Idols with Casey Abrams
Casey Abrams sits with a guest to talk about being on reality shows involving singing and music. He might jam with them on a song as well.
Idols with Casey Abrams
Idols Ep 21 Ray Chew jams with Eddie Murphy on SNL!
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Hey, what's up guys? This is Casey Abrams from the Idols podcast. I'm really excited because this week we have the American Idol musical director that was on my season, Mr. Ray Chu. And you might have seen him on Dancing with the Stars for the last 20 seasons directing the music on that. I'm actually super surprised that I got to have him on this podcast. He's hung out with Michael Jackson, Dion Warwick, Rihanna, and other crazy big names. He's also very special to me because he did a jazz trio with me where I got to do Nature Boy, jazz, on American Idol. It was really cool because we got to trade bass and piano solos together. You'll also see halfway through the episode, his musical chart fairy, Janelle, comes into the room. You can kind of hear her off camera making some fun comments. We improvised a couple of nice musical moments as well. Please check out his foundation, powertoinspire.org. Also, I'm gonna be playing the comedy store May 24th with some amazing people. Ellis Hall, Mendeleev, Lonnie Love, Carolyn Ray. Tickets at CaseyBasie.com. This is gonna be such a fun episode.
SPEAKER_02The man, the myth, the legend, Ray Chu coming at you. Basie out.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Sounds good, man. Sounds good. That's Jazz. Did I hear? Now we're all start.
SPEAKER_06Did I hear that you're doing the Emmys? No, we did the Emmys. Okay. And then uh and uh so now we're being submitting our show Dance with the Stars for Emmy consideration. Okay, wait, so you were the house band for the Emmys, is that correct? Uh yeah, I did the 47th Emmys. That that's a little while back.
SPEAKER_03So that's cool because you're almost in with the Emmys, and so it's a little bit better of a chance that you might get the Emmy anyway, right?
SPEAKER_06Well, I don't know if it's a better chance. It you know, it it throws you on the on the table, you know. Hopefully people see you and they recognize whatever work you're submitting. Uh the work we're submitting this year for Emmy consideration is Dance with the Stars as Music Director. Uh and this is my I completed 10 years in 15 seasons. And uh and the show itself has been uh Emmy considered, but not nominated. Now the show, but you know, some of the other uh uh some of the other tech, it's won tech awards, you know, the lighting, costumes, blah blah blah, but never the show itself or musical director. So okay.
SPEAKER_03So you're so this this is the first time where you're on as as the person like it's always been your show, but you're the actual person of the show now. Right. That's awesome. Well, congratulations. How was it doing the Emmys? How many times have you?
SPEAKER_06I I did the Emmys once. Well, it's okay. It was, you know, it was a wonderful order, you know. Yeah. It's a tall order, everything, and especially, you know, and I and I hope they're still kind of doing that in in the now. When I say in the now, you know, every lot of stuff is pre-recorded and you know, and excerpt, and so it's a lot, uh, I say the you know, the challenges are still there, but not as much. Right. You know, in delivering live music, you gotta be on it. For instance, when they had the categories, right? You have a a a category and you have nominees. Let's say you have five nominees. I have to have all five pieces of music with my ensemble ready to go, and they're not giving me a lot, like, they're not saying, well, you know, like we know who's winning, so get you prepared. No, I'm finding out seconds before. They're saying, you know, like uh, and while while who's ever talking about it is on stage, I got I got about 10 seconds, they say, okay, it's it's A, you know, and A is Christian Centerwork or somebody, you know, whoever it is. And uh, and so I'm like, I'm calling out A. So I have my options with my band. I'm saying, okay, we got A, B, C, and D. When I say A, it's A. And when I say B, we jump to B. B. One, two, three, four, and then we hit it. So that's insane.
SPEAKER_03So so so as literally as soon as you hear, as soon as you hear who's who's doing it, you have to count it off. Pretty much. Yeah, we gotta be ready.
SPEAKER_06Let's just say, Yeah, yeah, exactly. I I think they uh I think they found that it's probably they probably pre-record the the nomination, I mean sorry, the winner's music. Oh no, they probably pre-record all the music, and when the winner is selected, you just push a push a thing.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Right, right.
SPEAKER_06And that's probably I haven't done it in a while, but that's that sounds like the most economical and safest way to do it. Right. Uh if I was if I was producing that show, man, just go ahead and pre-record that stuff. And then and leave some of the other stuff live because you want it to still feel like a live, you know, music to broadcast, especially in this age where everything is so packaged and pre-recorded and then uh say the say that word AI. Oh my goodness, you know. Means mean that's a hot button word. It means a lot. Anyway.
SPEAKER_03There's a lot, yeah. There's a lot there's a lot baked in that. So it's it's but that's the fun part about your job is that you get to uh you get to lead a band. And so I I guess sometimes on Dancing with the Stars, you you maybe you press play on stuff, or is it always live?
