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Benjamin Wright "I'll Never Switch"
CAKEWALK: It’s a great pleasure to be speaking with you Benjamin. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with the Cakewalk user community. Benjamin Wright: It is always a pleasure to speak with Cakewalk and to share with the wonderful “Cakewalk user community.”
BW: You know just how long winded I can be since becoming an old musician; however, I will try to be a “little short” about my background. My background certainly goes back a little bit, if that is what we can call it. Basically, I started out singing Doo Wop with some high school guys that formed a little group that sang at school functions and gigs around town in Greenville, Mississippi. Please note, we all sang in church first, then the glee club at school. I loved singing, but I went berserk about getting in the high school band. You guessed it, I started playing drums, then I went on to become an all-state tympani player. Not long after that, I started messing around with a Hammond B-3, then electric pianos… as you can imagine I was “sick,” I could not get enough music. Soon after this, I began writing charts…that made me an “arranger.” Most of the people I was working with, wanted whoever wrote the music to conduct it... that was how I became a conductor. Conducting on the road gave one a lot of responsibilities...which led me to be considered a music director... composer… producer… I give up... I don’t know what I am anymore! [laughs] However, I must admit that through each phase I have been through, I have considered it a blessing from God. I am going to take you to the period after my military days. “Sgt. Wright” was always writing charts and begging anybody and everybody I could find to take a chance on me to write charts for their record date. Around that time, a very good friend of mind, Mr. Syl Johnson, gave me my first string writing date. I was nervous because I felt insecure about writing for violas and the alto clef. God blessed me because the viola parts were correct and in the right range! That one gig lead to so many more arranging dates that I started wearing the “I am an arranger hat” Of course you know that during that time (the late 60’s), you had to write charts with pen and paper and then copy it or send it to a copyist. I thank God for that experience, because now I find it very helpful to edit notation software today. CW: You’ve worked on so many legendary projects and with such amazing individuals, from legends like Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Berry Gordy, Earth, Wind, and Fire, the Temptations... And new blood like Outkast, Justin Timberlake, Brandy, and Destiny’s Child…you must have so many amazing stories from your career, would you mind sharing a few of your favorites? BW: One amazing anecdote happened on an Earth, Wind and Fire date. the song was Boogie Wonderland. I used a big orchestra...big horns, big strings, tympanis, French horns...everything. Maurice White heard magic in the string run down, and only allowed me to do one take on them… that was it... I was like “no man, it’s not right yet”... But the cat would not let me do another take... A one take Grammy song, huh! Andre Benjamin of Outkast is a very serious cat and shy...really. We did a piece on the Love Below album called Intro. This was a rubato number with no rhythm section...just tympanis, vibes, piano and strings. I almost had to call the police on Andre Benjamin to have him sing on this live session...you see, because the whole tune was rubato, I needed the vocals to drive the tempo…this cat did not want to sing with the live orchestra...but just look at the wonderful job he did...I love that cat. CW: What was it like working with Quincy Jones, and what would you say the most important thing was that you learned from him? BW: Concerning Mr. Quincy Jones, well first of all, I almost had a heart attack the first time he called me...I really have to thank him for understanding the impact he has on most cats...because I refused to accept that it was the real Quincy Jones on the phone! I actually hung up on him thinking it was a joke. [laughs] That call from Q was for me to do strings on Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall album. I did the strings on Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, Rock With You and a few additional cuts. Now at this point in my career, after all the sessions I had done, I was extremely confident… but on Q’s date I was shaking...first of all, what do you possibly write for Quincy Jones? He’s done everything...but God blessed me again to come up with a string line that is still being acknowledged today. Working with Mr Jones is a joy...real pro stuff. One of the most important things I learned from Q was how to deal with musicians to get the best performance possible! My friend...that ain’t easy. CW: How does Cakewalk software factor into your workflow BW: Let me get something straight first...I used to deal with Cakewalk when the company first got started…back when it was Twelve Tone Systems, and the software was Cakewalk. I was running it on a top of the line IBM computer at the blazing speed of 4.77 mHz. Now at that time, Cakewalk had a long way to go...but, so did everyone else. I stepped away for a long time, but now, I am back and happier than ever. What was truly amazing was that even when I was not using Cakewalk I was the “tech support” for quite a few cats who knew that I had been dealing with it. One of the first things you notice about SONAR is that it is very user friendly...so you can just jump in right away and create some music...no matter what questions you have, you know that you are using a very high end product...plus, Cakewalk’s tech support is very knowledgeable, and I love that! For me it is so necessary to use MIDI and digital audio in sync at all times...nothing does it better SONAR 3. It is so easy to get into, and the soft synth support saves a lot of time for someone who is arranging for clients other than themselves. For those who are doing jingles or film, SONAR makes it so easy to sync to video. From a notation point of view, SONAR is one of a few sequencer programs that I have found where you can save your project as a MIDI file and then drop it into high-end notation software, and it comes out just the way you sequenced it...what a plus! From a recording stand point, SONAR can deal with any sound card without having a rocket scientist sitting there to explain every little detail to make it work with your PC.
