Terry Callier
Collaborating with artists such as Beth Orton, Urban Species and Koop over a year spanning 30 years, Musicalbear catches up with 'the forgotten prince of Chicago soul', Terry Callier.
'I choose the music world' says Terry Callier, with deep and melodious articulation. 'The music business is not the same as the music world, but the music world can't always support you the way the business can'. It's 6.30am in Chicago and i'm impressed by how cheerful the voice on the end of the phone is. 'You can always be in the world', explains the man who took significant time out of the business to raise his daughter as a single-parent. 'In '83 i stopped playing in public for eight years or so, and that stands as one of my most formative experiences, and the one i allow myself to be proudest of'.
'Does it worry you that commercial trends have turned many artists into slickly produced entertainment? Are we losing the true essence of musical communication?', I ask a man whose voice speaks volumes. 'It's something i think about all the time. It can't worry you cause there's no end in sight... but you know there may be light at the end of the tunnel... But well, that might be an approaching train... but you don't know so we'll have to wait and see.'
For Terry Callier his journey into the music world of folk didn't begin until he got to university when, inspired by a fellow freshman, he bought his own guitar and began writing. Terry had been in a few doo-wap vocal groups, as had one of his early influences Willie Wright, who Terry remembers fondly. 'He (Wright) worked at the Monmartre (Chicago) with a man named Terry Rabinard and their voices were so huge that they didn't use microphones. they would turn the mics to the walls and just use the power of projection'.
Terry's first trip to New York introduced him to the music scene that would have great influence on his own music. 'I just went to visit and at that time a gathering place for musicians, writers and instrumentalists was a place called the 'Bitter End'... the first 4 or 5 people I met were Fred Neil, Dino Valenti (who wrote What You Gonna Do About Me which Callier covers on his new album as What About Me), Josh White Junior and David Crosby. Just being near them was a great experience!' Terry's own first performances were at a club back home in Chicago (the Fickle Pickle) where he managed to secure a regular Sunday slot. I can't help but be bemused by the irony of the name – Terry Callier has been signed to no less than eight different labels throughout his career in the business.
In the early days with Cadet/Chess Callier worked with Charles Stepney (credited with the sound of Earth, Wind and Fire), perhaps the most significant producer that he has ever worked with, so when Eddie Pillar (Acid Jazz) and Gilles Peterson (Talkin' Loud) launched Callier into the UK market in the 90s, Peterson hoped they might find another Charles Stepney. While this hasn't come to pass, the fact that Callier is now releasing his ninth album since 1991 (when Ed Pilar released I Don't Want to See Myself (Without You) as a mini-album) is testament to the power of the artist. In fact, this time, Callier has gone one step further and his latest release is entirely self-produced.
The latest offering Lookin' Out (Mr Bongo) pays tribute to Stepney who used sections of a blues shuffle entitled Go On Ahead on Callier's 1972 release Occasional Rain (Cadet), almost as a leitmotif, recurring throughout the album. Callier has used a 12-minute mini concerto in poem form, sent to him by Chris Kipple (keyboards for Callier's UK band) as the bones of a similar form of interlude between songs. Truth In Tears is a politically pertinent, sensitively produced and arranged musical poem which embodies Callier's spirituality and which even includes a Sufi chant. 'That's the nearest approach to the creator' he explains, 'sometimes that name will be chanted for not just hours, but for days'.
He also includes a Beatles track And I Love Her which he gives its own edge by extemporising the vocal melody, allowing the musicians to play the well-known melodic motif. 'I chose it cause it's a great tune, and I've never recorded a Beatles tune. When we finished recording that track in the studio, everyone was very pleased... It was just a beautiful thing.' In fact, Callier admits that this was the first time they had played it the whole way through!
Perhaps the gem of this album is the ultimate track, Look Into You. The inspiration for this track came from a a song popularised by Chet Baker. 'In 1999, I had a video of Chet Baker's last performance. He performed this track originally entitled Ellen and David written by a bass player who lives in the States called Charlie Hayton. I wore the tape out cause I kept rewinding to the start of where he played that solo... until i wondered if I could do some words for it, so I called Charlie Hayton and talked to his manager and said I wanted to write some words to it, and they said OK but we'll have to call it something else, because Ellen and David is already registered.' I get the impression this is one of Terry's favourites too. 'It can be taken on two levels: it can be a relationship between a man and a woman but can also be taken as the relationship between a man and his creator.'
