“CALL ME THE CHAMELEON” - HARVEY MASON · PDF file“CALL ME THE...

“CALL ME THE CHAMELEON” - HARVEY MASON SPEAKS

Written by Charles WaringThursday, 22 September 2011 20:20 - Last Updated Thursday, 22 September 2011 21:19

One of the most respected and prolific drummers in the neighbouring worlds of jazz, soul andfunk music, New Jersey native HARVEY MASON (who was born and raised in Atlantic City)began his career forty years ago in the early 1970s.

He had a tough upbringing in an impoverished family but imbued with a strong work ethic hewas fiercely determined, ambitious and aspired to self-improvement. A productive stint atcollege studying music led to Mason playing percussion, vibraphone and eventually drums inseveral jazz bands before his found his vocation - making a living as a session drummer onAmerica's west coast. He played on Donald Byrd's seminal fusion bestseller for Blue Note,'Black Byrd,' in 1972 and appeared on all the trumpeter's sessions helmed by the Mizellbrothers, Larry and Fonce. In '74, he was asked by keyboard maven, Herbie Hancock, to joinhis new band, with which he aimed to fuse jazz with funk and reach a larger audience. Whatresulted was another bestselling jazz crossover album, 'Head Hunters.'

To his amazement, the modest Mason was offered a solo deal by Arista boss, Clive Davis,during a Brecker Brothers' session in 1975 and over the next several years the drum maestroserved up five, very varied, albums for the label (while still working long hours as a sessiondrummer). Now, in 2011, his vintage Arista titles 'Marching In The Street,' 'Earthmover,' 'Funk InA Mason Jar,' 'Groovin' You,' and 'M.V.P.' have all just been reissued for the first time viaSoulmusic.com and in an exclusive and revealing in-depth interview with SJF's Charles Waring,the Fourplay co-founder and sticks man talks about his solo albums as well as other fascinatingaspects of his long career...

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What circumstances led you to sign with Arista Records in 1975?

I was working on a record with the Brecker brothers. I was in the studio and (Arista boss) CliveDavis came in and I met him for the first time. He asked me if I had thought of being a recordingartist. I said not really, but I had a couple of demos I was working on and he asked me to sendthem. I sent them and he gave me a contract. What was ironic was that I had just finishedreading his book (his autobiography) so I was really excited but I didn't realise that I might meethim. But it was really interesting, his book, and then I met him. Things just fell together.

Going back to your first album, 1975's 'Marching In The Street,' what can you recall aboutthe sessions and what did you want to achieve with the album at the time?

Personally, my mentor was Quincy Jones. I never felt the drums were an out-front instrumentwhere people and the masses would just want to listen to drums and really understand it andget excited about listening to drums, because there's no melody and no harmony. All there isjust rhythm. So I set up to make musical albums and that's what Quincy Jones did. I used thesame canvas and format that he used for creating records to show my producing, my playingand my ability to bring together musicians and create great music that makes me shine at what Ido. That was my goal, to create great music to listen to and not focused on drumming per sebecause listening to drums is boring for me. By then the great drummer bands had passed - likethose led by Art Blakey and Buddy Rich. They focused on songs and playing with the band.They didn't just focus on drum licks and solos. It was about making the music happen. Iproduced all my own albums and drummers make good producers because they listen toeveryone and they react and so you just get in the habit of doing that.

Were you aiming for a particular audience with your first album and with the second one,'Earthmover'?

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I think it was just thinking more about my youth and my growing up and my development.'Marching In The Street' had to do with when I took part in city parades in marching bands whenI was in the drummer/bugle corps. So I was paying homage to that part of my life. I was veryraw and didn't get polished until I joined the bugle corps. The songs derived from incidents andfeelings that I had growing up. So that's what that's primarily about. I don't think I had muchdirection except that they (the record company) wanted me to crossover. They didn't want it tobe a jazz album so it wasn't a straight ahead jazz album in any way, shape or form. I have beeninvolved in so much music that was crossover. It was the beginning of crossover music going onback in the Blue Note days in the early 70s. I made a whole bunch of records at Blue Note withDonald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey so I was definitely aware of the audience and subsequentlythe audience was aware of me because at that time the recording artist and the people thatplayed on albums received a lot of notoriety. DJs at that time would name the song and namethe musicians that were on the records. It was fun so I was aiming towards that audience thatwas familiar with me and hoping that they would support me as well as a leader.

