FROM RAGS TO RICHES TO REALITY

     I have known for much of my life what I wanted to do for a living.  As a young man, I remember watching TV late at night and seeing Stormy Weather with Lena Horn, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington.  I though how cool it would be to live like that.  To be able to play music and travel all over the world was my dream.  Those performers were so elegant and so classy, and they defied the negative stereotypes so prevalent in the Jim Crow South of the 1950s.  I was raised in Texas City,Texas, the mainland of Galveston, a seaport city and home to many forms of music, Blues, Country & Western, Funk, Gospel, Jazz, and even the Classics. Growing up in a city of about 30,000, I attended a small all-black single “A” school called Booker T. Washington, home of the fighting Bulldogs.  Texas City was like many small Texas towns, very close knit where black people watched out for each other.  It was a time when the extended family still existed, and black Americans still had an identity and a purpose.

     I grew up in an era of major social change in America, a time when this country was still dark and blatant racism was the norm.  I never thought in a million years I would ever see a black man in the White House.  As a child of color in the Texas of 1957, it was a challenge to keep a positive outlook on life.  I was fortunate to have grown up with people who thought enough of me to take steps to see that I would succeed.  One such individual was Mr. Mack, the music director at Booker T.  Because it was such a small school, special events called for the whole community to come together to celebrate whatever the occasion was.  Mr. Mack who was in charge of the marching band recruited me at age eight.  The hand cymbals were my first instrument, and my job was to keep time in the marching band.  This skill eventually carried over to keeping time playing a set of drums.   As I look back at pictures from that period, I am amazed that there was a uniform small enough to fit me.  As I grew, I made the transition from hand cymbals to snare drum. 

    Music was part of my household for as long as I remember.  My mother loved the piano, and there was a piano in my house.  I grew up with Blues and Gospel  music always in my ears.  As a youth who wanted to be a musician, I guess I was like most young folk of that period.  The blues had been played in my house so much, I didn’t want to hear it.  I wanted to be John Starks (Jabo) the drummer with James Brown.  I was totally ignorant about and disrespectful of the Blues.  

     My mother’s first cousin, the late Charles Brown, was a Blues Icon, a legend.  She was very proud of this and would boast about being double-cousins, meaning two sisters, had married two brothers.  As I continued to pursue music, I began to appreciate the Blues.  Also, knowing how much of an impact my cousin had on the music world, I was humbled at the fact.  When I got my first record deal and was set to move to the West Coast, my mother told me that the first thing I should do was to find my cousin.  Of course I assured her I would, but in fact finding my cousin turned out to be the very last thing I did. Ironically, when I finally met my cousin, he was performing at the Roosevelt Cine Grill in Hollywood.  I remember it quite vividly because it was during the holiday season, the busiest time of the year for cousin “C.”  As I walked up a side street heading toward Hollywood Boulevard and the Cine Grill, wouldn’t  you know it, the first thing I hear  was my cousin singing one of his biggest hits, “Merry Xmas Baby.”  

     That night I finally met my cousin Charles Brown.  He was very gracious and welcomed me with open arms.  It was very special to have met him and to have heard him reminisce about growing up with my mother.  It was also a surprise to me when cousin “C” related that Johnny Watson at one point in his career, had been his opening act.  Cousin “C” was closing that night at the Roosevelt Cine Grill, and the next night he was appearing on the Jay Leno show and then he and his group were off to Europe.  As we parted ways that evening, I could hear my mother’s voice saying, “I told you to find Your cousin.”  I was blown away at the fact that this Blues legend was my cousin.  And, had I followed my mother’s advise earlier, I probably would be going to Europe with my cousin.

     When I was about thirthteen, I began lobbying for a trumpet.  Xmas 1963, I asked for a trumpet the whole year.  The night before Xmas I found a rectangle box that looked like a horn case.  I picked up the box, I shook it, and it sounded like metal.  I jumped back into the bed, and I could hardly wait till morning to open my present.  Xmas day 1963, I thought I would finally be like Miles.  I rush over to the tree, I took the box, and to my surprise it was a Tonka Truck.  I was devastated, Xmas 1963 was a very humiliating day for me.  Now, the desire to play that instrument did not leave me right away.  The next year, I still wanted a trumpet.  Instead I received a Timex watch, which I gave away to my cousin on Xmas day.  My mother wanted to kill me and probably would have if we hadn’t had company.

Another influential individual arrived in my life at age fourteen, a new band director at Booker T.  The new band director Mr. James Wilson was recruiting members for the band.  I showed up and told him that I wanted to play trumpet.  When he said that he had filled all the spots for the brass section, I was crushed.  He then told me, I do need drummers.  In my frustration I told him I could already play drums because I had watched my neighbor who played drums in the band.  I had figured out how to buzz the sticks and played a press roll.  I would peek in my neighbor’s window as he would practice, and I would pick things up.  Mr. Wilson challenged me to play the drums, and I proceeded to play a press roll.  Mr. Wilson was so impressed that he took me home and told my mother that I had a natural gift.  He also told her, she should buy me some drums.  As I said earlier there was a piano in my house, my mother had purchased the piano because she wanted my sister to play.  When my sister lost interest, my mother was very disappointed.  When I asked for drums she assumed I would do the same thing my sister had done. 

Further, she didn’t want to invest in “all that noise.”  I was frustrated and asked my mother why I should be punished because my sister had disappointed her.  She stood firm but, she said that if I got a summer job, she would help me get a set of drums.  That summer I got a job in the pet shop and with my grandmother washing dishes.  It taught me that it was more important than ever to have a skill, or you could end up washing dishes or cleaning up pet waste for the rest of your life.  I got that set of drums, and I never looked back.  I basically taught myself to play. 

