Gene Williams

LEXXICON: Let's do the requisite opening question: Tell me about how and when you first got into music. Are you one of those guys who just sat down one day and started playing?

GENE WILLIAMS: My father was - is - a huge music lover. His record collection remains a valuable archive of classic jazz, ranging from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Miles, Billie Holiday et al. Needless to say I grew up hearing a lot of stuff. When I showed an interest in piano after seeing the cartoon character "Schroeder" in Peanuts, he impulsively bought a baby grand piano and started me on lessons at age 7. So from 7 to 18 I took lessons ranging from pop to classical. Somewhere around 14 I was losing interest, but he made me continue until I graduated high school. In high school, in Jamaica Queens, I was exposed to some truly gifted musicians who had uncanny natural ability to improvise that made me realize I wasn't shit! So, no. I'm not one of those guys that just automatically started playing. I know a lot of those guys, and it was pretty scary watching them. I worked very hard at it. Listening to records, practicing, and playing in small groups jamming in the basement. When I finally earned their respect I knew I'd gotten my act together.

lexx: I'm especially curious about origins because listening to you play I definitely get the sense that the music is just a natural extension or expression of who you are - that it has to come out one way or another.

GW: That's true. You just have to figure out how to get across what you're feeling to others. That can take some time. Like Miles said, "It can take a long time to sound like yourself." A lot of technically great players spend so much time imitating other people, they never find their own sound. I'm told by my peers that I have a great "feel". That's something I'm always happy to hear because that's the one thing about my work that's truly natural, and to me all the "chops" in the world can't top that....even though I am a bit of a "chopsy" player.

lexx: Right.. And I don't necessarily believe that's true of all musicians. Here's what I mean - You can listen to some players and it's a more mechanical vibe, more a sense of 'this can be taught and learned.' Sort of playing by numbers; technical proficiency maybe - or maybe not actually.. hype seems these days to compensate for what is in some cases a startling lack of real musicianship --

GW: Yep. Marketing is a big part of standing apart from the rest of the crowd. I'm not gonna mention any names...

lexx: -- but still, it feels like the music is coming from some surface place. By contrast, other players - yourself for instance - seem to to be working from something deeper, something which probably is not teachable. It's either in you or it isn't. Yes? No? Not necessarily?

GW: Sure. There's a limit to what can actually be taught. "Feel" can't be taught, in my opinion. It depends on the individual. Either they have it, or they don't. The trick is finding out if they do or not. It took a long time to figure out if I had it or not....Sometimes I still wonder. Staying humble is important too.

lexx: Talk about influences, both in specific terms of players - keyboard or otherwise - and broader terms .... those who have fed your general passion for music along the way.

GW: I've been influenced by everyone I've ever heard. I know I'm gonna forget someone. Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, David Sancious, Jan Hammer, Miles Davis, Allan Holdsworth being among the ones that I always come back to. Jaco Pastorius had a big impact on me as a composer. But the fire he gave in every performance had me studying every 'primal scream' on every Weather Report album he recorded.

lexx: This is interesting - just about every serious musician/composer I know cites Jaco Pastorius as a notable influence. Can't be mere coincidence. On your website you also talk about Zappa as an influence ... another name that seems to come up over and over with musicians who are doing innovative, creative work, staying progressive and always 'out there' on the edge, pushing limits. People who aren't necessarily interested in playing it safe all the time, more into exploring and crossing boundaries. Sounds like you.

GW: Yeah, Zappa's early work with George Duke and Chester Thompson in his band definitely knocked me out. Not just a challenge to play, but also to listen to. The title track on my CD Welcome 2 My World is an odd-metered piece in 11/8. I’m pretty sure I was listening to Inca Roads a lot at the time I originally wrote it. I would love to know how long it took them to put together St.Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast. Working with Roberta Flack for 4 years influenced me as well. During that time I learned what you don't play is more important than what you do play. On that gig the slightest wrong note anyone played stood out like a sore thumb. She is an example of a true talent who constantly refines her instrument. I've seen her pull things out of the air just when you figured that every possible way of executing the same material has been done. Amazing.

lexx: That's one thing I always wonder about... artists and players who can make something fresh every time. You go to two of their shows and although there's a constancy - you know it's gonna be great no matter what - there's also a newness or freshness each time. That can't be an easy thing to accomplish when you're playing lots of shows, doing much of the same material over and over. So how does it work - do you ever just plain get tired of playing and hearing the same stuff over and over? Is your mind always exactly on what you're doing or at some point does it almost get like auto-pilot, effortless? Are you ever thinking about something totally unrelated to music?