Your third LP, 'Funk In A Mason Jar,' was a pivotal album for you, wasn't it?

It was definitely a large-selling record. I don't know if I recall it was pivotal. I never really looked

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at them like that. I just made them and continued to make them but that album received a lot ofcritical acclaim. I think it boosted my ability as a recording artist.

What memories do you have of making that album?

It was 37 years ago so the memory is very, very foggy. I used the same formula as on myprevious albums. I remember a couple of songs came from Kenny Loggins. I hired an arrangerfor a couple of songs. I'd worked with Jeremy Lubbock on Minnie Riperton's records and I calledhim and asked him if he would arrange a couple of songs and we arranged one together. I usedthe same formula as Quincy (Jones) because it had been successful. I chose some greatsongs. I had some of the guys from the Tuesday Night Baked Potato Band playing. We playedsome songs with Lee Ritenour and that crew and Patrice (Rushen). It was a bunch of differentkinds of music and I produced it and got great performances from everyone. I think GeorgeBenson might have been on that record as well.

Yes, he was - he played on your version of 'What's Going On' by Marvin Gaye.

Yes, I used the same formula that they used to record his (George Benson's) records. Hisrecords were first takes. The 'Breezin'' record was all first takes. We used the same crew in thestudio, the song format, the ideas, the songs, and we started playing it and that was it. So it wasall live and great and a lot of fun and it was not complicated. It was just a matter of putting theright people together and playing.

Keyboard player Jerry Peters played on the album with you. What attracted you toworking with him?

I'd been working with Jerry since 1969 when I first moved to Los Angeles. I was out there oneyear before graduating from school and I met Jerry. He heard me play in a club and we becamefriends and he invited me to work with Jerry Butler and then Isaac Hayes. I was helping himarrange and he was doing a lot of Blue Note stuff. So I worked with him with the Sylvers and allthat stuff and he was using my songs and we became good friends. He was a great musicianand that's why I ended up using him on the album.

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Given your session commitments, did you take the album on the road?

No, I may have done one or two concerts. We went on a little tour. I made albums but I wasn'treally interested in being a big artist and going out there and struggling with that because I hada pretty large band with me and it was tough to take that kind of band on the road. But we didthe west coast. If the money didn't warrant being on the road, then I generally didn't go becauseI really wanted to record. That was what I set out to do in my life and my career and I was sohappy doing that. Everything else was a bonus. I was happy being in the background andrecording and becoming an artist was just something that happened by chance. If it wasn'tfinancially feasible to do it then I didn't want to pay out of my own pocket to go on the road andperform. I didn't tour much at all. Very rarely.

Your next album was 'Groovin' You' and the title track proved very popular with clubbers.

Yeah, that was a disco hit. All the time I had been guided by the label (Arista) to really tap intothe crossover market and the disco thing was happening at the time and I was playing on a lotof those records. I had my finger on the pulse because I was making so many records andworking on so many projects and I kind of knew what was going on at the time. And then when Imade my own album I was definitely influenced by those things and I tried to make my recordsin my own way but using the influences and the knowledge that I had from working on the otherprojects.

There's a very nice version of Antonio Carlos Jobim's 'Wave' on that album.

There again, it was Jeremy Lubbock. I told him that I'd decided to record this song and we gottogether and conceptualised it. He went to work and put all the touches on it and it was

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nominated for a Grammy.

Your next and final album for Arista was 'M.V.P.' It was quite a stylistic departure fromyour previous work, wasn't it?

