In this engaging conversation, trombonist Greg Boyer shares his extensive experiences in the music industry, from touring with legendary acts like Prince and P-Funk to his journey from college to professional musician. He discusses the intricacies of arranging music, the importance of stage presence, and the dynamics of performing with a large ensemble. Boyer reflects on memorable concert experiences, the evolution of music technology, and his influences in the industry, while also hinting at future projects and the significance of audience engagement in live performances.

Takeaways:

• Greg Boyer reflects on his early career choices, emphasizing the importance of finding one’s path in music.
• He shares memorable experiences with Prince, including the challenges of arranging complex horn sections.
• Boyer discusses the camaraderie and musical chemistry developed over decades within the funk scene.
• The impact of audience engagement on performance is highlighted as a vital aspect of concerts.
• Greg emphasizes the significance of being present during live performances and not just recording them.
• He recounts the fun and challenges of working with various legendary musicians throughout his career.

Links referenced in this episode:

• georgeclinton.com
• facebook.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Mixcloud
• Parliament
• Funkadelic
• Prince
• NPG
• Maceo Parker
• Parliament-Funkadelic
• Benny Cowan's
• George Clinton

My next guest here on Musicians Reveal is a tremendous musician.

Trombonist, plays a lot of different other instruments.

He's a horn arranger.

He has been in the music business since early part of his college career.

He's toured with Parliament, Funkadelic, Prince and the npg Maceo Parker, many, many more.

There's a lot of credits.

You do research on Greg Bore and you will find out all his accomplishments.

Welcome back, Greg Boyer.

Hey, good to be back.

How you've been?

I've been good.

You know, we're doing our thing here on the video end and Mixcloud just got off the road.

Or were you with Shrill and Mace?

Yes, Shrin Maze.

Maze, yeah.

A funk R B outfit out of mostly Paris, France.

But they're members of the band of Sprinkled throughout Europe, Switzerland, Spain and so forth.

But I was over there for two weeks doing that and I'm telling you, man, that's one of the funkiest bands out there.

Yeah, no, very authentic.

You know, it's all about Groove Pocket.

It was a joy to be with these guys.

Plus I played on a CD a couple of years ago, so I was like a guest solo with some sorts.

It was wonderful, man.

Yeah.

Well, I saw that Maze was hanging out at your house, right?

Yeah, he was over here taking a tour of the States and I told him, look man, you can let this be your home base while you're over here.

So he was here for a couple of weeks and you know, took him out to see a couple of Go Go shows.

He got to watch Chuck Brown live.

Yeah, his son, right?

Yeah, his son is the lead singer now with the group.

He got to see that band live, did a couple of sessions over at Benny Cowan's house, and he flew out to Omaha, the CP Funk, where he promptly sat in as the fourth horn.

So he had a really good time over here.

Yeah, we.

We have a friend from, from Paris, Corinne, the funky girl.

And she came to visit us and stay with us for two.

Kind of like the same situation.

Someone from there, they come visit the States for two weeks.

Yeah.

All she had me doing was taking me to New York City venue, seeing shows into record stores and she was paying a lot of money for the vinyl, but she was happy.

Yeah.

Is.

And.

And the, the general consensus is no matter what we pay here usually costs more outside of the country.

So what might look like a lot of money to you was a bargain to her.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And at one one Time.

I think one of the shop owners was kind of like, insulting because she didn't speak perfect English.

I was helping her around everything, and I was saying, don't give this guy any money.

But she wanted the records.

I mean, you can speak whatever language you.

Yeah.

And especially if you spend it money.

I just.

Yeah, I was uncalled for, so.

Oh, yeah, that was.

That was a bad scene.

I left the store after I.

That was big of you to step in.

Can't treat people up.

What I know and what you just told me, that was just flat out wrong.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Moving on.

The positive stuff.

P.

Funk, are you going back on the road anytime soon?

They set up a bunch of dates.

Yeah, we have some dates at the beginning of February, as a matter of fact.

Now.

We were doing a couple of Grammy parties, but, you know, with the city being on fire and cancellation left and right, we had to scratch that.

But we'll be in Chicago February 2nd, Detroit February 4th, and Cleveland February 6th.

Wow.

Still.

Still going strong.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, just go to George Clinton.com and the dates will be there.

Right.

Without me having to say, scratch my head.

Try to remember.

Yeah, yeah.

Let me pull them up on the.

On the phone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, you.

You started, I believe, in 78.

79.

With George Clinton and company.

Right.

Oh, wow, you got it to.

To the T.

Yeah.

That's good.

All that.

A memorable day.

Yeah, yeah.

What.

What were your things?

I can remember.

So.

So tell me about your.

Your parents and family's reaction to you because you were at St.

Mary's College in Maryland.

Yeah.

And.

And leaving.

Getting that opportunity to jump on the road with adults who've been seasoned in music legends.

How did.

How did that go?

Well, let me.

Let me dial it back a little bit.

I was at St.

Mary's College, and I was a lousy college student.

My thing was partying.

I went to class when I felt like it, and I was essentially wasting my parents money.

And I just decided after three semesters, I was like, you know what?

I need to find another way to do this.

Maybe come back when I'm a little bit more mature and disciplined.

But right before I quit, Benny and I went on an east coast venture.

We went to Baltimore, got picked up by this guy named Lee Holmes.

And then we went up to New York and we were hanging out with Eddie Kendricks.

Stopped at Philly International Studios on the way back, watching MFSB do a session.

Went to a rehearsal with Fat Larry.

We were doing all of these things in this one day, calling ourselves musicians slash arrangers and everything.

And we got back the school about midnight.

Now, as a result of us gallivanting all over the i95, we missed a very important rehearsal for the college.

The winter concert for the college jazz ensemble.

And we were punished for that.

So I got to thinking, you know, we were kind of like, well, we didn't know at the time, but we felt like we halfway had our foot out there in a world of professional musicians.

And Benny and I decided pretty much at the same time, you know what?

Maybe school isn't for us.

And we both dropped out in December, in 77, met some people.

One of those was Greg Thomas.

And a couple of things.

Almost six weeks later, after we.

Two months later, after we dropped out of school, we were auditioning with P.

