Gerry Brown and Karen Briggs discuss groove (part 1 of 2)

Gerry’s guest for this two-part episode is the genre-bending violinist, Karen Briggs. For nearly five decades, Karen has brought solo violin to places it had never been, like jazz fusion with Stanley Clarke, hip hop with  Wu Tang Clan, pop and soul with En Vogue and Diana Ross, and, famously, world music with Yanni. As you will hear in this first part, it has not always been easy, but success can come from unexpected places…when you are true to the groove.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Hey, ladies and gentlemen. Jerry Brown here on the Groove O Live Podcast. Today's guest is the world renowned. This is Karen Briggs. Karen has been playing since she was twelve. A lot of people know her from Yani. But she also has played with me, but Stanley Clark. In Vogue. And Chaka Khan. And that's only a mention of her history. So step back. Enjoy this first episode with Miss Karen Briggs on the Grooved Online podcast. It's ongoing. Yes, it is. Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Stanley Clark, RZA of Wu Tang Clan. Kirk Franklin. Nasir Shama. Is that correct? How I say that?

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Nasir, Nasir. That's the Oud player. I had lunch with him when we were in Abu Dhabi uh recently. And uh he just happened to be there. It was like really a funky thing. But uh Nasir Shama is uh an incredible uh person, and you know, he's he's just a lot of things, you know. He sets up a lot of schools for students for music and to teach them the ood. And uh yeah, I had lunch with him. I just happened to just reach out because the first time I went to Abu Dhabi was to play with him, and so when I uh got there, I just said, let me just you know do a stab in the dark and see if anybody from that band might be here. And his manager's like, Well, as a matter of fact, Nasir's there, he's he was there for three days, so I had lunch with him uh one of the days that we were there, and that was just a delightful surprise, yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yes, yes, so so just to let the audience know the Diana Ross, Karen, and the band, and I we were there in Abu Dhabi. It was wonderful to be in a place that was was actually warm.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Yes, the weather was very good while we were there, yes, yes, yes, and the food was amazing. I always love the food in that part of the world, it's just it it it just tastes so good. Just it's incredible, yes. I uh there's some things there, it's like okay, like the lentil soup that I had, I gotta learn how to make that because that it was it felt like a warm hug, like oatmeal, like it was amazing, it was buttery and creamy, and I was like, okay, I gotta learn how to make that so so in in your you know in your journey was there a realization that uh um your path may be and maybe this is not the word for it, but uh just to say it was it it was going to be unconventional, however.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

So what?

