John R. Smith and his wife Valerie Day lead Nu Shooz. The pop-funk band hit really big with “I Can’t Wait,” but the rest of Nu Shooz’s material shows a group that embraces acoustic and electronic, jazz, funk and pop. Smith is the guitarist and arranger for the band, while Day is lead vocalist and percussionist. Smith said the band started in a Tower of Power funk vein before riding a synth-pop favorite up the charts in the mid-’80s, and subsequent recordings expanded both Nu Shooz’s membership and sound.
We asked John R. Smith to name three albums that shaped Nu Shooz’s career:
TOSHIKO AKIYOSHI-LEW TABACKIN BIG BAND – LONG YELLOW ROAD (1975): I moved to Portland (Oregon) in 1975 and got interested in arranging. This is one of the first recordings that made me want to become a music arranger. I talked my way into a Latin band. (Valerie and I both came out of Latin music). They let me start arranging, and I got bitten by the bug. Valerie made a big band record in 2001. That was a thrill.
JOHN COLTRANE – TRANSITION (1965): More than a one-chord romp, it’s the height of Trane’s post-bop “sheets of sound” period. I’m still puzzling this one out 45 years after first hearing it. People think we’re a synth-pop band. If you were in our apartment you would have heard nothing but Bird and Trane. I was going to be a pathologist, then I heard Hendrix, and it was the end of my medical career. Mitch Mitchell – he sounds like Elvin with Trane. Portland was an amazing club scene. We worked every weekend for years; our break came when we heard Mitch. Valerie’s done a lot of research on neuroscience. She’s come to the conclusion that there are people who crave complexity and those that crave reassurance. The sheets of sound, a whirling stew of every note – I guess I like complexity.
STEVIE WONDER – I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER (1967): The title track was one of the first soul tunes I ever heard. As an 11-year-old kid, it was haunting in some way. Under this category could also be included almost everything by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. I moved to California when I was 11. A guy turned me on to a Black AM station. It was like a portal opening up to another world. I was totally grabbed by that. I became an expert on Motown and Stax. Stevie’s chord progression grabbed me. I never realized ’til later what a brilliant singer he was.
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