Artist description As one of the founding members and lead vocalists for Earth, Wind & Fire, Philip Bailey doesn't waste time with labels and categories. Creating hit after hit for three decades, his dynamic falsetto has slipped effortlessly among a variety of musical grooves - R&B, soul, jazz, funk and more. Apart from EWF, his solo projects have encompassed pop, gospel and contemporary jazz. Soul On Jazz, Bailey's new release on Heads Up International, is just what the title suggests: a well-crafted collection of jazz compositions - classics in most instances - with a contemporary soul spin. It's the latest chapter in Bailey's 30-year quest to keep searching for new and innovative approaches to musical expression. Maybe the deeply rooted sense of diversity comes from his efforts early in life to actively seek out music rather than waiting for it to come to him. He was born and raised in Denver, Colorado - not exactly a thriving musical mecca in the late '50s and '60s when his musical consciousness was first awakening. "It was more of a pop music town than any kind of R&B culture," says Bailey. "There wasn't a large population of African Americans in Denver - not like Chicago, Detroit or New York." For lack of a thriving club scene, Bailey's musical passions developed amid a collection of vinyl that belonged to a friend of his mother. "That's how I really fell in love with jazz, just going through her record collection," he says. "She was a big jazz buff, and one of her friends happened to be a bass player."

Music Style Urban/Contemporary Jazz

Musical Influences Earth, Wind and Fire

Artist History Some of Bailey's earliest heroes included jazz giants like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Max Roach. But he also developed a taste for the Motown sound, especially the music of Stevie Wonder, who was just beginning to make his mark in the early '60s. By his teenage years, Bailey was pursuing a dual track of percussion and vocals. The bulk of his musical training - on both fronts - came from the countless club gigs that he worked throughout high school and college. On some weekends, he'd work two gigs in one night - singing from 9 pm until 1:30 or 2 in the morning in one club, then playing drums from 2:30 to 6 am in another. "That was really such a valuable workshop," he says. "When I think back on it now, and I look at the musicians of today, I realize that we had a place to hone our skills, playing all those gigs in all those clubs. But now, these kids who are coming up are actually recording music and becoming famous without ever having done a concert. Consequently, there are a lot of things that they really don't learn, or they learn them late, or they learn them the hard way."

Albums Soul On Jazz, Dreams

Location Cleveland, OH - USA

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