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Oh gosh, I wish I could say it was that easy. I struggled with a lot of thoughts and feelings about my path, uh, just because of the way it came about. Because, first of all, when you're doing music, a lot of times people will tell you, you can't make a living doing this. And I had a lot of people whose opinions I really trusted at that time when I was very young, uh, to say that to me. And I just believed them at first, you know. And uh the divinity of it was that I got married, and I'm thinking, okay, we're gonna have five kids, and I'm going to cook and keep house and take care of myself and this husband. And then things didn't work out, it all fell apart after we got to California, like beyond repair. And then it was like, okay, and my mother was terminally ill at the time, so I was really stressing. You know, I had a lot of you know, million thoughts going through my head, like, what is the future? Like, what are you gonna do? And by this time, the violin had kind of been sitting on the shelf for probably a year. I just didn't even touch it, you know. I was just uh, you know, I was I was still listening to a lot of music, but I wasn't playing. And when that started to happen, when things started to go south, I was like, you gotta practice. So I would go and sit in with people in Los Angeles, and people were it was different because I came there from New York. And you know, New York is a whole nother game with that. You know, it's like you go to a jam session, they may not call you till one o'clock in the morning, you know, if it started at nine, and uh, you know, especially they didn't know who you were, and nobody knew who I was, even though I'd been there. That's where I was born. But I was there uh again. We moved to Virginia after uh a while when I was about seven years old, but I went back um uh uh when I got older. And so, you know, I was kind of like uh playing the Apollo theater and I won the contest and everything, but still nobody knew who I was. Uh so I just you know kind of worked as a booking agent for a while while I was there uh in uh Soho. Uh it was at uh let's see, the place was called Third World Booking Agency. So we had all acts of Jamaica and the Caribbean and uh Africa, and you know, and I was I was uh you know plotting all their contracts and all that. I did that before I came to California. And so while I was there, you know, I got a taste of that edge that New York is very well known for, you know, like you know, that's why they say if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Yeah, and you know, I tolerated that, and then I got to California and the people were so different, you know, they were just really different. It's like I I can remember times going to places where they weren't having jam sessions, and I would have my fiddle in the car. And you know, they take a break, and I'm just you know, I try to dress, you know, really cute, you know, so you know, just to win some favor. And I would talk to these musicians, and and and I'd like I'd really like to sit in with you guys, you know. They're like, Yeah, or do you sing? No. Oh, you play an instrument? Yes, what do you play? And I would say violin. And this would be like a funk band, like, you know, they're looking at me like, okay, what the hell is she gonna do with you know, with us? But I would I had the courage to go out there and plug it in, get a sound, go up there and play. I remember this happened once with a bass player with uh named uh Cornelius Mims. Yes, yes, yes, he was playing at a club in downtown LA that I believe at the time was owned by Prince, and he was playing, and you know, they were funky, you know, and I was like, Oh, I would love, I don't, I don't, I think I could fit in with them. You know, I always had to seek out a role for my instrument outside of what was expected, and so I I said that to him, and I had one of my good sister friends at the time, uh, Marina Bambino was with me. Yes, Marina, yeah, yes, precautionist, and so she told him, she said, if she if she doesn't bring the house down, I'll give you my firstborn child. Of course, she was kidding, but you know, I mean, she was just really in my corner about it, and uh he called me up there, I plugged in the violin. He he didn't know what was gonna happen, so I really appreciate him for being open to taking a chance, and so he just kind of played a tune by James Brown called Papa Don't Take No Mess. Oh, that's what he played, and yeah, I just joined right in. I caught the key, and you know, I just started playing, and they were very impressed, they were very impressed. I that's when I met him, and uh Corney was like, you know, they were looking at each other like you know, they just didn't see the violin in this context. So, you know, that that was a large part of the journey is just exposing the violin in a different context, and there were some people kind of doing it already. Uh, you know, uh no pointer, Jean Lucani, uh there was Stefan Gapelli, there was uh a few that were known.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Those those three were yeah, yeah, they were known, but but not in that arena, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Right, not in that arena. That's what I grew up with. So, you know, like in India, melisma is gonna sound like the way they sing here. Melisma is gonna sound like what I grew up hearing, which was uh, you know, the Nancy Wilsons, the Mahalia Jackson's, the Aretha Franklin, the Stevie Wonder, uh you know, the singers that that are from here. And so my melisma was was more uh comparable to what I was hearing growing up with all of the singing. And then uh, of course, several instrumentalists um that are well known, Miles Davis. You know, my family was bringing all these records in the house. I have uh an uh brother and two sisters, so one the eldest sister and and brother were the ones that were bringing in music, they were bringing in Mandrill and Miles Davis, my father, you know, Sax Flair, not for as a as a living, but he just did it kind of more as a hobby. So I was around a lot of music and then bringing this music in the house, and I'm I'm soaking it all in as I'm growing up. And uh, you know, I try to pick out a lot of these tunes on the violin. And once I've uh started doing that and embellishing things that we were repeatedly playing over and over again, you know, it turned into a signature, so to speak, that I hadn't heard on another violinist. Uh Stuff Smith was another one, very bluesy. But uh, you know, I realized I didn't sound like quite like any of them, really. But then I, of course, to this day, I still get lots of comparisons, you know. But you know, I feel confident that I do have my own signature when left to my own devices as a musician. And so this is translated to through so many genres and amazing musicians that I've had the opportunity to work with. I mean, all the way to this day, it's been like 50 years I've been playing violin.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Wow, so uh as you speak about genres, I wanted to ask you uh that what you've brought in playing violin has uh really crossed cultures.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yes, yes, it has.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

