a cloud of joy
a soultronic
a yessir
a gentleman
a genius
a rock


a happier man in heaven.

im just speaking from the heart yall.

h??p://www.zshare.net/audio/944913054b3bbc/

what you just heard is an outake of Jimi Hendrix doing his tribute to the gospel guitar stylings of Curtis Mayfield's Impressions records.

i don't know where to start honestly.

Spanky is the unsung silent hero of practically any musician in the urban field who is serious about his craft. even this weekend as i left florida i made sure i gave Hov's band (Mary's too) all the treats i can muster. i mean just for all of them to tell me how in grade school Voodoo changed their lives and whatnot....man that was beautiful to hear. and really i took this job not to teach them the parts but to sorta just give the baton out. the same way i was coming back from Japan with all those Soul Trains and Concert treats for the 1997 Voodoo recordings

i befriended guitarist Shon Hinton (plays for Mary) the past two weeks and man....with the exception of the great Mike Feingold and Hov's Shawn Carrington--i can't think of better hands to carry on a legacy.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendID=174952539&n=174952539&MyToken=f58b3d4d-2294-4e42-af45-edf0681a5829

i met Spanky kinda the way the industry met him: by accident.

most of us just assumed that old time gospel guitar playing was a tradition kept alive by Rapheal Sadiq based on the sound of the "Tony" projects. (hence why we wanted to work with Rae on Illadelph Halflife)---once there he introduced us to his secret weapon:

Spanky.

our jaws dropped to the floor....cause you could hear the YEARS of experience in his chops. im mean you'd be like "YO IS THE TAPE RUNNING?!!?!?!?!??!!??" to your engineer as he would sit in the corner and play stuff like this

h??p://www.zshare.net/audio/94502477a30b08/ --like it was water down a drain.

his history goes way way back even before meeting Rae: on classic albums from The Mighty Clouds Of Joy, Gospel Keynotes, Canton Spirtuals, Shirley Ceasar, James Cleveland, The True Tones. This man's gospel quartet chops runs deep.

and for some of us newbies it runs deep too: all the post Sons Of Soul Rapheal associated projects are Spankafied.

of course we too used Spank with awesome results on Things Fall Apart (before we hired a full time guitarist in Ben Kenny and Kirk Douglas). not to mention any project within 6 degrees like Erykah, Common, Eric Benet, Joss Stone, Bilal, Musiq and even he can claim honorary YEssir status for he was a big part of that album too....so so so so so much more can be added to this list ("send it on" "thinking of you" etc etc)

Spank first had diabetic complications during the last half of the Voodoo sessions. He was our spiritual guide that entire project. leading us in prayer before every session and giving "benediction" before we left too. while we were besides ourselves when his left leg was amputated he was strong enough for the 12 of us. and even when right before his final 3 years losing his right leg ....he never let that stop him. which in turn never stopped us.

The last project i did with Spank is probably my proudest next to Voodoo. and that would be the awesome Lay It Down project for Al Green ( http://bluenote.edgeboss.net/qtime/bluenote/algreen/layitdown/60secfinal31808_stream.mov )

most of you got the "Thought It Out The Other Day" mp3 treat in which even Al himself had to scream and laugh because of Spanky's undeniable charmed playing on that cut. Spanky was a KEY ingredient to making that record sound authentic and true to the direction that James and I wanted to go with it. much to the chagrin of blue note imma break the law in the name of my fallen brother and give you two treats

first single: Stay With Me feat John Legend

h??p://www.zshare.net/audio/9451488eac5f91/

classic classic classic example of spank's arpedgio magic

and my personal favorite

h??p://www.zshare.net/audio/9451617a5c81c5/

the second single You Got The Love I Need with Anthony Hamilton

we wanted Philly soul to meet Memphis on this one. Monster work again from Spank.


as im writing this....Mike Feingold IM'd me his top 5 Spanky Gospel performances for those who are interested in his history as the greatest gospel quartet guitarist.....


ever.



#1 I came to Jesus....Mighty clouds of joy...Live And Direct
#2 Clean Heart...The Gospel Keynotes...Gospel Keynotes At Their Best
#3 Show Me The Way...e Gospel Keynotes...Gospel Keynotes At Their Best
#4 Jesus You've Been Good To Me.Gospel keynotes...dunno the record
#5 America The Beautful...Harvey Watkins JR..It's In My Heart: Live In Raymond MS



thank you spank.


i love you spank.



and some more treats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiDCAXIw0yU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkQWPMCxaB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzkNtZmv-rI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMSK5ZnwlHc