That was almost all commercial, wasn't it?

Yes, definitely. What was the reasoning behind it?

Well, when you've just about broken through and achieved major hit status (with 'Groovin' You')the record label said give us more to work with. So that's where the album came from. I justgave them more to work with.

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What prompted the album's title, 'M.V.P.'?

I was looking for some kind of a hook. Something interesting. And at the time I was winningthese the 'most valuable player' awards as a drummer in Hollywood and I won a couple of thoseas I started to put the album together. Also I was heavily involved in sports. I loved sports. I wasrunning hurdles, playing basketball, skiing and all that stuff. I put those two ideas together –'most valuable player' with sports - and that was the theme. You're always looking for a title foran album and that was the tie in. 'M.V.P.,' most valuable player, was the music influence buteverything else came from sports.

Did all those pictures on the back cover of you running, horse riding and skiing trulyreflect your own genuine leisure interests then?

Oh, yes. Definitely. I used to run track and played basketball in a basketball league. Mydaughter rode horses but I took lessons for the picture because I wasn't a regular horsebackrider. I was a recreational rider. I rode and jumped a couple of jumps.

Your brother Kenny had quite a prominent role on the album. Can you tell me a littleabout him?

Kenny is six years younger than me. He graduated from the New England Conservatory also. Irecommended him to the school and they gave him a scholarship. He's a good trumpet playerand arranger and when he got out of school I had him come work with me a lot. So he wasworking with me and we wrote together. He was writing arrangements. I let him step up to tryand help him in his career because he was so close to me and stayed with me a lot and at thetime I think he was working with Mandrill and Marvin Gaye - in his band as a trumpet player - sohe was starting to get studio work. I trusted him; he knew exactly what I wanted. He did a coupleof arrangements and wrote with me. I relied on him.

You recruited an unknown singer, Karen Floyd, for the album. How did you hook up withher?

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I was writing with different people like Deon Estus and I met a lady called Marti Sharron. As anartist, songs always come to you. A song came to me from a girl called Marti Sharron as a demofor my record. I heard the song and the girl singing the song was a girl named Karen Floyd. Iloved the way she sang. She sang differently from anyone else I'd heard. So I cut the song andused the singer that was on the demo. That was probably the last time I've seen her but inrecent years she tried to get going again and she sent me a couple of songs. She still soundswonderful but she's got a whole different life outside of music and now wants to move back intomusic but I think the bar might have passed and the window of opportunity has gone. But shestill sounds great and is a wonderful singer.

You also you had Deon Estus, who you mentioned, playing bass for you. How did youfind him?

I worked on a record with the band that he was in. They were called Brainstorm from Detroit. Iwas playing drums because a lot of times drummers in a band aren't really studio savvy. So thathappened a lot. I was working with his band and because of that we hooked up. He was great,very enthusiastic. I loved playing with him. So I had him on a couple of record dates and hepushed a couple of songs on me. I had to do a couple of live gigs, and he played with me. Hecould sing and play so I used my record as a conduit to try and get him out there. He hadn'tdone an album and no one knew anything about him. So I did one of his songs and he sang onit and it was a good relationship. Shortly after that, I think he moved to London and played withGeorge Michael, Sade and a few people like that.

So what happened at Arista after 'M.V.P.' as it turned out to be your final album for thecompany.

I think at that point I was getting frustrated and don't think I wanted to really record with the sortof constraints and demands that Arista had put on me so we mutually agreed to part. I think Ihad one more album left to do on my contract but I didn't do it.

If I can take you back a bit earlier than your Arista career, to Herbie Hancock's 'HeadHunters' album; how did you get to play on that album and how did you get to meetHerbie and play with him?

