Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
The trumpet player looks like my 9th grade English teacher. That’s creepy. Otherwise, fly as it gets. I’d go so far as to say super fly. The vamp at the end is awesome. What a great performance. What I really like is how the drummer starts about 15 bpm slow, and Stevie draaaaaaaaaaaggggs him up to the right tempo before the first verse. Nice.
On a side note, that bass player is working hard. Holy fucking shit.
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Yeah, so Seasame Street had Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock and Johnny Cash as guests. That is really super cool and all! But they still have a spot in hell reserved for them for creating fucking Elmo!
Nice shirt on the sax player, but I really like the enthusiasm of the kid in the orange shirt. This event must have had a major influence on their development.
It's weird to think that given my age, the age of that clip, and the amount of Sesame Street I watched, I probably saw that performance when it was first broadcast. Can't say that I remember it, sadly.
I have this very vague memory of a brief sketch on Sesame Street that involved some hip-looking Muppet (headband, paisley shirt, Janis-style shades) playing an instrument he described as "the electric peanut-butter jar." It was a jar with some wires sticking out of it; he'd hold the jar (which was sitting on the usual ledge that hid the lower half of the Muppets and their operators from the camera) with both hands and kind of thrash around while some acid-rock guitar riff played. It may have been Hendrix but I really don't know since my parents were more into the Stones and the Beatles than the harder late-60s stuff, and hence I wouldn't have recognized Jimi at the time.
In any case, Sesame Street was a pretty far-out [sic] show, back then.
--Adam
classic performance. that kid in the orange sweater is a trip. rcoking out.
stevie wonder is awesome. makes it look easy doesn't he? a couple weeks ago i put together a stevie wonder playlist in my ipod.
you guys remember alice cooper's performance on the muppet show right? i wish that show was still on.
spot the Arp2600 next to his B3.
Or maybe its a farfisa?
shit,Stevie is awesome no matter what he plays :)
He's playing a Hohner Clavinet (sorry, but that's a fuckin' duh; this is the classic clav song, and it kind of ruined the clav sound for pretty much anyone else but Joe Walsh...). I believe it is sitting on top of a Rhodes Mk 1, but I couldn't be positive about that. Sitting on top of the Clav is the keyboard for the 2600.
-CR
Yeah, I remember Alice Cooper on the Muppets.
I was wondering why the 2600 is there. I don't think it gets played in that song. Did Stevie treat the Sesame Street folks to a little private concert? I guess it would make sense--I mean, why not, after you go to the length of hauling all of that equipment in.
--Adam
It's his rig. I don't think you'd want to change the rig up much if you were, like, blind and stuff.
That said, Sir Duke has a blistering 2600 lead, and is a contemporary song. Or the bass from Boogie On Reggae Woman et al. So, I'm sure it gets used. He may have performed more than one song for the show.
-CR
On the same show he used the 2600 to vocode himself singing a blazed out version of the sesame street theme song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUgTkM5R20g
Just nasty...
oh wait thats a talkbox! not sure which is cooler!!
I'm sure they recorded more than one song while they had everything set up.
"The trumpet player looks like my 9th grade English teacher."
No, he looks like my 6th grade music teacher, Mr. Kellogg.
Seaseme Street that'a where I'll be bitches.....
Wherever that drummer is today, you know he is haunted by that slow start.
there's a couple of good (for me) Sesame street musical moments on youtube that take me right back
the Grace Slick voiced 'ten spies' / racing cars counting animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSeXDZTckfg
or the classic pinball song, sung by the Pointer Sisters (apparently)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi1TySrHjUU
it majorly influenced my musical development!
why don't we ever get a flash of that energy from him anymore or, to be precise, for the past 30 years? His SNL hosting appearance was also classic, as he is really a funny guy.
oh, and regarding clavinet, to me the only thing "ruined" about it is the funky wah-wah style, which is beyond played (especially since nobody ever came within a light year of stevie except herbie hancock), but those are really beautiful expressive instruments that have other applications, too. viva hohner!
Yes! Not to mention the whammy-bar modded Clav that George Duke was playing! Amazing sound!
bummer this was taken down. if anyone sees this pop anywhere else could they post a link please.
Thanks for sharing that one. It doesn't get any better. That "high school teacher-looking" trumpet player is Steve Madeo, a monster player I worked with a few times back in the day (no, not *that* day... much later... come to think of it, I hope he's still around -- haven't seen him in a while, and there was a heart attack way back when it was way too early to have one...).
Ya, talkbox, you can spot the hose in his mouth and the control beside his rig.
Of perticular note: What's up with the way too high cymbal the drummer doesnt use? My guess is that is was obscuring most of the drummer from the camera angles and so he just raised it up, but he never uses it b/c it's too high.
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