SPEAKER_06No, no, no. We we we we have it live. Now what we do on that show is we do, you know, the the the dances have to be very specific with the BPM. So a difference, and they those those dances are really sharp. I mean, the the professional choreographers, they are all uh they've won all over the world to be eligible to be on that show and and doing ballroom dance. Yeah these they they are sharp. So they will hear the difference between 122 and 121. I've heard of perfect pitch. This is like perfect time. Yeah, oh yeah. And they'll come and say that that feels slower, you know. And I'll say, well, you know. But so I've had to, you know, so part of our charge is to make sure that we lock in at tempo. So if it's 121, we get a click on 121, and to make sure that, you know, because sometimes people feel differently in the morning, and then later on they're saying, oh, it's now it sounds slower. You you've had that, you know, at night a tempo, and it could be the same tempo, and then at night it feels a little more relaxed, and in the morning, or oh, or vice versa. After a little coffee, yeah, it's always gonna be a little bit different.
SPEAKER_03It fit it feels that way, right? That's so crazy. Now, what's the craziest thing you've had to like whisper in because I know that you have talkback mics. Is that true? That's true. So have you ever had uh an instance where you had to do something really at the last minute and be like, you have to change the BPM?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, well, uh not BPM, but I've had to, we've had to call some audibles during the show. It's a live broadcast, and and and as you know, after doing idle, things happen during the live broadcast, and you gotta you gotta figure it out. You can't, you know, you can't like not have, you know, a variable or some kind of option available, right? And so yeah, things have happened, and I have to tell the band, hey, hey, hey, switch, and we we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that, you know, let's let's turn on the dime and let's figure it out. There was one episode we did, and it was a little early on where uh we were doing uh uh for Mary Poppins uh Oh, Seven Times? Yeah, yeah exactly. That was it. Is it the Derek? Yeah, is it exactly that thing is moving, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06And something happened where I don't know how it it uh I'm trying to remember exactly what happened, and I detected that this thing was getting ready to go off the rails, man. I'm like, oh, we can't have this happen. So I'm like, hey, hey, and uh, and uh I had to do, I said, stop, and then we jumped to bar in bar 120 or whatever it is. I was like, I was like, one, two, we're going to bar 120. What, two, three, four, then, you know, and we were able to keep the thing going because they have a dance routine that obviously they can't stop. Oh my god. But they don't want to hear the music suddenly feel different or something, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So you but that's the good thing is that you're you're not sweating under the pressure. You're you're you're uh you're actually you're having to do that. You can't pretend you have to pretend like everything's all good. Yeah. And because and uh I think about what's his name, uh Steve Martin. His his whole thing is don't let the audience know you're bombing. Because they don't know that you're bombing. Right. And I've done that so many times, it's like, oh, I messed up that lyric. In fact, one of my during my audition, I did Georgia on my mind during Hollywood week. Okay. I hit the exact wrong notes, I hit the exact wrong lyrics, but I just kept going with my upright bass, and now it's like the most And I love it. Yeah, what Q J do then it? Uh G? Yeah, G minor. Start out start on G minor. Let's let's see what happens.
SPEAKER_01Other arms may reach out to me. Other eyes are going to smile to leave. So in peaceful dreams, I see it back.
SPEAKER_06Dude, that was that was awesome. When you said G, I said. Oh, we wanted to go to the bridge. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_03That's cool. Yeah, they wanted to keep it like a I think a minute and thirty, so yeah, I don't know. All right, all right. Good. Obviously, you're you're a musical genius, so you know exactly what to do. Thanks for thanks for following me on that one. Wait, so you did you did you do that kind of stuff uh at the Apollo? Because I don't know if there was maybe there's some recorded things, but like what were you doing there? Were you in the pit?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, that that's exactly the kind of stuff we we'd be doing. Oh, they would come up and just start you know doing stuff, and I'd have to pick it up and follow along. We we did a thing called so so the show itself, Showtime of the Apollo, when you see the show, Steve Harvey, Kiki Shepard, myself, and Sam Ann Sims. All right. And then uh, and then the it it it patterns itself after the the decades-long tradition of amateur night. So they put amateur night in Showtime at the Apollo, which is a variety show. It had guest stars, blah blah blah, da-da-da. So I actually did both. Wednesday night, amateur night, which was 52 nights a year, right? I I would go to the theater and do that. And then at the and then, of course, when we would shoot the TV show, Showtime at Apollo, we would shoot 12 episodes on on one weekend, and another 12 episodes in the following. So oh yeah, that's that's a whole nother whole nother episode. But anyway, yeah, on the Wednesday shows, we would do a thing called Step Up to the Mic. So during the line, you know, hey, you know, every Wednesday somebody we would call up people, tell me what song you're doing. All right, cool. I'll find it, because you know, the repertoire is I have a pretty long repertoire, right? Yeah, you have to you always have to play. And whatever key, let's go, whatever key, and then in my band, we're very nimble, and yeah, and we do so step up to the mic. You get a song, let's go. I got it.