Fung.

The three of you unrelated?

No.

You know, everybody's like, you quit school to go play with P.

Fung?

I said, no, I quit school because I quit.

The whole P.

Funk thing happened to fall into my lap a couple of months later.

What happened was there was a shakeup within the band, and members were leaving, and there was a vacancy for the horn section.

Rodney Skeet Curtis called.

Greg Thomas said, get a horn section together.

There's a vacancy down here.

And we auditioned in February, and they sent us plane tickets in March.

And that's how it happened.

What was the first tour?

It was the Flashlight tour.

Okay.

And midway through that, the band, just like I said, they fell apart, you know, disgruntled band members and reasonably so, considering everything was going on at the time, and got flown into Nashville.

We got in late, so we missed the show.

And we were playing in Huntsville, Alabama, the next day.

And that was the first show that we played with them.

How about those first recording session with.

With George and P.

Funk?

It was all new to me.

I'd never done a recording session in an actual studio before.

Have I been recorded?

Yeah, but, you know, somebody hung a mic from the ceiling Calendar four and just said, play.

Okay.

And that was pretty much it.

But we were in there saying, oh, what do we do here?

What do we do here?

We didn't really have.

No, we did.

We did have a producer on board.

Ron Dunbar was producing those horn sessions.

Play this, play that.

And then we come up with some ideas on our own.

And he either liked him or didn't like them.

And that was pretty much it.

It was just a joint effort between Greg, Benny, and myself as to what was going to be played.

The three of you.

You got that.

And Skeet from Baltimore, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dennis Chambers later on from Baltimore.

Kevin Oliver on guitar, who's back in the band.

He's from Baltimore.

Gary Hodge on keys from Baltimore.

The front runner for all of this is Mudbone.

You know, he was from Baltimore and he pretty much was the pipeline between for all of those musicians in Baltimore ending up in P.

Funk.

Did you do a lot of recording sessions with Bernie?

Bernie Worrell?

I did not know.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, you got, you.

Got to think too.

Before we got there, the.

The old guard was Fred Mao, right.

Kush and Rick.

So they were season veterans.

You know, we would still had, you know, Moisture, as a friend of mine likes to say, Carnation milk behind out here.

So, you know, we didn't.

I don't think we garnered the trust of those people that have been there a while.

Eventually we did because, you know, we came in as a substitute for the horny horns eventually after we started to establish ourselves as who we were then.

Maybe at that point we were a little bit more trusted going into the studio.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but on the current touring ensemble, which changes a lot.

You're.

You're.

You've got one of the most service years of the whole crew, right?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, Mike Hampton is still there.

He was there before us.

Lys Lyce Curry.

Yeah, yeah.

And clip.

He was there.

He was pretty much working behind the scenes and eventually became a member of the band.

So he was there about the same time maybe a little bit before we got there.

And Skeet, of course, you know, he's retired, but he was in there before.

So.

Yeah, I'm one of maybe about four or five elder statesmen of the band now.

Yeah.

With P.

Funk, the all stars always changing, you know, how do you deal with new players?

Who runs the show as far as.

I mean, there's a lot going on throughout every concert.

So how do you guys piece it together?

Well, there's no hard fast MD anymore.

We just kind of, I guess, leaning on each other as to what's being played and what needs to be learned and everything.

Because anybody comes in, they'll just look around and see who knows, they'll ask that person what to do.

And us being very community minded as far as the music and everything, we say we'll play this, do that.

And on a section layout, on a section come in a lot of times too.

Those people are in the band, have seen everything before.

So it's not like they're Coming in totally green.

Right.

Trying to figure out what to do and what the input might be.

Who.

Who's playing drums in the band currently.

Benzel, birth name Benjamin Cowan, but he calls himself Benzo or.

Right.

Take off on a famous actor.

Right.

And that's Benny's son.

Yeah, right, yeah, yeah.

And he's been holding down that drum chair for a good while now.

Yeah.

The last time I saw you guys live well was Foley was playing drums for.

That was before I got back in the band.

Yeah, they played a to Been a while then.

Yeah, it's been a while.

Yep.

So, so, so revisiting the St.

Mary's days.

If people want to do.

You can go on YouTube.

Johnny's quest you arranged for a bunch of players back in the day, right?

Yeah, I now this is before Nickelodeon and all of that stuff.

Yeah, I just was.

I mean I've always been a.

A fan of TV themes.

We grew up in an era where, you know, all of that stuff was very distinctive, very well written.

And I had the hair brained idea to do a big band arrangement of the theme from Johnny Quest.

Now at the time I sat down and put the pen on the paper.

I hadn't seen that show for almost 10 years.

So I had to do it completely from memory.

And it came out pretty good, man.

You know, I wrote the parts out and then dropped it in front of the band and they were willing participants and we ended up doing the theme for John Quest.

And you were playing tuba on it, right?

I was playing tuba, yeah.

I was a tuba major when I was in college.

I played bass trombone and tuba in a jazz band.

But the classical side of it.

I was a tuba player.

I wanted, you know, playing an orchestra.

Yeah, a lot of people don't know that.

I mean you played practically.

Are you.

You were like kind of like a prince, you know, practically playing everything.

Although horns weren't.

He didn't touch that.

But you, you play drums, bass, piano, everything.

Right.

That's how I was able to get away with what I did when I was playing with Prince.

He's like that whole horn thing is just totally foreign to me.

You know, like saxophones and E flat and trumpet B flat.

And he's like, why can't they all be in.

Cuz the horn's not at C and.

Okay, yeah, he.

That whole thing was just like.

It was a head scratcher for him.

But he trusted you with, you know, coordinating all.

Yeah, yeah.

I got a whole box of charts downstairs and stuff that I had written out for MPG while I was there.

And of course, you know, with him having a revolving door, so many people had to document the stuff so that when one person left and another one came in, they'd know what to do instead of having to sit there and learn it by ear, you know.

So getting to the charts, I mean, for our music listeners and viewers out there, how.

How do you write Pen, you know, pencil to paper?

Are you computer?

You write okay?

Yeah.

I haven't sat down in any of the notation software because the learning curve is just so crazy.