And and in crossing those cultures, the globe has embraced you, you are uh given a voice that uh very few before you uh have been given because you've crossed these numerous cultures. So uh and and then of course, you know, and then with Johnny to to be seen in the media on this uh on this global stage. Uh uh what was what uh what effect was that to you uh and uh I guess you know I I I but I would think that it is opened doors that uh that were that hadn't been even approached.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yes, absolutely. It was life-changing. I mean, it was literally overnight. I I can tell you stories, and when I realized the impact of the release of that live at the Acropolis video with Yanni. I mean, I please share, please share. Okay, please. So this was in we recorded it in 1991. I auditioned for him, I believe it was in 1991. Yes. So no, 1990, and then 91, I believe, is when no, I'm wrong. I think it was after that, maybe 92, even uh or three. So we had this huge earthquake, right? The North Ridge earthquake. I was in Sherman Oaks at the time. I was I was I was I was in Ben Eyes. You were ever oh then you right with me.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Okay, so maybe it was rocking and rolling.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Okay, I was like, okay, I had never experienced anything like that. It was straight out of a Hollywood disaster movie. I was just like, okay, and I was by myself. That was the first time I'd ever lived alone, and it was the first night that I just massed up the courage to just sleep in my bedroom. And by the way, and by the way, yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

That was tomorrow. Is the is the is the is the anniversary of that.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Is it? That's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