SPEAKER_03Now I saw Steve Harvey doing something. I don't know if this is the exact thing, but I saw Steve Harvey doing something with a dancing trombone player. Did you have anything to do with that?
SPEAKER_06Uh uh Jonathan Arams.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so yeah.
SPEAKER_06Oh, I know him. And in fact, he he's he works with me continually doing something, but he does his own thing. By the way, this guy is actually he's a superb trombone player. Let's start there. Okay. Okay, and he's in remarkable condition. He does this like yoga uh Tai Chi combo thing that he has going on. And the guy can twist his body in all kinds of positions and play the trombone with his feet, and and and it's like whoa. Yeah, and then and then you know, and he dances and he raps. He's a he's a wonderful entertainer, but he's genuinely a superb trombone. Let's let's start there. Right, right. He's in incredible condition physically, yeah. All right, and and uh it's it's fun, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that well that's yeah, I've that's so funny. I didn't even research that. I just I was just like, wait, I've seen Steve Herbing do it. I wasn't sure if it was a thing. Yo, yo, yo. Hey, I had a drink for you.
SPEAKER_05Thank you, thank you. Oh, oh yeah, John Aaron's, yeah. Oh, I'm trying to hug you. Love you.
SPEAKER_03Hugs, hugs, hugs, hugs. Love you. Last time I saw you was at LeVance's uh Oh yeah, it's a birthday party. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, good to see you.
SPEAKER_05You too.
SPEAKER_03Uh Jonathan Ahrons, yeah, okay. I love that guy. I think it's incredible.
SPEAKER_05And he's intuitive. The cruise ships with him? No. Yeah, he did the cruise ships for a minute. Oh, okay. That makes sense. He's still doing them. Is he? Yeah. Oh, okay. Well, you know, whenever, you know, whenever he wants to, I guess.
SPEAKER_03Now speaking of cruise ships, I uh I've been doing the Dave Cause cruise for a while. Well, yeah, but I heard Blue Crystal. You heard my song blue called, yeah. That album is awesome. That's almost it's almost along the lines of a Dave Cause thing. I can hear Dave putting his saxophone on it or something like that. Yeah. So so how many albums did you do? And when did you decide to to I I'm sure you're still creating, but going from the songwriting aspect to the conducting aspect and all the other producing things that you do?
SPEAKER_06Well, let's see, I'm gonna go back to uh yeah wow, crazy 80s. How about that? That's why I was signed to uh Capitol Records. Okay, and I was one of their early young producers. Yeah, they got me as a put me as a young producer uh at a time where they really weren't using young producers. Back in the 80s, the producer was always, you know, some you know, staunch older guy, yeah, yeah, with the you know, and then the young cats, well, wait till you grow up to be a producer. You know, now it's kind of flip. Everybody wants the young cats as producer. But in any case, right, yeah, exactly. It plucked me to be a producer, and I started working uh at Capitol, you know, producing some albums for him. I did Eric Mercury, this one, that was a few of them. Then they said, hey, uh, let's have you do your own album. And I did an album called Chu. So we named the band Chu. And so it's still out, it has a vinyl thing. And so I was, you know, probably like 20 years old or something like that. And uh, and that was one album I did, and it was it was cool. As a matter of fact, we still get lots of uh from Europe, you know, for you know, it seems to be uh a season for everybody going back to vinyl, and I've been getting a lot of you know hits for that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And I and I'm like, well, I I wish I actually had the vinyl. I see somebody's selling it. Oh, okay. You can get it on Amazon, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, somebody's selling it. I I haven't been getting any, you know. And let's let's find that money, you know. I'm sure it's somewhere. Let's let's get my money. We'll find it.
SPEAKER_03You know what? Next time I see you, I'm gonna I'm gonna see if I can find it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's called Chew.
SPEAKER_03Choo, okay. And the album's called See the Light. Anyway, I'll I'll look that up. No, did you now how did you get into American Idol? Because I know that Ricky Minor went from Idol to Jay Leno. In fact, after I got voted off, I went to Jay Leno and met Ricky Minor for the first time. Right. So, like, were you guys buddies? How did you get onto the show?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, no, no, I've known Ricky for uh a number of years, and uh matter of fact, he came and did a season with us at the Apollo during the last couple of uh seasons. So no, no, he was he was he they they brought him in as a music director for one season, even though I, you know, I I had been there for a bunch of years. They what happens? They they had a new executive producer, and she said, Hey, I gotta come in with my guy. Understood. And then he did, so he did, I think he actually did a half a season. Okay. And then they said, Well, you know, we Ray, Ray's been doing it. So we went back and I finished out the we we we ran that train until or the bus until the tires came off.
SPEAKER_04So anyway, yeah, anyway, but it was cool.
