Invisible Jukebox: Nu Shooz

I N V I S I B L E

J U K E B O X :: Â

John Smith & Valerie Day, 1986

An homage to The Wire’s flagship interview format, we play musicians a series of records which they are asked to identify and comment on – with no prior knowledge of what they are about to hear. This time it’s the turn of

Nu Shooz

JS: Did he get Maurice White to play kalimba on this?

It might be. This is also right around the time he made a record with Fela.

The first 12” remix I ever heard was Fela. It was called “Ja Funmi.” It was so exciting. They did tape cutting, made a breakdown and cut it in so there’s this abrupt change that you could never do live because the cymbal would ring over.

Tested by Bobby Smith.

Transcription by John Smith.

It’s drizzling rain as I load up my Volvo with records, a computer and a boom microphone.

Winding up the evergreen lanes of outerSouthwest Portland, the trip itself has an aura of antiquity; a pleasant Sunday drive to the city’s fringe.

Roy Ayers “The River Niger” From Africa, Center of the World (Polydor) 1981

two grew closer, Nu Shooz formed. In June of 1979, the band held its first show in Portland’s Colonel Summer’s Park.

My destination is the home studio of John Smith & Valerie Day – an unassuming husband and wife team who happen to be 80s pop stars.

Smith grew up in San Pedro in the early 70s, tuning in to local jazz-funk station KBCA for extended listens along the MahavishnuColtrane continuum. Day is a fourth-generation Oregonian. She graduated from Portland’s Caitlin Gabel High School in 1977. Her early studies include rumba & ballet.

In 1985, Dutch producer Pieder Slaghuis cut an unsolicited mix of the group’s feel-good synthesizer tune, “I Can’t Wait.” The resulting success of the mix granted international visibility for Nu Shooz, a gold record & tacit pride amongst Pacific Northwest residents. The group continued to release records throughout the 80s. Smith would go on to score commercials after the group’s demise in 1992.

Day has since taught jazz vocal studies at Portland State University and has championed local arts education programs. Her lips appear on Portland company Hot Lips’ pizza boxes.

The couple met on February 14, 1975 at “The Cosmic Bank of Divine Economy”. Smith had landed at the Portland-area commune after a hitchiking sojourn in Washington state. As the

This Invisible Jukebox began in conversation with John Smith under natural light in his upstairs studio. Valerie Day would later join us for selected listening tests.

Ah, so you’re thinking about it in the way a DJ does.

Oh I always think about it. [Back then] the job description was different. It was like…fill the dance floor. That’s it. And that we could do. To make a living here in town we’d play weddings, proms, five nights at Eli’s…

I don’t know that spot.

Oh, it’s gone now. All the clubs [from back then] are gone. I wanna make a map of where all the clubs were.

You could do an overlay on Google M aps or something like that.

Oh yeah. Right? I would love to see that. And then you could fill it in with other people ‘cause we weren’t in the punk scene.

Sure. There could be additional overlays generated by the guy from the W ipers or like… whomever else.

So we’re talking Can’t Turn It Off era?

How many pieces were you writing for?

Yeah, Can’t Turn It Off era.

Seventeen.

Yeah, there was Urban Noize. We were actually the anti-punk band.

Do you know Toshiko Akiyoshi and the Akiyoshi Tabakin Big Band?

M any more than the three or four horn max that you would have had in Nu Shooz.

You wouldn’t play to the punk crowd?

Or you just weren’t interested in punk?

No. W ay over my head.

No, no. Valerie and I started out in Latin bands. Before I could even arrange horns they let me do it. So I went to New York in ’78 and thought I was this hot jazz guitarist who was into Latin music…and you go there the first time and you get your ass kicked. There were fifteen-year-old kids there that played better than I would ever play in my life! So I came to this realization that (A) I’m not…

Well in ’75 I just decided I was gonna be an arranger. I got turned onto arranging through Latin Music but then I heard Toshiko Akiyoshi and the Akiyoshi Tabakin Big Band, which was modern. So a lot of Can’t Turn It Off is just stolen from them. That kind of horn arranging was just my imitation of Toshiko. And I met her.