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I'd met Herbie years before because I was an ardent Miles Davis fan. I'd travel around to hearhim play. When Herbie formed his band Mwandishi, the drummer in the band was an old friendof mine whom I'd met as a kid, Billy Hart. I stayed in touch with him and went to different gigsand he knew me as a young drummer. He recommended me to Herbie when Herbie started hisnew band. So when Herbie was forming his new band after Mwandishi he called me and askedme to come over and play. So I went to his house and played and we fell in love together. Afterthat we started trying to find a bass player. At that time I was really involved in recording a lotand I think that that interested Herbie because I played on a lot of big records at the time and hewas looking to crossover and was trying to move in that direction. He'd been travelling up anddown the road with this band Mwandishi and financially he was probably scuffling but musicallyit was very, very rewarding. But he was interested in reaching new audiences and that washappening with a lot of guys that he knew, in particular Donald Byrd. At that time I was very,very busy but I devoted almost all my time to rehearsing and hanging with the band and we didsome live gigs prior to doing the record. We almost lived as a family. It was like a commune.Then we went in and did the record ('Head Hunters'). Following the record, I went back to mycareer full-time despite requests to travel with the band and go on the road. I didn't go because Iknew my future would lie with what I'd already been doing, in the recording studio. So I finishedthe record with Herbie and then went right back into doing what I was doing full-time and neverthought about going on the road.

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You're credited as a co-writer of the classic track 'Chameleon' from that album – do yourecall how it came about?

When you write together in the studio together you're coming up with grooves, you're coming upwith lines and everybody's contributing. There wasn't anyone who brought any music. We werecreating as we went along. Sometimes you're playing a particular song and something else willcome out of it and when you're in the creative process it happens a lot of different ways. Wecould be playing and then one guy might play a groove and say "wait a minute, wait a minute!That could be a song." You stop playing and you go from there. This guy will put this in and thatguy will put that in and the next thing you know you've got a song. You create it, then hone it,edit it and add to it and that's how we created that song. I don't know where the groove camefrom – but they just started playing along with it. It's just one of those creative moments that justhappens. I think with every song on the album - regardless of who the composer was - everyonechipped in and took it to a different level. I remembered helping to create a couple of songs onHerbie's next record ('Thrust'). 'Butterfly' was one. As a matter of fact, I was a little bit jealouswhen that album came out because I had helped to create a lot of that vibe and had specialfeelings about the way to play those songs. But it was a great time and I was very happy to beinvolved in that.

Weren't you responsible for the updated arrangement of Herbie's '60s hit, 'WatermelonMan' on 'Head Hunters'?

Yeah, I was in the shower and at the time we were creating new music and of course, this musicwas just playing in my brain all the time. I remembered one of Herbie's songs, 'WatermelonMan,' and kept thinking about it. So I was in the shower and heard music in my head – runningwater creates something in the brain where you hear music and I heard this arrangement and Iput it together and took it to the band and Herbie loved it. The idea of having the AfricanHindewho whistle came from (percussionist) Bill Summers. He was an ethno-musicologist andhe was heavily into African drumming in a traditional sense. He had this whistle and we decidedto put it in at the front (of the track). Again, it was a collaborative effort.

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You also worked with Donald Byrd in the early '70s. What was it like working with theMizell brothers on his Blue Note albums?

It was similar to Motown sessions. We went to work maybe three or four days a week at an oldstudio called The Sound Factory. I think Fonce (Mizell) had moved from Motown to LA and BlueNote was just beginning to try creating crossover music. We were in the studio just cuttingtracks and we didn't know who the artist was half the time. We just worked for several hours andread some music and it was fun. It was the same guys on all the sessions and we all had a ball.It was very creative - you just went in and played. No one said anything: you just played.

When you listen to those records, they sound so effortless in relation to the rhythmsection.

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Yes, it was very uncomplicated. They didn't have stands for music. We didn't know when wewere going to change. They had a piece of paper with the A, B, or C section or bridge orwhatever on and as we were playing along they would hold up the charts and then count one,two, three, four and then you'd go to the A section and then go to B and than they would go to Cand then they might go back to A. Then they might go back to the bridge and then they put C inand you would just play out. So it was very, very relaxed. You didn't have to think about readingthe music - they just put up a sign when they wanted to change.