You know, you hit this key and uppercase, lowercase, all the little row of things at the top of the keyboard and moving it around, it's just so much faster for me.

Just put a pen on a paper and just draw the note.

Right.

And the.

The only drawback to that is if I feel like I need to change the key for whatever reason, I can't push a button and just change everything.

I have to write it all over.

Now, there's a little story that goes from when we were playing with Prince.

I wrote this line out this jungle groove from Buckshot lefunk.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

And I said that I could write it out faster than somebody could take the piece of paper down to the.

The office or whatever and make a copy of it.

So I'm.

The guy's racing, so I'm writing it.

Let's see.

I can finish it before he can bring back a copy.

And I beat him.

Wow, that's.

That's talent.

Yeah.

Drops it on the table and I say, hey, you know, I've already done it already.

So I thought about.

Back to something you said before about the TV things.

Were you responsible for getting those into Prince?

You know, the Sanford and Sonnen TV show, things like that?

No, he just randomly said, and when it was time to do a solo, I want you to play the theme from Sanford and Son.

He told Candy that he wanted me to play Hollywood swinging.

And I think I forgot which one Maceo had.

But you know, Flintstones maybe did the Flintstones.

He might have.

Yeah.

But I distinctly remember Candy playing.

Cause, you know, it was.

It wasn't a four bar thing.

It was like a six bar line.

You know, we had to really.

We couldn't just come back in when we felt like we had to wait for her to finish the line.

But you know, he would just have these.

I wouldn't call them fits, but he would just have these ideas like he just all of a sudden fell into a Wayne Shorter and Cannonball Adderley.

Phase.

And he says, I want to do this song.

Says, can you write it out?

I'm like, sure, yeah.

You did the Cannonball out of Lee Little during the Webster hall gig.

Yeah, that's right.

We did.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember that.

And I was like, guessing is which song you wanted.

And he said, no, I want to do Hippodelphia, which is, like, a really obscure song on that, that live.

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.

Everybody knows you know that song.

It's been played to death.

But I had to go back and listen to it.

I was like, okay.

So he wanted that arranged for four horns.

I was like, okay.

Altos and a trombone.

Yeah.

It's funny because at the time, because we were in the house when you guys taped at the Musicology of Webster Hall.

Yeah.

And then we were down in.

Me and my wife were down in Hollywood beach in Florida.

Yeah.

And we.

Our friend Ronnie Baker Brooks was doing a blues gig there, and the sax player there started playing that same part that you guys played, Cannonball Island.

I didn't know the tune.

I went up and actually asked him where that song comes from.

Yeah.

You know, have you seen any footage from the Webster hall that wasn't put in the special?

Because I know there were like, four or five other songs you guys did that.

I've only seen the one that's circulating because, you know, Prince had this thing where we would do the concert and he would have a record recorded every night.

And he says, I want the band to meet in my room and we're going to watch the concert.

And I'm thinking to myself, shoot, I just played it.

What do I need to watch it for?

Of course, when I get there and I see how he wanted us to be at a certain spot in the song, and we were either not there, or the whole transition was kind of raggedy.

Then I could see the benefit of watching the show.

Right.

I'm just thinking, you know, all the notes played, right?

Yeah, that's it.

You know, I was cool with that.

But, you know, it was more than just the notes with Prince.

It was, you know, you people listen with their eyes, so.

And he honors that by, you know, staging all these, you know, places you have to be and, you know, people on roller skates and run to the side of the stage when we're doing this song and.

Yeah, well, one thing you got, I got to give you a huge credit for.

I mean, you're playing an instrument, which takes a lot of focus and.

But you're moving around and making it fun.

On stage, you're doing a little time moves, Minneapolis style up there occasionally, right?

Yeah.

I mean, I've always.

It was one of the things I learned early on at P.

Funk was you're not just playing.

You're.

You're an entertainer.

Right.

And those people that just stand there and just play everything, they're not fun.

They could sound good, great, but they're not enjoyable if they're just standing there just playing this.

I mean, even if you stand there, have some kind of air of mystery to you, be entertaining some kind of way.

And my thing is, you know, I love the music I'm playing, and I'm not afraid to show that, you know, when the downbeat hits, the, you know, the drug is taken in and I'm off and running.

Yeah, those musicology.

I mean, you guys were hooked to the nines with all the outfits on that.

How.

How many different outfits?

Because the band a lot of times had color coordinated according.

There must have been a wardrobe.

Tons of stuff going on.

Right.

Each band had their own wardrobe case.

Right.

And the call would come from.

From high.

Yeah, okay, we're wearing purple tonight, or we're wearing red, or we're wearing black and white.

The.

The wardrobe committee would pull everything out of your respective wardrobe case, iron it, steam it, and have it hanging.

So all I had to do was just pretty much slide down the back hole and jump right into it.

Yeah, I saw.

It's one of those things where, you know, somebody was asking me about this just last night.

I was talking to someone, and I was just telling them how, you know, you're playing music, and there's certain levels to this whole thing.

And I was introduced to some stuff when I was playing with Prince that I had not seen prior to and haven't seen since.

Just the way things are run and the whole organizational standpoint of it.

And, you know, that was one of the things that came up, was the wardrobe.

Yeah.

I saw the.

You know, the documentary that was never officially released with Musicology.

You see Chance and I saw the.

The wardrobe cases back there.

So, yeah.

Yeah, we.

We saw the tour in New Jersey, and I was amazed because whoever put that schedule together, it was Jersey, had to go to Connecticut and then come back to Jersey within three nights.

Yeah.

And we're talking to the guy.

I asked the guy setting up the stage because we were part of the MPG music club.

I said, you got to break down this stage and set it up.

And he said, yep.

Now when you fast forward to now where these really super Elaborate things like if Beyonce goes on tour or a Taylor Swift and they just have so much, much stuff.

You know, giant screens and.

And all kinds of technical.

It's just anything super visual.

And so we didn't have that.

We just had a stage that was shaped like a symbol and all of the stuff that went with it.

So compared to now, it was.

It's peanuts.

But for me, back then, that was just a lot of stuff to move.

But it was possible to break that stuff down and move it in a day because it had so many people working on the crew.