CW: And can you tell us about the recent project that you did with Jamiroquai? BW: I had gotten a call from Sony UK to write some charts for their super talented artist Jamiroquai. I was delighted, and did all my pre-production work in SONAR. Mike Spencer, their producer and engineer from London sent me the OMFI files of the Pro Tools session...no problem ...just stick it in SONAR man, it comes right up! I must tell you I had a ball with all of the London cats. Jay has the energy of ten cats. Matt the keyboard man, Rob the guitar man with a voice, Mark the point man, and Lincoln from the Sony label made my life very easy dealing with this great artist. Jamiroquai, I love you guys! CW: What made you decide to start using SONAR, and what are your favorite things about working with it? BW: What made me go with SONAR...well, I was looking at switching sequencing platforms when Apple acquired Emagic. My friends had been telling me for years that I had to check out what Cakewalk had been putting out. The SONAR demo at the NAMM show gave me a whole new insight about SONAR and all of the wonderful things it does. You cannot beat seeing something for yourself...at the show, I had questions and the cat showing the product just laid me out… man...I had to go with SONAR! It can handle all of my sequencer and recording needs...that’s it. CW: Who do you feel were your influences as an arranger? Whose orchestrations inspired you? BW: When I was in the military, I used to play organ with an old Duke Ellington trumpet player named “Fats” Ford… a real hip cat. One day he took me to Alabama State College to a Duke Ellington concert. This cat walked into Duke’s dressing room and the band was having a meeting. The meeting stopped and everybody acknowledged “Fats,” then Mr. Ford introduced me to Mr. Duke Ellington, who talked to me and just changed my whole life. It impacted me so much that when Duke passed, I named my next child Edward Kennedy Ellington Wright. Now I cannot arrange like Duke, and I don’t get the chance to do that type music, but he is first on my list. I was also into Oliver Nelson, my friend Tom Bell, Quincy Jones, Hank Crawford, and Burt Bacharach.
CW: And if someone wanted to learn more about the art of arranging and orchestrating, what would you suggest? BW: For me to learn about arranging and not being in school at that time, I spent all of my time reading arranging books from Dave Baker, Russell Garica, the Berkley School of Music Press stuff, etc. CW: If you had one piece of advice to impart to someone who was trying to make it today in the music and entertainment industry, what would it be? BW: My advice would be...get the hell out of this quick and learn to be a doctor, lawyer, business man. [Laughs] No, seriously, if you believe in this, then don’t let anybody change how you feel and what you want to do...Nike says...”just do it!” And I agree, but you must learn the music. CW: What are you working on now? BW: Right now today I am doing charts for a big band that I have with Louis Price called, the Price/Wright Orchestra. It’s an eighteen piece band, with three background singers, Louis is doing lead vocals and little old me is conducting. It is hard to get booked with a big band “can you say money!” but we believe in this sound and we’re sticking with it... maybe we can do a gig for Cakewalk…huh? [laughs] CW: In closing, do you have a personal philosophy about music? BW: I love the music...all of it...it is a blessing from God to do music for a living. Thank you and god bless.
Purchase Benjamin's latest work The Temptations Legacy from Amazon.com.
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