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Gimme Some Lovin':
Stevie Winwood Rocks the House at
Matrix Midland.
An Exclusive Interview with Winwood
Guitarist Jose Neto
on Collaborating with Winwood, the
Death of Jim Capaldi,
and more...
By Scott Baker
Having first met Steve Winwood around ten years ago through their mutual friend, Traffic drummer/vocalist Jim Capaldi, Neto and Winwood together have forged an old sound for the new century, beginning with the 2003 release About Time, featuring Neto's nylon electric guitar and Winwood's driving B3 organ, mixed with world percussion.
After touring throughout late '03 and
early '04, Neto and Winwood have been back on the trail in 2005, marking
a stop in Midland at the Center for the Arts Matrix Festival on June 29.
Catering to a partly aged and tie-dye
style crowd, featuring a half set of Traffic staples and half of
About Time (with a few choice gems thrown in), the three and a half
hour concert was brimming with something old and something new, accented
with a lot of dynamic jamming.
Neto's firebrand guitar playing, matched
with Winwood's floor stomp bass on the B3, propelled the drum and
percussion driven quintet to new ground with each song.
Saxophonist/flutist/organist Jay Davidson colored the night with
melodies, which laced the majority of the set list.
Drummer Davide Giovannini and
percussionist Karl Vanden Bossche brought world-class time
keeping with them, offering Cuban and Brazilian styles of groove. They
took Winwood's '80s favorites like Higher Love and Back In The
High Life, as well as the singer's teenage Spencer Davis Group
hits I'm A Man and Gimme Some Lovin’ to new heights.
While a good chunk of the audience
purchased About Time either before the show or during the
intermission, it is Neto's solo group, Netoband, who sports the
most recent release produced by Winwood (who also performs on a few
tracks), titled Lua's Dance. Having About Time feature
many of Netoband's past songs as its basis with Winwood's penned
lyrics, Lua's Dance offers more of the new sound Neto is
creating. While it wasn't at the sales counter, Neto is in hopes people
will check out his website
www.joseneto.com)
to purchase the currently independent CD and get a chance to hear some
of the spectacular jazz/world fusion styles he has to offer.
While Winwood does not do interviews
while on the road, The Review had a chance to catch up
with Neto for an hour before the show with a walk through Dow Gardens
to discuss Neto's history with Winwood, the past year's unspeakable loss
of Neto's daughter Lua and mutual friend Capaldi, and get a behind the
scenes look at About Time, Lua's Dance and the new album
Winwood and Neto are embarking on at the moment.
Hailing from Brazil, Neto, 50, colors his
answers with beautiful stories in a unique blend of English/Brazilian
tongue.
Review: When did you first meet Steve? Neto: The initial meeting, we were with (our group) Fourth World in London at Ronnie Scott's (club) and Airto (Moreira, percussionist) and I, we used to go out in afternoons. We would take a walk in Soho and then go to the club and jam a little bit.
We'd play a little, have a coffee, and
play a little more. Everything is set up in the club so you can go there
in the afternoon and play. It's really nice and it's a great club. One
afternoon we were there and Jim Capaldi came in with his wife
Aninha, and she's from Brazil...so we started talking and Jim and Airto,
they start playing percussion and we jammed a little bit.
Then Jim said, 'We are in London for the
day doing some errands and things, so we'll come to the show tonight.'
It was like Wednesday night or some mid-week and then he said, 'Well you
know I'm gonna come back.' I think it was the following night or a
couple nights later. He came back and said, 'I'm going to bring Steve,
because I want him to meet you guys and check out the band', and Jim was
very excited with Fourth World. He came and brought Steve and after the
show, we hang out
and everybody had a great time meeting.
After that Jim did a beautiful Brazilian
dinner at his house. His wife cooked a beautiful meal and there was a
big jam session and Steve was there and George Harrison and his
family, us, the whole band, Giovanni Hidalgo was there, and we
just did a jam. Then we stayed in touch.
Review: When did you first collaborate? Neto: Steve and I always stayed in touch. We'd spend like five days together, playing, writing. It was kind of getting to know each other musically and as friends. Nice, great atmosphere without thinking of when we're gonna do a gig. It was just a musical thing. Just play, jam, organic, then write a couple of things.