GW: Well, bottom line is regardless of whether you’re doing your own gig or supporting someone else as a sideman, you’re there to do a job. Sometimes if you’re lucky you’re getting paid for that job, but even if you’re not, part of the job is to be consistent. No matter how many times you’ve done it. It’s your responsibility not only to your audience, but to the people you’re playing with. That’s what being a professional is all about. If you’re drifting off thinking about the Knick game during the set....well, you really ought to be doing another job as far as I’m concerned. My role in Roberta's band was to be the orchestra. All the string and bell parts were written out, so I was expected to give the same performance every time, unless she asked for something different, and as I said before, one wrong note on that gig sounds like an explosion. So you had to be focused at all times. And there are other times where the inevitable technical problem arises when someone breaks a string, a sequencer goes down or a mike goes out and you have to quickly cover for them. So it’s never really auto-pilot. On my own gig or in a funkier club situation I can stretch out more as a soloist and take it out, but in every situation I’m thinking of nothing else but the music, locking with the other players, connecting with the audience and having fun while doing it.

lexx: Let's jump back to Roberta Flack for a minute. She did Killing Me Softly originally and had a huge hit with it. What did you think of the Fugees remake of the song, and do you have any idea what Flack thought of it?

GW: I thought Lauren Hill's vocal rendition of Killing Me Softly was tastefully respectful to Roberta's. It proves a good song is a good song no matter what generation it comes out of...although I could’ve done without the banjo break sample and Wycliff’s "one time" in every chorus. But the groove is happening. Roberta loved it. It gave her career a needed shot in the arm and exposed her to a younger audience. She’s always been supportive of new talent. She actually appeared in the Fugees video of the song for a brief shot.

lexx: You play with lots of great artists - How did that start happening? Was there some equivalent of a 'big break' for you?

GW: Believe it or not, my 'big break' came when I got these sessions recording karaoke music for a huge Japanese karaoke company out of New York. We must have recorded over 900 songs. Not only did I play the reference melodies on almost evey tune, but I produced many of them as well, ranging from Janet Jackson's Control to Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror. We were nailing those tracks so closely to the originals that eventually some big name NYC session cats started coming up to record some too. So I soon was working alongside many of the great musicians I had seen on TV and heard on countless records. Drummer Buddy Williams (no relation) from the Saturday Night Live band was one of them. He was working with Roberta at that time, and when she decided she wanted a synth player in her band, he told her about me. Someone else up there did the same for me with Ashford & Simpsons' band. So it was a matter of word of mouth, and recommendations from the right people. Keyboard Magazine even did a small article about me during that time about the karaoke experience. That was a good gig...even though I didn't know it at the time.

lexx: So it's been equal parts of knowing your stuff and putting yourself in the right places at the right time?

GW: Absolutely!

lexx: Shifting gears a little: Earlier I mentioned there seeming to be a pattern in terms of influences among a certain group of writers/musicians. Another area where you see a pattern is when you look at the kinds of artists who are getting heavily into internet/web stuff. Seems like the same group of people - those artists who tend toward a progressive approach or musical idealogy seem to really be getting into the web thing in all kinds of ways. Peter Gabriel has his whole multimedia thing, Laurie Anderson, Rundgren, Eno....they all seem to embrace technology and to see a natural relationship between technology and music. How did you get interested in the internet, building a web site, etc?

GW: Yep. Thomas Dolby and Herbie Hancock too. For me it was a natural progression:

Piano-Keyboard-Synthesizers-Sequencers-Computers-Internet.

