Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid (born August 22, 1958 in London ) is an American fusion and crossover guitarist who is known to a wider audience as the founder and co-leader of Living Color .
Live and act
Reid grew up in Brooklyn ( New York City ) and learned to play guitar at the age of 15 - initially as a self-taught person. After a brief guest appearance with the R&B singer Kashif , he founded the group Point of View together with Melvin Gibbs in 1976 . Between 1979 and 1985 Gibbs and Reid were members of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society , with which he also played occasionally later. After six albums with Jackson and many tours, he founded the black rock group Living Color in 1984 (initially as a trio), on whose tours guests such as Mick Jagger , Little Richard , Maceo Parker and Geri Allen participated. Later groups were Masque (with Leon Gruenbaum and guests like Don Byron and Graham Haynes ), Yohimbe Brothers (with DJ Logic ) and Polar Bear Club . With Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Calvin Weston he formed the trio Free Form Funky Freqs . He toured with Jack Bruce , John Medeski and Cindy Blackman in 2008 and 2011 to reinterpret pieces by Tony Williams ; In 2012 the album Spectrum Road followed with this “supergroup” .
In addition, Reid played on recordings by Public Enemy and Defunkt , but also on records by Carlos Santana , John Zorn , Jamaaladeen Tacuma , Bill Frisell , Marcus Miller , Jack DeJohnette , Arto Lindsay , BB King , Pharoahe Monch and Tracy Chapman . He recorded Guitar Oblique together with guitarist colleagues David Torn and Elliott Sharp .
Reid sees his musical roots in rock as well as in jazz idols like Eric Dolphy , John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman and sees himself in the tradition of black rock / jazz guitarists like Ernie Isley (from the Isley Brothers ), Jimi Hendrix , Blackbird McKnight and Arthur Rhames .
Reid has u. a. the two Grammy- nominated albums Papa by Salif Keïta and Memphis Blood: The Sun Studio Sessions by James Blood Ulmer as well as film music produced.
Reid was named one of the 100 "Greatest" Guitarists of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine .
Black Rock Coalition
According to Joe Gore's biographical essay on Reid, African American hard rock bands are falling out of the music industry's marketing patterns . Vernon Reid has attacked the stylistic stereotypes of the music business with numerous actions and, together with the Village Voice author Greg Tate, launched the Black Rock Coalition in 1985 , "a united musical and political front of progressive black artists and supporters". In their appeal they made a front against “America's apartheid- oriented rock circus” and demanded the right to creative freedom and access to US and international markets. They argued that with the existence of “black charts”, “black radio” and “black concert promotion” a separate but unequal economic system continued. Vernon Reid said in an interview with the Washington Post , “The white side of the industry claims they can't put a black band on an album cover and sell it in suburban malls. The black side of the industry says the black audience doesn't want to hear rock 'n' roll ”.
Discographic notes
- Smash & Scatteration (with Bill Frisell ) (1984)
- GTR OBLQ (with Elliott Sharp and David Torn) (1998)
- Mistaken Identity (1996)
- Front End Lifter - Yohimbe Brothers (2002)
- Known Unknown (2004)
- The Tao Of Yo - Yohimbe Brothers (2004)
- Other True Self (2006)
Literature / source
- Vernon Reid in an interview with Joe Gore, October 1984. In: Don Menn (ed.): Secrets from the Masters. Conversations with forty great guitar players . GPI Books, San Francisco CA 1992, ISBN 0-87930-260-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Now jazz rock also has its supergroup
- ↑ cit. according to Reid in an interview with Gore, p. 196
- ↑ cit. after Joe Gore, p. 195.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reid, Vernon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American fusion and crossover guitarist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 22, 1958 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |