn't get the man, I mean, what country artists, you
know, satara lightened up.

636
00:48:05,624 --> 00:48:09,877
touring with after that, Michael Bolton, on and on.

637
00:48:10,659 --> 00:48:18,986
They, no matter where they come from or what their musical style, when he says, here's
what we're doing, everybody says, okay, David, I never.

638
00:48:21,058 --> 00:48:32,348
And is that, I'm really interested in that Mo, because I, from just what I've read and
talked to people, he's obviously, he's a demanding, in a good way, he's a very demanding

639
00:48:32,348 --> 00:48:34,530
musician of his fellow musicians.

640
00:48:34,530 --> 00:48:38,804
So is it partly that, and also just the fact that he's got huge credibility.

641
00:48:39,276 --> 00:48:41,666
Yeah, it's literally nailed it.

642
00:48:41,666 --> 00:48:42,767
That's it.

643
00:48:44,288 --> 00:48:47,719
He is that monster and he's a monster piano player.

644
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:50,190
mean, he's a monster arranger.

645
00:48:50,190 --> 00:48:53,192
does every style that he does.

646
00:48:53,192 --> 00:48:56,413
He's proven his production is just unbelievable.

647
00:48:56,413 --> 00:49:04,896
Our band for the most part was JR Robinson, Nathan East, Dean Barks and Tyra Keckoni.

648
00:49:04,896 --> 00:49:08,938
I mean, literally guys that I grew up listening to their...

649
00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:10,491
There's stuff.

650
00:49:10,491 --> 00:49:20,076
you know, even though he was demanding, he would get it and he didn't really have to say
much because we wanted to rise to the level of being great.

651
00:49:20,676 --> 00:49:24,674
both who burns and great keyboardists and does with rain and so on.

652
00:49:24,674 --> 00:49:35,465
And so it was, I, I just felt like I was in the land of the highest when I was there, you
know, and, learned a lot from him he's actually very, very nice guy.

653
00:49:35,465 --> 00:49:37,718
Although he gets, he does get,

654
00:49:38,414 --> 00:49:41,014
that stigma of being like tough.

655
00:49:41,014 --> 00:49:42,394
He is tough.

656
00:49:43,194 --> 00:49:47,134
There's a few times that I've gotten a little bit beaten up by him.

657
00:49:47,134 --> 00:49:50,214
got dusted off, got back up on the horse.

658
00:49:50,854 --> 00:49:53,594
we still regard each other.

659
00:49:53,594 --> 00:49:55,734
We have a mutual regard for each other.

660
00:49:55,992 --> 00:49:56,912
which is amazing.

661
00:49:56,912 --> 00:50:02,295
The last one I'll throw at you Mo is you mentioned Chaka Khan and she's about to come out
to Australia on a tour.

662
00:50:02,295 --> 00:50:06,912
I mean, she's one of those amazing artists who's been at it, know, 50 years now.

663
00:50:07,253 --> 00:50:07,523
Yeah.

664
00:50:07,523 --> 00:50:08,724
Tell us about that.

665
00:50:09,368 --> 00:50:18,712
Well, in addition to being one of my favorite singers of all time, it's funny, when I met
Shaka, I was playing with Rachelle Pharrell, who's an incredible artist, and she was just

666
00:50:18,712 --> 00:50:26,665
sitting in audience and came up and sat in with us, and she didn't know the songs, so she
was just riffing, you know, doing her thing.

667
00:50:26,665 --> 00:50:36,990
And this particular song had a keyword solo and like a moat solo in the middle, and here I
am playing the solo, and I've got Shaka Khan kinda back and forth with me in this thing,

668
00:50:36,990 --> 00:50:37,966
and I'm telling you.

669
00:50:37,966 --> 00:50:44,906
on the inside, but like, wow, you know, she just excites you in a way that makes you play
differently, you know?

670
00:50:44,906 --> 00:50:49,126
So that, in a sense that I've done, you know, quite a few tours with her, especially
David, you know?

671
00:50:49,126 --> 00:50:50,026
Yeah.

672
00:50:50,506 --> 00:50:54,045
And she's very, she's lovely.

673
00:50:54,045 --> 00:50:59,146
I she's, one thing I love about Shaka is like everything sounds like it's the first time
she's, started.

674
00:50:59,346 --> 00:51:07,342
It's that freshness through Joe Sample, people like that to me sound like you can't wait
to hear what's next because you're not gonna, you're not gonna.

675
00:51:07,342 --> 00:51:08,843
They're not gonna do the same thing every time.

