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Rock, pop and rhythm & blues icon Steve Winwood will be taking to the stage in the kingdom tomorrow for a ‘one-off’ performance as part of the annual Spring of Culture Festival and has revealed that he will be winging his way into the recording studio shortly afterwards, working towards releasing much-anticipated new material.
There has been intense speculation on social media and in the global music press that the two-time Grammy Award-winning singer and musician might be ready to record once more and he chose GulfWeekly to exclusively reminisce over his golden career and reveal his plans for the future.
Veteran British musician Steve, now 70, still has an insatiable desire to perform and create and, as fusion fare now commands the stage in five-star restaurants, the multi-instrumentalist will be giving a flavour of the past, the present and what’s to come … live at Bahrain Bay.
“I’ve never played in Bahrain before, in fact I’ve never played anywhere in the Middle East, so I’m very much looking forward to it and feel very honoured to be asked to play here,” he said.
“Aside from the fact that I’m very excited, I’m looking forward to seeing the beauty of the place and to hopefully get a reaction from the people there. I hope they’ll enjoy the music.
“This is pretty much a one-off trip to Bahrain. I’m not in the midst of a tour although I did just finish one recently with Steely Dan around the UK. After this show I’m looking forward to spending time in the recording studio and doing some writing.”
Winwood has always nurtured a restless creative spirit, mining rich musical traditions such as Delta Blues, English Folk, Plainsong, R&B, Afro-and Caribbean & Brazilian rhythms – merging these diverse influences within his own unmistakable sound. His last album featured a live performance and was released two years ago.
“I’m going back into the studio later this year and have several new projects lined up, of course, at the moment I’m not quite at liberty to explain what they are. In fact, these ideas do change and evolve so if I were to tell you it would probably end up something completely different anyway!” he added.
“I’m trying to make this ‘special soup’ which contains different musical ingredients and trying to mix them up in perfect proportions, that’s what I’ll be trying to do. Whether I’ll succeed or not, I don’t know, but I will be spending some time doing just that.”
Steve has been a key figure on the music scene for more than five decades. While still a school pupil he was a part of the Birmingham rhythm and blues scene, playing the Hammond C-3 organ and guitar, backing blues singers such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Eddie Boyd, Otis Spann, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley on their UK tours, the custom at that time being for US singers to travel solo and be backed by pick-up bands.
He burst into prominence in the early 1960s with the Spencer Davis Group. The driving force behind the group, his distinctive vocals and song-writing skills led them to enjoy a string of chart hits, such as Keep on Running, Gimme Some Lovin and I’m a Man. In 1967, he left to pursue other musical ventures, including with the influential Traffic, along with Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood. While still in the band, he was brought in by Jimi Hendrix to play organ for Voodoo Chile.
He then joined Blind Faith, co-founded with Eric Clapton, and dubbed by music critics as the first ‘rock super-group’. As a solo artist Steve then enjoyed major success in the 1980s with US Number One hits Higher Love and Roll With It.
The Bahrain audience will enjoy a taste of all the hits. “During the show we try and play things right the way through my career starting from the Spencer Davis Group through to Traffic – the Traffic of the late ’60s and from the early ’70s – there’ll also be music from the ’80s and some new material too, hopefully something for everybody,” he promised.
He’ll be backed by a band he’s worked with for the past decade or more, with a couple of minor adjustments. Guitarist Jose Netto, co-writes material and brings a ‘Brazilian melodic, harmonic and rhythmic’ element to the band. Distinguished drummer Richard Bailey brings a combination of rock, Latin and Caribbean flavour to the music. Paul Booth plays saxophone, keyboards and flute and adds vocals. Last, but by no means least, percussionist Edwin Sands, the latest addition, is described as ‘the engine of the band’. “Everyone is playing an important part,” added Steve.
Steve has played with legends but who does he consider the best ... and most challenging? “Picking your favourite band is like picking your favourite child,” the father-of-four said. “I’ve been very lucky, the stuff from the ’60s is, of course, what many people know me for and, of course, when you first start off that does have a special place in your heart.
“Also, the Traffic stuff in many ways was more enigmatic for me because we were really trying to push boundaries and really I’ve been trying to do the same thing ever since. Of course, the other thing is that lots of people know me for my work in the ’80s, which in some ways is almost another chapter.
“And, then the recent stuff I have been doing with this present band has a really special place for me because, in a way, I’ve almost harked back to what I was doing with Traffic although we’ve now introduced more Latin and Brazilian elements into the music, more of those components which perhaps Traffic didn’t have.
“I have been very lucky with some of the musicians I have played with, incredibly, brilliantly talented that I’m sure I can’t make a complete list – obviously Hendrix, Clapton, George Harrison, Prince to name a few, plus all the people I’ve played with in Traffic. Obviously each time you play with someone who is so brilliant, hopefully a bit of it rubs off. I have been very lucky.
“The most challenging individual I’ve ever played with? When you say challenging I’m assuming you mean some degree of difficulty but, of course, if these people are very nice, generous and brilliantly talented, of course, that in itself makes it quite challenging to try and keep up with them!
“I have worked with some quirky musicians – back in the very early ’60s and I was backing some of these great blues players, all of them brilliant. Of course, that was slightly tricky for them too – it was as much a culture shock for them coming over to Europe as it was for me being a 16-year-old kid playing with them. But I learned an incredible amount, although they might have been a bit awkward and difficult at the time, I still value every bit of my time working with them.
“When I left the Spencer Davis Group and formed Traffic we made a conscious effort to try to combine elements of various and different genres of music. We tried to incorporate facets of folk music, jazz, rock, blues, soul and classical music. We tried, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully, to try to combine all these components and make a big stew with all these ingredients. That was our goal.
And, I suppose, really ever since then, even with my solo stuff, I’ve tried to combine many of these elements into my music – Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Celtic melodies, to get them all into the music and, I suppose, ever since then, that has driven me on.
“I have now added a few more components, a few more elements, such as Latin Music, Brazilian and also very early music, playing chants from the 6th Century – I’ve been very interested in that sort of music, so I think the thing that keeps driving me on, is to try to successfully mould all these elements together.”
Steve, ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as amongst its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, is one of many international and regional performers and companies appearing during the Spring of Culture season.