It was the 17th of January.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

Uh-huh. 4 31 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. Yes. It was uh, yeah, that was massive. And I slept in my bedroom for the first time that night. I'd come back from a uh plant of salsa gig. And uh I got home about and what I would traditionally do since I had never lived alone before, was I would stay up all night on the computer and go to bed when the sun came up and you know, get up at three o'clock in the afternoon, have uh uh bacon and eggs and a you know, and a croissant or something, and then just start my day over again. That was, of course, before I had children. And uh this night I went in that room and I slept, and at 4:31, it was like this huge jolt, and then it shook, then the glow fell off the ceiling, hit me in the head, and it just felt like a freight train was going past at high speed, and uh it was completely black outside, and it that was life-changing for me. I mean, I still have PTSD behind that event, and uh so you know, Lum Yani calls me up. We're having aftershocks at this point, and I'm thinking, I'm leaving California, I'm going back to the East Coast because I can't deal with this. This is like, you know, it's rattling my nerves on my stress levels are like level 10, 24-7. And then he said, Karen, please don't leave. He said, because something really big is gonna happen, and it's and you know, it's it's gonna happen. Yeah, you mean bigger than this earthquake? Yes, I told him why, and I was like, he's like, Don't, you know, you won't even be here. I he said he said, I promise you. And I was just like, okay. And I was like, Yeah, right in the back of my head. How many times do you hear that in show business? You know, oh, this is gonna be a big break. So, you know, later on that year, they they uh put the live at the Acropolis video on PBS, and it was like overnight, the phone started ringing off the hook. All these people I talked to for these few years I had been in LA, you know, the vast majority of them never called me back about work. And then all of a sudden everybody was calling. It was so bad to the point where I called the operator to change my phone number because that's how you did it back then with landlines. I got on the phone with her and she's asking me, you know, okay, so what's the reason why you I'm like, my phone's just ringing all night. I don't know, you know, I can't leave it unplugged because we're still having aftershour, so I'm telling her all this. And uh, and then she asked me my name, and I told her my name. She said, This is the operator. Are you that violinist that was on that PD? I was like, You saw that? You like it was like that, and I'd be sitting at traffic lights and people would be blowing at me and doing this. And oh, it was it was amazing. It really there was a guy that was at a mobile state gas station, which was kind of like behind where I lived at the time. And I would walk back there and go get a carp of coffee at three o'clock in the afternoon, and you know, and sometimes I'd bring my little car at Lil Honda, then and I would tell him, you know, I think my oil needs to be checked. And this guy was from another part of the world, you know. And he would just yell at me. He was so the way he talked to me was the tone was so rude and like he was always impatient. Why are you always needing your oil check? And you know, your your car is just fine, you know, but he'd check it anyway after all that, right? So after that video came out, I came there like I normally do. He was on uh, I don't know what you call those boards when you're fixing a car and it rolls underneath. It has what he was under there, and you know, I look I look like a dog because I just fell out of bed, right? And so he saw my feet go past him. He unrolled from out of the car, it's just broad daylight in Van Nuys, and he's it's like a whole 360. He's like, It is you, and he got on his knees on the ground and he kept doing this, and I was so embarrassed. I was like, sir, yeah, I mean, he had never ever been that way towards me before until that came. And I said, sir, will you please get up off the ground? Because everybody was looking at him like, why is he? You know, it was these experiences let me know, okay, something big is happening here. And eventually I did go on tour for a long time. I I stayed uh with Yanni almost exclusively for like 13 years. Well, 13 years I stayed with him. I know people have been on Ms. Ross's gig longer than that, but that felt like a long time to me. And uh, you know, and then that led to everything else that happened. Playing with Stanley came from that, playing with Ms. Ross came from that, playing with Nasia came from that. Uh, everything I'm doing today was because of that exposure. Because up until then, I was just kind of an obscure local musician, and I was playing gigs with bands. Um, Manjongo Jackson, percussionist. Uh, the day I got married, uh, after we got married, we went to see Miles Davis. That's the first time I saw him. Um, and then the first Sausa gig that I did in LA, um, oh god, what was the name of that club? I can't remember the name of that club that we played in Venice, but that was an era in and of itself. And the first day I got there, when younger walked up to me and he's like, Hi, my name is Juan Youngo. I'm coming from New York, you know, where at that time you're young and you're halfway attractive, you know, you just get harassed on the street. And I just had this mindset. And so when he said that, I was like, Yeah, uh-huh. And then just went back to whatever I was doing. I was just trying to set up. He's like, What's your name? And I looked at him again, caring, then went back to what I was doing. I was just like, you know, I wasn't very um the most friendly to him at first because he kept asking and he was persistent, kept asking questions. So you play violin, and I'm looking at the violins right there, like, dumb question. He was like, Are you good? I said, Well, I'll let you are you good. I was like, Well, I'll let you be the judge of that. That's what I said, and I didn't think I was good at the time. And this was a whole new genre of music for me that I'd never played before. And uh, oh, the place was called, I think, was it called Miami Spice?

unknown 19:43

I think.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Yeah, I think that's what it might have been called. Yeah, so I played and I didn't think I played that good, but he was impressed enough with my playing that at that time when not everybody had a studio in their home, he had one, and he just called me up one day. He said, you know, um, I have a studio here at my house and I have some tunes. And if you have some tunes, you know, you're welcome to come over here, you know, and and we can just, you know, play some stuff. And that's what we did. And then whenever he did have uh shows of his own, he would call me and pretty much introduce me to the LA music scene, uh, just behind, you know, inviting me to to do gigs with him, like the African marketplace and stuff that he was doing there under his own.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Was it Manongo who introduced you to uh Patrice Russian? Uh or or as I remember, they lived not too far from from each other and and in and in Dugu. Yes, Manogo was real both. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Uh, you know what? I I would like to say that it it had to be connected somehow because I knew no one when I came there. So, you know, he was the first person I met and he knew so many musicians. He was calling me for gigs and rehearsals locally, and uh, you know, somehow it had to branch out to her. And of course, she is like my she roll, you know. We grew up listening to her, and even though she was being played on the RB stations, I recognized that she could really, really play, you know, um, and improvise, and you know, and she had a very progressive sound. And so, you know, I I she had to come because all of my energy was like wanting to meet Patrice Russian. But and once I did, I guess she must have heard me play. Um, I'm not even sure because it was so long ago uh where she may have heard me play, but after a while she started calling me for stuff, and one of the major gigs she called me for was when the UK based group called Soul to Soul. You know them. Yes, yes, yeah. They had the three dancing violins. When I saw that video, I was like, that's my gig. I should be doing that.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Give me that, give me that, give me that.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