Like everybody else, I started hearing the major buzz about the world wide web in ‘95, not really understanding it. I was working on my CD and knew I needed a plan to help market the project once it was completed. One evening a friend of mine who was a computer consutant for Time Warner and I were hanging out, and I asked him about this internet thing. He laid the whole thing out to me so clearly it was like an alarm went off. So he got me in touch with a local ISP here in Queens, and I was online. I have to admit, I kind of went overboard with learning how to build a website. I’m kind of known as being a do-it- yourselfer and must have bought every magazine article about HTML I saw! Even now my studio is cluttered with them all. Anyway, in September '95 I was online, and by November I’d designed and set up my own website. Everybody was kind of stunned how fast I’d gotten it down. The CD was completed in December, so I was able to put the URL and my e-mail address on the back cover art of the CD, which I also designed myself. I actually got my BFA studying art at the School of Visual Arts here in New York, and worked professionally as an illustrator/cartoonist for a few years. So designing the site and the CD art got my Design chops, which I hadn’t been using for a while, back up.

It’s amazing. You can knock yourself out creating a CD of some of your baddest tunes - get them copywritten, published and get the bar code - but it doesn’t seem to be legit unless you’ve got a website! When I’m on the road shopping my CD to stores, that seems to be the major selling point with buyers even before listening to it. "Oh, you’ve got a website?" I hear it every time. It’s really nuts trying to keep up with how fast it’s all growing. Vivo Active, MidiPlugs, RealAudio, Shockwave. I’ll never be able to get most of that stuff down. To be honest, my site’s in the stone age compared to what’s happening now. You still have to wait a few minutes to download the Quicktime, .au and .wav files. But I’m glad people seem to be digging it.

lexx: Do you ever miss doing the visual art stuff?

GW: When I look back on my old work, yes I do. The creative process of music and art is the same, but no one cheers you on or applauds after you've completed a piece as they do after a live musical performance. That's very satisfiying. In the art world you've just got a sullen A.D that's only interested in deadlines to give you your feedback....But there's something about holding a freshly printed glossy magazine with your work in it that's very cool. I've always managed to combine the two elements in the past. Multimedia is the future.

lexx: Everyone's favorite subject: Politics! Throughout history artists of various kinds have addressed social issues of the day in their work, sometimes at real personal risk. How do you feel about the 'politicalization' of music or other kinds of art -- does it diminish/invalidate the art or trivialize the issues at hand, or is it just the opposite? Here's what I'm getting at - I'm thinking of the recent situation with Sheryl Crow's record being boycotted by Wal-Mart because of a lyric about kids buying guns in their stores. I've seen and heard some interesting debate on the issue: some people say 'Music shouldn't be political anyway, what did she expect,' and others say 'Artists are in a unique position from which to speak on these issues..people are listening; they should say something that matters.' Which is more in line with your way of thinking? Or would you rather not think of it at all, and just play?

GW: It’s like this: You write what you know. You can write about "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" or you can write "911’s A Joke." Either way you’re making a statement. That’s what music’s about. Even without lyrics, a performer is still making a statement. It’s up to the listener to decide whether or not he or she agrees with that statement. I didn't hear about the Sheryl Crow thing, but I can understand Wal-Mart's position even if it’s true. They don’t have to like it, and if they don't, why should they sell it? What bugs me are the ones that create controversy just for the sake of being controversial. It’s a marketing ploy that’s used just to sell more records and you can see right through them. But songs about social issues which have really made an impact on me .... Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On,’ Stevie Wonder's Livin' for the City, Beatles' ‘Revolution’ (or anything by John Lennon for that matter)...Public Enemy, Living Colour .... all have made great artistic statements that weren’t necessarily reflecting the popular political opinion at the time. It’s really hard to do that without being preachy. After a while it gets old, and you feel like saying ‘Yo, dude... Lighten up, man!’ Then it’s time to funk out again.

lexx: Tell me about your association with the Black Rock Coalition.

GW: I’m currently the artistic director of the organization, which was founded by [guitarist] Vernon Reid over 10 years ago. It has at times been considered a political organization, and I feel the musicianship of the organization has suffered as a result. Everybody’s got an opinion about something, but not everyone had the same proficiency on a musical instrument. At its peak it was an excellent forum for artistic/creative people of color to express themselves musically, and we’re trying to get it back to that level where people respect our musicality as much as our political concepts. And there are some great people on the scene that are doing it!

lexx: It was trippy seeing mention of the BRC on your website - I was on their mailing list in 1988!