She hardly spoke English.

It was a disaster. And then someone gave me this arrangement of “So Very Hard to Go,” the Tower of Power song, and I looked at it and I thought…hmm…These are the same chord voicings that you’d use on guitar.

It’s strange to hear the lineage of Japanese funk to Nu Shooz.

Latin?

Well, it’s not funk.

I’m not Puerto Rican. And (B) with the jazz thing, you could be a famous jazz guy and you’d just be playing for fifty bucks at some club with ten people in it. So I got home and I said, “I’m gonna do something American. I’m gonna do a soul band with horns.” I loved horns. I couldn’t live without ‘em after being in a Latin horn band.

Earth, W ind & Fire “Let’s Groove” From 12” single (ARC, Columbia) 1981 We played this song! This was a great era for us. The best Nu Shooz band was late ’80 to the middle of ’82. We had four horns. We had two guitarists. Valerie was the percussionist.

W hat would you call it?

It’s modern big band. Around 1980, I was in The Walter Bridges Big Band; this old guy. He claimed he was the first black member of the Portland Musicians Union, Local 99. And he claimed that he played with Count Basie at one time…he ran this Sunday Night rehearsal band at the Musicians Union.

This is the one in Southeast that’s still there?

Yeah. The Sunday Night rehearsal band. I tried to write one arrangement for them and it was a disaster! I didn’t understand the architecture of Big Band arranging - that you have sections playing against each other.

Poolside Studios, 1985

So you were able to transpose?

There’s no fifth. It’s like 5-3-7 or 6-3-7 going from top to bottom. I looked at it and instantly the Tower of Power style was decoded for me.

Interesting!

Just by looking at it…

But Earth, Wind & Fire…they were like getting a new Cadillac. Every time one of their records came out it was the finest of the finest. You just looked up to them. It was like…this elegance!

Close.

Shock?

Yes.

Right, and their sense of Impressionism as well - with the costumes, and the cosmic videos… .there’s a lot to aspire to with them.

I’m sorry. Don’t anybody get offended but we called it the “Egyptian Space Negro” thing!

Our drummer is Johnny Riley. He was in the band in ‘89/’90. We did a short tour and really hit it off. He’s a great songwriter, too.

He’s written a bunch of songs I wish I had written.

At the time…

At the time. It took me [a while] to figure out that I wanted a horn band. That I wanted to play funk. The polyrhythms of James Brown; that’s what attracted me. Like hitting a horn hit on TWO…one…POW! That’s the stuff I get off on.

So it was mostly just Bruce Carter. And you didn’t need anything else with that guy playing drums.

No.

Nu Shooz, 1982

No. Something a little more regional.

Holy Mackarel! Is this Pleasure?

No. We were working so much - playing five nights a week plus weddings and funerals.

Although I would go down to Cool’r gigs at the Last Hurrah and sit there and write hooks and bass lines while they were playing. Not that I was stealing but it was because I didn’t have a drum machine.

No.

That’s also why Can’t Turn It Off was too complicated. It was all these things that didn’t quite gel because they had to be simplified.

There were maybe too many ideas in there.

Is this P-Funk?

I’ve heard you describe Portland in the early 80s as a golden era for R&B music. I’m trying to get an idea of what that looked like. Did you find that you weren’t really intersecting with say, the guys from Pleasure or Shock, or any of the other R&B bands?

Did they employ drum machines?

So I can see why Nu Shooz wasn’t necessarily a folk band or a rock band.

Shock “Let’s Get Crackin’” From Shock (Fantasy) 1981

Message - that whole album. You can hear all our kick and snare patterns came from that.

One thing I want to say is that we didn’t have every record available [back then]. Now we live in an era where you can access everything.

I used to have to go down to L.A. and tape the radio. There was no funk radio in Portland.