SPEAKER_06It was it's it's been it was a wonderful ride, uh, showtime at the Apollo. And uh yeah, and that's where Ricky and I first engaged each other, you know, as musicians. And a lot of mutual respect. Uh, and then he and he hired me to do a couple of things that he was doing, and really kind of introduced me to uh the scene out here, you know, and I came out here uh you know, ambitiously trying to get involved. I started doing a lot of work with uh BET. So B.E.T. at that time they had a they had a lot of still a lot of live specials. So my first special is uh uh BET's Celebration of Gospel, which had all of the gospel greats, uh contemporary and and legendary, they would all be everybody did that show. Every gospel artist did that show. Right?
SPEAKER_04Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_06So I was a music for that for probably about ten years. And uh and then along the way they uh they they brought me on to do uh uh BET Celebration of Gospel, I'm sorry, BET Awards. So I did that for about eight years. Okay. Um and a lot of wonderful segments in there, working with you know, Al Green and Patty La Bell and but and putting all these you know wonderful tribute segments together. Then I also did their first series, musical series, uh Sunday Best. Uh and then, you know, and then that was a gospel competition show. And then they had an honors type of show, like Candy Santa Honors, they called the BET honors. So I did that. So for a number of years I did all of their specials. Yeah. Then from there, you know, I was like, okay, let me see if I, you know, let me break in. You know, I hope that's a good break into, you know, network TV. And then uh then I got an opportunity with uh Ron Fair. Oh the great Ron Fair. He introduced me to Jimmy Ivine, and then they were they took over the that that's the same year you guys came in. Yeah that's uh 2010. Yeah. 2010, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, and then it went into 2011. Oh, that's when we went live. But yeah, it started in 2010.
SPEAKER_06Okay, right. That's when they brought me in. Yeah, Ron Fair brought me in and with uh Jimmy Ivine, and uh, and and yeah, here we went. That was that was really great.
SPEAKER_03But I didn't know because I remember Ron, I just I thought Ron Fair was just like one of the producers. I think I worked with him and some guy named Jimmy something, and we did Have You Ever Seen The Rain? But uh, but yeah, I didn't know because he was just one of the producers. We got to meet some really crazy producers, like Don was and yeah, and all all these people. And I remember I so so I remember this was crazy. I remember Jimmy Ivine kind of wanted me to do something poppy, and I did not want to do it. I I I I recorded uh like this version of I can feel it coming, yeah, it's a night. I can do it. Yeah, I was like, it's a good song, but at the same time, I was like, I need to do something jazzy. Yeah, and so I remember we recorded this song, then Don was was like, dude, this guy needs to do some jazz. So I remember I think like I want to say 2 a.m. We went into the studio. Yeah, I think you were there, I don't know if you were there. Someone was playing, yes, I know you played on the live because I remember the white bass, the white piano, the white congos with all of that. But I just remember um uh just just have I had to do jazz and we had to do nature boy. Oh and that was that was super fun. And I just remember we we scratched it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh we'll we'll we'll yeah, because I want to grab my bass and do that. Okay, you got it, yeah. But like was there like do you remember? Do they call you in to record stuff? Like what like or was it just strictly the show?
SPEAKER_06No, it was uh with with the the Jimmy Ivine years, uh what he wanted to do was he wanted to uh record uh all of the music so they could release it formally on Innerscope Universal. Now and so that that meant that we had to not only prepare for the show, but we had to also be in the studio formally doing it. I think previous to that, well any releases were just basically pulled down from the show and they and they mixed them and released them like that. No, what he wanted to do was separate full-out versions of everything. So that meant that we had to be, we were in the studio, so so Thursday, well, Thursday was they were voting somebody off. Friday morning is when we would sit down and you would interview, talk about the songs. Friday, as soon as you guys would leave, because that would be like 8 to 12. You'd be you know, somebody at 8 in the morning to 12, you guys would pick out a song and he's going through the you know, going through the whole, you know, cast. Great. After that, we're immediately in there recording all those songs. You start with a rhythm section, we're doing overdubs, vocal, string. Live strings, horns, everything that needs to happen over the weekend. And then Monday, we, you know, we're doing mixes. So we're, you know, we'd be on set, I think, doing uh doing uh camera blocks. And so I would be on set all day, camera blocks, and I'd run to Interscope and we're doing mixes. I got four rooms of, you know, I had to have like, you know, to get all that music, I had four rooms going. So I go to one room, he's got two songs, and go to the next room, he's got two songs, and do that, and and and and and and trust me, I was like really spent after doing all day on the set, right? You know how that is, all day on the set, you know, and then you know, after, you know, quick sandwich or something, run in the scope, mix all night, and then the next day we're back on the set, and then uh they're doing mastering, and uh the show is Wednesday.
SPEAKER_03I thought I had it hard.
SPEAKER_06Okay. And then the show is Wednesday live, yeah, you know, we gotta be fresh, you know, Wednesday, and then Thursday is another live show, somebody gets voted off, and then we start the whole thing again. How about that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's that was that was pretty brutal. That that is pretty brutal, but like compared comparatively to like idle, because you only had one season during a year. Is that is Dancing with the stars still two seasons in a year? Not anymore.
