I would have to add to that list
Sheila E on drums and Juan Escovedo on percussion
Lisa Coleman a must on piano
added Eddie M on sax so Eric can sometimes play flute or a different wind instrument

Andre on bass

Vanity Jill Jones Taj Sevelle (possibly Brenda Bennet) vocals
Suzi Katayama and Novi Novog on strings

Lovesexy band.

Act II band with hornz minus Mayte.

Done.

Oh man! this again, its hard, but here is this years model.

.

Prince - whatever, but in this band I want him on lead vocals and playing occasional guitar solos.

Sheila E - percussion, synth drums and marimbas

John Blackwell/Michael B turns on the drums

Dez - Lead and Rhythm guitars (When Prince is playing)

Sonny T - Bass (No other choice there, Mark Brown 2nd)

Fink - Keyboards one

Lisa - Piano and backing vocals

Rosie - Leading female vocals

Cat/ Diamond and Pearl, lead dancer choreographer and back up dancers

Jerome - Gofering, dancing and general acting the goat

Sax - Eddie M

Horns - Matt Blistan and Eric Leeds

Mr Hayes - Keyboards 2.

My pick is hardly a composite but still this is what I'd take:

John Blackwell on drumz

Rhonda Smith on bass

Renato Neto and Mr. Hayes on keys

Eric on sax

Basically the core NEWS line-up + Morris because he funks and 2 keys are better than one. The Hornheads are marvelous but just Eric would leave room for more improvisation than a full horn section. There are many other marvelous bandmembers individually but group dynamic counts a lot and I really loved the dynamic of that one configuration for jazz and funk jams (or even rock, see Montreux 2009), given that jazz funk jamz is what I really like to hear Prince play live. I wouldn't add Sheila on percs because in the end I don't find percs to add so much to the mix, I prefer to keep the rythm section barebone drumz and bass. I may be tempted to replace Rhonda by Ida because Ida has maybe a more agressive funk sound but IDK if she has the same perfect synergy with John Rhonda has. Back in the days I'd have added an extra guitar player but I realized I didn't miss one when there was none, however if I had to add one I'd pick Levi Seacer, Jr. who IMHO was P's jazziest guitar player (he really impressed me in 92-93).

[Edited 11/17/15 5:11am]

No love for Mark Brown?

My ultimate Prince band is basically the Expanded Revolution with Shelia E on drums. Minus the dancers.

Wendy

Lisa
Mark Brown
Matt Fink

Shelia E.
Miko<---totally underated, never gets enough love from fans.
Atlanta Bliss
Eric Leeds

And if Bonnie Boyer could come back from the grave to sing that would be great. She'd take the Cat role.

JudasLChrist said:

No love for Mark Brown?

My ultimate Prince band is basically the Expanded Revolution with Shelia E on drums. Minus the dancers.

Wendy

Lisa
Mark Brown
Matt Fink

Shelia E.
Miko<---totally underated, never gets enough love from fans.
Atlanta Bliss
Eric Leeds

And if Bonnie Boyer could come back from the grave to sing that would be great. She'd take the Cat role.

Totaly agree! Fantastic player. Mark Brown is great too. Those two and the Leeds/Bliss combo is a large part of the live sound of the Expanded Rev.

Lisa and Wendy without the Revolution just doesn´t work for me. Can´t see them playing with Sonny T. or John Blackwell, and besides, once you have Sonny, there´s gotta be Michael Bland.

-

Agree about Miko Weaver and Brownmark.....very underrated and underappreciated band members who never got the respect and admiration they deserved. Though I bet that Miko and Prince don´t have the best chemistry together, friendshipwise.

-

I miss Eric Leeds and his trademark saxophone sound but I prefer him solo, without trumpet or trombone. Actually I hate the sound of a trombone in Prince´s music. Or a horn section. Eric is enough. Or Eddie M.

-

I think Prince´s bands have always been more than just the sum of their parts. I´d rather see a band with good chemistry like the Revolution or the old NPG line up than a hodgepodge of very skilled musicians that don´t gel together.

That lineup you mentioned at the very top sounds good in theory but would never work out in real life. Too many egos, too much tension but not in a good way.

Give me the old NPG with Morris, Sonny and Michael and Tommy anyday, or the original Revolution lineup, or the SOTT/Lovesexy band.....and if we can´t have that, the ONA band was aight, too, with John Blackwell......but other than that, most mixed bands haven´t been that interesting.

KoolEaze said:

Lisa and Wendy without the Revolution just doesn´t work for me. Can´t see them playing with Sonny T. or John Blackwell, and besides, once you have Sonny, there´s gotta be Michael Bland.

-

Agree about Miko Weaver and Brownmark.....very underrated and underappreciated band members who never got the respect and admiration they deserved. Though I bet that Miko and Prince don´t have the best chemistry together, friendshipwise.

-

I miss Eric Leeds and his trademark saxophone sound but I prefer him solo, without trumpet or trombone. Actually I hate the sound of a trombone in Prince´s music. Or a horn section. Eric is enough. Or Eddie M.

-

I think Prince´s bands have always been more than just the sum of their parts. I´d rather see a band with good chemistry like the Revolution or the old NPG line up than a hodgepodge of very skilled musicians that don´t gel together.

That lineup you mentioned at the very top sounds good in theory but would never work out in real life. Too many egos, too much tension but not in a good way.

Give me the old NPG with Morris, Sonny and Michael and Tommy anyday, or the original Revolution lineup, or the SOTT/Lovesexy band.....and if we can´t have that, the ONA band was aight, too, with John Blackwell......but other than that, most mixed bands haven´t been that interesting.

