Verdine White
Earth, Wind & Fire''s The Promise
On the disc Verdine plucked his Yamaha TRB4 and his Sadowsky 4 with PJ pickups. He recorded both direct and through a miked Ampeg B-15.
“All in the Way”: This is the first single. It reunites us with the Emotions. It’s a good tune for bass; I played my Yamaha TRB4, which was custom-made for me in Japan, and I do some slides and fills at the top. I went over the chord chart with [keyboardist] Wayne Vaughn, who wrote the song; I like a lot of input from the writer. I had a similar experience last year doing eight tracks with Jennifer Lopez for her album This Is Me … Then [Epic].
“Betcha”: A great song by Greg Curtis. I used the TRB4 and got to put my stamp on the part. Throughout the making of the album I had a chance to take everything home and live with it and study it, and if necessary, I could come back and tighten up a part or add ideas. [Ex. 1 shows Verdine’s second-verse groove, at 1:21. Note his use of chromatic passing tones leading into the downbeat.]
“Why?”: To me, this is the perfect nighttime song. I love the way the track builds. As usual, I had a chord chart, which I like because it’s faster for learning the song. It’s also subjective: You can put your own note choices in there and pull a note out of the chord that helps give the track its sound. The passing notes I play work because they fit the chord or the scale—they’re not just random. I played my Sadowsky.
“Wonderland”: I used my Sadowsky and cut the bass line twice—a year apart—because the first time there was no vocal on it. I felt I could do a better job after I heard the vocal. In the past I had no problem tracking without vocals, but now I prefer having them; I can hear and respond to the singer’s inflections, and it enables me to better visualize the song as it would sound live.
“Where Do We Go from Here”: This is an old track we recorded for our 1979 album I Am [Columbia] and didn’t end up using. You’re hearing my white ’65 Fender Jazz Bass from the original sessions, circa 1978, mixed with keyboard bass and other new tracks to give it a more current feeling.
“Hold Me”: I didn’t play on this track; I could have, but I said let’s have something on the record that doesn’t sound like classic Earth Wind & Fire—so it’s all keyboard bass. The song is by Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson, who have written for Destiny’s Child, Boyz II Men, Babyface, and Monica.
“Never”: I originally tried this on my Sadowsky, but I came back in and cut it on my TRB4, which worked better. There’s also killer keyboard bass by Freddie Ravel.
“All About Love”: That’s the TRB4. The groove lent itself to “popped” accents on the G string, which I actually get by plucking a little harder, ` la Stanley Clarke or Marcus Miller. It allows me to get a slapping vibe without actually using thumb pats or string pulls.
“Suppose You Like Me”: I listened to this song a lot before coming up with my part. That’s what I do with every song now: I listen to it over and over before I even pick up the bass. I played the TRB4 and got some finger pops in. I later found out that the great bassist Pino Palladino co-wrote this tune.
“She Waits”: That’s the Sadowsky. People have commented that my part and the groove reminds them of “Fantasy” [from All ’N All, Columbia]. Even though there’s a lot of programmed drums on The Promise, our drummer John Paris is playing, too, which really helps the overall sound and feel. [Ex. 2 shows four bars of Verdine’s “Fantasy”-like chorus part.]
“Dirty”: This is also taken from the late-’70s I Am sessions; we left it pretty much as is. That’s my ’65 Jazz on the main track, plus a second overdubbed bass track with some pops and fills. Listen to the bridge and see if it sounds familiar! All I’ll say is we were recording at Hollywood Sound that day, and Boz Scaggs was in the next room working on “Lowdown.” [Ex. 3 contains Verdine’s main “Dirty” groove, with an overdubbed pop at the end of bar 2.]