I did the whole salsa thing so I could move and Play at the same time, you know, because this is very awkward, I have to tell you. You know, those who are doing this for flute and this for saxophone, this for PF. This is some awkward stuff right here. So to move to be able to carry steps with that, I learned that from playing South. And so I knew, I said, I'm already trained for this gig. I wonder if they could use a fourth player. You know, I was in my head about it, it was just a little fantasy, but Patrice ended up getting called uh when they got nominated for an NAACP award. And then they were also invited to play for Soul Train. And uh they didn't bring the whole band, so you know they called local musicians and uh Patrice called me. And that's that's how I got that tour, which that was in 1990. And uh, we toured the United States, we toured Japan and Australia. For me, as a first-time you know, major tour person, this was such a blessing. I was so happy, so happy. And there's a bunch of musicians that I'm still in contact with from that.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

That was an even different that that was a different audience than Yanni. That's all of a sudden soul to soul.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

It's like well, Yanni hadn't even happened yet. That was oh, they hadn't happened yet. Okay, that was in 1990. I think I and I'm I'm sure I got the years mixed up, but I auditioned for Yanni the following year, so that was '91 that I auditioned for him. And I think it was '93 that we shot the video in Greece.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

So doors were just opening for you.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Yes, yes, they were. And uh, I think it had a lot to do with my focus at the time. I mean, that you know, oftentimes when we are backed into a corner, you know, my marriage is falling apart, my mom, mother is terminally ill, I'm out here by myself, the earthquakes are happening, my stress levels are, you know, beyond high. And oftentimes when you're backed into a corner like that, your focus, if if you focus the right way, the things that you focus on, whether it's good or bad, they will materialize.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Uh well, what to say that what we focus on, since we are the projectors, this is this is we what we project on is our reality, and and also what you project those choices, there are the consequences.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Yes, all of that. But see, I was I can't say I was this aware of that at the time. That's just what I did because I just I don't know, I remember being at rehearsals and musicians would be talking about touring. I'm like, touring? Oh this touring thing, this touring thing, and I didn't know what a tour was. I mean, I uh as I said, you know, I wasn't thinking like I was gonna do this for a living until it got to a place, okay, you got to do something. And even then, I wasn't thinking, you know, this is gonna be my career choice. I just I just let that go. But when I heard them talking about touring, I was like, wow, that sounds interesting. I don't know what a tour is, but I want to do one. And again, the focus was there. I told everybody I knew, anybody who would listen, I want to go on tour. I want to go on tour, I want to go on tour. I told everybody, and so it had to come, you know, because I just I wouldn't leave it alone until it did. So Soul the Soul. I had done one tour that wasn't as, you know, commercially famous at all, uh, with a pianist uh named Milcho Leviev. Milcho is from Bulgaria, and we put together a band that was uh myself, uh Tutie Heath, uh Nedra Wheeler on bass, and Milcho played piano, and we went to his country. And I always say that's the first time I really left America. I had been to Mexico, you know, I had been Canada, but this was this was leaving the country like for real. And uh we played three concerts there in uh Sofia with the uh National Orchestra. We played in Plovdiv, and there was uh another part of uh Bulgaria that we had played in, and it was so special to me. There was so such a different change of scenery uh in Bulgaria at that time. And the wall had just come down, I think maybe just a year before. I saw a camp with gypsies with a bear on the chain. Like I saw stuff that I only read about while I was there, and then the the musicianship there was absolutely off the chain. You know, they they love their odd time meters very fast, oftentimes. And I was just fascinated with what I saw there because it was just so different from what I knew here. Um, just like I said, just stuff you kind of read about, maybe in in uh fairy tale books, even you know, Hansel and Gretel and stuff like that. And I'm like, oh, here it is live. Like, wow. And uh, you know, he was wonderful. Well, um, Neil Joe, he passed away in recent years, but he he was wonderful that he even took me on for that. And Tootie Heath as well, another one, bless his soul. Uh, who was there? We had a lot of fun, a lot of humor. Uh, Nedra and I were the youngest, of course, and the humor was flying all the time. We had this group, it was called Katoomy. So the K-A was Karen, T-O-O was Tootie, and me was Milchall, Katoomy. That was the band. And we did an album while we were there. So, you know, it was very special. But then the Soul to Soul came, and then after Soul to Soul came Yanni, I auditioned for that. Patrice called me about that audition, and it was at his house, uh, Yanni's house, and his drummer was there at the time, Charlie Adams. And this dude put some music in front of me, like, looked like somebody like took this and just poured black pepper all over and said, Here, read this. And I'm like, You want me to read this now? Like, yes, and he was like, Yeah, and he had a video playing of an orchestral concert he had done, I think, in uh Colorado. And you know, the music was like, one-do, one-do, one-to-de-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And then these notes are flying by, and I'm trying to keep up with it, use my ears and eyes, and oh, it was flying by. But I taught it better by ear. I don't think he was gonna hire me at verse, but then when you know, we stopped reading music and he just ran the video with the orchestra playing, that's where all the jazz and the ears and everything kicked in. Because I was like, Well, I can improvise to this. And when he heard that, I was just noodling around and he heard that, and that's what swayed his decision.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