[That said,] Nu Shooz was based on about six records! One was Grandmaster Flash’s The

At that time, what parts of town were you playing shows at? W ere you in Northeast?

Oh no. It was all downtown. The Last Hurrah was on Sixth and Alder. Eli’s was on Fourth, half a block North of Alder. Then there was Louie La Bamba’s which was more of a punk club. Those weren’t really our people, but we would do nights in there.

Nu Shooz “M ake Your M ind Up” From Goin Too Far 7” (Poolside) 1985

Is Nate Phillips on this one?

Yeah, he played on the whole record for like 75 bucks. And he owned a Minimoog, too.

This one is my favorite. It sounds like a lot of outsider private-press stuff that came out of California around the same time. To me it feels really raw and unfinished.

Like not slick.

Yeah. But that’s what makes it interesting. There’s vibraphone experiments, wet synthesizer stuff happening and these conversations in the background. It’s not your traditional Nu Shooz recording.

The synth is a Roland JX-3P. It had eight patches in it. You can hear them all over [that record]…the chime sound on “I Can’t Wait.”

He’s what’s bringing that sound in many ways… for the bass.

They were all my bass lines but eventually I just felt like he would lean into it more. And he really did.

the mid-tempo funk people and the new wave people really intensified [within the group].

We got back to Portland at the end of this and Cool’r had taken over our spot at the Last Hurrah. All of a sudden they were the hot band. We got knocked off our throne and right after that all the funk people quit. We went through this awkward period, like ‘83/’84 and that’s when a lot of this stuff was written: “Make Your Mind Up” and especially “I Can’t Wait.” I was trying to take my band back from the new wavers and just write the funkiest thing that I could write! I think that my belief in it was never stronger than right then. I was really just fighting to turn it back into something that I liked…and then it kind of gelled. At the beginning of ’85, we got some new people in and it turned back into a funk band. We got on the radio right away.

Larry Levan probably made our career. He was playing the heck out of our stuff at the Paradise Garage and the Palladium.

There’s a lot of nuance and inflections.

You mean the American mix of “I Can’t W ait.”

The way he dialed in the patches...I’ve never been able to [recreate] the sound that he got.

Yeah. Not that Emulator stuff that the Dutch guy did.

So around 1982 there’s a sea change in the group?

So, what’s going on at the beginning?

There are voices in the background. It sounds like a lively studio environment.

Well, we had this great band but horns were falling out of style. Cameo and everybody…they were all getting rid of their horn sections. I was starting to get bored with our audience’s insistence on mid-tempo funk and the band had split into factions. A third of the band wanted to play new wave. We got offered a tour of Idaho, Montana, and Washington. Six weeks. And the wars between

We had a dozen people in there to do the “Hey! Make your mind up,” vocal. I forget who all was there. Andy Stokes might have been there. Calvin Walker. Caton Lyles.

Interesting. Once you get into ‘85/’86 it seems that pop music starts to become over-produced. There’s often too much going on. The thing that’s cool about those ’82/’83 boogie records is that the production is pretty basic and sleek. You look at a guy like Kashif or Evelyn King…

Nobody was syncing up two 24-track machines [then]. “I Can’t Wait” was recorded on a 2” sixteen track which is the most robust, beautiful sounding format. The tracks are a little wider. I swear, if I would have had eight more tracks I would have ruined it. I would have put more crap on it.

So that limitation was helpful.

Totally. So now you get to ’85. They’re syncing up two Studers and having 48 tracks of stuff. It just got to be too much.

Apparently, a large chunk of their fan base were pimps. W hat was your experience with them like?

JS: Well, at that show, people would dress up.

Pimp clothes…with the big hats.

The W hispers seem to be one of those groups that crossed-over from having a modern soul sound in the 70s. They began to use synthesizers… kind of like Nu Shooz.

JS: Well you know, we couldn’t even afford keyboards.

VD: That’s where economics informs art.