Technically Mr. Wilson, who was a Sax man, was my first and only drum teacher.  He taught me the basics of the drum set, four beats on the floor for the bass drum and two and four on the snare and hi-hat.  I did not get any formal training on drum set until I got to North Texas State University.  In high school I had been taught to read music and play the snare drum.  Booker T. Washington was such a small school, our drum line consisted of four snare drums, bass drum and cymbals.  There was no drum and bugle corps.  Consequently I did not get access to all of the drum rudiments that were taught at larger schools with greater resources.  I learned to play the drum set by listening and observing the players in my area.

At first I practiced in my mother’s living room, then when I thought I was ready, I started playing the Blues on weekends with the older guys.  Let it be noted that I learned to play the drums by playing the Blues, which was perfect because it gave me my foundation to play Jazz and other forms of music.  On the one hand, it was a good thing for me to feel I had a musical gift.  On the other hand, it prevented me from gaining certain knowledge quicker, because I thought I knew everything.  I was playing gigs and making money by the time I got to North Texas State and I thought I knew all I needed to know.  North Texas State opened my eye and ears to professional drumming.  Upon seeing and hearing the 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock lab bands at North Texas State, I realized I had major work to do.

The drums have taken me to many of the places I dreamed of as a kid.  Because of the drums I can say I have been to Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Barcelona, and Lisbon, to name a few.  I have worked in the World famous Whisky  A Go Go, The Roxy, The Palladium, in Hollywood.  Carnegie Hall in New York, Hammersmith Odeon in London, The Forum in Inglewood, and I have toured in almost every state in America.

     At this stage I have lived long enough to reflect and to be able to appreciate and understand my accomplishments.  I can look back at my musical career and say not bad for a little black kid from Galveston, Texas.  My life was in fact almost perfect.  One of the things we did as young musician was make a commitment to the music.  We were spiritual and knew that the money could not be more important than the music.  This was a good philosophy because I never made the big money.  And, if I were in it for the material gain, it would have been a very disappointing career.  I truly believe that it was God’s plan for me to play the drums.  There were signs as I grew up.  The fact that I had a feel for the drums before I had any formal training.  The fact that I could lie on the ground for hours at a time and listen to the cadence of an air compressor as it ran in the machine shop next to my house.  The fact that Charles Brown a Blues Icon was my cousin.  And the fact that Mr. Mack saw something in me very early to put me in the marching band at age eight.  The most convincing thing for me is that, there was an individual like James Wilson, who was able to see that I had a musical gift and brought it to my mother’s attention. I will be forever grateful for all of the people who took the time and interest in me and helped guide me to achieve my goals.  I feel I was given a natural gift to play the drums.  I also took it upon myself to study and enhance the gift.

     When I made the decision to choose music as a career, it was a no brainer, music was my love.  I considered all of the stories I had heard about old school artists who didn’t take care of their business and ended up losing out.  Being aware of the bad choices and decisions that these older artists had made was for me an example of what not to do.  I remember hearing stories of the late Sammy Davis Jr. and how he ended up with major tax problems with the I.R.S..  I thought to myself how could you allow your business to get so far out of hand that you end up owing the government millions of dollars.  Fast forward to actor Wesley Snipes who also had a tax problem and had to serve jail time.  Then there was the story of the Bus Boys, an all-black Rock N Roll group of the 70s.  The Bus Boys recorded a track called “The Boys are Back in Town” that was used as the sound track for a major motion picture.  Because the group did not have their business in order they lost major revenue.  The group did not have an agreement in place with the motion picture industry to ensure they were compensated for their work, thus they lost. 

     I am sure that in all of these examples, emotions had a lot to do with the choices that were made.  First mistake, believing in your heart that a friend or associate would do what you might do is wishful thinking.  I cannot speak for the people I just mentioned, but I can speak for myself.  I feel I was given a gift, the ability to play a musical instrument.  And because of that gift and the pleasure I got from it, I never looked at what I did as work.  I am talking about an entity that is colorless, odorless and tasteless.  An entity that has the power to move the masses.  Music is a gift from God, and those who have been given this gift are truly blessed.  I consider myself to be blessed to have worked with the late Johnny “Guitar” Watson.  I know as I reflect back upon my musical career, I did not make the right decisions regarding my business.  I allowed my emotions to become involved, Watson took advantage of my youth, my love and my devotion.  In 1980 when Watson and I broke up, I was not ready to except that I had gotten played.  I had put my blood, sweat and tears into Watson’s company Vir-Jon.  I did not want to believe that my brother Johnny Watson had crossed me.  I feel Watson’s ego played a big part in the break-up because of the things he did in the end.  For instance, Watson and I always stayed ahead of the game.  We always produced more material than was needed. 

     There was material in the can at all times, due to the fact that we had recorded together for most of the 70s.  Because of drugs and mismanagement Watson lost track of what had gotten us to where we were.  Our ability to produce music had gotten us there.  It was all about the recordings we had done together that got him the recognition and his new deal with A&M records.  I had dreamed of being a apart of such a great label.  I thought if Dick James Music, a foreign record company had gotten Watson Gold records.  Then for sure a label with the resources of an A&M records should have gotten him platinum.  Watson and I had worked on his projects for years, we knew just what it took for him to succeed.  As long as I had known Watson, he was his own producer.   Watson and I made sure the suit always fit him perfectly.  Watson’s success had been contingent upon him being the producer.     

MASTER FUNKER, PRODUCER, DRUMMER, E.T.