So, so gotta ask, gotta ask this question with with your foundation uh playing jazz. Yes, it has uh served you so well. Uh I'm just making this making the statement that it has obviously served you in these different grooves. Yes. Would you uh is is was there you know, and and and looking back in retrospect what from the the the different grooves that you uh performed which ones pushed you the most? Which ones were you know how do you know how do I get around this? How can how can how can I take this and make it my make it my own? This is yeah yeah, this is going on, but I'm gonna add the I'm gonna add the Karen Briggs to it.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Yes. Well, that to me was uh just a mixture of things. You know, the my grandfather, uh Frank Briggs Sr. was also the pastor of our family church. He also played trumpet, he played several instruments. I never saw him play violin, but he he did play violin. But I did see him play keys and I saw him play trumpet. He played sort of in that style of of Louis Armstrong, but only in church, only in church did he play. In church, church, yes, in church, and it was a certain Sunday that he did it, and when he did, I was always excited to go to church to see my grandfather play. He was also my next door neighbor. Beautiful, he's also my next door neighbor. He and my grandmother live right next door to us where we grew up in Virginia, it was Portsmouth, Virginia, and so that was just gonna be there. Uh, he they had 14 children. I am one of 67 grandchildren. My father is one of those children, so so you know, the music was kind of like there, like wallpaper. I don't even think I thought anybody lived any different than me when it came to that. And we had jam sessions at the house. He had other musicians that would come by the house and they would, you know, have a drink, and you know, this this was the norm.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

That was your norm.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

That was my norm, yes. And so I didn't think much about it, but you know, it was all sinking in. And then my brother, he really uh would bring the records home, and I'd sit down and listen to them when we put together these like 10,000 piece puzzles, you know, on Sundays, you know, and that's what we would do. They play a lot of music. Don Sabeski's giant box comes to mind. Don Sabeski, oh, I love that album. I grew up on it. I'm showing it to my my teenager now, and uh just the way he orchestrated those pieces, the firebirds.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Incredible, incredible.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

