Photo by Adolphus Maples III
Trumpeter Bill McGee has touched seemingly every facet of the music industry, from playing in the band that became Brick to laying down trumpet on The Sugarhill Gang’s “Apache” to label owning, tour managing and teaching, most recently at Virginia State University. Did we mention he mentored a young D’Angelo? McGee decided to teach when polyphonic synthesizers became common in the 1980s. “Within two years, synthesizers had put all the live musicians out of business,” he says. But McGee has thrived thanks to his love of technology and mentoring younger players. “I don’t live in the past, I live in the future,” he says. “I get excited about what’s possible.” Slated for a March release, his next album, “The Tree of Life,” embodies the Richmond-based musician’s embrace of change. “I’ve got people from ages 75 to 18 playing on this album,” he says. “This is what music’s all about.”
Richmond magazine: What makes “Tree of Life” stand out compared to previous releases?
Artwork by Adolphus Maples III
Bill McGee: I’ve collaborated on this album with more people than ever. I was recording with TK Johnson the other day — a young drummer. TK Johnson is going to be the next Sheila E., or somebody. She’s a Berklee College of Music grad. This is what I love about music. The age difference doesn’t matter. I’m 50 years older than she is, and we’re in there, grooving together.
RM: How did work on the album start?
McGee: I teach classes at Virginia State in music technology. About a year ago, a student sent me a track that really had a lot of potential. It had a nice, deep drum, and it had some jazzy chord changes in it. So I said, “Hey man, I like this. I’m going to work on it.” It turned into a song that he and I did together, and it features a guitar player out of Italy — a guy named Roberto Tola I’ve collaborated with before.
RM: What are the advantages of being both a creator and an educator?
McGee: About a year and a half ago, I did the horns on this tune by Christian de Mesones that features pianist Bob James, and the song went to No. 1 on Billboard Smooth Jazz Airplay. Look, I’m 69, 70 years old and had my first No. 1 hit record that I played on. I demonstrate for my classes music that I’m working on, so for the fall semester class, I was showing them how they do the [Bob James song] “Hispanica (Instrumental)” horn arrangements. Then by the time the spring came around, the thing was a No. 1 hit record, and I got to share with the next class.
RM: Do you feel teaching is why you’re open to incorporating new approaches?
McGee: That’s part of it. I think the other part is having always been fascinated by technology. I was born in the early 1950s. Transistor radios didn’t come out until the mid- and late ’50s. I was one of those kids who got a transistor radio and had to take that thing apart to see what made it work. I tell all my classes, “You all don’t understand. I feel like I’m 18 years old because the technology that you all have is like a dream come true to somebody my age.”
“The Tree of Life” is scheduled to be released in early March on McGee’s 804Jazz label. For more information about Bill McGee’s music, visit 804jazz.com.