Like when a $2,000 synthesizer comes out on the market, it’s not the first thing you’re gonna be able to pick up.

John Smith & Valerie Day, 1987

The W hispers “Contagious” from 12” single (Solar)1984

JS: Yeah, just like the JX-3P and the DX-7 that came out shortly after that. Those were like $1,200! That was a lot of money back then.

We had a couple band members who bought them and that’s the only reason those [early] records sound like they do. We would have said, “Oh, just put a wah-wah guitar on it…and piano.”

[Enter Valerie Day] John Smith: What is this. Atlantic Starr?

Close. It’s the W hispers. I read somewhere that this was your first like… bigger show.

Valerie Day: Yeah. The Paramount. We have a picture of the marquee.

Kenny G “Help Yourself to M y Love” From G Force (Arista) 1983 JS: Is this George Benson?

No, this is one of Kenny G’s first records.

VD: No kidding.

I’m surprised that Kenny G never appeared on a Nu Shooz recording. As I’m reading into your catalog, I see Jeff Lorber featured very consistently. He seemed to be a prominent figure in Kenny G’s early career.

JS: Lorber said that no one worked as hard as Kenny G. He got there early. He practiced all day. He just worked and worked and worked…we heard him speak at Bruce Carter’s funeral. He was a really impressive guy.

Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazzy Five “Jazzy Sensation” From 12” single (Tommy Boy) 1981 Did you guys spend much time with guys like Larry Levan, Shep Pettibone or John M orales?

JS: Larry Levan more than Shep. Larry Levan probably made our career. He was playing the heck out of [our] stuff at the Paradise Garage and the Palladium.

Did you all ever set foot in the Paradise Garage?

JS: Sure. It was an amazing sub-culture; sort of like discovering black radio in the 60s. It was like this window into a whole world you had no idea existed. These people would dance from two in the morning till eight in the morning and then go buy a bunch of records. Larry Levan had keyboards and he had an 808. He didn’t just have a DJ rig. He had instruments up there

and they would play over the stuff as they were spinning it, and do echo things.

over?” And I said, “No way! I’m not touching that.”

Shep was a lot of fun. He had five rooms going at Arthur Baker’s place. He had a little room where he’d program his 808. And then he’d run into another room and some engineer would be sitting in there with another record he was working on. So when I went to see him, he’s just running around. I didn’t even talk to him that much. He’d say, “You should come to the session tonight.” But I didn’t go because I knew that I’d inhibit him or something.

Pieder was really innovative. And really clever…stuff that you never would have thought of. He was working on a couple other songs for us and it was amazing! The reels disappeared somehow. I thought we had ‘em but they turned out to be M&M mixes.

Loose Joints “Is It All Over M y Face?”

From 12”single (West End) 1980 VD: What is this? Turn it up a little bit.

JS: God, I recognize that guitar part.

This is exactly what the Paradise Garage sounded like.

Oh, from John M orales.

JS: He was 21 when he did our record.

You’re kidding me!

Billy Ocean “Calypso Funkin’” From 12” single (Epic)1982 JS: Sounds like Con-Funk-Shun.

JS: Yeah.

It’s close. This is Billy Ocean.

Whenever something gets into a bad stylistic period I call it ’Michael Jackson Pants.’ And I think that we’re coming out of a sort of ‘Michael Jackson Pants’ period.

The story behind this Levan mix really reminds me of the Pieder Slaghuis reinterpretation of “I Can’t W ait”. Did you feel the original mix was superior?

I mean, it’s Pieder’s ”Dutch M ix” that jump-started your career.

JS: The first time I ever heard his mix we were on the road. Our manager called us up and played it over the phone. And I said, “I like that because I never would have thought of it in a million years.” The ‘barking seal’ [synth sound] was spiritually out of tune. It was almost a quarter step flat. When we got a deal on Atlantic they said, “Do you wanna do that

Do you still have a couple of those that are unreleased?

JS: Somewhere, yeah. But it wasn’t anything like what Pieder was doing.

