Photo courtesy of ICM
Tell Me Something Good
It is 2013 and drummer Nisan Stewart is in the middle of a rehearsal for a BET tribute for the great Chaka Khan. Just another day in the life of a professional musician.
Stewart is a drummer/producer who has worked alongside big name artists such as Diddy, Timberland and Beyoncé, so on the surface, this seems like another day on the job. However, this rehearsal is a bit different from some of the countless others he has played.
BET enlisted a star-studded line-up to pay tribute to Chaka Khan at its annual awards show. Stewart found himself in the same room as Stevie Wonder and the impeccable gospel singer Yolanda Adams. And, oh yeah, Prince.
“Prince came in and was playing with us at rehearsal,” Stewart says. “All of a sudden, he puts his guitar down and just walked back in the corner, sat down, crossing his legs.”
Prince was a perfectionist and the expectations of the groups that played with him were tremendously high. In a frequently recounted story, Prince would have his bands play the James Brown hit “Body Heat” during soundchecks endlessly until the band locked into a relentless groove.
Stevie, Prince tribute to Chaka Khan
This discipline is what set Prince apart from other musicians, and Stewart found himself in one those instances.
“Chaka noticed a few minutes later that he had stopped and the music just stopped,” Stewart says. “Prince told us there was too much being played, he wanted to simplify the music to the sound of how he wrote it to be played.”
The band was playing hits from Khan’s extensive catalog such as “Sweet Thing” and “Tell Me Something Good.” If Prince was going to be playing the show, the band was going to be as sharp as possible.
“He talked a lot about the discipline of a musician. You know, a lot of musicians just get up there and jam and mess up other songwriter songs,” Stewart says. “There was another moment when he came to me and was showing me how to play the hi- hat on a certain song and it was just so amazing.”
When Stewart took the BET stage alongside some of the greatest musicians of all time, all that hard work and attention to detail paid off; the performance was one for the ages. Behind the kit, Stewart admits it was an unbelievable experience.
“You just have to be quiet at that point,” Stewart says. “For me, I just couldn’t believe this was happening. That was probably the highlight of my music career.”
Preserving the Legacy
For an artist who was always creating and pushing the creative boundaries in music, the untimely death of Prince at the age of 57 in 2015 came as a complete shock to the world of music.
Prince’s catalog is massive. With 39 studio albums available to the world and a vault hiding every other thing he ever worked on, it is believed that those releases are only the beginning of what the late artist created and recorded.
The musician’s mysterious vault holds enough material to release an album every year for the next century, according to his estate.
Which leads to the question; how do you release music Prince may have never put out while he was alive without tarnishing his legacy for future generations?
“I believe that when songs are written and an artist that is very particular like him, with his decision to write music and not put it out, that’s his prerogative,” Stewart says. “We always yearn for his music even to this day. You want to hear what he has and, ironically, a lot of that music in the vault is better than the stuff coming out today.”
Whether or not it is morally or ethically right for a group of people to take control of the musician’s estate and share projects Prince may never had wanted to see the light of day is a debate for another day.
Bottom line, Prince was always recording something and the fact that we may have not heard some of his best work is extremely exciting.
“As a fan, you respect the estate and the control they have, but my hope is that they do allow a lot of it to come out,” Stewart says. “Of course, there were probably things he was experimenting with. You have to be selective; it’s tough. But as a fan, I’m like bring it on!”
Though the music speaks for itself, as a producer, Stewart is actively looking for the person who will be the next artist that will bring the genius that Prince possessed to the table.
“It’s a challenge for sure to find who is going to be the next one,” Stewart says. “As a producer, I’m looking for that. I believe there are people in small towns that you would never even think of that are inspired by him and are ready to take it to the next level. We need that creativity today.”
4u: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince
Stewart is currently on tour and serving as the musical director of the official 4u. The tribute is endorsed by Prince’s estate and was curated by notable Prince fanatic and historian Questlove of The Roots (The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’s band).
The tribute features a number of Prince hits and deep cuts. Audiences will get a new perspective on Prince as his music is brought to life alongside a symphony.
“It is not easy, symphonically versus string and brass instruments along with the synthesizers and instruments of that nature,” Stewart says. “It is an amazing thing, I feel so blessed and privileged to have my hand in it.”
A live band will play alongside the symphony and include vocal performances of some of the artist’s most noteworthy songs. It may not be Prince himself, but this show will not be one to miss.
Though we cannot speak for Prince, this show would definitely be something the Purple One would have appreciated.
“I really hope audiences appreciate the precious gift we had in Prince,” Stewart says. “The goal is to take you to a happy place and to get you up and dancing and singing. It’s a different setting, but it is welcome.”
Rocco Falleti is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at rfalleti@cityscenecolumbus.com
