Wil Blades' 40th Bday Bash and Farewell Party! feat. Donald Harrison Jr., Mike Clark, Scott Amendola, Jeff Parker, and more
SEE EVENT DETAILSWil Blades
"Yeah, he does it...he’s on it. He is the future to carry on the legend, the legacy of the organ, [of] the B-3.”
-Dr. Lonnie Smith
Blades says, “my whole thing is having a foot in the past and trying to have a foot in the future and to bring those two worlds together as much as possible.”
That influence harkens back to Blades’ roots in Chicago, where he grew up playing drums and guitar in rock and funk bands. He moved west to study jazz at the New College of California, where he studied with bassist Herbie Lewis. “It was a real old school jazz education,” Blades recalls. “With Herbie, it was almost a Mr. Miyagi thing, life lessons where I’d be wondering, ‘Why am I cleaning the music room right now?’ But as I got older I started to appreciate these fundamental, basic lessons that were actually very deep and useful, more so than what scale to play over what chord.”
Wil Blades ably carries on the organ tradition while infusing it with modern influences, suggesting an exciting future for the instrument.
Wil Blades
"Yeah, he does it...he’s on it. He is the future to carry on the legend, the legacy of the organ, [of] the B-3.”
-Dr. Lonnie Smith
Blades says, “my whole thing is having a foot in the past and trying to have a foot in the future and to bring those two worlds together as much as possible.”
That influence harkens back to Blades’ roots in Chicago, where he grew up playing drums and guitar in rock and funk bands. He moved west to study jazz at the New College of California, where he studied with bassist Herbie Lewis. “It was a real old school jazz education,” Blades recalls. “With Herbie, it was almost a Mr. Miyagi thing, life lessons where I’d be wondering, ‘Why am I cleaning the music room right now?’ But as I got older I started to appreciate these fundamental, basic lessons that were actually very deep and useful, more so than what scale to play over what chord.”
Wil Blades ably carries on the organ tradition while infusing it with modern influences, suggesting an exciting future for the instrument.
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