SPEAKER_06Not anymore. When I first when I first started the show, we were two seasons. Oh, was that was that tough? Well, uh yeah, I would I would say it was just different. And it was and it was it was it was true, it was cool because you you did have a you know a little a little breather during the holidays. So, you know, a season would be uh September through December.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_06Right? Yeah. And then of course the holidays are off, and then you start back in February or something like that.
SPEAKER_03I guess you're not recording music for for release either. It's just for the dancers. So that's I guess that's a little bit easier, huh?
SPEAKER_06Well, I wouldn't say easier, I'd just say different because uh, you know, the preparation process for dancers is so uh incredibly precise as opposed to when we do idle, right? We could do our own renditions. Like you can say, hey, I I want to do that that chord there, and that's fine, right? You know, that that's what we you and I came up with. You know, then we play, you know, get the band, we all work it out, we work the arrangements out, cool, and we perform it live, right? With uh Dance with the Stars, I have to prepare that music exactly to the molecule that they want, and it has to be performed exactly to the molecule, right? Because they because they rehearsed to it and rehearsed to it over and over. And every and every little nuance is you know, they're listening for. During my first season there, and boy, I almost hate to talk about, but what uh a mishap occurred, and and the mishap was that, and I learned from this. So here's what I learned, all right? Uh, things that seemingly are not as uh vital to you and I as musicians. For instance, if we're playing a song and you got you know eight bars and then the verse comes in, okay, eight bars, then the verse. Cool? That's still the same eight bars, right? Right. Okay, cool. So what happens is that there was supposed to be uh four bars, and then there was the equivalent of a little sax sample, which we had the player play it live. And he went bop, bop, bop, bop. And it was so easy. He he would just, you know, kind of play, right? Still eight bars, but he, you know, he did not play play it when it was supposed to come in on the on the fifth bar.
SPEAKER_02Oh no.
SPEAKER_06And so to them, that threw them off because they they were look used to everything's a road sign to them, right? So yes, it's eight bars, Jew and I, it's like, okay, still, hey, it's eight bars. Versus still coming in, right? On the ninth bar, right? And they didn't hear that, and it's like, well, something's off, you know? And I'm like, oh, no, no, no. And then the uh they actually said that on TV. Said the band threw me off. I was like, oh no. Do we actually want to recall this on the on the podcast? Yeah? Okay. Okay. It's a teachable. It taught me, I tell you what. So after that, after that, I was like, when when I heard, and I'm not gonna say who said that, but anyway, when I was it was the live broadcaster. She said, well, the band threw me up, I was like, I did that that exercise you just talked about, you know. You gotta, you know, the band thing you have. Very nice. That'll be excellent. Okay. I was like, yes, yes. And then after that, I was like, oh man, as soon as the cameras went up, I was like, oh my goodness. You're like, okay, all right. Okay, first and last season. Oh my gosh. Okay, well, that's good. Okay, yeah. So we got after that, I was like, okay. Uh, and then they they they there was a meeting, and they said, you know, Ray, what happened? Now, I'm never one to I there there is no bus that that anybody has to get thrown off. When you're working with me, I'm the bus, okay? Nice. So I, you know, so I'm the bus, I'm the bus driver, there's nobody else to talk to. They said, what happened? I said, it'll never happen again. That's all. They said, no, no, what happened? I said, it'll never happen again. That's it. All right, you know, there's no details in that. You know, there's no details needed. It's not other than it's not going to happen again. Yeah, yeah. You know, you you know, you know, so we don't have to no. They don't understand the music. You got the music. You're doing it doesn't matter. It just will not happen again. Because whatever it was, they just need to know it won't happen again. And that's my answer. It will not happen again. After I made sure that we we we our machine accommodates the no mistake clause.
unknownYou do it.
SPEAKER_03Now, I I've seen Mark Balas. Mark Ballas is a good friend of mine, and I remember when he was on American Idol in 2011, he already no, we we sit we shot in the same studio, dancing idol. And I remember he came over, and at that point, they weren't on the same network. So Ryan Seacrist was interviewing Mark in the in the audience right as I was about to go up, he's like, Who's you know, he's on uh that show? He didn't even say it because it's different uh networks. Yeah, we were on Fox today, we're on ABC, right? Right, and uh and so but then I just thought that was like kind of a nice crossover to have the people like come and watch and see us, and now they're on the same network, and I think it's it's kind of there's always kind of a crossover. But it like, did you go from I like were you doing idle and dancing with the stars at the same time, or did you go over when it stopped being on Fox?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that that's exactly when they changed the the producers from Nigel and and Ken, you know, then the whole regime changed, and and then so that's what I did the 65th Emmys. Uh so right after, and you'll love this story. So right after I did the 65th Emmys, and that was September. So then I get a call. They said, well, you know, Ray, you know, we're we you know, we've you know. No, actually the call, it said, I got a call from and I'll get and uh wonderful guy, Ernie Fields. He said, he said, nice working with you, Ray. I was like, what are you talking about? He says, Oh, you didn't hear? I was like, no, I didn't hear. He said, Yeah, no, they, oh, the switch producers and they're and they and they, you know. And I was like, you know what? Okay. My my system, you know, I've been through a lot already. So I'm already a seasoned vet. I know how things go. No, no problem. Thank you. And I I I send everybody a thank you note. Wonderful working with you. Appreciate all the, you know, thank you, you all wonderful. See you somewhere down the road.