Did you imagine when you were cutting it that 'Black Byrd' would become such a bigseller?

Well, we just made the music. It was just great music and they marketed it well. There were a lotof records in that time that I was happy with. That was one of the first and it was great. It was alot of fun.

Can you describe what an average day was like back in the '70s when you were indemand as a session drummer?

Most of the sessions started at 10 am for a record date. But I also did movies and TV films andthey started generally at 8 or 7.30 am. So I'd get up and go to a date at 10 or I'd have a motionpicture call or a TV call at 8. I generally worked about three sessions a day, even on Saturdays.Sometimes you're working later than that - you may not start till 8 and might not finish till 12 orsomething like that. So it was a lot of fun and it was amazing. The music was so varied and itwas exactly what I wanted to do with my life because I never knew what music I was reallygoing to be called upon to do. I might go to work with (arranger) Oliver Nelson one day, then I'dwork with the TV guy over here (in Hollywood) one day, and then I'd go work with Tom Jones, orCarole King and I come over here (back to Hollywood) and work on a jingle for an hour inbetween. It was a golden age for recording and I'm so happy I had that experience. It wasamazing. I was playing not only drums but percussion as well because that was my training.The first couple of years I lived in L.A. I was playing almost exclusively percussion - not evenplaying the drums. I think when I started making the Blue Note records and the notoriety came,people started calling me to play drums. Prior to that, I was playing percussion: a lot ofpercussion. Once, I was playing vibes with (saxophonist) Gerry Mulligan when the drummerdidn't show up and I said 'I can play until he gets here.' Then they fired the drummer and let meplay drums. There was a session with Dave Grusin that I played on and when he heard me playdrums, I became his regular drummer for about 20 years on everything he ever did. It's funny

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how things turn out.

You also produced two CTI albums for the group Seawind in the late '70s - how did thatcome about?

A friend of mine who was travelling as a music conductor for Trinnie Lopez spent a lot of time inHawaii and he heard this band that he was freaking over called Ox. He sent me tapes and said:"You have to hear this band, they're amazing." I heard the tape and they sounded incredible. I'dnever heard a band sound like that so I just started corresponding with them and asked them ifanyone had ever recorded them and they said no. Different people like Cannonball Adderleyand a couple of other people like George Duke had desires to produce them but no one haddone anything. This went on and on and then they finally said we are coming to LA. So theycame to LA, we met and I said let's go work on a record in Bill Withers' studio. He was going outof town and he was going to be gone for quite a while. He said "stay here and use my studio" sowe went to the studio and started recording the record. That's how it happened. I playedpercussion with them. They were great, great musicians.

They had a great horn section featuring Jerry Hey, didn't they?

Oh yeah, I introduced Quincy (Jones) to those guys.

Did you ever have any sessions you had to turn down but now wished that you hadn't?

I got called to do a record with Chaka Khan, a bebop record, 'A Night In Tunisia.' I got a call todo that but then they moved the session and I couldn't do it. I would've loved to have done thatrecord. I would've loved to record on the David Sanborn and Bob James album with 'Maputo' onit ('Double Vision'). I almost did that record. Other than that I can't think of many others. I playedone day on a record by Asia but I left. It was too slow for me. I was supposed to work for a weekbut I worked one day. The recording process was painfully slow to me: I'm not that patient. But Iheard the record and it was a great record and I wished I could have been involved but not if I'dhave to suffer that pain for that time.

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You grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey. What was it like from a musical perspectivegrowing up there?

Atlantic City was nicknamed 'The Playground Of The World' and they had a lot of jazz and R&Bclubs there. It was a very thriving music community and I began working pretty early, when Iwas about 14. I was working and hanging out in clubs and got to meet a lot of great jazzmasters and R&B people and everything. So I had a ball playing shows and playing all kinds ofmusic. It was an amazing, amazing place to grow up in: there was so much music going on.