Okay.

It's like, you know, army ants on a Brazilian jungle floor.

How they just move en masse and just go from one place to the other.

What's it like sitting underneath the stage while, you know, Prince is maybe doing the acoustic set or piano and stuff like that?

It was a break.

I felt like I was in a dressing room without having to go through the crowd or anything.

Yeah, that's right.

You know, we're just sitting down there chilling and, you know, talking about what we have to play when we go back up and, and, and me, my propensity to fall asleep and everything.

And sometimes I just do a five minute nap while I'm down there.

Wow, you.

You can, you can nap during a show.

I mean, you're able to.

Yeah, man.

I could sleep in front of a jet engine when I have, when I have to go, I have to go.

I'm out cold.

You know, it's funny because when I saw.

I don't think you were on this gig.

It was.

P.

Funk was playing the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den.

Yeah, you know the place there.

One of the keyboardists.

I wish I remember who it was.

We added the View.

They actually laid down underneath the keyboard for like maybe 10 minutes and looked like they were taking a nap during the, during the show.

That sounds like something.

Jerome Rush.

Okay, maybe.

Maybe it was him.

Did he play on the right side of the stage?

I mean, if I'm looking at it, if it wasn't Danny.

No, it wasn't Danny.

It was.

I don't know.

It would probably be staged, right.

If it were Jerome, Because I remember that's where the keyboards used to be.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah.

So that was something.

But, you know, I was gone for 25 years, so there's a lot of that stuff I can't account for.

Even though during that time I would show up every now and then and sit in with the band.

Right.

And you know, just to say hi, just blow a little Bit kind of remember how it was.

And then I'd be back to whatever I was doing.

How many trombones do you take on the road?

I take one.

One, okay.

Yeah, yeah.

1.

I'm not one of those people that has a whole wall full of trombones for all of these different reasons and purposes.

You know, I buy the horn that I can do everything on, and that's the one I take.

And trombone, being what it is, is a relatively easy horn to fix.

Oh, okay.

So you can find, like, I was doing Soul Train Awards and I slipped and fell on a drum riser where the wheels weren't locked when I fell down, and I was like.

I was okay, but the horn looked like a brass raisin.

And I took it.

I took it to a shop, man, in about an hour and a half, they had that thing looking like it was brand new.

Oh, wow.

They got it all together, hammered it out.

The right hammers and the right tools and everything.

Boom, boom.

Everything was straight.

And so, you know, it's not like a saxophone, which is a very tender instrument.

Move around with the pins and pads and all of that stuff.

There's so much mechanical hardware on that the slightest knock into it will send you straight to the shop.

Or trombone, just like, so what?

As long as.

Yeah, right.

So you.

You were talking about the charts, and you're a great horn arranger, you know, with.

With just about everybody you've played with.

Is it.

Is it possible to be in an ensemble and not be able to read charts?

There are.

People just have incredible ears.

You know, you still have to play something.

You know, they have to hear something to remember something.

So maybe one person will play the line and it's like, okay.

That's how the line goes.

And I'll say, okay.

Now you play the harmony.

And because they have been doing this no chart thing pretty much all their lives, they know which harmonies to pick and play them and, you know.

I know, you know, play with some people that just write alphabets on a piece of paper and, you know, no rhythms or anything, but they write the notes down and.

And by the time, you know, it's ready to play it, they're flawless.

So Prince.

Prince and George, they were.

They don't recharge.

Sorry.

No.

Yeah.

Now, very first session I did with Prince and I've told the story, so I don't know if you.

If I've said it or not, but.

Okay.

Macy O'Candy and I are doing a session up in Paisley Park.

Okay.

So we take a break.

Because the first Song is over.

And Prince said he had an idea for the second song.

So we're sitting in the booth, it's just me and him.

Everybody has gone to get something to eat, drink, whatever.

He takes a legal yellow notepad.

And I'm thinking, what is he going to write on a notepad?

That I need to know.

So he gets a green highlight, Magic Marker, and he says, I have an idea.

And then he writes and he drops it on the console.

Then he walks out, and I lean over and look at it, and it says, help.

And I looked at him right when he was going to walk through the door.

He saw me look back at him, and he just looked at me and laughed.

He.

You know, that's the side of him that nobody sees, is he's just this practical joker.

He's a really wicked sense of humor.

Right, right.

But he's, you know, I guess it's the.

The cost of being famous that you're more enigma than you are a person.

And the people around you change, although you haven't.

So what?

You end up reacting to your surroundings and get away from being who you really are.

Now, being out at his house in Hawaii, once, you were just out there hanging out because we were doing a show there and, you know, barbecuing, grilling, and, you know, shooting basketball in the driveway and everything.

It was just like a really fun hang.

It was one of the few times I got to see him just be a regular person.

Yeah.

And I was at the time Chance was on the motor moped with him.

I've seen a picture of them.

Yeah, it was like they were riding together and Prince had a face like, you know, you've probably seen it somewhere.

But I have not.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah, it's.

It's hilarious.

Yeah.

Well, obviously, he entrusted you with some big responsibilities to organize the rotating horn players in the band and arranging everything.

And so, you know, kudos to you.

And we saw a lot of the shows as well.

I gotta talk to you.

You know, go back to who actually was helpful with you getting in the Prince camp.

I'm sure Maceo, Parker.

You guys, how far do you go back with Maceo?

When I first got with P From, you know, I've known Macy all that long.

Okay.

Because I think, you know, Boosie was taking a break at that point, but P.

Funk was still on tour.

So I've known Maceo almost as long as I've been in P.

Funk.

So said 79 to now.

45, 46 years.

And it was funny because I quit playing with P.

Funk, and I was offered a gig by Fishbone, play keys and play trombone.

And they were playing at the Bayou.

And I was thinking to myself, I would like to, but I'm doing so good because I was playing with Chuck Brown, right.

D.C.

at the time.

Between that and a bunch of other gigs, I was making the same money without traveling.

So they said, well, you know, thanks, you know, appreciate that.

We're playing to buy you.

Would you like to come down and sit in?

I said, yeah, sure.

They were opening for Maceo, and Maceo said, reg's here.