W hen was the last time you had contact with Pieder Slaghuis? W as that it?

VD: He died.

JS: That was it. He died in a car wreck.

VD: Not that long after. About two years after the record came out. I mean, it was really early on.

VD: Really?!?

JS: No Way! We toured with him quite a bit.

W hat was that like?

VD: He was very warm, very approachable. We opened for a lot of different artists and some of them were [stand-offish.] He wasn’t like that at all.

Like the Pointer Sisters or Tina Turner?

JS: Tina Turner was nice!

VD: She was great.

JS: In Eugene, we were playing at some hotel and there was a dispute so everything was put on hold while they worked it out. And [Tina] ended up taking our sound man’s eight-yearold daughter out for ice cream!

Oh my God…

VD: They were arguing in front of her and I think she just thought, “You know, this kid doesn’t need to be around this.” And she took Heather out for ice cream. Of course, Heather didn’t know who she was.

W hat a wonderful maternal figure. So what about Billy Ocean? W hat time period were you touring with him?

JS: ’86.

VD: He was wearing a red suit I think. That’s all I remember.

JS: He had this…like a Key-tar? But it was a percussion controller. It was this weird guitarshaped percussion controller, and he would take this…drum solo.

W ell that’s this right here… ”Calypso Funkin’.” And you get the Vocoder in there, too…

JS: You’re 29, you shouldn’t have these records.

VD: Actually, when we went on the tour, the first date was in Fresno. The promoter, his name’s Alan Beck…he’s a radio guy. It was the first show and we’d done our sound check. We met him for the first time and I said to him, “I’m gonna ask a really dumb question. I have no idea. What is ‘freestyle’ and what are we doing on this tour?”

JS: This is an old Nu Shooz trope. Around ’82 you’d go out shopping for pants and you couldn’t find pants without Michael Jackson zippers all over ‘em. And so, whenever something gets into a bad stylistic period, I call it ‘Michael Jackson Pants.’ And I think that we’re coming out of a sort of ‘Michael Jackson Pants’ period.

We didn’t know what to expect exactly. We thought if we ever went out to play these songs again it would be to a bunch of grey-haired older people that are our age or older. And it wasn’t that at all. There were all these young people and they’d come up to us and say, “Oh my God! My mom was so into you guys. Can we have an autograph for her? She played your record when I was just a baby in my crib.”

It’s like, there’s these new soul bands happening and I feel at home again. I gotta say…I like Pharrell. That stuff is so good! There was this bad period that went on forever, though. Have we not heard enough angry gangsters talking over music? Have we not heard enough whiney white guys with ukeleles?

Daft Punk “Get Lucky” From 12” single (Columbia) 2013

JS: I get weepy every time I hear that song [“Happy”]. It makes me feel like our style has come back around! They’re doing a new thing with it.

W as Nile Rogers ever someone you came into contact with?

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force “I W onder If I take You Home” From 12” single (Columbia) 1984

JS: No, we never met him but a lot of our style was based on that. Especially the way my rhythm guitar style happened.

JS: Nobody else in the world programs beats like these guys! And they had a nice familytype feeling. Lisa Lisa, who we’re touring with on the “FREESTYLE EXPLOSION” tour is a sweetheart. For funk production, they and Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis are it for me.

W ell, you do a lot of chucking that’s similar to Chic.

W hat does ‘freestyle’ mean to Nu Shooz?

And also the vocal phrasing of Nu Shooz was a lot like Chic. It’s short, you know?

There are numerous Top 40 hits coming out these days (like “Get Lucky”) that seem to be referencing an earlier time.

I agree. [Pharrell’s] playing out of everyone’s car as they’re driving by these days.

So why do you think that is? W hy do you think the music is relevant again?

JS: Because whatever’s the most neglected thing is the next hip thing.

That’s Post-M odernism for you.

That is Post-Modernism. And they’re doing something I was hearing in my head for a long time, which is soul music over surf beats. !