All the incredible musicians that were Grover was on there. Uh I don't know, it was so many. I can't I can't he name all of them because it was so such an exciting project. But I grew up listening, but my brother would point out things in the mixes that I probably wouldn't have listened to had he not said it, like little things in in the mix, like like maybe a triangle or a tambourine rhythm or a conga rhythm or something like that. And he made he called me Box. That was my my nickname. He's like, Box, listen to that right there. You you hear that? That's a triangle, you know. And my brother was not a musician, but he knew stuff about music. And and I would listen, I'm still like that to this day. I I taught the same things to my daughter, you know. Uh, it's very uh important, you know, just to have your antennas up as often as possible. Um I've never experienced complete silence. I mean, if you really listen, there is no such thing, not in this world that I've ever experienced. It probably can happen, but I think it would take a lot to dampen. You'd hear your own heartbeat. I mean, you it's things we if you listen, if you listen, yes. So while that was going on, you know, I'm soaking all of this in. So the way I ended up playing violin, once again, it was offered in the public school system. So I'm in the elementary school system. This black woman who runs the orchestra and later became my teacher, her name is Gerline Hardy. She brought the orchestra to recruit students, and so here's what she brought: she brought a rhythm section with drums, bass, and keys. Her song played keys at the time, and she brought this light-skinned dude with a big afro, and she brought a string section, and she had upright bass and all that going on. And you know, she came there and they played stuff like, you know, they played a little Beethoven, you know, a little Mozart, and then they played Spinners, they played Barry White, Love Unlimited Orchestra, like Love's theme and stuff like that. And so when they brought the dude up with the big afro, he sang, I'll never forget this. He sang, it takes a fool to learn that love don't love nobody. And while he was singing, all the girls in the audience, little kids, he was screaming, and you were thought it was Michael Jackson there. That's how they treated it. And I was just looking at them, I said, Oh, this is so cute. You know, it's like and so she's like, you know, so all you have to do is sign up, you know, for the orchestra. And what'll happen is you'll take it in summer school, and it and once you you get into the regular semester, you'll be placed in the advanced orchestra. And she said, in the advanced orchestra is going to New York that year. And I said, Oh, I said, okay, that's interesting. So when we went to choose our electives, because I'm going into middle school or junior high school now, I chose home economics. I came home for my mother. She said, I said, mommy, we can choose our own classes now. She's like, What did you choose? I said, Economics. She said, Choose something else. Oh, okay. So I went back and I thought about that offer with the orchestra. I said, Well, maybe I could play good enough to make the trip. So I joined, I took it in summer school, then got to the uh regular semester class, the advanced class, and then we had to play for chairs. And I got first chair right away. And I remember a bunch of girls wanted to beat me up for that. Um and this is how cool this this teacher was. Because these girls were threatening me. I started walking to school. It was about a two-mile walk one way. And I would walk to school and she would see me walking to school. She stopped one day. Why are you walking to school? I said, I just need to exercise. I was not a snitch. And uh, she saw me too many days in a row. And she said, Get in the car. She said, Is someone threatening to beat you up or something? I didn't say nothing, but she knew and she knew who it was. She had a feeling. I guess you know, she'd been teaching long enough. Maybe she had seen this in under these certain certain environments, you know, things like this would happen. Oh, she told the whole orchestra of that let me hear about anybody putting their hands on it. You know, she went there, and I was just I was nervous even about that. But you know, once we got past that, I excelled at it and um learned how to read. I had to learn all over again because of the break between summer and the class. And I and and when we would do the repetitious kind of music, just trying to learn it. I always understood when something was not in tune. Not everybody understood that, but I understood that. And later they tell me they told me in college I had perfect pitch, but I don't know. I don't know if I agree with that. I think I have really, really good relative pitch. I always remember what an A sounds like because that's what we tune to. That's it. You can test it on the piano later. But that's and uh I would I would pass those classes with flying colors because I had ears, which was really good for an instrument that has no frets. Uh, you know, violin has no frets. I don't see how anybody can play that instrument if they can't hear or remember with notes. And I'm not saying I play in tune all the time, but I know when I'm not, I'm aware. And a lot of kids around me, they just didn't seem to be aware of that. At least that's my summarization of it. Most of them, they just they just be playing these C sharps and they just uh we'd be flat, and it was like they didn't notice, but I always noticed it and I would always correct it when I heard it. And then once I got the vibrato going, it was on then. So we played these uh concerts. We did go to New York. I saw my sister because she was still living there at the time, and um, you know, I I just continued to play after that. I enjoyed it, and then I I started embellishing a lot of the music that we were playing, even the classical music. And she continued to bring like she she would bring like Ellington, you know, she would bring other artists' uh music to the table along with the classical music, but I always found myself after repeating it a while, something would I would have to embellish something about the line. And I did that. So that was kind of the start of getting out of the box with the instrument, but I kept it a secret for a good little while until I got uh maybe junior in high school. My teacher said, says, uh, I want you to run for the high school pageant and just play the violin. I said, Okay, I did it, I'd do anything she said. So she was like a second mom. So I ran, I got the gown and all that, and I ran. And uh I played Amazing Grace, and I played it like Arifa was singing, you know. That was where I went with that. I didn't just play it straight. Uh, all the embellishments were there, it's very soulful. And when I did it for the audition, my teacher came up to me. She had never heard anything like that before, and she's like, You can't play like that. That's the first thing she said. She said, You cannot play like that. That's just not allowed. And she went there, and I was like, Oh, okay. And because she said it, I probably would have never done it, she could have stopped everything right there, and I wouldn't have gone any further with it because I I just listened to everything she said. She came back about 10 minutes later, and I guess she processed it, and she said, You know what? Forget that I said that, just play it however you feel it. And so I did.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

