If you haven't picked up a classic '70s Stevie Wonder album, you need to. Exquisite musicianship, songwriting, vocals, IDEAS... you'll hear it all.

Prince doesn't read or write music.

Duke Ellington is the ULTIMATE total musician. But there're ones who carried the torch(if not in the same style):

Shuggie Otis

Stevie Wonder

Donny Hathaway(His incompleted operetta Life is on the verge of being released)

Bernie Worrell(He was the one who the letters for P-Funk 2ghether long b4 it had a term).

Patrice Rushen[b](Aside from award/TV shows musical directing, she got her own orchestra thing working out too)

Those were on the top of my head, for the moment.

PFunkjazz said:

Ummm...did he mean "Literally" or "ACTUALLY"
cause, if that's the case? STEVIE WONDER doesn't either , homie.

TLM: How did Prince prepare his musicians for a new recording? Did you have charts for example?

EL: No. He does not read or write music. At the time I was in the band, myself and the trumpeter Matt Blistan were the only guys that read music. Basically, everybody else would play by ear. But Prince knows the difference between say, an E minor chord and an E major, but as far as reading musical notation, he doesn't know how to do that. So basically, it would sometimes be a matter of him humming parts to me if there was a specific riff or lick. Or a lot of times he would look to me and say 'is there anything you hear on this?' Or if it was a solo he'd just open it up to me. You never knew specifically what the process would be on any given song until you started working on it. There were many times when he'd just leave a track in the studio with instructions for me to do something, but a lot of the times he'd give me a bunch of tracks and say 'go in and do anything you hear on it.' More often and not, he would not end up using a lot of the things I would do, but occasionally he might.

While I'm sure that reading and writing music is relevent.

We cannot dismiss the other half-group who didn't. Hell, 3/4 of musicians who helped to creat Jazz, RnB, Rock and not to mention P-Funk didn't know what the hell to do with a music sheet.

By ear was the rage, then.

Somehow most people DONT understand that only in the "Musical arts" that things are reversed, you can "write" without knowing how to "read".

Harlepolis said:

Hardly.

If you're talking about creating a music sheet that accurately shows the music played then you need to employ a transcriber to whom the illiterate musician can hum musical phrases to and the transcriber can play it back for confirmation. This is the role Leeds describes in his association with Prince. Doesn't seem these people are always credited in the songwriting, but they are very handsomely paid.

Lacking such a Svengali, modern computer technology lets you put your musical thoughts direct to notation. Given the current quagmire of contemporary music one can get by being musically illiterate.

Check yourself, dork. This is Music: Non-Prince where the informed try to clue in the poor spelling barely literate Prince-geeks on Prince.org.

Facts are facts, but not reading/writing doesn't mean someone can't function musically (you just don't get a lot of sessionwork). Not reading or writing certainly calls into question claims of songwriting prowess when only a single composer is credited.[Edited 10/15/06 6:49am]

At least I can read music.

PFunkjazz said:

This is one of the more snobbish statements I've read on the Org....You obviously know your shit, that much has to be said...But, who's talking about session work??? We are talking about total musicians...And while a person who reads music has a leg up on "session" players who don't, I think this thread is beyond that...There are so many iconic and complete artists/musicians/composers out there who do not read music that it hardly matters in the big scheme of things...Technology has nothing to do with it...You have to have the creative ideas first before anything else...I would place Stevie's and Prince's prime musical prowess against any of their peers that can read music...

PFunkjazz said:

This is one of the more snobbish statements I've read on the Org....You obviously know your shit, that much has to be said...But, who's talking about session work??? We are talking about total musicians...And while a person who reads music has a leg up on "session" players who don't, I think this thread is beyond that...There are so many iconic and complete artists/musicians/composers out there who do not read music that it hardly matters in the big scheme of things...Technology has nothing to do with it...You have to have the creative ideas first before anything else...I would place Stevie's and Prince's prime musical prowess against any of their peers that can read music...

murph said:

That was in parentheses. That indicates it's not the main thought.
It amazes me how having knowledge becomes a snobbish statement, but that's a typical response I expect from those who are insecure in their ability to acquire knowledge. It's not like it's being denied you.

Session players have a role and it is what it is. Why does that sound like they are competing with so-called "iconic and complete artists/musicians/composers"? They have a sympathetic relationship, not anti-thetical.

PFunkjazz said:

That's what "Transribers" do.
The "Illiterate" create the music YOU to write down.

I wish I could play or make music, cause I would make sure I had the talent for music "itself" ( being able to Hear & Feel music ) before I would concern myself with the art of trying to figure out what someone with Talent & "Orignal" ideas were doin' Those who can, DO. Those who can't ? TRANSCRIBE .
or they become "E-thugs" on message boards. Trying to big-up the most un-creative way in the world to approach music : On PAPER? To think I used to dig your screename paatna.

PFunkjazz said:

Oh, trust me...I'm always down to learn something new...In fact, I come from a musical background...Some of my family members play instruments and read music...But your previous statements were less about "acquiring knowledge" and more about criticizing the musical accomplishments of artists who do not read music...And to me that fits under the billing of snobbery....Improving yourself as a musician is one thing...Dismissing the the skill of musicians who don't fit your narrow view of what constitutes a "total musician" is quite another....

murph said:

That was in parentheses. That indicates it's not the main thought.
It amazes me how having knowledge becomes a snobbish statement, but that's a typical response I expect from those who are insecure in their ability to acquire knowledge. It's not like it's being denied you.

Session players have a role and it is what it is. Why does that sound like they are competing with so-called "iconic and complete artists/musicians/composers"? They have a sympathetic relationship, not anti-thetical.

PFunkjazz said:

Can ya'll believe this craziness ???
Playa, you need to change your screename to "PFAKEsnob"
and, oh yeah...it's CORRECTLY spelled : "Parenthesis"
Allow me..
"Parenthesis"
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: deviation

Synonyms: apostrophe, aside, deflection, departure, detour, difference, discursion, divagation, divergence, diversion, drifting, episode, excursion, excursus, footnote, incident, obiter dictum, parenthesis, rambling, straying, variation, wandering

*Damn, Homie... you should've LOGGED OFF when I 1st suggested it*
[Edited 10/15/06 9:33am]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source
pa‧ren‧the‧sis  /pəˈrɛnθəsɪs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[puh-ren-thuh-sis] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun, plural -ses /-ˌsiz/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[-seez] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation. 1. either or both of a pair of signs ( ) used in writing to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark, to indicate separate groupings of symbols in mathematics and symbolic logic, etc.
2. Usually, parentheses. the material contained within these marks.
3. Grammar. a qualifying, explanatory, or appositive word, phrase, clause, or sentence that interrupts a syntactic construction without otherwise affecting it, having often a characteristic intonation and indicated in writing by commas, parentheses, or dashes, as in William Smith—you must know him—is coming tonight.

murph said:

Did you learn to read and analyze English or do you just look at the symbols on the paper?

The thread starts with praising Prince as a total musician. Supposedly because he reads and writes music, among other things. He neither reads nor writes. Is that a criticism or just a statement of facts?

So because your family members play music, you have a musical background?

Nothing's personal. You're just indistuighable from the other guy.
If you feel snubbed by tripping off a perceived elitism, then it's all on you.
Enjoy your folklore.