So he asked me to sit in on his set and I said, yeah.

He said, would you like, be interested playing in the band?

I said, you know, just make the call.

And.

And he did.

He called me and we did two weeks in Europe.

And he said, hey, I'm going to call you again and would you be interested?

I said, yeah.

And that was in September of 90.

Yeah, I've been playing in that band all the way up until then.

So, you know, Macy and all, because all the years we were together, we had, you know, enormous chemistry.

You know, he always was that person that you tried to mimic phrase wise note for note.

And I have got really good at doing that.

So when Prince wanted to hire Macy, it was pretty much bring that trombone player with because he didn't want to break up the.

The.

The chemistry that we had, you know, it was just that strong.

Yeah, that was.

That was.

That was good foresight that he had that.

That plan for.

For everybody involved.

Me, you know?

You know, me says he sat down with him and says he writes charts too, and he does all this.

So.

So that became my job as well as playing trombone, was they keep the book for all of the horn arrangements.

Oh, okay.

So that's.

That's.

Hey, who originated the print?

I was joking with you in a text about ice cream.

How far does that go back?

Or I've heard that in a bunch of, like, rehearsals.

And where does that start from?

No, the story is we're getting on an elevator.

Prince and Manny, Larry, Graham and Tina.

Okay.

And Maceo and myself.

And I jokingly turned to Larry and I started making all of these ice cream rubs because he wears all white.

So I look at it, right, well.

You know, now that you're here, you know, I want to get a.

A Nutty Buddy and I'm gonna get my sister vanilla cone sort of a take off with the Eddie Murphy routine when he shot my ice cream.

Right, right.

And I said, and.

And my little brother wants a bomb pop.

And Prince was aghast.

You know, he says, you can't talk to Larry Graham like that.

He doesn't know I met Larry Graham at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame opening, like maybe, you know, five or six years prior.

So I.

I knew Larry already, and Larry just looked at me and just laughed like, that guy's just out of his mind.

But hey, that's, you know, finish, Greg.

Prince remembered that.

And so we do the musicology video.

What does he have me wearing?

A white suit?

That's right.

Did you have your little chainsaw thing to click out the good humor on the side?

Oh, no, no, no, I didn't have that.

No, I didn't have the coin.

Thanks.

So we're doing the show, and I know my solo was coming up, and I'm waiting for him to say Greg, and he yells, ice cream.

Yeah.

And I think it was kind of.

It was a friendly dig at me, you know, cornering Larry in the elevator and making ice cream man references and stuff.

But Prince called me ice cream.

He called me Frankenbone.

He only joked with those that he loved, right?

Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah.

And, yeah.

So that's where ice cream came from.

Yeah.

You guys had a great rapport on stage and I'm sure in the studio as well.

I.

I gotta tell you, the first time I saw you with Prince, this, this.

I'm gonna tie Maceo in it.

And Larry was there too.

But Montreal, the One Night Alone tour?

Yeah, before it started, I.

The lights went.

I was like on the second floor.

I went out to the men's room.

I was in the concourse with my wife.

Maceo was standing there with a saxophone, all in a suit.

Natasha Madison, his manager, right next to him.

So I strike up the conversation with him because my wife at the time was working with Corey Parker, promoting his cd.

Okay.

Yeah.

Omacy.

I was like, yeah, you know, we had a great conversation.

It was short.

The lights go down.

This guy's coming down two flights down to the stage blowing his horn.

Is that how every show in hockey arena started?

Like that?

For me, yeah.

We.

The horns would walk down the aisle, right?

And.

And.

And that's how the show would start.

Now the funny thing is about.

Is a candy dolphin story, you know, that comes with that.

And she's walking down the aisle and, you know, we're playing the little groove we all come in on.

And the turnaround is the principal yell turn Around, Dun dun.

He yelled, turn around.

And that's exactly what Candy did.

She turned around walking down the steps.

No, she was halfway up the.

Up on the stage.

Oh, okay.

Right.

But, yeah, she literally turned around.

And that's kind of like a.

I won't say an ongoing joke, but it's a laughable little story from that time.

Yeah.

That was the night where Larry Camel stage, you guys did a 20 minute version of Days of Wild.

And Prince had the Montreal Canadiens hockey jersey on.

Yeah, yeah.

I'd never seen a picture with him with that jersey.

But you were there to verify he had a hockey jersey on the Canadians.

Yeah.

And he, number one, had a Detroit.

Pistons jersey on once too.

Yeah.

When they.

When Tayshawn Prince was playing with them, he naturally had a jersey with Prince on the back.

Oh, okay.

Right.

Yeah.

And Vince Carter, I think he.

When you guys played much music.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah.

Amazing band right there.

Princess, you know, is documented that day that he's a B baller.

Yeah.

A rather skilled one.

I mean, he's got a court inside Paisley park, so that ought to tell you right there.

Yeah, so.

So.

So he had.

He had game, right?

Oh, yeah, right.

He definitely.

That.

That tour with that documentary, I'm sure you.

You've seen, and you were a part of it, the Musicology tour.

Yeah.

The Black Sweat in the dressing room.

Is that you playing horns on the alternate version.

You know, he's joking with people backstage and you know, with Chance and Blackwell and Rhonda probably.

I mean, there's horns.

There's horns on it.

And it's like a version of Black Sweat, but it's real funky, like a James Brown kind of thing.

Yeah, it probably were.

Because, you know, that was one of the things that French liked about Maceo was he was able to come up with these little funky horn line snippets almost at the drop of a dime.

Now, before I got with P Funk, I wasn't.

You know, that's not something I did.

And that's one of the things I learned from Maceo is it doesn't have to be the greatest line in the world, but if it's played well and executed properly, it sounds like platinum.

Wow.

And so Maceo was, you know, doing that all the time.

And even now, different bands I play with, I still do the same thing.

Yeah, that.

That.

That wisdom passed on.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I mean, go ahead.

I have my ears open all this time.

I ears Jackie Robinson and Josh Gibson going way back.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

So those were the jerseys.

I Was wearing on the road not last summer, but the summer before.

And I swapped those out for some Tromboya T shirts.

