Produced by:
KBOO
Program::
Air date:
Thu, 02/11/2016 - 8:00pm to 10:00pm
Sigh.
Sigh.
When we found out about the transition of Maurice White, we wrote this in between tears... It's not often we shed many tears for famous people we do not know; however, Maurice White meant a lot to us. Earth, Wind & Fire are one of the few bands to put us in a place of absolute positivity. They are one of the only groups in the pop canon to remain consistent in their mission of integrating a (decidedly African) spiritual experience in their art. They upheld a specific jazz tradition in this way (similar to artists such as Pharaoh Sanders); however, they transcended genres and generations.
Maurice White became known as a session drummer at Chess (performing with folks such as Ramsey Lewis and Billy Stewart); he gained even further notoriety with what came to be Earth, Wind & Fire- starting off with smaller projects such as Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback..., and Afro Sheen commercials, into global recognition. Their live shows were a force to be reckoned with, and even as Mr. White stopped performing live (due to his bout with Parkinson's) his energy did not cease to inspire the art.
It is only February, and we've already had two tributes on our show this year. While each artist we pay tribute to mean something special to us, we are taking this one particularly hard. So many positive people are leaving this earth right now, and it's definitely a test for us to work harder to counter the ever-growing evil energy presented to us.
Sigh.
(Photo: Eriik- Creative Commons)
When we found out about the transition of Maurice White, we wrote this in between tears... It's not often we shed many tears for famous people we do not know; however, Maurice White meant a lot to us. Earth, Wind & Fire are one of the few bands to put us in a place of absolute positivity. They are one of the only groups in the pop canon to remain consistent in their mission of integrating a (decidedly African) spiritual experience in their art. They upheld a specific jazz tradition in this way (similar to artists such as Pharaoh Sanders); however, they transcended genres and generations.
Maurice White became known as a session drummer at Chess (performing with folks such as Ramsey Lewis and Billy Stewart); he gained even further notoriety with what came to be Earth, Wind & Fire- starting off with smaller projects such as Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback..., and Afro Sheen commercials, into global recognition. Their live shows were a force to be reckoned with, and even as Mr. White stopped performing live (due to his bout with Parkinson's) his energy did not cease to inspire the art.
It is only February, and we've already had two tributes on our show this year. While each artist we pay tribute to mean something special to us, we are taking this one particularly hard. So many positive people are leaving this earth right now, and it's definitely a test for us to work harder to counter the ever-growing evil energy presented to us.
This evening we will be focusing mainly on the philosophy and voice of Maurice White; through live performances, select album cuts throughout the years, as well as portions of interviews. This will definitely be a difficult show for us to do; we are taking this as hard as we took Michael's transition.
We will not be able to fit everything we want to in two hours, so it is possible we will do another show, exploring the many facets of his art, such as the Chess period, his production work with other artists, and more Earth Wind & Fire.
(Photo: Eriik- Creative Commons)
- KBOO
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