GW: Wow - small world. Yeah, been involved on and off since '87 or '88, before Living Colour got signed.

lexx: I think I originally heard of the BRC in a Rolling Stone article on Vernon Reid, who just totally blew me away then and still does. The whole band really - not to mention that Cory Glover has one of the best rock voices ever, it's just that simple.

GW: All good friends. Most are online. Since Living Colour broke up a few years ago, Cory’s now signed with LaFace records. I’ve heard his new CD. It’s very good, but the release date keeps getting pushed back. It’s been done for almost a year now. Vernon's solo project has been out for a while now. No promotion from Sony. It’s called Mistaken Identity. Doug Winbush replaced Muzz [Skillings]. Muzz and I are close, and he will do the Hendrix tribute with me.

lexx: Do you have to be black to be a member of the BRC, or is it more about lending support, regardless of color?

GW: The BRC is not exclusive to just black people. As a matter of fact, our Director of Communications who answers the e-mail at the website is a white guy, Jimmy Saal. The organization is open to anyone that wants to support creative artists (Music, Art, Poetry, Literature, etc) that prominently feature people of color. One recently signed BRC band, 'Screaming Headless Torsos,' is a white group fronted by a black lead singer, Dean Bowman. Their website is also linked on my page. They met at a BRC meeting. Dig that!

lexx: It's good to know the BRC thing is about support overall and not hung up on rigid color lines in terms of membership. A couple of days ago someone from Newsweek contacted me, wanted me to comment on some things Tiger Woods had said recently about being interracial. [ed. note: lexxicon's editor has an interracial family.] As I wrote my responses, it occurred to me that really I am of two minds about the whole race thing. On one hand, I think it's ridiculous that there is this fixation on ethnicity - why does he have to be a black golfer and not just a hellacious golfer? It seems to me that continued focus on ethnicity is part of what keeps the whole big machine of bigotry going .... it's self-perpetuating. But on the other hand, this is America - let's face it, there is no way to discount the racial implications of a given situation; even when no one talks about it, it's there. And that's what makes Woods' ethnicity relevant - that's why it does matter. I think it's pretty cool that, especially at such a young age, he's able to face this stuff (the big deal the media makes of it all) with grace. And it's the same with the BRC - my thinking is sort of like this: on one hand, it doesn't matter what the ethnic makeup is of the members - good music is good music no matter who plays it. But on the other hand - and this is the predominant one for me most often, realist that I am - it matters alot, because of American history.

GW: It's funny. My thoughts about Tiger were, "Why does he have to be half asian? Why can't he just be BLACK! That would've REALLY shook things up!" He has so much class, the vibe I get from the media is like "A black man can't possibly have this much class....But...he is half asian....so it's cool!"

It's amazing that in 1997 there are still so many barriers that need to be broken! In some respects we haven't grown much from 1957. I'm lovin' the whole Tiger Woods thing! ...Fuzzy Zoeller and all! I think the focus on Tiger's race will pass in time. He's like the Jimi Hendrix of golf. And when you think about it, no one ever thinks about Jimi as a 'black' guitarist...just the greatest guitarist. He's just Jimi Hendrix. And Tiger's just Tiger Woods. The greatest golfer!

lexx: Let's get back to the music. Fascinating piece in Musician magazine recently about artists who effectively market their stuff in non-American markets. You just got back from Japan - any thoughts on this subject?

GW: The thing about some artists effectively marketing elsewhere is true. I always get a lot accomplished when I’m there. Europe and Japan are the best markets for non-commercial artists to break into. It’s not as big as the US, however, but it’s very easy for an independent artist to set up a few meetings and get some business happening, especially for a black Jazz/progressive or hip hop artist. They really respect that, and if you have a few positive credentials under your belt, that doesn't hurt either. My website was helpful, and my online presence in newsgroups and video conferences had people curious enough to want to meet me. So I made a lot of new contacts. Two stores in Shibuya Tokyo ordered my CD, HMV and Tower. That was my main goal for this trip, and I feel it was a mission accomplished.

lexx: Can you say 'welcome 2 my world' in Japanese?

GW: Can't everybody? Yokoso watashi no sekaie!

lexx: Thanks for taking time to talk to us, Gene.

GW: I enjoyed it. Thanks for having me!

Gene's website is now offline, but hear him collaborate with others here.