Finding ourselves talking in such depth, I can't resist the temptation to ask about the title track Lookin' Out which leaves me with a sense of wistfulness. 'Well, see you have to temper all these things with the spirit of reality. If you don't it's the same old routine. If it's gonna come to you, all you gotta do is wait, and it'll be here, and rewards will come to you on the other side... you know people have heard enough of that.' I feel refreshed by his honesty and sincerity. 'On Lookin' Out one of my favourite moments was towards the end of the track, the drummer is playing time on the cymbal and then he'd also doing a drum roll which usually takes two hands... and he's only using one... There are a lot of moments, but that one may be the highlight for me'.
'Does it worry you that commercial trends have turned many artists into slickly produced entertainment? Are we losing the true essence of musical communication?', I ask a man whose voice speaks volumes. 'It's something i think about all the time. It can't worry you cause there's no end in sight... but you know there may be light at the end of the tunnel... But well, that might be an approaching train... but you don't know so we'll have to wait and see.'
For Terry Callier his journey into the music world of folk didn't begin until he got to university when, inspired by a fellow freshman, he bought his own guitar and began writing. Terry had been in a few doo-wap vocal groups, as had one of his early influences Willie Wright, who Terry remembers fondly. 'He (Wright) worked at the Monmartre (Chicago) with a man named Terry Rabinard and their voices were so huge that they didn't use microphones. they would turn the mics to the walls and just use the power of projection'.
Terry's first trip to New York introduced him to the music scene that would have great influence on his own music. 'I just went to visit and at that time a gathering place for musicians, writers and instrumentalists was a place called the 'Bitter End'... the first 4 or 5 people I met were Fred Neil, Dino Valenti (who wrote What You Gonna Do About Me which Callier covers on his new album as What About Me), Josh White Junior and David Crosby. Just being near them was a great experience!' Terry's own first performances were at a club back home in Chicago (the Fickle Pickle) where he managed to secure a regular Sunday slot. I can't help but be bemused by the irony of the name – Terry Callier has been signed to no less than eight different labels throughout his career in the business.
In the early days with Cadet/Chess Callier worked with Charles Stepney (credited with the sound of Earth, Wind and Fire), perhaps the most significant producer that he has ever worked with, so when Eddie Pillar (Acid Jazz) and Gilles Peterson (Talkin' Loud) launched Callier into the UK market in the 90s, Peterson hoped they might find another Charles Stepney. While this hasn't come to pass, the fact that Callier is now releasing his ninth album since 1991 (when Ed Pilar released I Don't Want to See Myself (Without You) as a mini-album) is testament to the power of the artist. In fact, this time, Callier has gone one step further and his latest release is entirely self-produced.
The latest offering Lookin' Out (Mr Bongo) pays tribute to Stepney who used sections of a blues shuffle entitled Go On Ahead on Callier's 1972 release Occasional Rain (Cadet), almost as a leitmotif, recurring throughout the album. Callier has used a 12-minute mini concerto in poem form, sent to him by Chris Kipple (keyboards for Callier's UK band) as the bones of a similar form of interlude between songs. Truth In Tears is a politically pertinent, sensitively produced and arranged musical poem which embodies Callier's spirituality and which even includes a Sufi chant. 'That's the nearest approach to the creator' he explains, 'sometimes that name will be chanted for not just hours, but for days'.
He also includes a Beatles track And I Love Her which he gives its own edge by extemporising the vocal melody, allowing the musicians to play the well-known melodic motif. 'I chose it cause it's a great tune, and I've never recorded a Beatles tune. When we finished recording that track in the studio, everyone was very pleased... It was just a beautiful thing.' In fact, Callier admits that this was the first time they had played it the whole way through!
Perhaps the gem of this album is the ultimate track, Look Into You. The inspiration for this track came from a a song popularised by Chet Baker. 'In 1999, I had a video of Chet Baker's last performance. He performed this track originally entitled Ellen and David written by a bass player who lives in the States called Charlie Hayton. I wore the tape out cause I kept rewinding to the start of where he played that solo... until i wondered if I could do some words for it, so I called Charlie Hayton and talked to his manager and said I wanted to write some words to it, and they said OK but we'll have to call it something else, because Ellen and David is already registered.' I get the impression this is one of Terry's favourites too. 'It can be taken on two levels: it can be a relationship between a man and a woman but can also be taken as the relationship between a man and his creator.'
Finding ourselves talking in such depth, I can't resist the temptation to ask about the title track Lookin' Out which leaves me with a sense of wistfulness. 'Well, see you have to temper all these things with the spirit of reality. If you don't it's the same old routine. If it's gonna come to you, all you gotta do is wait, and it'll be here, and rewards will come to you on the other side... you know people have heard enough of that.' I feel refreshed by his honesty and sincerity. 'On Lookin' Out one of my favourite moments was towards the end of the track, the drummer is playing time on the cymbal and then he'd also doing a drum roll which usually takes two hands... and he's only using one... There are a lot of moments, but that one may be the highlight for me'.