We never got too patterned because it was
kind of a transition time. Steve was kind of in a transition from the
large group that he had. Maybe he was starting to think of making some
changes and kind of go back a little more to the Traffic days,
which was just like trio or sometimes a quartet. He was just starting to
put that feeling out that this was kind of what he wanted to do. The
more we kept going, the more he kind of matured that and he was already
getting into playing the organ and kicking the bass (again). As we got
into 2000, then 2001, that's when he started giving me the idea that he
wanted to do something and that he wanted me to be part of it. So by
2002, that's when we started putting this whole thing together.
2002 we were already working on this new
organ/bass, trio, quartet, or quintet with percussion and one horn.
That's when that kind of more or less started. We got together in
Nashville with some different musicians, but Steve and I were starting
to get the foundation of the music, the way to approach chords, the
rhythm, kicking (of) the bass and reinforcing.
And it has grown a lot. It has grown so
much. We were just talking today that looking back, how long it takes
and when you keep on doing (it) like we've been for three years, you've
got to start hearing and feeling something about the music that you
didn't know before. The nuances, dynamics, the little details that you
get more confident, you just know each other better. I think the next
record will be pretty exciting.
Review: When did the Netoband get its start? Neto: I remember doing gigs with some of the guys back in the '80s. By '85-'86 we were already in the Bay Area doing things. Review: What was it like recording Lua's Dance with Steve, at his studio The Barn, in England? Neto: We did Ronnie Scott's with the Netoband and I was talking to Steve and said, 'Well, maybe it would be great if we could (record) right after the gig which is six nights that we play--to take a day off and go in and record for another six days. Do the whole album in six days.'
And that's what we did. Then James (Towler,
engineer) and Steve, they kept the master and they just worked on the
mixes. I was there a couple of times. We were doing other things and we
went over the mixes, but it was nice. It was kind of like a group thing.
Other records I've done, you kind of spend a whole month and you do this
and your overdubs and this and that and then it outs there. But I like
this one, because it was just like boom, playing a gig somewhere, you
know. I thought for us, for the Netoband it was the best way of
doing it, because we are kind of like a live band. People come and so we
just tried to play as we would play at the club. By the time we all left
it was pretty much done. All they did was mix and master it.
In the past, the records that we did with the Netoband, we didn't have the opportunity of playing a gig and then going into the studio and recording. It was more like going into the studio, rehearsals, learning songs, but doing this one was more like play. Stuff we were playing live, we recorded. You could almost consider this a live record, in a way. A live studio album. It's not with a record company yet. I think I want to build up (for a national release) as it's naturally happening. Build and more people are getting to know my music, especially now since it's been three years that I've been basically on the road with Steve. He likes to play my music, he likes to write together.
I feel pretty fortunate and thankful for
this process that's been happening, because you don't find too many
people like that, that you click and you start having musical visions. I
think that's the great foundation since we first met in '95.
Review: About Time was recorded there too. How did that get cut? Neto: We did the whole About Time album there. I think that is what he was going for -a really natural, organic sound and not tweaking it too much or doing too much to it after it was done just to maintain that sound, which is kind of like how we sound live. I think they kept improving this and that and it just kept sounding better and better.
About Time was different. We had a
few phases. We went from just Steve, Wally (Walfredo Reyes, Jr.,
drummer), and I first. We got together for two weeks I think. We played
and recorded and actually played a few songs, Final Hour, Silvia,
that were tracked really early, first takes. I think Silvia was
first take. After a couple of weeks, some of the percussion players came
and then we started working with them and tracking. It was more like
four or five weeks and then Steve sang some vocals and even kept some
things live. But then he continued on working on it."
