“Trippy Notes For Bass”
A copy of “Trippy Notes For Bass” Doug’s solo project, released in 1999, (On U Sound / EFA), was sitting on his wall unit. I scooped it up and asked him, in retrospect, what were his thoughts about the CD, considering that some of his fans were expecting a CD more in line with the work he had done with tackhead, Jungle Funk, or his earlier funk days. He stated that although it wasn’t Funk or mainstream music, it was an essential piece of work that would stand up over time. Although the CD was not a funk-fest, it was still a predictable direction for Doug once he had detached himself from outside influences and concentrated on his solo work. The CD is rich with loops and interesting musical phrasings that are uniquely Doug. I told him that “Glorification Chant” is one of my favorite songs and that the CD has a very relaxing effect upon me, in a way somewhat spiritual, to which he simply replied, “thank you.”
Doug Wimbish on: "Colors"
Lionel: First of all, “Colors," the CD by Herb Alpert, what are your impressions on that?
Doug: Great CD, great opportunity working with somebody as creative as Herb Alpert, and as creative as Bernie Worrell and Will Calhoun. It was a great opportunity for myself and Will, because we were brought in as producers to produce the record with Herb. Which was an honor.
Lionel: I heard a track on the University of Hartford radio station WWUH as recently as a week ago.
Doug: Really? What did it sound like?
Lionel: It sounded great. I like the CD. I personally bought it. You didn’t give it to my. (Laughs)
Doug: What do you think about the CD?
Lionel: I love the CD. I love the way it was done in terms of how you guys (Doug and Will) produced it. I was into some of the tonalities that you made on bass, and the way the melodic phrasing moved from bass to horn and I’m not talking about bass as in low frequencies but about bass as in effect.
Doug: Right.
Lionel: I Liked some of the things you were doing, when what you played, morphed right into Herb’s horn lines. That was slick production work.
Doug: Right. That was a good CD, actually.
Please don't be confused. It was Doug, being curious about what others thought about his work, who switched roles and started asking me, the interviewer, questions, but I was intent on putting a stop to that. As he got up from the recording console, he went to the kitchen to prepare a snack. I went over to a beautiful sky blue, Six string, semi acoustic Epiphone guitar, picked it up from among a small collection of Doug's basses and started voicing the changes to the Jungle Funk song "Torn". I was hoping that as a musician he couldn't resist and I was right.He came back over, sat down, grabbed an acoustic 4 string bass and flawlessly played his bass part to “Torn” including incredibly executed harmonics. This was my way of leading into a few questions about Jungle Funk.
Doug Wimbish: On Jungle Funk
Lionel: Jungle Funk.
Doug: Yup!
Lionel: Is it true that Jungle Funk is going to be touring again soon?
Doug: Yup. That is true. Jungle Funk is back up and running and we will be out on tour starting around the first of March in Europe.
Lionel: Now you know that is a hell of a combination. You, Vinx, Will Calhoun.
Doug: It is pretty outrageous. It’s been almost six years. We kind of parked Jungle Funk at the end of 1999.
Lionel: So will you be coming to the United States?
Doug: Hopefully, if we could get some clear interest, and align a few things.
Doug’s cell phone rings and it is Vinx on the other end. Doug confirms that he received the package; a huge manila envelope with Vinx written in red marker, right across the front. While Doug is talking to Vinx he takes out the CD and song list from the envelope and pops the CD into the drive of his Mac laptop and out comes such a beautifully familiar voice. Vinx. Years ago, when Doug first told me about Jungle Funk and the players that were involved, which included Vinx, I hadn't paid much individual attention to the vocalist at that time. I was more into the sound of the group collectively, however, a few weeks later, I was listening to the radio when I heard a voice and jembe drum rendition of "MoonDance" which stopped me dead in my tracks. It was Vinx. From that point on, he had my full attention.
Lionel: So this is Vinx’s song list, (referring to a song list Doug was reviewing).
Doug: Yup, I talked to Vinx basically and said, let’s start thinking about some material for Jungle Funk. If you got some new material, you should send it off to me now, so I can start getting into it. That’s kind of what happened.
Lionel: So this is basically ground floor roots right now?
Doug: Roots. Square one.
Lionel: Marco, who manages the Teckhead.com website was very instrumental in getting the partial tour schedule out to your fans.