Yeah, I've seen you otherwise.

Can people order those?

Yes, you can.

Okay.

Give us all the specifics.

We'll put it in the description when we upload it.

Okay.

Where can they go?

You can go to my Facebook page.

I put a link there where you can order the shirts and I think it expires in another four days, but I'll post it again.

Okay.

If the link, if the link is expired, I'll put it back up again soon.

Yeah, they're really stylish.

I mean, I saw them, I was like, wow, that's.

That's.

That's a cool product.

Well, you know, keep it simple.

It's.

It's.

Yeah, it looks more like what I say, like Donna Karen New York or Calvin Klein or something.

Right.

Anything of that.

Keeping a simple.

Plus, it's a lot cheaper if you only use one color.

One color ink.

Yeah.

Right.

Gotta be practical with that.

Yeah.

So, hey, more importantly, who is it?

The Ravens or the Commanders?

For you, Madisyn?

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, it is a lot more of the Cinderella factor associated with the Commanders.

Right.

I mean, having been like, you know, one and everything else the season before to going into the playoffs and winning a game, you know, it's something that hasn't the city hasn't seen in over 20 years.

Right.

So the hype is real now.

Are the Ravens scary?

Yes.

And they only getting better as the season goes on.

It's just like, how do you contain this madness that is a backfield of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry?

You know, it's funny because they were showing a Steelers Ravens thing, right?

The little, I guess a little mini documentation.

And one of the guys on the Steelers was tackling Henry.

He said, that boy heavy.

Yeah.

He just like to the secondary, step arms and then you see him fall away.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And it, it's funny now that you watch other players on the Ravens running and they have perfected his stiff arm technique just below the helmet.

Yeah.

Push him away from you.

I mean, still one guy and he wasn't falling fast enough on the way down.

He stiffed on him.

Yeah.

They're peaking at the right time.

But hey, listen, you got a.

You got a great quarterback.

Young guy.

Yeah.

And his future is bright, this guy, and very low key, humble and doesn't get worried, flustered at all.

I remember seeing that picture before he got drafted.

Did you see that picture when his elbow was like at a weird angle.

No, I didn't.

Yeah, it was like, wow, is this guy, his body made to.

For the NFL?

It was really.

They must have caught at the right angle.

Looked like it was broken or something.

Yeah, but yeah, obviously that didn't play apart this season.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what, drawing a ball and especially a baseball, you know, that is not a natural motion for anybody's arm.

Right, right.

You know, I've seen pitchers sit there and just in the middle of their motion, the arm just falls apart.

Yeah.

They throw the ball and they're like out for the season or it might be a career ending injury because your arm is not supposed to do that.

Yeah.

It's almost like you can't go through your career without having one of those, you know, rotator cuff or you know, the Tommy John.

Yeah, yeah.

But you know, I noticed that about just about anything you do that's physical.

Like, you know, if you're a guitar player and your shoulder is going to have problems just from the weight of the guitar strap.

You know, for me being a trombone player, my left arm is a lot stronger than my right arm because I use that to support the horn.

Oh, okay.

All of these different instruments have ailments associated with them.

Like for saxophone players, it's your right thumb because you have this little hook on there so your horn doesn't just fall down.

But if you look at a sax player, you can tell that they play because they have a dent on the inside of their thumb.

How about the guitar players?

They.

They got the calluses and all.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Did you notice Prince, any injuries from playing instruments?

No, I just noticed his fingers look like baseball bats.

You know, fingers have a, a natural curve, a knuckle or whatever.

Right.

His just look like 3D.

I won't call them popsicle sticks, but the ones you use to stick in your mouth and say bigger ones.

Oh yeah, the tong thong, not.

But tongue.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Yeah, right.

And for a little guy, what is that?

Just from the, the years of playing, so much repetition.

Yeah.

His fingers look like little plugs.

Right.

And I gotta think that that's the way it is with a lot of guitar players because, you know, they're using muscles that everyday Joes that don't play guitar don't use.

Yeah, yeah.

And the show must go on.

The people buy the tickets.

They don't want to know about that.

And they want to see their, their heroes on up on segment.

Yeah.

With the torrent and everything.

Have you gone through any of those, experience yourself being like, how did I make it on stage and get through the gig?

I was in Colorado once, and I don't know if it's altitude driven or not, but I was playing, and maybe it was a combination of altitude and having just shaved.

Okay.

But I think my top lip was a little raw.

By the end of the night, it was swollen to the point where I couldn't play.

Wow.

And it wasn't anything traumatic that happened.

Like, you know, I didn't get hit in the mouth or, you know, bump the horn against my face or anything like that.

It just started swelling, and I just remember sucking on some ice after the gig and the next morning.

And eventually it went back down to where I could play again.

But I never was able to figure out why that happened.

Was that with P.

Fong?

That was with Maceo.

Oh, Maceo.

Okay.

Yeah.

Wow.

Cause Maceo was.

Was big in Colorado, so we would end up at the Aspen Fail Telluride.

You play Red Rocks?

Ever played Red Rocks?

Oh, okay.

Steamboat Springs.

Wow.

Oh, we were all over Colorado, man.

Do you remember playing Saratoga Springs, New York, or at the.

Yeah, I do.

Oh, okay.

With pfong.

With pfong.

Now this what I remember about Saratoga Springs.

I broke my foot there.

Wow.

Oh, how did that happen?

You were on a horse?

No, we went.

Got an endorsement from.

I don't know if it was kangaroos or something, but everybody in the band was outfitted with a pair of shoes, and I had a pair of running shoes, and I'm up there trying to play basketball.

You know, I'm doing my best Kobe Bryant gym rat, you know, working on spin moves, you know, fade aways and stuff.

I don't have the right shoes for that.

And I came down and I turned my ankle.

Something went, and I was like, man, I got the wrong shoes on.

And as time went on, man, my foot is swollen.

It is turning purple.

Yeah.

I realized that I had broken my foot.

My fifth metatarsal was, like, broken.

Wow.

So that's what I remember about Saratoga Spring.

I broke my foot there in a gym we were at.

What's that?

Cornell, I think it was.

Well, the college up here.

Skidmore.

