SEPTEMBER_OCTOBER 2006/INTERVIEW/WALLY BADAROU

This month Black Athena are proud to bring you an exclusive interview with none other than keyboardist and producer extraordinaire Wally Badarou. Wally was the fifth member of the legendary blue eyed soul outfit, Level 42 and was involved in the making of club classics such as 'Starchild'. He collaborated in numerous recording sessions with the legendary rhythm section that are Sly & Robbie to bring us gems such as Grace Jone’s Nightclubbing. Black Athena got the privilege of chatting to him and got to hear stories about his favourite synthesizers, space exploration and the unreleased sessions with Mr. James Brown.

What is immediately apparent about your music is that it contains hints and influences that derive from different parts of the world and different cultures. Should we assume that this relates to your proclamation of being a man of the world? On listening back to your tracks can you detect those influences?

I am not sure I made a 'proclamation' of being a man of the world! All I am saying is, from my generation onwards, there’s not a single person on earth who does not find himself or herself exposed to an increasing variety of genres, styles and traditions coming from all over the world, given everyone's increasing capacity to see through the filtering of local mass media. We are all, in essence, 'generations of the world'. Growing up in Europe and in Africa made the variety expand quicker and wider for me probably, but I am definitely no exception. And like an actor, I view my art as an effort to let those influences transpire through the music I make the way I think is best to my ears, ideally, meticulously, and inevitably subjectively. There is simply no art without influence, with or without education. Each and everything I do is laden with it.

On a personal level now, I just have to keep on combating the general feeling in the western world, that we are in a 'balkanic' world, culturally speaking, a world where musicians originating from Africa can only be exposed to – and raised in - African music, and would therefore generate African music solely, under which terms they are to be called 'African musicians'. Under those terms, the declaration I'm eager to make is: I am a 100% African and a 100% musician, but certainly not an African musician.


The music of Stevie Wonder has been a great inspiration for you, what aspects of his music did you try to incorporate in your own sound?

In the days of "Music of my mind", "Talking book" and "Innervisions", Stevie's genius encompassed all aspects of the recording arts that were – and still are – fundamental to me: the songwriting, the voice, the melodies and counter-melodies, the multi-instrument performances, the patient layering of each, like a painter of the souls, through each element, through each stage, he relentlessly sought for something I found (and still find) increasingly rare in present times: uniqueness. And he was so excellent at that, which I used to defy anyone to put him in a category.

The overwhelmingly celebrated "Superstition" is a perfect example of that god-send and torturous dilemma I could see him enjoying and suffering simultaneously: here is a song which can be equally viewed as one of the funkiest tune ever and yet one of the less danceable, all at the same time. All instrumental parts seem simple, yet no live performance can ever match the intricate chemistry of the record. The clavinet part was written as a guitar hook (for Jeff Beck), and I'm yet to hear a guitar player do what it does. The melody seems frustratingly easy to figure out, yet no singer other than Stevie can ever render them the way he did, and only his voice could salvage all the live performances I've heard so far. Uniqueness in all areas, live vs. recording issue, inadequacy to fit a single category. R&B? Rock? Jazz? Funk? What is "Superstition”?

But it was not just a gift, it was hard work. Every great artist is to come to terms with the fact that, in our work, there is to be far more failures than success, in trying to achieve something other than a mere 'cross-over', despite all that finally surfaces and might make people believe otherwise. Stevie has enjoyed worldwide success and respect. He also had his own share of failure and misunderstanding, but that never prevented him from seeking for uniqueness, back in those days. That is still guidance to me, in everything I do.


Tell us a little bit about the Voodoo Family. Were you involved in their first LP?

No I wasn’t. I'd met them while they were recording it indeed, and I was impressed by how they then seemed to master their individual technique, especially Philippe Danbury the keyboard player.


In our last radio show entitled Black Athena FM we included the Track “Chief Inspector” from you “Echoes” LP. Can you tell us a bit about that track?

Trying not to repeat here what I explained on my site already, I would say today that this is a perfect case of influence turned into a classic. Here was a tune that first came out off fiddling with the 'shuffle' features of my then-newly-acquired "Linn Drum" machine. Just a drum pattern I created in my hotel room in New York. Back in Nassau, I came up with that left-hand/right-hand conversation on the Prophet V (hence the sober bass line), not realizing that, in the brass sounding chords, I was unconsciously led by the likes of Lalo Schifrin ("Mannix", "Mission Impossible") or Quincy Jones ("Ironside"). That became obvious to me only when I added the acoustic piano bass parts. I could see it becoming a non-overproduced parody and tribute to those giants. It is an absolute thrill to see this piece now sit next to their work on some compilations.