676
00:51:08,843 --> 00:51:09,624
That's right.

677
00:51:09,624 --> 00:51:15,248
And so that was refreshing and she and David did the work together.

678
00:51:18,215 --> 00:51:19,065
No, amazing.

679
00:51:19,065 --> 00:51:19,636
Thank you.

680
00:51:19,636 --> 00:51:23,349
And we've got a few, what we call our regular questions, Mo.

681
00:51:23,349 --> 00:51:32,110
So I'm fascinated given how many artists you have played with, has there been a moment on
stage where things have gone spectacularly wrong that you can laugh about now?

682
00:51:32,110 --> 00:51:35,090
Yeah, there's something I can cry about now too.

683
00:51:35,090 --> 00:51:37,330
Yeah, there's been a ton.

684
00:51:38,390 --> 00:51:43,430
But we're talking about Janet Jackson and the keyboard programming aspect of it.

685
00:51:43,430 --> 00:51:47,330
There was this one module, was like few rat spaces.

686
00:51:47,430 --> 00:51:48,670
cannot think of the name of it.

687
00:51:48,670 --> 00:51:49,910
It was fat.

688
00:51:49,910 --> 00:51:55,210
It was an analog module for you know, rhythm, bass and all this kind of stuff.

689
00:51:55,210 --> 00:51:58,350
But every now and then it would stick to the rehearsals.

690
00:51:59,210 --> 00:52:00,150
You

691
00:52:01,390 --> 00:52:10,590
I told tech and I told the music director and stuff, hey, know, I don't really feel safe
with this thing.

692
00:52:11,050 --> 00:52:14,250
know, it's happened like three times now.

693
00:52:14,250 --> 00:52:16,250
Can we replace it with something else?

694
00:52:16,250 --> 00:52:20,970
But I think it was a situation where we were endorsed by them or something.

695
00:52:21,730 --> 00:52:29,830
So I'm on stage and there's one part in the Jan Jackson tour where it's nothing but the
keyboard and everybody's out, you know?

696
00:52:31,150 --> 00:52:37,950
I play the chord or the note or whatever it is and it goes, it sticks.

697
00:52:37,950 --> 00:52:42,170
It's where, to the point where all the dancers are kinda looking back like, what's going
on?

698
00:52:42,770 --> 00:52:45,610
I'm the only keyboard player, so.

699
00:52:47,110 --> 00:52:51,430
If you got two keyboard players, you can look at the other one and go, hey, man, what are
you doing?

700
00:52:51,430 --> 00:52:57,850
But yeah, that's, there's a million things I could point to and I still play classically,

701
00:52:58,926 --> 00:53:03,806
I've done Rhapsody in Blue several times with orchestras and that's a real test right
there.

702
00:53:03,806 --> 00:53:13,406
time I got lost, had to my way back in the middle of a concerto, which is whole other
thing, and on and on.

703
00:53:13,406 --> 00:53:16,046
I've been yelled at on stage by Ray Charles.

704
00:53:16,046 --> 00:53:17,166
Oh wow.

705
00:53:17,486 --> 00:53:25,926
Where he stopped the band, yelled at me and started up again, but that was a little bit of
rite of passage that happened to me.

706
00:53:26,754 --> 00:53:29,345
Yes, and you obviously survived that, mate.

707
00:53:29,345 --> 00:53:30,636
That's amazing.

708
00:53:30,696 --> 00:53:38,230
And I feel a bit silly asking this because you've already mentioned so many great players,
but we ask our guests to tag a keyboard player.

709
00:53:38,230 --> 00:53:43,412
So is there another keyboard player out there that you'd be interested in hearing more
about their life story?

710
00:53:46,932 --> 00:53:52,067
It goes without saying, Moe, would give a limb to talk to David Foster, but I'm not sure
that'll ever happen.

711
00:53:52,067 --> 00:53:54,862
But you know, anyone you can think of is always appreciated.

712
00:53:54,862 --> 00:54:02,024
Yeah, so many, know, but then I have talked to quite a few of them like when I mentioned
Joe Samples and Phil and games, you know, all those guys.

713
00:54:02,024 --> 00:54:09,906
But like, you know, there's a lot of new guys now that I'm kind of like, I would love to
their brand, you know, this guy has those has just Malina.

714
00:54:09,906 --> 00:54:10,786
Is that his name?

715
00:54:10,786 --> 00:54:11,507
yes.

716
00:54:11,507 --> 00:54:12,027
Yes.

717
00:54:12,027 --> 00:54:15,458
know, kind of defies gravity to me.

718
00:54:15,458 --> 00:54:17,708
just don't really.

