I wouldn't say that Prince was "defined" by Eric, but Eric's style was given more of the spotlight (and the chance to play solos) than any other member. Am I wrong, or did most of the singles released while Eric was involved not feature him that much? But yes, Eric was used a lot. Which I love!

Love Eric Leeds... Best Sax player to collaborate with Prince... By Far. No offense intended Maceo.

I luv'd the effect of Eric's horn on Prince's sound. With that being said, there's no two ways about it. The musicians who are with Prince contribute hugely towards the ultimate form his music takes. I remain convinced that since the combination of Dr. Fink and Lisa, Prince has not been able to find members on the boards with the amazing input those 2 added...Fink adding the funk, synthesised thang, Lisa adding the drama of strings that added SO much to Prince's vibe in those days.

[Edited 10/2/11 1:50am]

Eric is definitely my favourite Prince band member of all time. He's such a creative player - has the funk edge of Maceo, but the inventiveness of Charlie Parker. He's not afraid to use all 12 chromatic notes in his playing (and then some), which I love. He's not show-off flashy, but his lines are always really interesting to me - a lot more so than people like Mike Phillips or Candy.

I don't know if it's right to say that Eric turned Prince onto Jazz, as Prince's father was a jazz pianist, and there are some good examples in bootleg world of P's jazz understandings pre-Eric. But I think Eric certainly ensured that side of Prince stayed afloat and grew during his tenure. I guess cudos also goes to Prince for selecting these unique characters in his bands back then.

I really like the new FDeluxe album. It does have that classy pop-jazz "Family" sound to it.

I´m a big fan of Eric Leeds as far as contributing to Prince´s music is concerned. I also liked Eddie Minninfield´s work but Eric will always be my favorite sax player in Prince´s bands, and I also like him as a person ( had the pleasure to meet him a couple of times and had conversations with him).

He has a very unique sound and you can easily recognize him when you hear a Prince song with Eric´s horn parts.

I also like his blunt honesty and how he speaks his mind when it comes to Prince´s music and business decisions. And he´s got a weird and funny humor, too. Plus he´s very humble.

Would love to see him and all those great band members from the past reunite again.

bobbyperu said:

But Eric surely had an influence, there's no denying that, even if it was only in turning P on to jazz.

Eric sure made a major impact on Prince's side projects and some of his own music in 1986.

But it works both ways. Most notably that Eric will forever been known almost entirely for his work with Prince.

[Edited 10/2/11 8:15am]

Prince is a product of many more people than just Prince. Eric was great, Atlanta Bliss was great too, as were many different line ups of the Revolution. As prince collaborators changed, the music changed, often for the worse. Prince has always suceeded or failed by who he had on his team. It's a shame that the myth of prince doing it all himself is so prevalant, even in prince own mind. It would be great if the music was more important than prince, then maybe he would bring together the old musicians that made his best work so great, and put out some good music again, instead of some prince music again.

TrevorAyer said:

Prince is a product of many more people than just Prince. Eric was great, Atlanta Bliss was great too, as were many different line ups of the Revolution. As prince collaborators changed, the music changed, often for the worse. Prince has always suceeded or failed by who he had on his team. It's a shame that the myth of prince doing it all himself is so prevalant, even in prince own mind. It would be great if the music was more important than prince, then maybe he would bring together the old musicians that made his best work so great, and put out some good music again, instead of some prince music again.

Clare Fisher also took his music to a higher level. W&L, ..long list.

Prince defined Eric for sooo long

why is it always that these folks took Prince higher?

I'll credit Eric Leeds & Atlanta Bliss with giving Prince the courage to move into more flourished instrumentals (Alexa De Paris & Venus De Milo) and do the Madhouse CD's. I think without the sound those two contributed Prince would've never done those tracks at all. All his previous instrumentals were more funk driven then he moved to a jazzier vibe and sometimes almost classical.

I think That Eric is the most important contributor to princes music. Even moreso than Wendy & lisa. Prince and Eric together was pure fire.

rdhull said:

Prince defined Eric for sooo long

why is it always that these folks took Prince higher?

why don't people get that they both took each other higher?

TrevorAyer said:

rdhull said:

Prince defined Eric for sooo long

why is it always that these folks took Prince higher?

why don't people get that they both took each other higher?

Because they'd rather think that Prince didn't know how to play piano damn near and that he needed the helf others....all because they dislike Prince as a person. That's why. Or some are just damn crazy:

Hell. This very thread is now sayng a sax player Leeds DEFINED Prince's sound.

.

[Edited 10/2/11 10:51am]

rdhull said:

TrevorAyer said:

why don't people get that they both took each other higher?

Because they'd rather think that Prince didn't know how to play piano damn near and that he needed the helf others....all because they dislike Prince as a person. That's why. Or some are just damn crazy:

Hell. This very thread is now sayng a sax player Leeds DEFINED Prince's sound.

.

[Edited 10/2/11 10:51am]

well prince is the main focal point being the big star that was promoted for all of these musical projects .. so it's much easier to say .. prince has a sound, but when certain people were around, that sound definately made a distinct change beyond what prince usually brings to the table .. you might argue .. did morris define the time sound or did prince .. likely a combo of both

prince definately went in a direction he was not neccessarily headed in before eric leeds came along and that sound lasted for a few projects for sure. i can't imagine madhouse, family, parade sounding half as amazing without the other participants who helped define those records

language aside, the era was touched by eric, prince and many others, without whom the music would likely have been less impressive, or may have gone in a completely diferent direction had it been "defined" by prince alone or a lesser standard of colaborators.