You are a well-documented synthesizer enthusiast. Which is your favourite synthesizer and what is your opinion on soft synths?

I've had three main work horses, each of them standing with something specific to my needs in each era, which prevents me electing just one favourite: among the first programmable ones, the Prophet V had an unmatched interface vs. sound ratio in its days; the Synclavier brought so many ground breaking novelties (FM synthesis, pre-MIDI multitrack & polyphonic sequencing, music printing, hi-definition sampling, direct-to-disk recording, etc), and the Yamaha DX/TX & Akai S-1000 series were so good at popularizing those novelties (with the advent of MIDI and the micro-computer), that most people just don't realise what revolution went on during the 80's. I never had any favourite synth, I simply happened to be spending more time with those I could afford than with any other, superior or not, because I've always liked deepening my knowledge over a few, far more than browsing through many. I felt I could virtually do anything with any machine provided that I'd spent enough time studying the myriads of combinations at reach. I felt it was just a matter of imagination, and if I could not get what I wanted off a machine, my imagination was to be questioned rather. Prior to those 3 machines, I was happy with a Korg Duo 800-DV, analog, no memory, no midi, not even a single patch cord. I did hundreds of demos with just it, a Hohner Clavinet and a Hohner Electra Piano.

Today, although I still have most of my hardware rig (Synclavier included) I'm using soft synth almost exclusively. Far from sounding any better than their hardware counterparts initially, and despite the invaluable value of the 'physical knob' factor (among others), soft synths are doing to hardware synths what mp3 ended up doing to AIFF: it is a convenience vs. quality issue. What's the point of powering up my good old Prophet, when most iPod-equipped people will not see the difference with its virtual counterpart ? As virtual is getting better anyway, computers far more powerful (and MP3 gets replaced by AAC, soon to be replaced by God knows what), my hardware gear graciously takes the dust. And the only remaining question is backward compatibility. Nothing new here neither: I still own 8 track demo tapes without a machine to read them. Although I luckily had their mixes transferred to DAT, then to CD, and feel no desire to retrieve any particular track nowadays, I can't prevent myself from wondering "what if I ever wanted to ?"

Throughout the digital age, we find ourselves entrapped with the permanent concern of transferring and converting our valuable assets, in time. My advice to today's musicians: always consolidate (= Bounce to Disk) your virtual tracks. Soft-synths (like the rest of the computing tools) remain a fast evolving world, way faster than the hardware synths I can still play from my near twenty-year-old sequences.


Futurism and space exploration have been great sources of inspiration for musicians and producers for the past fifty years, particularly those involved in the black music scene. Why do you think that is? Do you believe it to be of any relevance nowadays ?

You are bringing up an issue that I've ardently longed to discuss but I can only speak for myself. In my youth, aviation and space were first. They were everything. Music came second, and only became first because I was not good enough in mathematics to pursue aeronautics. Yet, airspace-tech remains ubiquitous in my work, my rigs, and my goals. Why ? Well, reasons are many. I can't see how anyone, black or not, would not feel enthused with anything, sort of a challenge to the mind, anything like a symbolic quest for a better future, for larger-than-life discovery, entrepreneurship and freedom.

I am no "lil' green men" aficionado, yet I would view any feasible encounter with other beings, evil or not, intelligent or not, as an opportunity to broaden our views and put an end to our ill-fated ego-centred concerns. I am not ashamed to believe it could be our sole chance to put an end to all the disasters we've been inflicting on ourselves, start looking at our planet as our sole spaceship so far, and start working together at long last.

Does this concern the black music scene more than others? Those feelings were shared by mega-bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis and many others. It probably gets more noticed when expressed by black artists, maybe because, here again, technology and quest for discovery still does not sound like a black issue. Or maybe because black artists make it a vivid and colourful (parodic sometimes) statement. Or maybe because one can find in "2001: A Space Odyssey" a way to elude the 3 religions of the Book, and finally go for something that does not derive from some elected people from some elected area on our planet. Because it could be an opportunity to read History with totally different lenses finally. And as such, it remains highly relevant today.


You have worked on numerous albums with the legends that are Sly & Robbie? How was it working and hanging out with them? Which is your favourite from the albums you collaborated on?