719
00:54:17,708 --> 00:54:22,250
There's a lot of them, you know, that I'll unfortunately never be able to play like.

720
00:54:22,250 --> 00:54:23,860
But also,

721
00:54:23,860 --> 00:54:26,439
Also, Corey, let's talk from here.

722
00:54:26,439 --> 00:54:27,096
don't know.

723
00:54:27,096 --> 00:54:27,787
the

724
00:54:29,582 --> 00:54:37,802
Yeah, I mean it's obvious where a lot of them come from in terms of, you know, church, you
know.

725
00:54:37,942 --> 00:54:41,022
There's always that kind of element in it.

726
00:54:41,022 --> 00:54:53,442
And bass players too, know, and some of them I played with, like model Neon I played with,
and every time it just messes me up because I just don't understand where it's coming

727
00:54:53,442 --> 00:54:54,794
from, you know.

728
00:54:54,794 --> 00:54:55,975
amazing.

729
00:54:56,117 --> 00:54:58,783
No some great picks there Moe thank you they're superb.

730
00:54:58,783 --> 00:55:05,656
And then the dreaded desert island discs question so five albums if you have to narrow
your picks down to five what would they be?

731
00:55:05,656 --> 00:55:08,988
Well, has to be Gratitude by Earth, & Fire.

732
00:55:09,006 --> 00:55:12,590
We have to be in there and have to have some songs from Key of Life.

733
00:55:13,010 --> 00:55:14,891
Keith Jarrett live in Japan.

734
00:55:14,891 --> 00:55:15,991
Yeah.

735
00:55:16,392 --> 00:55:18,493
think it's just a great one.

736
00:55:19,174 --> 00:55:21,955
George Duke, Brazilian Love Affair.

737
00:55:22,475 --> 00:55:27,738
And a fifth one, one of those Funkadelic albums or something.

738
00:55:27,738 --> 00:55:28,399
Yeah.

739
00:55:28,399 --> 00:55:32,071
I think I'd have to have the Barbera Daja for Strings with me somewhere.

740
00:55:32,071 --> 00:55:34,562
It's not an album, but I have to that piece.

741
00:55:34,562 --> 00:55:36,024
family were adopted

742
00:55:36,024 --> 00:55:36,914
love it.

743
00:55:36,914 --> 00:55:37,626
No, thank you.

744
00:55:37,626 --> 00:55:39,297
That's one of the most efficient picks ever.

745
00:55:39,297 --> 00:55:40,749
And you just mentioned Stevie.

746
00:55:40,749 --> 00:55:43,762
I think you did have at least a brief interaction with Stevie.

747
00:55:43,762 --> 00:55:44,853
You've done something there.

748
00:55:44,853 --> 00:55:45,704
Tell us about that.

749
00:55:45,704 --> 00:55:47,756
can't let Stevie go by.

750
00:55:47,790 --> 00:55:53,130
God another huge influence on me, you know Not play with a few times.

751
00:55:53,130 --> 00:55:58,550
I play with me four times And it's always been like, you know, I wasn't expecting it to
happen.

752
00:55:58,550 --> 00:56:03,150
He's kind of pull up and one time I'll never forget with Stevie and George dude.

753
00:56:03,490 --> 00:56:05,910
I Was playing with George?

754
00:56:06,470 --> 00:56:17,014
I think it was a scat or whatever was and So I'm here George is kind of front of me there
and then there was a piano

755
00:56:17,014 --> 00:56:21,225
behind me and they introduced Stevie.

756
00:56:21,225 --> 00:56:25,306
So Stevie was at the piano and I was in what we call the rocking chair between the two of
them, right?

757
00:56:25,306 --> 00:56:31,598
know, so they were talking to each other, know, yeah, George, go ahead, you know, it's
kind of thing.

758
00:56:31,598 --> 00:56:36,299
I'll be in the middle just going, woo, freeze this one when they fire, you know?

759
00:56:36,639 --> 00:56:39,130
But yeah, Stevie, we played the White House.

760
00:56:39,130 --> 00:56:39,420
wow.

761
00:56:39,420 --> 00:56:46,722
was doing Motown, under the Obama's and Phil and Gaines was the director.

762
00:56:46,988 --> 00:56:47,598
Yeah.

763
00:56:47,598 --> 00:56:48,338
Wow.

764
00:56:48,338 --> 00:56:51,318
I had him and then came up.

765
00:56:52,058 --> 00:56:55,298
And Stevie will show up anywhere.