Doug: That’s good, but I don’t have the full tour schedule yet either, more dates are constantly being added. Marco from tackhead.com, Sam from Livingcolournet.com, Phil Fortune from Dougwimbish.com and Sacred ground (message board at Yahoo), really help to get the word out and my thanks goes out to them and all involved.
Lionel: So folks should check with those websites for updates?
Doug: Yup. Definitely.
Lionel: Can you expand a little about the set up of the tour in terms of performances?
Doug: Me and Will are going to perform as Headfake. Vinx will do a solo performance. Then we will all perform together as Jungle Funk and the shows will be recorded for possible use as DVD source material.
Doug Wimbish on Mos Def & Black Jack Johnson
The anticipated release of the Black Jack Johnson record with Mos Def was killing me. It was mentioned on Doug’s site many moons ago. There was a video on the Internet, where Mos was trying to sell the group’s concept to the masses. They were performances at festivals and the group was even on The Late Show featuring David Letterman, but… no CD. So I had to ask the question. Was Black Jack Johnson knocked out?
Lionel: Okay now, Mos Def.
Doug: Yes.
Lionel: Now I know that you have always been connected with the rap business, after all, you are one of the grandfathers who helped shape the music behind the verses, as a result of your involvement with The Sugerhill Gang. You did a brief summer tour with Busta Rhymes, and now with the rap CD, “The New Danger” that Mos Def just released, I noticed that you are credited as a member of Black Jack Johnson.
Doug: Right.
Lionel: You’re not necessarily credited individually as songwriters. Is there any reason why it went that route, if it is something you can talk about?
Doug: Well, there are a couple of things with that. I think with that record, as far as, what was on the sleeve (credits), there were some things that were to be corrected the next pressing, because they originally pressed 400,000. It was interesting how they credited us as a band but Bernie (Worrell) got credited individually. I think the credits were put in too quickly, before everybody was clear how things were going to be represented, but it is all good, honestly. It’s like this. Mos is a very diverse artist. The reality of what’s been going on with him is that he’s been doing a lot more acting. His career skyrocketed and the whole record industry, which he’s been involved with has shifted. He signed with a major label (Geffen) coming from Rawkus (Records) and there was a whole lot of shuffling going on. I think in the mist of all that, Mos decided to make a Mos Def record. You know, we had started doing a Black Jack Johnson record. The label signed Mos Def and really wanted a Mos Def record and the compromise was putting a few Black Jack Johnson songs on that record, to kind of like, promote Mos’ creative sides and to also suggest, the next scenario of what was going to come, because people were expecting a Black Jack Johnson record.
Lionel: So, will there be a Mos Def / Black Jack Johnson record?
Doug: That will be out in time as well.
Lionel: When I hear the cuts, from “The New Danger” CD, that Black Jack Johnson played on, you can clearly hear the distinct rock-rap sound, which makes those tracks sound different from other tracks on the CD. As a matter of fact, what is the name of that track Zim…?
Doug: Zimzallabim?
Lionel: Zimzallabim, sounds as though it could be the first cut off of the Black Jack Johnson CD you were talking about, because it just comes out at you, cutting through the mix with serious Rock flavor.
Doug: Yeah.
Lionel: And to me, that’s a great sound, so are you guys planning on expanding on that?
Doug: We’ll see, you know what I mean. We basically started work on that idea four years ago. Rock and rap has always been two separate things, but they are put together at times when they work and then when they don’t seem to work, they are kept mad separate.
Perhaps Rock and Rap will be kept “mad separate” but only long enough for us to enjoy the drum and bass of Headfake, the vocal and percussion performances by Vinx, and the mega funk from Jungle Funk. As “The New Danger” sizzles and heats up this summer, lets hope we will be fortunate enough to catch Def, Wimbish, Calhoun, Worrell and Miller as they Rock the Rap as Black Jack Johnson.
Jungle Funk, Headfake and Vinx go on tour March 2005
© 2005 LCM Productions. Used by permission.
Interview with Bassist Doug Wimbish on 1-17-05.
No portion of this interview, either written and/or audio form, can be used or republished without consent from either Doug Wimbish or Lionel Crawford.
For more information please visit these sites: dougwimbish.com / Vinx.com / willcalhoun.com / tackhead.com / livingcolournet.com / lionelcrawford.com