Skidmore.

Yeah, that's what it was.

Skidmore.

Yeah.

And there's Saratoga, the big place where all the.

The big X place P.

Funk could probably play.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

It's an outdoor venue.

Yeah.

So, yeah, we played in Yale the next day.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I.

I lived in Connecticut most of my life.

I saw P Funk at Toad's Place.

But I don't know if you were at that.

That gig.

I've played Toads before.

Maybe not the one that you were at, but.

Okay.

No, they were regulars at Toad's Place.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's his historic.

I saw Sheila E there.

It was a historic venue.

But, yeah, dressing rooms.

I remember we went back and we were visiting with Gary Shiner and Bolita woods, and those dressing rooms look really right.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Now, is it still there?

I think so.

Yeah.

I haven't been there since.

I think last time I went there was seeing Victor Wooten and J.D.

blair.

Okay.

But it was still going there, so.

All right.

Yeah.

So, hey, you've played in tons of place.

And it's funny because at some point you hit that place where you don't remember things.

Yeah.

Like, I remembered so much.

Then all of a sudden it's like, man, I don't remember that.

And it troubled me because I know it's something I should remember, but I don't.

Yeah, I.

I used to DJ weddings.

Oh, you remember Toads.

Okay.

I remember, you know, we're going in and the.

The P.

Funk buses are right along in front of the venue, and there was like two or three, right?

Yeah.

So don't.

Don't worry about it.

I DJed parties.

And I'm thinking back, I.

I quit.

I retired right before the pandemic started.

I'm thinking you only remember certain parts of it, but if you ask me.

Oh, you DJed a wedding for this couple back then.

Yeah.

Couldn't tell you the name.

I'm sorry.

But, yeah, people that walk up to me, that I know I should remember, but I don't.

When they say you remember me from such and such place, I remember the concert.

I remember meeting someone there, but I'm looking at this person like, I'm not sure if that was you.

Right.

And you want to.

And you want to be friendly enough, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gary, thanks.

Go ahead.

About watching Chuck Brown was.

Even when he didn't remember you, he had a way of making you feel like he had known you all your life.

Wow.

Yeah.

That skill.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gary Scheider told me it was a phone interview.

He.

He was on vacation with him and Linda, and I asked him about some.

Something with the tour record, and he goes, oh, man.

He goes, don't ask me that stuff.

He goes, I can't remember any of that.

I mean, he said it in a nice way.

Yeah.

So if you've ever watched Hanna Barbera cartoons where Fred or Wilma, somebody's running through the house and they keep passing that same potted plant over and over.

Yeah, that's.

That's what it's like being on tour.

You're just looking out the window and you just.

Seeing these cities just go by and it's like the same city going past every five minutes, you know, although it's a different place, it all starts to.

To meld together after a while.

Do you prefer the.

The flight tours or the bus tours?

The bus tours.

Oh, you.

You do all for what reason?

Bus tours.

And especially now flying is.

Is such a pain in the butt.

You know, decorum is out the window, you know, and they charge you for every little thing.

You know, I used to put my horn in the overhead, it would be no big thing at all.

Now they're like, it doesn't fit.

And it does put it under a plane.

You have to pay to check bags, pay extra for bags.

It's just not a good experience anymore.

Flying used to be, you know, sort of elitist, but now it's almost like a bus in the sky.

Yeah, yeah.

Plus the layovers, too.

Right?

That's.

Yeah.

I had three.

I was going to Vegas, three hour layover in Atlanta both times.

Yeah.

But, yeah, it was.

And yeah, just.

People just forget how to act in a crowded situation.

You know, I don't want to see anybody's feet on my armrest.

You know, I don't want anybody kicking my chair or.

Yeah, right.

Or, you know, talking really loud.

And it's like, wait a minute.

The person's right next to you.

You don't have to be that loud about it.

And.

Wow.

Yeah, there's a lot of that going on.

I.

I know I don't travel as nearly as much as you, but.

Yeah, you see?

Yeah.

So give me a bus tour, you know, my dragon, me look out the window and see the country.

And when I get sick of it, I'll just crawl in the bunk and go to sleep.

And plus, you can sleep wherever you are.

Obviously, you mentioned physicality, so.

Yes.

Yeah, right.

Hey, what one?

One of the performances with Prince, I wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of the song on record, but the Jay Leno performance of Everlasting Now.

Yeah, I think that's one of the best.

Prince and the Prince, wherever he was playing performances on TV ever, that was.

You feel you guys hit the mark on that one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, we know whenever we went on tv, you know, he made it a point to be as Sharp as a blade Whenever.

I mean everlasting Now Somewhere here on earth.

Yeah, yeah, we did that thing.

Now I have to tell you something about that.

He, at the last minute decides he wants to have orchestral woodwinds, right?

Flutes, oboes, bassoons, bass clarinets and all this stuff.

And he flies me and says, I want a catchal woodwind.

I want you to write the arrangements and I want you to find a musician.

I had 30 hours to do this.

Wow.

I landed in.

In LA at noon and the rehearsal was 8 o'clock the next evening.

Okay.

And it came off, if I had to say one thing was like a crowning achievement, my career.

And I was thinking pulling that rabbit out of the hat was probably it, because if you listen to that, man, it was gorgeous sounding.

Oh, that was.

That's.

That's one of my wife's favorite songs.

She.

She loves that.

Yeah, yeah.

So did you see that on Leno?

And watch that again.

Oh, yeah, that's nice.

Supported version, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Who was.

Genevieve was like, writing on the.

Somebody was writing on a sketch pad.

Oh, no, no, it was.

I forgot.

Who was his former girlfriend.

Bria Valentia.

Yeah, Valenta.

Yes, she was.

She was doing some.

Yeah, she was writing on her.

Yeah, yeah.

Prince was drawing something, I think.

Okay.

That's right.

See, I gotta.

I got homework now.

I gotta re.

Watch it.

Yeah, that and, you know, like the things we did on Ellen, you know, we did a controversy and stuff.

He just like goes into this, you know, funk slash Pentecostal groove and we're just wailing.

Yeah, yeah.

You could see the.

The outtakes on there.

Yeah, yeah.