766
00:56:55,298 --> 00:56:59,438
There's a million gigs that I played where he was playing to the art and the audience.

767
00:56:59,438 --> 00:57:04,238
You know, if you're playing the Blue Note in New York, Pop It, Catalina's in LA.

768
00:57:04,278 --> 00:57:07,618
He seemed to me play different instruments from different artists.

769
00:57:08,130 --> 00:57:09,532
That's incredible.

770
00:57:09,954 --> 00:57:10,495
Love it.

771
00:57:10,495 --> 00:57:13,194
We're going to wrap up Mo with what we call a quick fire 10.

772
00:57:13,194 --> 00:57:16,905
So 10 quick questions with short and sharp answers.

773
00:57:18,209 --> 00:57:21,624
As best you can recall the first album that you ever heard.

774
00:57:21,624 --> 00:57:33,250
first album I got Jim Croce album and same also Sanfana's album that had everybody's
everything on it I can't think

775
00:57:33,594 --> 00:57:34,214
no, gotcha.

776
00:57:34,214 --> 00:57:35,094
No good picks.

777
00:57:35,094 --> 00:57:37,134
Your most important pre-gig ritual.

778
00:57:37,134 --> 00:57:39,864
So what do you need to do to feel settled before you play a gig?

779
00:57:39,864 --> 00:57:44,061
Because I'm a gig, but stretching is important, you know?

780
00:57:44,103 --> 00:57:50,274
And also just kind of going through every song in my head and maybe even looking at the
music before I get out there.

781
00:57:50,274 --> 00:57:51,719
Yeah, great.

782
00:57:51,719 --> 00:57:54,718
If you hadn't been a musician, what do you think your career choice would have been?

783
00:57:54,718 --> 00:57:56,374
Would you have ended up being an engineer?

784
00:57:56,374 --> 00:58:00,654
I think probably more I got into business more like I would like maybe marketing.

785
00:58:00,654 --> 00:58:03,130
I wish I had gotten a marketing degree.

786
00:58:03,130 --> 00:58:05,144
I really love that aspect of business.

787
00:58:05,144 --> 00:58:06,709
Yeah, great one.

788
00:58:06,709 --> 00:58:09,740
Favorite tour you've ever done, if that's possible.

789
00:58:09,740 --> 00:58:14,305
Well, certainly the Earth, Moon and Fire ones and the Bat Midleteral is just amazing too.

790
00:58:14,334 --> 00:58:15,201
Great.

791
00:58:15,201 --> 00:58:17,006
Favorite gig you've ever done.

792
00:58:17,006 --> 00:58:18,606
favorite gig?

793
00:58:18,626 --> 00:58:19,526
Whoa.

794
00:58:20,566 --> 00:58:22,206
When I, I'll pick this one.

795
00:58:22,206 --> 00:58:28,782
When I did Rhapsody in Blue, when my father was alive and he came and saw, got to see his
dream of me playing on an orchestra.

796
00:58:28,782 --> 00:58:29,566
That's amazing.

797
00:58:29,566 --> 00:58:30,521
Yeah, love it.

798
00:58:30,521 --> 00:58:32,430
Favorite city you've played?

799
00:58:32,430 --> 00:58:34,858
Let's pick off time ahead Rio de Janeiro.

800
00:58:35,213 --> 00:58:36,207
cool.

801
00:58:36,207 --> 00:58:41,812
Name a song that you used to love, but you've now played it to death, so probably don't
enjoy it as much anymore.

802
00:58:41,874 --> 00:58:44,174
Wow, these are great questions.

803
00:58:44,514 --> 00:58:48,814
You know, I like, um, if I didn't like it at the beginning, I still don't like it.

804
00:58:48,814 --> 00:58:53,594
And if I, uh, if I had to play it every night, like I love all the earth when the fires
are.

805
00:58:53,594 --> 00:58:56,234
So even though I played on the entire, let's still level.

806
00:58:56,402 --> 00:58:59,597
I've got to ask Moe, you love Wind Beneath My Wings?

807
00:58:59,597 --> 00:59:02,414
I actually don't mind it, I think he cop's an unfair rat.

808
00:59:02,414 --> 00:59:10,453
you know something that's a good choice right there but you know it was it's got it's I
still have to play it all the time to my wife sings it you know and I still love it

809
00:59:10,453 --> 00:59:17,090
because you know there's some little terms in it that are kind of cool and they're a
little substance in court you can go go gospel with it

810
00:59:17,090 --> 00:59:19,383
favourite music documentary or

811
00:59:19,618 --> 00:59:21,674
I really love one about Bill Withers.