Working with Sly & Robbie became a thrill, as soon as everyone discovered the talents of the others in the game. We did not know each other at first, and they were a bit suspicious of our ability (Barry Reynolds and I) to play reggae, just as we were dubious of them being able to play anything other than reggae. Chris Blackwell had that intuition of putting us together to create something that would build from reggae foundations without being reggae. Listen to Grace Jones cover of "Private Life" as an example. Yet, in reality, as much as we ended up loving it (Grace Jones "Nightclubbing" and Joe Cocker's "Sheffield Steel" particularly) and as much as we could appreciate the impact it had over our individual careers, we did not hang out together really. 'Compass Point All Stars' never was a band literally speaking. It was a recording team that just gathered for recording purposes, worked fantasticly together in the studio, but did not really exist outside of the studio.


In a recent interview Robbie says of working with Grace Jones that: “It is very different from working with anyone else. You know it’s easy she sings and we just play.” What are your memories from working with Grace Jones?

Grace was easy to work with. The fact is, the sessions were run by Chris Blackwell himself. Out of a bunch of tape cassettes, he would suggest the songs to cover, and we would have a go at them. When Sly & Robbie were 'rocking', we knew we had a track in the can, but all final decisions were Chris's. As we were fishing for the groove, Grace was merely doing guide vocals. Chris and Alex Sadkin's feedback was more critical to us. By the time parts were fixed and we were done with the overdubs, most of us were gone before she started doing her definite vocals.


Chris Blackwell, the Island records’ boss has been accused by a number of music aficionados of whitewashing the sound of Bob Marley and other Island acts for marketing purposes, yet arguably he also ran one of the most valuable labels when it came to bringing black music to the mainstream. What is your view on the issue?

I believe it is a disgrace for a producer to lead an artist wherever he or she does not want to go, finished production in hands. At Island, I never heard of any release of a work that was not ultimately approved by the artist. It simply was against Chris' own ethics. In Bob Marley's case, I always understood that Bob (not Chris) was dying to make his work sound 'better'. Whether or not 'better' meant whitewashing is difficult to estimate by today's values. The question I would ask is: who, from them two, was eager to break into the western market at the first place? Thus, how do you prevent yourself from adopting the values of the market you are keen to break into, one way or another? Because we can be sure of one thing: Bob was responsible for the sound that came out of the studio, always. Judging by the end result, all I can see is, if it was not for the way they ended up being produced, I highly doubt that Bob' songs would have reached the standard of undisputable legacy status that they do enjoy today. Way more than just another smart groove maker, trying to make his point of rigidly sticking to so called 'roots', and bound simply for history when a smarter one comes around, Bob is durably perceived as an authentic, high caliber songwriter, the world over. Is it despite of, or thanks to the production ? Like everyone, Chris could make mistakes; but here I can only see a brilliant move, regardless of who initiated it, that propelled the two into the forefront of contemporary music memories.


The Ian Dury LP “Lord Upminster” was also recorded in the Bahamas in the period you were recording there with the Island Records team. Sly and Robbie, as well as the keyboardist Tyrone Downie were all part of the recording sessions, how come you weren’t involved in that?

Because either I was not around, or available, or simply thought of. It was not deemed a 'Compass Point All Stars' project. As an integral body, CPAS (namely, Sly & Robbie, Barry, Mickey, Sticky and I), were far from working with everybody who went by, whereas, individually, each one of us could be invited in some ongoing project next door. There have been many recordings by Sly & Robbie, which I did not participate in, and vice-versa. Only 4 albums really 'qualified' to the CPAS labeling: Grace Jones’s "Warm Leatherette”, “Nightclubbing” and “Living My Life", and Joe Cocker’s "Sheffield Steel". Barry did not participate on Mick Jagger’s "She's The Boss", Sly & Robbie didn't do Marianne Faithful’s "A Child's Adventure" and none of CPAS worked on Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love" apart from me, and the list does not stop there.


You reveal on your site that you and the Island Records team were about to work with James Brown until that was cancelled due to publishing reasons. Did you actually ever record anything ?

Oh yes, we did. There was no rehearsal, it was to be a 'happening' situation right in the studio. Day one wasn’t fruitful, thus James asked us if we had anything to suggest. So we did on day two, which ran marvels. All recordings were in the raw stage, no fixing, no overdub, no development as yet, but the potential was obvious. Hence the publishing dispute that followed, with Mr. Brown claiming 100% shares on the tunes that we initiated but were never actually finished. Too bad, super bad.