SPEAKER_04Right, right.
SPEAKER_06Maybe. Okay, and then uh two weeks later, I get a call from the dancer with the stars people said, hey Ray, we we heard you're available. I was like, I might be. Let me think over there. Let me think about that. Okay, I'm available.
SPEAKER_03Let them sweat a little bit. Yeah, about 10 seconds. Yeah, exactly. And now you're doing it. That's that's that's really cool. There was there were some crazy things. Uh, I remember it was like Elton Jean week. Uh and um, and it's James Durbin. You remember that guy the rocker? Yeah, he had he had he was doing, I think he was doing Saturday nights on Ray Fair Fight. I remember. You're right. Oh, what that with the piano on fire?
SPEAKER_05Is that I got it? And I didn't left. I'm never offset. And I was outside the skeleton on the phone, and people were blowing my phone up saying, Is Ray okay? Is Ray okay?
SPEAKER_06I got singed.
SPEAKER_01You got singed.
SPEAKER_06I got singed because the you know, they had the you know, during the rehearsal, the fire, you know, they it was supposed to be timed so that I was playing, and then I, you know, I would kind of step back and then it would go or something like that. Whatever, it was supposed to be timed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_06What happened was that during the show, again, live show, I'm sitting there playing the whole thing, this thing goes up. I'm like, oh man. And that's real, you know, serious heat, whatever, you know. Yeah, from 50 feet ahead. Yeah, I got I got singed, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, got a nice haircut. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Jeez. Okay, well, I was I'm I'm glad you were, of course you're gonna remember getting singed, but I wasn't sure if you remember that part of it. Then we also did um, I want to say Motown Week. And you did you have, I can't remember if this was your friend or not. Um Jacob Lusk had a background singer for Man in the Mirror.
SPEAKER_06What was uh I brought in Bob Babbitt, who's one of the original. That's right, one of the original funk brothers.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Alright. But but who's the singer, uh the background singer for Man in the Mirror? And I think she Saida Garrett. Yes. Yes, yes. So we're are you friends with her? Oh yeah. Okay, did you bring her on? Absolutely. See, American Idol was kind of lucky to have you bring all these people on. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_06Hey, I bring them into play, you know, and still even to this day, you know, when we're doing dancing with stars or some other show, you know, they'll they'll I'll sometimes I'll make a call and bring, you know, into that.
SPEAKER_03For sure. And then um, and then when I got voted off the first time, I got I got the save. Okay. So so I was supposed to sing, I don't need no doctor, and then everyone said, Stop, you've gotten saved. So that's how so I was about to be 11th place and and get voted out. Okay. And Randy was like, hey guys, you you know, hey Ray, and the band, stop. So, like, did you did you know what was gonna happen at that point? We do not know. Oh my god. Not at all.
SPEAKER_06They they they called in my ear or I hear, you know, and that's the guy. I got a response. So I got I have I have my inners, and if, and I'm not sure if they said that or if they didn't say that, but I heard him say that. Yeah, he said, stop, stop. The man said stop, he's on live TV, we're gonna stop. I'm not gonna keep playing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's that's amazing. Um SNL. Oh yeah. Yeah, what who is who is the coolest celebrity that you hung out with at SNL?
SPEAKER_06Wow, uh Stevie Wonder Kane and Eddie Murphy did Stevie Wonder with Stevie Wonder. So you were a part of that scene. Oh yeah, oh yeah. So during the Eddie Murphy years, I was in the house band and I would compose some music and arrangements. Uh Leon Pendarvis, who's still doing Sound At Live, he's still the music director, right? Uh he's been there 50 years or more. How about that? And then uh, and and Tom Malone, who played with the Letterman band for all those years, he was he was music.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Uh he was music director or co-music director, and he's the one that brought me on. But I've been working with Leon and all these guys on the New York session scene. So we all knew each other, and they brought me on. And uh, and the band at that time was well, we had a smoking hot band. Of course, great horns. And let's see, we had Ray Chu, Chris Palmero, he was on organ, Leon Pandarvis was conducting, Buddy Williams on drums, Neil Jason on bass, David Spinoza on guitar, uh uh uh The Horns. We had Lawrence Fellman, Tom Malone, sometimes John Thaddeus, uh Lou Marini, and Alan Rubin. Okay. And Dave Wadinius was also, we had two guitars. We have the Smokin' Hot Band. And we did the only Saturday Live album that's that's out. So there's a Saturday Night Live album with the Sign Night Live Band. That's the only one that I'm aware of, because if if you dial Signature Live album, that's the only one that shows up. So yeah, it's it's a really cool album.