What led you to take up the drums?

Actually, when I was really small, my mother said I was banging on the floor and banging onoatmeal boxes with my hands and was always banging on something. In the third grade theyhad a demonstration of music in the school and people would show you instruments and saywho wants to play what. And I went right for the drums. I started public school music educationand that was all I had. I never had any private lessons but I thrived immediately. That was theone thing that I could do that I could do better than anyone else. I didn't think of any other wayexcept gaining as much knowledge and playing as well as I possibly could. In my senior year Iread an article in 'Downbeat' about studio musicians like Larry Bunker. They went to work everyday and they wore jackets and a shirt and tie. So I said to myself I want become a sessionmusician. Prior to that, I had no aspirations of being a professional musician and making moneyfrom it. But I was looking for a better life because I came from a pretty deprived background. Iwas looking for something stable. I used to see musicians coming through and see how theylived and it didn't appear to be stable to me until I read that 'Downbeat' article. I went to collegeto got my degree but always had an eye towards being a studio musician and teaching was justa mere backup.

I know you play the vibraphone as well as the drums. Do you play any other instruments

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at all?

I play piano. Enough to write. I use a piano to write songs.

What prompted your songwriting? When did it start?

Actually I started theory classes in my junior high school. They had a very progressive musicprogram in there. I stayed there and I went and had theory lessons and began writing backthen. I wrote a couple of marches and things like that. I was into orchestration even then beforeI went to college. So my writing goes way back and then I went to Berklee for a year and a halfand first studied improvisation and it encompassed writing. And then I went to New EnglandConservatory and I continued writing. After I graduated from New England and moved up toL.A. I was writing immediately. I started writing songs and stockpiling them and getting songs ondifferent records. That was just automatic. Even today, when I'm not working, I write all the time.Fourplay is an outlet now. Every CD I have at least two songs on and I've had as many as four.I continue to write and on the new Chuck Loeb record I've got two songs. Now a lot of myalbums are being sampled, so the writing has paid off.

What was the first professional work you got as a jobbing musician? I believe youworked with the pianist George Shearing.

Yeah, that's when I came out of college. I played with him. Prior to playing with George, after Igraduated from New England, my first gig was with (jazz pianist) Erroll Garner and I came toEurope. I spent several weeks in Europe with Erroll Garner. Then when we were on a break, Iwent out to LA because I wanted to move there to find studio work. While I was there I heardGeorge Shearing – who was based in LA - was looking for a drummer so I went to audition andgot the job. But then I had to leave Erroll. That was perfect because it allowed me to move outto Los Angeles with a job.

So what did you learn from Erroll Garner? What was it like being in his band?

It was amazing. Everything was amazing - that's a great word for me. My life has been amazing.

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But it was great because I worked with Erroll in Boston for a week or so as a sideman and so heknew my playing and he invited me to join his band. What I learned from Erroll Garner was howto accompany someone and how to swing - when you swing and accompany all the frills go outof the window. The most important thing is to swing and play with him. So that was the deal:play with him and wherever he went, I went, and we'd just make it swing. That's it. It was a lot offun. It was amazing playing with him and I had a great time. It was also the first time I'd been toEurope. I had a great time.

How did working with George Shearing compare with Erroll Garner?

That was a different discipline. We had a book of maybe 300 songs or so. It was a quintetinitially and everything was very arranged. The playing was pretty subdued and very disciplinedand you read a lot. You tried to swing it but it was very regimented - but it was still fun. Georgewas a great musician and it was fun to be able to pull the music out and read it and perform itperfectly and hear his sound. He was clearly into that sound.

What's been the highlight of your career so far?

