When I’m home and relaxing, I still listen to what got me started with all this – the roots or foundation of r&b. A tree without roots is dead, man, and while I’m still around, I ain’t gonna let that happen!
Well, you know, growing up I was the golden boy of the family, because I could sing. I recall my mother singing arias from operas to herself while doing housework and playing classical and popular music on the piano in our home while taking care of the kids—13 of us all together. Her background was classical piano and church music too. She was the salutatorian at Xavier University.
Aside from classical music and opera, my mother liked popular music as well as a little country music too. Like many of her generation, she was not big on rhythm and blues or rock and roll. But after some time, she did learn to love B.B. King. And she adored Satchmo too. I recall taking her and her mother to see Louis Armstrong when he made one of his rare appearances in New Orleans—one of the big thrills of my lifetime…