 Working
with actor Jim Brown, who co-owned a management company, EWF began making the rounds,
playing clubs throughout L.A., "living communally in one house and using all my
savings", recalls Maurice. "We did showcases at different places. Joe Smith (now
Chairman of Capitol Records) at Warner Brothers saw some potential, signed us to the
label, designated us a staff producer (Joe Wissert) and we cut our first album at Sunset
Sound."
The group's debut LP yielded a light hit in the form of "Love is Life" in July
1971. A second LP The Need Of Love was released in early '72. A single, "I Think
About Lovin' You" provided EWF with a Top 40 r&b hit. With the same line-up,
the group began touring, playing mostly for college audiences. Included in the schedule
was a trip to Denver, Colorado, which was home for an aspiring musician named Philip
Bailey.
Like Maurice White, Bailey began playing drums by using two sticks on a trash can
"and making a whole bunch of noise! And also like White, a big band parade provided
inspiration. While other kids were playing with toys, I was making mock
saxophones!" |
|
Jazz - via greats like Miles Davies, Max Roach, Art Blakey and Tony
Williams - played a significant role in Bailey's development, but one vocalist was his
dominant influence. "I always had this big range, my falsetto, came from listening to
guys like Eddie Kendricks and Smokey Robinson. Actually it was Dionne Warwick who most
affected me...it was Dionne, and Mahalia Jackson..."
Bailey's biggest quandary was deciding whether to focus on singing or playing drums. He
chose drums and with schoolmates Larry Dunn (on keyboard) and Andrew Woolfolk (on sax), he
played with local group, Friends & Love. "We played all kinds of music: Blood,
Sweat & Tears, Ten Wheel Drive, Three Dog Night, Sly, Carole King. Denver wasn't a
heavy black urban area...I think once I joined EWF, I brought a certain pop
sensibility to it...."
Bailey had heard EWF's first album through friend Perry Jones who was working as
local promo man for Warner Brothers. "We started some of their music in clubs and we
ended up being the opening act when the group came to town in '71. I thought Maurice was a
very unusual kind of guy: he had a certain charisma even then. Verdine was the really
hyper guy, lots of energy. To begin with, they were very "Chicago" kinda
distant. I also remember they were wearing bell-bottoms and you could really smell that
coconut oil they were using!"
 Continues in The CBS Years [1972-1973]...
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THE
WARNER YEARS