The band he had for the 2006 Brit Awards was pretty cool (all female 1 male, if he had Rhonda on bass for that one...)

Lisa Wendy Sheila Corra Tamar the Twinz

Drums: Shelia E
Bass: Brown Mark
Rhythm Guitar: Wendy + Miko
Keyboards: Dr. Fink
Sax: Eric Leeds
Trumpet: Atlanta Bliss
Trombone: who cares if it aint fred wesley!

Backing singers: No thank you.

[Edited 11/17/15 14:03pm]

Andre Cymone

Dez Dickerson

Chazz Smith

Jill Jones

Sheila E

Lisa Coleman

Shelby J

Morris Day

RJOrion said:

Andre Cymone

Dez Dickerson

Chazz Smith

Jill Jones

Sheila E

Lisa Coleman

Shelby J

Morris Day

who is Chazz Smith?

OldFriends4Sale said:

RJOrion said:

Andre Cymone

Dez Dickerson

Chazz Smith

Jill Jones

Sheila E

Lisa Coleman

Shelby J

Morris Day

who is Chazz Smith?

Charles Smith, Prince's cousin and the first drummer in Grand Central. He was on drums from 1972 - 1975, before he was pushed out by the arrival of Morris Day.

.

As a mod, I am surprised you don't know this.

since he's barely friends with anybody anymore, my realistic group would be:

Prince - guitar/keyboards/bass

Michael B. - drums

Sonny T. - bass

Dr. Fink - keyboards, synth

Mr. Hayes - keyboards, synth

Eric Leeds - Saxophone

Adorecream said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

who is Chazz Smith?

Charles Smith, Prince's cousin and the first drummer in Grand Central. He was on drums from 1972 - 1975, before he was pushed out by the arrival of Morris Day.

.

As a mod, I am surprised you don't know this.

What a pretentious thing to say! Have you even heard his playing?

tab32792 said:

since he's barely friends with anybody anymore, my realistic group would be:

Prince - guitar/keyboards/bass

Michael B. - drums

Sonny T. - bass

Dr. Fink - keyboards, synth

Mr. Hayes - keyboards, synth

Eric Leeds - Saxophone

This.

Adorecream said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

who is Chazz Smith?

Charles Smith, Prince's cousin and the first drummer in Grand Central. He was on drums from 1972 - 1975, before he was pushed out by the arrival of Morris Day.

.

As a mod, I am surprised you don't know this.

that was not in the requirements for being a Moderator, to know who Chazz Smith is...

I know who Dale Alexander is, and I know that Bobby Z was Prince's 2nd 94East drummer

daniorU said:

tab32792 said:

since he's barely friends with anybody anymore, my realistic group would be:

Prince - guitar/keyboards/bass

Michael B. - drums

Sonny T. - bass

Dr. Fink - keyboards, synth

Mr. Hayes - keyboards, synth

Eric Leeds - Saxophone

This.

Yeah, except that I don't think he's friends with Eric or Dr Fink anymore either....

Pentacle said:

daniorU said:

This.

Yeah, except that I don't think he's friends with Eric or Dr Fink anymore either....

Probably not "friends" but Eric Leeds and St.Paul Peterson played at Paisley not too long ago. And Fink and him never had a problem, did they?

tab32792 said:

since he's barely friends with anybody anymore, my realistic group would be:

Prince - guitar/keyboards/bass

Michael B. - drums

Sonny T. - bass

Dr. Fink - keyboards, synth

Mr. Hayes - keyboards, synth

Eric Leeds - Saxophone

If you replace Dr.Fink with Tommy Barbarella you get the very same band lineup that he played with at the Emporium aftershow in spring 1995.

Now THAT band was tight!

And Eric Leeds was still (or again) in his band, albeit briefly.

KoolEaze said:

Pentacle said:

Yeah, except that I don't think he's friends with Eric or Dr Fink anymore either....

Probably not "friends" but Eric Leeds and St.Paul Peterson played at Paisley not too long ago. And Fink and him never had a problem, did they?

Ah, so he and Eric made up (yet) again?

Fink may be a sucker for punishment, as I remember that incident where Prince made fun of his weight of front of Fink's parents. And he remained in the band.
Didn't Prince make some disparaging remarks when Fink, Bobby & Mark joined him for a few songs a couple of years back?

Anyway.... This is all wishful thinking.

Pentacle said:

KoolEaze said:

Probably not "friends" but Eric Leeds and St.Paul Peterson played at Paisley not too long ago. And Fink and him never had a problem, did they?

Ah, so he and Eric made up (yet) again?

Fink may be a sucker for punishment, as I remember that incident where Prince made fun of his weight of front of Fink's parents. And he remained in the band.
Didn't Prince make some disparaging remarks when Fink, Bobby & Mark joined him for a few songs a couple of years back?

Anyway.... This is all wishful thinking.

Bobby, Matt and Eric seem to be very humble, I'd even say wise people who probably don't take offense easily. According to what I've read here, Eric first had a falling out with P because of unpaid rehearsals in 95, I don't know however whether there was another falling out after 2003, I think P just moved on with other musicians but they're cool. Matt and Bobby were always cool with P. I don't think any of those three would take offense on P's comments about the Revolution. Some other past bandmembers or side projects collaborators have had a much more complex, conflictual relationship with P but those three are just too cool to care IMHO.

JudasLChrist said:

Adorecream said:

Charles Smith, Prince's cousin and the first drummer in Grand Central. He was on drums from 1972 - 1975, before he was pushed out by the arrival of Morris Day.

.

As a mod, I am surprised you don't know this.

What a pretentious thing to say! Have you even heard his playing?

Geez, I meant it as a joke, get a fucking sense of humour.

fockin Aphex mate, get in!