But, yeah, he did make a point to say, look, we're going to be on tv.

This stuff is going to last forever.

You know, I don't want to be caught up there with my, you know, my musical pants down.

Did any of those TV appearances that you guys did, did he ever, like, you did multiple takes?

He wasn't happy right off the bat or he would just tell the studio, don't put it out.

Yeah, we.

We rehearsed it.

So when we went up there and did it, we were ready.

Okay.

It was maybe if production made a mistake or somebody, you know, didn't have the camera at the right angle, if it was too bright, maybe then we do it again.

But it was never due to begin because the band came up short.

Okay.

It was production's fault.

I gotta ask you another question.

We've had Michael Bland on before a bunch of times, and he was recently talking About a recording session he did with Prince himself and horn players.

It was like a Ray Charles kind of stuff.

Yeah.

Were you in on that session?

He said it was great.

I did one session with him because I remember he and Sonny came in, okay.

And we did something.

I don't remember what song it was, but I just remember being on a session with him because I had never actually, I had never recorded Winner before, so I was looking forward to it.

Right.

He said it was a trumpet player too.

I had the break.

Ray Montero.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, Right.

So, yeah, as far as last time you saw Prince, when was that?

Oh, okay.

He.

He was like.

And he was just kind of like not happy with the horns the way they were.

I said, you keep calling all these people who are leaders of the section, but not in the section.

Okay.

And he called me up and said, you know, I said, if you want me to, I can put a section together.

So I got some friends, four people I played with.

And then he says, and I want to bury sacks.

So I hired a guy, new Josh Leafy, who was playing with Groupo Fantasma.

I hired him to do the baritone sax parts.

And we went up Paisley Park.

We spent a week up there.

Okay.

And I was writing charts all night, playing them all day, so I didn't really get much sleep.

Right.

And he, and he calls me at like 2 in the morning.

He says, I get it.

I see what you're saying now.

And at the end of that week, we all went home and, and, and the.

How do I say this?

When we got paid for the work, I didn't feel like it was worthy of all of the work I put in.

I had, I had issue with it and even said, hey, is there anything else after this that I'm waiting on or something?

And didn't speak to him directly, but it was somebody accounting.

Whenever he said, no, that's it.

And I said, that was the last time I saw him.

Wow.

So, yeah, it was.

As far as stuff, all the stuff that you have performed with and been studio and on stage wise that the state hasn't released, anything comes to mind that you would one day like to see the light of day.

I can't put my finger on any one thing because, I mean, they were all memorable.

And like some of these after parties we did, they were just incredible.

God, I can't remember the place.

It's in France and Sweaty little joint.

It was, I mean, really the one sweat.

It was so hot and so steamy.

In there.

That there was literally sweat on the walls.

Wow.

And a small, well known jazz club in Paris.

And the thing I remember about that place is I played there a couple of years later with Maceo and we're doing the show and everything.

Two weeks after we leave, somebody walks in there and shoots up the place.

And a couple of people got killed and they.

Including the shooter.

But yeah, yeah, you were off.

But I remember that concert.

We were.

We were on fire.

We were.

And.

And it was.

It was a couple of places like that, you know.

But like I said, I don't remember a lot of it.

The Prince stuff being so long ago.

You know, a lot of that stuff isn't super etched in my memory.

Yeah, the.

The one.

One thing I would have loved to see.

I've seen you guys do two songs when you went to Hong Kong.

It was.

I lived in Taiwan.

I got.

I spent time in Hong Kong too.

When I.

When I see the clip there, I was like, wow, that's a place I wouldn't think Prince would go to.

But yeah, it was great performance for that.

Funny thing about Hong Kong, I'm thinking, you know, there's gonna be a lot of language barrier there, but there's a lot of English being spoken in Hong Kong.

Yeah, yeah.

A lot of.

A lot of British.

Yeah.

Now that I think about it, there is one instance we were doing a 21 nights in London and we would have the jam sessions at the little club inside the O2 arena, right.

Prince is playing Peach one night and he is playing probably the most ferocious rhythm guitar I'd ever heard in my life.

It was one other time I could say my jaw just fell right off my face listening to somebody play guitar.

And that was the first night that Eddie Hazel came back to P Funk.

At soundcheck, I was like, you're either blessed or you made a deal with the devil to sound good.

And I remember getting ready to walk out and I just stopped and turned around and I was frozen in my tracks.

Eddie was killing that.

And that particular night when Prince was playing Peach, you know how the real booze guitarist have a way of comping themselves.

You know, they sing something, then they'll play something in between.

Yeah, right.

They'll play with their singing.

He was so on point that night.

I had not heard anybody slice up an effort guitar like that since the time I saw Eddie got back.

And so Eddie was 79.

Now.

2007, right.

Yeah.

So we're talking about 30 years later almost.

It was.

It was lightning in a bottle that night.

Man, I wish I could have gotten a hold of that.

Well, he.

He documented most of the stuff he did, so hopefully they.

They uncovered that or somebody finds it at.

Who's ever managing those.

Those archives like that.

So I remember he had the.

He had the tangerine colored strat with the white paint guard.

Oh, okay.

So that, That'll help him a little bit.

That'll help.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I see any.

If I see a clip in London with that particular guitar, I'm going to hone in on it.

Okay.

Yeah, that's Greg Boyer's request.

Let's get that together.

Yeah, buddy out there, you know, just hit me up on one of them social media, or as I call it, Smedia.

Yeah, yeah, I got, I got one.

Yeah.

Double digit horn players.

How difficult is that to court guys coming from all different directions and jumping around?

How would they pull that off?

I wasn't there to watch the process happen.

Okay.

But I would think that maybe one or two people has an idea of what the line is and everybody else just has to learn it.

Okay.

Yeah.

Like if the line is that, you know, everybody has to come in there and learn that line.

Now do you choose a harmony to play with it?

Up to whoever's the captain of the boat at the time.

Because I know Phil Lassiter came in.

Trumpet player.

Trumpet player, yep.

Yeah.

And.

And he was quarterback in a lot of that stuff.

Okay.

And I think Marcus Anderson was part of that.

Adrian Crutchfield.

Yeah.