MARK SIMMONS, "Little" JOHN ROBERTS, JASON (JT) THOMAS, RONALD BRUNNER............DRUMZ,
MARCUS MILLER, PINO PALLADINO, FOLEY, REGGIE WASHINGTON, JEROME ALLEN, BRAYLON LACY, DONNELL (SKEETA) DAVIS.....Bass Guitar
CHALMERS 'SPANKY' ALFORD, JUBU, FOLEY, TODD PARSNOW, DEAN BROWN......Guitars
Dr PHIL & Dem White BOYS......Live Hornz
Gregoire Maret......Harmonica
Roy Hargrove, Patches Stewart, Phillip Lassiter.......................Trumpet & Flugel horn
Keith Anderson......Saxophones
D'NESSA PERRY & THE INSANE VOCAL SOCIETY
Influences
Miles, Trane, Cannonball, Jimi Hendrix, Herbie Hancock, Albert King, SLY, Prince, Thelonius Monk, Bud Powell, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Albert Collins, Jimmy Smith, Bernie Worrell, Larry Young, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Bernard Wright, Weldon Irvine, Don Blackman, Bob Marley, Keith Jarrett, Parliament/Funkadelic, Arnett Cobb, Stanley Turrentine, Mos Def, Donny Hathaway, Larry Dunn, Tip, Wynton Kelly, Ezra Carroll, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Mark Aguirre, George Gervin, World B. Free, Alex English, Adrian Dantley, Akeem Olajuwon, Moses Molone, Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, Jason Terry, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Deon Sanders, Commissionned, Winans, The Hawkins Family, Milton Brunson & The Thompson Community singers, Paul Lewis, Red Garland, My Parents........Molly & Bobby
I was born in CORSICANA TX.....Started playing drums at the age of three.......At the age of 4, I started developing and interest in playing the Organ from watching EZRA CARROLL (A family Friend)....... At the age of six, PAUL LEWIS (a 16 year old prodigy) took me in as a little brother and changed my life.......Paul would take me all over and show me Gospel songs from artist like Walter & Edwin Hawkins to Andre Crouch.....Also my parents were instrumental.....My mother (MOLLY SPARKS) showed me and taught me my basics....HYMNS, and had me play traditional gospel music like REV. JAMES CLEVELAND, REV.CHARLES NICKS, MARGARET DUROUEX, V. MICHAEL MCKAY. My father (BOBBY SPARKS SR.) was and is a VINTAGE SRAIGHT AHEAD JAZZ MUSICIAN.....He demanded that I listen to artist like DIZZY GILESPIE, DEXTER GORDON, JIMMY SMITH, STANLEY TURNTINE, ARNETT COBB, COUNT BASIE, DUKE ELLINGTON, JIMMY LUNGFORD BAND, SONNY ROLLINS, SONNY STITT AND MILES DAVIS....(I HATED IT)....At the age of 9, I discovered PRINCE, and then the FUNK started......THIS PERIOD I WAS TRYING TO PLAY LIKE MATT (DR. FINK) FINK....LOL.....then there was the TIME, RICK JAMES, GAP BAND, CAMEO, SHALAMAR and others.....at the age of 13 I put the music aside and was playing Basketball and Football at COLLINS MIDDLE SCHOOL......as a DEFENSIVE NOSE TACKLE and MLB (depending on the defense formation, We did not do the 3-4 defense either).......Basketball, I was a 2 guard until I was kicked of the team for smart mouthing the Head Coach......By this time I Started listening to gospel again.......when I heard COMMISSIONED's (GO AND TELL SOMEBODY) record and heard the keyboard work of MICHAEL BROOKS....changed my life, THEN THIS PERIOD, I WANTED TO BE A GOSPEL MUSICIAN......Then I got into the WINANS, THE THOMPSON COMMUNITY SINGERS, EDWIN HAWKINS MUSIC & ARTS MASS CHOIR.... DOUGLAS MILLER and others of the 80s.....By this time I was playing with a group from NAVARRO COLLEGE called VISSIONED, We would go all ov er The Dallas Ft.Worth area playing church musicals......also I played for the NAVARRO GOSPEL CHOIR...........at the age of 16, I was playing at a Jazz club in Ft. Worth and the WINANS keyboard bass player came and sat in: his name (BERNARD WRIGHT) ....I was on some Chick Corea stuff, (My COREA PERIOD)playing a whole lot of stuff that did not make sense............Bernard came in and tore the place down, playing 1 note.......I STARTED HEARING MUSIC DIFFERENTLY
By this time i'm 17 or 18 listening to HERBIE HANCOCK, BUD POWELL, KEITH JARRETT.....During this time, I moved to DALLAS to go to school at EASTFIELD COLLEGE....Met some interesting people CURT BRADSHAW, Curt made a musician out of me......He knew I had a Gospel background, he knew Gospel musicians were not disipline, and he did not want me playing like that......GARY FREEMAN was teaching Piano, he was over the synthesizer class, and he was over the fusion band.....GARY had amazing technique, he could play anything!!!!!! it was like being around Herbie or Chick....During this
time I was Playing clubs around town and ARTHUR DYER & RODNEY FRAIZER hired me to play on a guy name KIRK FRANKLIN's WHY WE SING RECORD......
Hey my BRUTHA... sure miss ya. DO ya know Reggie Hines? He's on the sax!! GO to the end of the video... we took it to church... at the club. Rob is on drums... same brutha we went to Bahrain with! I miss ya and I LUV ya!! dnessa
A few of us musicians here in Japan had a "who has the funkiest song on their page" contest out of boredom the other day.Everybody was like, "go to this cat page ,and go to that cat page". I went last and sent 'em to your page...Had 'em on their knees bobbin their heads!Haha! Aaron Blackmon(Zapp,Roger,George Clinton to name a few).
I've put a new track up called L!! (Well, it's 12yrs old but someone said I should) plus some amazing photos by a Canadian lady called Marjorie j. Toro ~ inc one where she's almost standing at the edge of a rainbow ~ brilliant!
Andrew
PS ~ The keys are crap compared to yourself but L!! has a cool groove which I think you'd dig!