SPEAKER_03And that's the first time you met. No, I should check that out. Is that the first time you met Stevie or Stevie Order?
SPEAKER_06Uh I hadn't met him before, but that was the first time we like you know did the show like that. And it was it was really cool.
SPEAKER_03That's amazing. And then uh I think did you get to meet Obama? I did not. I didn't.
SPEAKER_06But still, he heard Well, I didn't I didn't get to meet because he was uh I was actually out I'd already left the show by that time, right? Uh I met Obama later on. Oh, you did? Okay. When he was being uh in the inauguration of President O Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Oh, okay. All right, and then and then the process of inauguration, you know, we were in um uh Colorado, and so you know the Democratic National Convention is a four or five-day humongous event with and they have to do it in you know a big sports arena with every news outlet and every it's it's just a humongous undertaking. Yeah. And uh during that, we have to, you know, they fill they pack that place up with 15, 20,000 conventiers, and everybody's all excited, lots of energy, and we have to play music for the crowd, we have to play for the guest artists, and it was it was a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's that's that's really incredible, man. Uh okay, I I have a couple more questions. Okay. Uh I I know we talked about SNL, but uh, and we already have Stevie Who's the nicest celebrity you've ever met?
SPEAKER_06The nicest. Well, there's been there's been a few that have been like really wonderful. Dion Warwick has always been wonderful, you know, and and she's adopted me. I've adopted her. She I was being honored by one of my first uh music schools, it was called the Haldeman School of the Arts. And I studied uh classical, they only did classical piano at that time. And and then and and and I was also in the little boys' choir. So I was I was I was getting full study. And so they they honored me years later, and they said, Well, who you know, who can we get to, you know, participate? And I said, let's call Dion. And Dion serenated me and honored me being honored. So nice. Yeah, come on, huh? Can you can you beat that? Come on, the great Dion, come on.
SPEAKER_03That's the best. That's amazing. Did I I heard something about I know I know you were with Rihanna for a little bit and Michael Jackson, but is there any and I remember there was a time where you were in an arena, but is there any other interactions that you had with Michael Jackson that stands out?
SPEAKER_06There was a matter of fact, there's a combo interaction I'll talk about. Yeah. So Rihanna, I was working with Rihanna, and we were doing a European tour. And um and so we were in France, and then I think they got a last-minute call, and I and who knows how it lasts, maybe it was a last-minute confirmation. Let's put it that way. Last minute confirmation. And so we're in France, they said, you know what? Uh on, you know, we like Tuesday, Friday, we're going to uh uh to London to do the blah blah blah award, some kind of award show. Fine, you know, for for me it's just another date on the thing. And they said, okay, well, we got uh, you know, they got a private plane now. By the way, so Rihanna, she said, this was her first time flying private. Yeah. If you can believe that now that she's a billionaire, right? Yes. And and probably can buy as many, obviously as many planes as she wants. Yeah. All right, but this was her first time. So we're taking pictures and having fun, you know. You know, you know, of course, when somebody's it's a new thing, they gotta, hey, look at me next to a plane. No, okay, cool. So it was all of that. It was wonderful. All right, so we get to London, and uh, and so you know, we're all set up and they have a dual stage. So uh it's in the big arena, big gigantic arena, 15,000 seats. All right? So they're at one stage where they're doing the awards and other stuff, and then the other, or whatever it is, yeah, and the other one we're we're we're doing a performance. Right. So we're set up behind a curtain, ready to do a performance. All right, Rihanna, everybody, we're standing there waiting. Michael Jackson is on the other stage, immediately adjacent to us, and he's receiving an award. And they and they and and they they you know, they're doing what, you know, thanking everybody, and but I can't hear exactly what he's saying. But whatever. It's over there, and I'm over here preparing, getting everybody ready. She's there, St. Bianca's right there, okay, cool. And then, okay, we're waiting, we're waiting. And then uh all I all I know is that Michael said thank you, and he left. Now the audience somehow, maybe they had promoted it that way, or they they thought he was going to perform. The curtain came up, and the entire place started booing. You're right. They started booing, and it's like, it was first of all, it was such a shock. Like, you know, whoa, like you know, and then you know, now you're trying to, you know, first of all, now you're trying to, it's a live show, and it was televised, so you don't want to stop what you're doing to acknowledge booze, but you gotta get past that. And it was loud, and I'll have to say that that was a great Rihanna moment because I said, you know, and she she trooped through it, she, you know, she it was like cellophane, and you know, she peeled it off and kept moving. And uh, and and and she and I had to give her later when I saw her, I gave her a bravo because she she trooped right through it. And then she won the audience back after they realized, okay, well, he ain't coming back and she's here, and they got into it. But it took a minute though. Yeah, it was a very painful minute. Did it remind you of Apollo? Oh, yeah, well, yeah, I've been through a lot of those in at the Apollo, yeah. People get booed off the stage, yeah. That's incredible. Good for her and for doing that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and now, what is the nicest compliment anyone has ever given you? I'm giving you permission to brag a little bit.