Well, to tell you the truth, I'm proud of my entire career. And again, I feel amazed to have donesuch a lot and are happy and still looking forward to new things to do. I'm never satisfied andalways looking for new things to do. I was talking to George Benson a few days ago. I played ona new record of his and I called him to tell him "let's go out and play bebop." He doesn't do thatbut we had such a great time in the studio - it's a sort of jazz CD where he sang and he playedthe guitar. It was so much fun. I said "George, let's go play. We got to go play." (MimicsBenson's voice): "yeah, yeah, man. OK, Let's go play." He was at the airport. He said: "I'll callyou back in a couple of days. We gotta go play." That was about playing and having fun anddoing what you want to do.

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Last year I went to Europe with a band, Chuck Loeb and I - he's now the guitarist in Fourplay -and we were off for the month of September and Nate (Nathan East) took a tour with Toto sowe were looking for something to do and Chuck said "let's put a band together." So we calledeverybody and went to Europe for two and a half weeks and toured with Til Bronner, EricMarienthal and myself and we had a ball over there. It was great. So those are things I'mlooking forward to - having all kinds of fun and looking to record a new record. I've beenrecording playing in Japan a few times for solo projects over there. My last solo project overthere was with a band called The Chameleon Band. It was Patrice Rushen with Jimmy Haslip,Azar Lawrence and Bill Summers. We played a lot of music from the Herbie Hancock days. Itwas amazing so I'm looking to record The Chameleon Band with new material but with the basisof what we did back then but moving forward. So that's the project I'm working on now and I'mtrying to get a deal for the CD.

Another band of yours, Fourplay, are still going strong.

We started Fourplay 20 years ago. Bob (James) and I go back to the CTI days and he came to

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LA to record and asked me to put together a couple of bands for him, which I did. I called LeeRitenour and Nate (Nathan East) and I had another band. He liked the band with Lee and Natemost and while we were recording he asked us "would you guys ever want to be in a band?"Everybody said it would be fun. Bob didn't think it would ever happen but he was an executiveat Warner's at the time and went back and told (Warner's exec) Mo Austin and Mo Austinimmediately said "yes." So within a very short order, they had a deal on the table and we weresigned and went in the studio. The first record went platinum. Now 20 years later we're stillgoing even though we've had several guitar players - Lee (Ritenour) lasted six years and LarryCarlton lasted 13 years and now we've got Chuck (Loeb) who's been with us just over a year. Adifferent guitar player brings a different energy and Chuck's brought a brand new energy to theband and the band's flying real high as a matter of fact. We're going to be in London inNovember.

Who's been the most inspiring musician you've ever played or worked with?

Oh, what a question. Who is the most inspiring musician? You know, that's so tough. I've beeninspired by Quincy Jones, John Williams, by Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and so many people.There are so many great musicians I've played with but I just take inspiration primarily frommusic and not any particular individual; I just take inspiration from music and songs and being inmusic and playing music and interpreting music. That's my life and it's my greatest joy. I loveplaying all kinds of music: playing in an orchestral setting, playing in a country setting. I don'tcare what it is, I just get great joy out of creating music and making it the best I possibly can.Over the last couple of years I've adopted the moniker 'Harvey Mason - The Chameleon.' Thatreally describes me. I like that moniker. It's ironic that I was involved in a song called'Chameleon.' So I'll work with Streisand and then I'll go work with Herbie or I'll go work withMcCoy (Tyner) or I'll go and do a motion picture with John Williams, or I'll go work with PlacidoDomingo and so on. That's been my career. Yesterday I was recording music from the '30s witha Billie Holiday type feeling. So chameleon is what really describes me and that's probably whatI take the greatest pride in. Not for being the loudest drummer, or the trickiest drummer or theflashiest drummer but being the most complete drummer and being able to play all kinds ofmusic.

Is there any kind of music that you're not keen to take part in or play?

Not really. I find it challenging to play everything, to tell you the truth. I'd like to play some morerock and roll. I'd never really been involved in a big rock and roll record so I'd like to do that.We'll see.

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Harvey Mason's Arista albums are out now via Soulmusic.com

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“CALL ME THE CHAMELEON” - HARVEY MASON · PDF file“CALL ME THE...

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