Review: Is there a live release that Steve hinted about earlier in the year in the works? Neto: Might be. I don't know if the live is going to come out first or the studio. The studio (album) we kind of started, the two of us, just looking through some bits and pieces of things that we've done and ideas. We're already very excited just hearing those little things. There is already material to be explored. But I don't know, as far as the live record, I think maybe we'll do one more record and then do a live record. Review: Since the loss of your daughter, Lua, as well as Jim Capaldi, the focus for both you and Steve must have become quite different over the past year. Especially since Traffic was set to reunite late last year. Neto: It's kind of taking a little bit of time and understanding and kind of learning from everything that has been going on. There are things that you've got to go through in life. I think we've been sharing a lot of those emotions and our families have been through so much together because we have been working so constant in the last three years.
So I don't think we're going to rush into
anything at this point. I wouldn't--I can't speak for everyone but I
think a live album would have to really be a statement, a moment, and a
special event. I think that's what live albums are for really, a
particular special moment of such a band or such an artist. But I think
writing and starting the next one is kind of surfacing naturally, which
is nice, because some situations you've got to come up with it because
you have to, but not this.
I guess if Traffic would have gone
out on the road last year they would have probably put the DVD out then
(Traffic Live 1994, now due later this year). It just happened this way
that we're kind of continuing as musical partners. But it's good because
I think also it's a nice time to keep Traffic alive in a way, any way we can. Also for Jim who
was such a great musician and always had his heart to the band, you know
it comes from that school. It's important for us to continue and play,
because people are now starting to get into what we're doing more and
more. It's kind of a little bit different Steve that I guess they
haven't seen that much since Traffic.
Review: Are your writing methods similar? Neto: Not really, not really. I write with a nylon guitar, just an acoustic guitar. Then I take it to the band and then start developing it with the band. And Steve, he's done solo albums that he played everything! So he's very talented. He sometimes like to put ideas and work on them in a multiple way and then he'll show it to me and not that I'll have to play that, but at least it's a better way for him to express what he's hearing and then let the musicians take it away or modify a little, put their taste (on it). There's no right way or wrong.
The wrong thing to do is to try to modify
what you do best to go with how things are done now, or be told you must
play something a certain way. Then you're in trouble because you'll be
bouncing from this producer to that producer to that place to this. I
think it's good when you inspire each other musically. You make each
other get better or open different avenues, different styles and be very
open to anything.
Then the time creates a situation that
you can try anything and not be limited or judgmental. That only comes
with time or it comes when you meet somebody and you click and you
respect and you are respected. Then you just listen and you go, 'Welly,
yeah, this or that sounds better'’ and you kind of let the music speak
for itself."
Review: How much do you tour each year with the Netoband? Neto: Just a couple of weeks. I don't play a lot of gigs with other artists. If I look back in my career I always kind of became part of a band and then when I look back it's been ten years. Harry Belafonte was twenty. Airto and Flora (Purim, vocalist with Fourth World) was ten. When that dissolved, I rode opposite of that (and) started with Steve and then you look back and it's been ten years. I would like to get the Netoband to a point that we can still do other things, but have more of a schedule. Have a set amount of weeks a year that we go out, in the States and Europe and do some of the jazz clubs and some festivals, but keep on doing other things, because I like writing. I've been writing more. Some singers are starting to record more of the music I write." Review: With Steve at age 57, you both have found a shared path for yourselves as you've entered your 50'sŠ. Neto: He's got a few more holes in his shoes than I do, but I'm not so far behind (laughs).
Review: It's amazing how it used
to be the Steve and Jim writing team and then for the turn of the
century, it's Steve and Jose, having met through Jim.
Neto: Jim just makes things even more special. He was the man that introduced me to Steve. He's kind of the light that you feel like is always shining as we go. It's the beauty and the magic and the mystery of life and the only way to know it is living through it and then trying to help others with a little bit of wisdom or a little bit of support, because a lot of us need it, like myself, and we all need support and friendship.
You always have to be very humble about
everything and then through that you can find a way of communicating, a
way of helping, a way of being helped and a way of sharing. You have to
associate with people like that to create that energy. And if you can
associate that with the music, then you've got a pretty strong energy
going on.
Electricity, fire and love for what we do and for the music. So that's more or less what we're doing, you know? Special thanks to Rodney Shur, Gina Musser for setting up the interview, and Jose Neto for sharing his history, stories, personal time, and his heart. |
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