SPEAKER_06Well, I will say that, you know, uh, I've gotten uh a few where people said, thank you for presenting my music in the manner that I would want to do. Also, thank you for not stressing me with having to explain to you everything I need you to do. All right? You know, as a bass player and as a musician, you know, you come on with your all your abilities and skills. And there's a lot of things that if you're gonna show up, for instance, if you show up to a jam session and you know they're playing jazz, you should already know that you know, all you got all the standards in your head. Nobody's, you know, get give me a fake book. What do you mean give you a fake book? You're supposed to know all of that stuff. Or or don't get up there and jam, right? Right? You know, nobody's forcing you, you know what I mean? So I think one of the great compliments I I got is that, you know, from you know more than one artist, and the and these are very significant names that would say to me, hey, you thank you for, you know, and they they would use the word entrusting, you know, that or I would use the word for I would also thank them back for entrusting me with your music, entrusting me with presenting your stuff, and also that you you know, you know when it's in my care, you don't have to worry about anything. Just just say what it is, tell me what the assignment is, and then you can go about you know doing your other stuff, I'll take care of it. So that's that's my my motto. Whatever you say it is, I'll take care of it.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yeah, you can overplay too, you can underplay, but you have to you can't be stepping over people. So I think, and I I think you're you're definitely really good at that for sure. Do you hang out with Derrick Huff? Do you hang out with Mark Fallis behind the scenes?
SPEAKER_06I wouldn't say hang out, but there's a couple of times where we may have, you know, some interaction, a dinner, a lunch, or run into today. Everybody is so those guys are so busy. Uh, but I you know, I hang out with some of the you know the other musicians and singers who are a little bit more available. We'll say that. Right, right, for sure. But I just spoke to Mark, and I know he was in New York. He was uh working on Broadway. He invited me to come down, you know. And I just saw Derrick Hunt the other day. You know, he hugs, hugs, that kind of stuff. What I'm most excited about right now is I'm working on uh My legacy project. So you asked me about some of the albums I've done. So I did one called Shoe, it was on Capitol. I did the other one that you decided called Blue Crystal. That was on uh I think it was released through Sony system. And um and so now I'm doing my legacy project. And I it's it's a raid shoe and friends styled type of thing. Uh and the good news is I have a lot of wonderful friends. And so I've invited along people like Robin Thick, Lisa Fisher, Marcus Miller, uh uh yeah, uh Christian McBride, Steve Gadd, uh we got some some really cool stuff. Yeah, yeah. Who else? Who else I'll miss? Travis? Oh Travis Garland. Yeah, who also singing on this? Yeah, yeah. Oh man, that's it. So yeah, and I'm and I'm uh and I'm gonna be I think we'll start releasing it, start releasing the single maybe in the fall before releasing 27th.
SPEAKER_03Okay, perfect. One last question. Who were you most excited about ever in the in in that was gonna be a uh one of the dancing celebrities on Dancing with the Stars?
SPEAKER_06So one of the celebrities I was most excited about was Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Now not because we expected him physically to you know to do a whole lot. First of all, well first of all, yeah, it's seven feet is a little awkward, and I'm sure he hasn't he hadn't been doing a lot of dancing probably in his life, and then even later on in his life, you know. But in any case, the intellect of of uh Kareem Abdul Jabbar and what he meant during uh uh a very pivotal time in in the history of this country, and that he would be, and also that he was also uh stoically, you know, personality-wise, you you you never catch this guy smiling or you know, or chumming around. The only one that loosened him up was Magic Johnson finally, because how could you not smile, you know, the magic is just gonna make you smile, right? Right, right. So finally, he because I was I heard the stories between them, and Magic is jumping all over. He's like, Rookie, get out of here, you know. And then but and so knowing that about him, when he came to the show, he was he was wonderfully loose, he was affable, he was approachable, and it was cool. So I loved it. That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02Okay, cool, man. You want to jam? Yeah, yeah. Okay, thank you for that. Yeah, dude, that was good. Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, so uh brand and see.
SPEAKER_00I'll stay there a little shy and sad was he. And then Yeah, got it.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah, good. Yeah, yeah, like that.
SPEAKER_01There was a boy, a very strange enchanted boy. They say he travels very far, very far over land and sea a little shine, sad and vi, but very wise was he and then one day on magic day he came my way, and we spoke of many things, foods and caves. This he said to me the greatest thing that you'll ever learn is just too much. A very strange enchanted boy. They say he traveled very fast, very fast.
SPEAKER_02Yes, man. Wow. Dude, that was so fun, man. It's good to jam with you again. Appreciate it, man. Thank you, thank you. All right, dude, dude, that was a that was really good.