What a blessing, good on her.

SPEAKER_02 39:01

Yeah, I'm glad she she scripped the flip, is what she did. And uh, so uh and her son, I believe her son, yeah, her son played for me for that too. And so uh I didn't win it, but I was first runner up um uh for that pageant, and all of that was very validating. I was really glad that she changed over about it, and so you know, I just continued to pursue it, and you know, I learned as far as I could with her, but she she followed me through my entire life, even when I had my first child. She passed away when I was pregnant with my first child.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

But uh, when I told her I was having a baby, the last thing she said to me, she's like, Well, whatever you do, don't you stop playing that violin. That's what she said. And I and I said, Okay, and I didn't. I never thought I'd be playing violin for this long. I uh, you know, if you had asked me this maybe uh say 40 years ago or less, 35 years ago, I would have said no. Even when I was in LA, I just uh at first I didn't think I'd be doing this, and it just kind of evolved over time because I kept getting called for jobs and the tours were great, and the musicians, I loved being around musicians and and feeling respected by musicians and learning from musicians and hopefully inspiring others in the you know at the same time. Um you know, you you want to you want I wanted other people to feel that, you know, if they had such a dream that was so uh uh feared by their most supported loves in life, you know, that they could dismiss that and and push forward and do what they what they really want to do. And if I had understood that earlier, I'm sure things would be even even better than the greatness that they are, just because it took me longer, you know, to see a lot of things. But once I saw it, I mean, I would never thought I'd be touring with Diana Ross. I think even at one of those rehearsals with Winjongo, Mark Stevens, one of her keyboarders, even he was telling me then that he was he was with Diana Ross. I was like, wow, I wonder how good he had to be to do that because he's really good. You know, he could really play. And I just couldn't see myself in the in the same light as him. You know, it was hard because there weren't a lot of people around doing what I was doing. If they were playing violin, they were doing it in the most traditional way possible and fitting in and aligning themselves with the whole uniformity of the orchestra and all of that. And I was like, okay, that was, I don't know, I just had more to say than that. And I wanted, I wanted to say it and be heard, and it finally happened with the Cacropolis video. It really did.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Yeah, it's quite remarkable her story. And yet this is only the end of episode number one. So you'll have to come back for episode number two because groove down. Until the next episode, everybody keep that groove alive.