812
00:59:21,674 --> 00:59:24,310
And I also love the one about Paul Williams.

813
00:59:24,521 --> 00:59:25,578
Aw yeah.

814
00:59:28,214 --> 00:59:33,064
Now one thing you'd like to see invented that would make your life as a keyboard player
easier...

815
00:59:33,064 --> 00:59:35,970
AI programming so I can just say make this error

816
00:59:35,970 --> 00:59:36,820
That's right.

817
00:59:36,820 --> 00:59:38,051
Hopefully that's coming.

818
00:59:38,051 --> 00:59:39,772
I reckon give it another five years.

819
00:59:39,772 --> 00:59:42,844
I reckon it'll be there.

820
00:59:42,844 --> 00:59:46,837
And then your last but not least, your favourite non-musical activity or hobby.

821
00:59:46,837 --> 00:59:49,268
What keeps you sane outside of music?

822
00:59:49,714 --> 00:59:52,619
wow, well, I don't know if it keeps me sane.

823
00:59:52,861 --> 00:59:53,663
I love golf.

824
00:59:53,663 --> 00:59:57,102
I don't get to play it very often, but that's the golf and yoga.

825
00:59:57,102 --> 01:00:05,242
Well, just using a golf analogy, I'd say it's fair to say, Mo, you've hit a lot of holes
in one in your career so far.

826
01:00:05,242 --> 01:00:07,502
And I think you've got a lot of holes in one still to go.

827
01:00:07,502 --> 01:00:09,462
I can't thank you enough for spending the time.

828
01:00:09,462 --> 01:00:10,862
It's been an absolute honor.

829
01:00:10,862 --> 01:00:15,422
And we always say we've only scratched the surface and it's definitely the case with your
good self as well.

830
01:00:15,422 --> 01:00:16,910
So you can't thank you enough.

831
01:00:16,910 --> 01:00:18,249
It's been an honor to be here David.

832
01:00:18,249 --> 01:00:20,210
Thank you so much for having me.

833
01:00:28,722 --> 01:00:30,012
And there we have it.

834
01:00:30,012 --> 01:00:32,173
hope you enjoyed that as much as you could tell.

835
01:00:32,173 --> 01:00:33,623
I enjoyed talking to Mo.

836
01:00:33,623 --> 01:00:34,354
What a guy.

837
01:00:34,354 --> 01:00:41,836
he's only, you know, in his early sixties, he's got a long way to go and, he's just about
done it all already.

838
01:00:41,836 --> 01:00:44,316
I'm, I'm obviously envious to some extent.

839
01:00:44,316 --> 01:00:48,268
a huge thanks to Mo for, for his time is incredibly generous.

840
01:00:48,268 --> 01:00:50,498
We had a lovely chat after the show as well.

841
01:00:50,498 --> 01:00:50,868
Yeah.

842
01:00:50,868 --> 01:00:51,899
Just, just amazing.

843
01:00:51,899 --> 01:00:53,169
So much to learn there.

844
01:00:53,169 --> 01:00:57,450
I'd like to thank you as always for listening and also our gold and silver sub.

845
01:00:57,450 --> 01:00:57,800
Mr.

846
01:00:57,800 --> 01:01:00,031
Dewey Evans from the lovely land of Wales.

847
01:01:00,031 --> 01:01:02,682
And just as an aside, Mo was coming to us from Wales.

848
01:01:02,682 --> 01:01:03,603
So Dewey, there you go.

849
01:01:03,603 --> 01:01:05,974
There was someone just down the road from you.

850
01:01:05,974 --> 01:01:16,038
The amazing Mike Wilcox from Midnight Mastering, one of our favorite supporters and also a
great mixer and master and audio engineer extraordinaire.

851
01:01:16,038 --> 01:01:18,159
Do check out midnightmastering.com.

852
01:01:18,159 --> 01:01:21,420
Speaking of favorites, the lovely Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Studio.

853
01:01:21,420 --> 01:01:24,062
Thank you as always Tammy for your ongoing support.

854
01:01:24,062 --> 01:01:24,984
And last but

855
01:01:24,984 --> 01:01:30,776
definitely not least the wonderful team at themusicplayer.com forums, the keyboard corner
in particular.

856
01:01:30,776 --> 01:01:33,277
What a great place to hang and talk.

857
01:01:33,277 --> 01:01:36,219
Everything keyboards, highly recommended.

858
01:01:36,219 --> 01:01:38,350
So again, thank you all for listening.

859
01:01:38,350 --> 01:01:42,271
We'll be back again in a week or two and until then keep on playing.