TrevorAyer said:

rdhull said:

Because they'd rather think that Prince didn't know how to play piano damn near and that he needed the helf others....all because they dislike Prince as a person. That's why. Or some are just damn crazy:

Hell. This very thread is now sayng a sax player Leeds DEFINED Prince's sound.

.

[Edited 10/2/11 10:51am]

i can't imagine madhouse, family, parade sounding half as amazing without the other participants who helped define those records

l

Of course you can't.

Eric's style complemented Prince's style at the time. Prince's use of space, and the dry, almost brittle productions of the 1985-1987 era were not drowned out. He used Eric's playing (and Clare Fischer's string arrangements) the same way that he (sometimes, more unfortunately) used his own guitar playing: never the "one thing" that any song was about, but weaved in as part of the tapestry of the recording.

Eric leeds is so more than "an asscoiated artist"

such a shame we cant discuss his solo work in the other music forum.

i love his solo work and his work with prince is unrivalled

TrevorAyer said:

rdhull said:

Because they'd rather think that Prince didn't know how to play piano damn near and that he needed the helf others....all because they dislike Prince as a person. That's why. Or some are just damn crazy:

Hell. This very thread is now sayng a sax player Leeds DEFINED Prince's sound.

.

[Edited 10/2/11 10:51am]

well prince is the main focal point being the big star that was promoted for all of these musical projects .. so it's much easier to say .. prince has a sound, but when certain people were around, that sound definately made a distinct change beyond what prince usually brings to the table .. you might argue .. did morris define the time sound or did prince .. likely a combo of both

Are you suggesting that Prince was to Prince & Revolution what Morris was to The Time - i.e. basically just the frontman?

paulludvig said:

TrevorAyer said:

well prince is the main focal point being the big star that was promoted for all of these musical projects .. so it's much easier to say .. prince has a sound, but when certain people were around, that sound definately made a distinct change beyond what prince usually brings to the table .. you might argue .. did morris define the time sound or did prince .. likely a combo of both

Are you suggesting that Prince was to Prince & Revolution what Morris was to The Time - i.e. basically just the frontman?

welcome to prince.org!

Chasing said:

Prince has moved on a long way since the days of working with Eric Leeds, and maybe that is a good job because he defined his sound so much . . . Just listening to Gaslight by Fdeluxe, and also listening to Prince around the Parade / Madhouse era and it is all about Eric's sound, to the extent it totally defines Prince's sounds, production, direction and style. Eric is a master player, and I think in many ways he has not been paid enough props for everything he gave to Prince. I can see why Prince moved on from working with those that excerpt such a strong influence into his music W & L are the same, and arguably Larry G.... There iso doubt that Prince is a master songwriter and musician of our time, but his time would not have been so string without some very big players around him, and I argue that Eric Leeds was the biggest to define his sound. By the way, when P played Life Can B So Nice live back in the day, Eric did a magical sax solo and the end, where it normally cut off on the record, does a studio version exist with that extended ending with Eric's sax, or was it just a live thing?

Let's not mince words. Eric doesn't need to be "paid in props". Eric just needs to be paid for the work he did for Prince. 1 of Prince's biggest mistakes was cheating Eric Leeds out of the money he was due for various gigs/projects. Why won't the Revolution reunite? I wouldn't ask Prince, I'd ask Larry or any of the Jehovah's witnesses that Prince currently employees that would be out of a job if there ever was any type of Reunion involving former band members who are not of the Jehovah faith. I'm still a huge lover of the music, but Prince has lost sense of his own history and severely damaged most of the relationships that he benefited from greatly on multiple levels.

When the fans were cheated out of a full Sheila E. performance, who was scheduled to open for Prince in San Jose @ HP Pavillion, May 21, 2011- I hung up any chance of there being any kind of peace and/or comradery between Prince and his legendary cast of musicians that were part of a massive foundation that supported and elevated him and his music. This isn't about religion folks, it's about money and nothing but. How ugly.

rdhull said:

paulludvig said:

Are you suggesting that Prince was to Prince & Revolution what Morris was to The Time - i.e. basically just the frontman?

welcome to prince.org!

TrevorAyer said:

Prince is a product of many more people than just Prince. Eric was great, Atlanta Bliss was great too, as were many different line ups of the Revolution. As prince collaborators changed, the music changed, often for the worse. Prince has always suceeded or failed by who he had on his team. It's a shame that the myth of prince doing it all himself is so prevalant, even in prince own mind. It would be great if the music was more important than prince, then maybe he would bring together the old musicians that made his best work so great, and put out some good music again, instead of some prince music again.

you can repeat the colloboration nonsense as many times as you want, it doesnt make it true. The Vast majority of his best songs are written by him so prince is a product of prince. Every musician hires talented musicians around him. If prince brought back the so called geniuses of the revolution, he would not be able to match sign or purple rain or 1999. WHy? Because it was prince who wrote most of the songs on those albums, and that IS NOT A MYTH. Keep repeating lies as much as you want to, doesnt make them true. Prince has not suceeded or failed by whom was on his team, he suceeded because of his talent and hard work.

I'm not to sure about Eric Leeds defining Prince's sound from a creative perspective, because most often he was called to add his tracks to an already formulated song.

Maybe from an audience perspective it defined Prince's sound on those songs that had horns.

I got this little story.

[Nothing compare 2 U @ ONA live in Belgium, Eric was a guest on this date]

First Candy Duffer did the solo, in her own way, that was ... great you know...

Then came Eric on stage, Prince put a friendly hand on his shoulder and said something like

"Please could you do it again for an old friend ?"

And Eric play the original solo note by note, as perfect as it could be, so touching, so moving.

Much love for Eric Leeds from me. Eric contributed but did not define Prince. There is such synergy (musically speaking) between Eric Leeds (and for the record Sheila E. too) and Prince.