A young drummer from Atlanta had a dream: he wanted to play in Earth, Wind & Fire when he grew up. He worked hard at his craft, honed his skills in school and in bands, and started cutting his chops in nationally-known bands. Then one day when he was 25, he got asked to join Earth, Wind & Fire.
Sonny Emory's dream did not end there, however. Over the years, he has provided the beats for some of the most recognized names in music while also creating original tunes with an astounding roster of talented musicians. Sonny is traveling to New Orleans later this month to lend his funk and soul to ours; he will play with Eric Clapton at the Smoothie King Center and he plans on performing his own headlining show.
Where Y'at had a chance to speak with Sonny about growing up in funk and making a living out of it.
WYAT: Are you excited about getting in front of an audience
for the first time since the pandemic began?
Sonny: We've been off now for a year and a half. I'm ready.
I've been staying busy though. I'm proud of myself because I said once we got
to this point of touring again, I wanted to have a new album done and I just
wanted to be a better player, a better person all the way around. I've managed
to do a couple of those things: better player and got a new project finished.
My single drops today. This particular album is just under Sonny Emory.
What I decided to do is just go back to Sonny Emory because
I've had different bands, different incarnations. I decided for this particular
project to just rock with Sonny Emory because I have a lot of stellar guests on
this one. Patrice Rushen is on the single. Bob James is on the album, Bobby
Lyle is on the album, Jimmy Haslip from the Yellow Jackets, Lenny Castro, one
of my dear friends and one of the world's greatest percussionists. So I'm
hoping we make some noise with this one.
WYAT: Why did you make the move from Atlanta to Los Angeles
after college?
Sonny: I had decided a long time ago that I wanted to be a number
one session guy, and I just wanted to be the very best drummer and musician
that I could possibly be. And I knew that I wanted to compete outside the city
of Atlanta. Coming up through high school, I had my own bands. And when I got
to Georgia State, I had a band together. We were actually the house band for
the afterparty for the Atlanta Jazz Festival one year. Yellow Jackets were on
that day, Chaka Khan, Joe Sample & The Crusaders, Lee Ritenour, they all
came down to this club after the gig, and my band was playing. All of them
heard me at the same time.
Joe Sample asked me to join his band that particular night.
He said, 'I think you'd do great in L.A.' He wanted to bring me out to L.A. to
start recording, and I was like, 'Great! Let's do it.' That's actually what
took me to Los Angeles. You only had three choices if you wanted to get in
deep: L.A., New York, or Nashville. I chose L.A. over New York in case I ended
up being a starving musician, I didn't want to be out on the street in the cold
in New York. That decision was all weather based. God intended for me to go to
Los Angeles. That's where I ended up, and the rest is history.
WYAT: You wanted to be a session musician rather than being
in a band?
Sonny: I wanted to tour, but I really wanted to be in the
studio as a session drummer because a lot of the guys that were doing the
bigger tours were doing all the major records back then too. I had my ear to
the ground a lot; I was listening to a lot of R&B, funk, then the jazz
fusion movement came in. Billy Cobham, Lenny White, Steve Gadd, all my heroes…those guys were doing it all; they were touring, they were recording, and they
were doing both. I patterned my entire career after them.
I was an Earth, Wind & Fire fan before I joined the
band. So seeing Maurice White do his thing being the band leader, seeing Phil
Collins be the band leader, seeing all these drummers be the band leader, and
not only being the band leader but having very successful projects gave me the
energy and the impetus to go, 'You know what? I can do that too.'
WYAT: I feel that recorded music and live music are totally
different mediums. Do you prefer one medium over the other?
Sonny: Both mediums have their own individual set of
challenges. To be successful at both, you have to pay attention to those
specific things that are required in both settings. I love the challenge of the
studio because you can sit and map things out. You can really, really dig deep
creatively. You can do that live too, but the challenge in the studio is when
that red light goes on. It's a challenge for especially a drummer to be rock
solid with the time and be creative, expressive, and have those tracks to feel
great like right away, not four or five hours later because there are other
songs to be done. That whole challenge of the studio…it really feeds a side of
me, but then there's nothing like stepping out on that stage and you've got a
hundred thousand people screaming at the top of their lungs.
Maurice White was a perfectionist, and just about every boss
I've had has been a perfectionist. I worked with Bette Midler for 16 plus
years; we're still really good friends. I talk to her often, but I tell her all
the time…she's such a perfectionist, it's just rubbed off on me just seeing
how she works and she's methodical with the live show. It has to be at a
certain quality. And Maurice used to say it all the time: we're doing high art.
That live show has to be of a certain quality. It takes a different type of
focus. You can't get so caught up in the hype of the audience being there that
you forget what's coming next and you blow a cue.
So many of the younger artists, they lean so heavy on the
box and the computer and the sequences, and all that stuff, but they don't get
a chance to really see what it's like when six or seven guys spend time
together and that music starts to morph into something different and more and
more special every night. Because they're locked into, 'We got 30 bars here at
that's it, the song's over.' Well, what happens if you step over into that 37th
bar? Or that 40th bar? That's when the magic happens sometimes.
That's the only thing about the computers and stuff nowadays. I like playing
with that stuff, but it doesn't give you the chance to gel as a band.
WYAT: Funk music is definitely all about collaboration and
working together, but you don't see as many young pure funk bands these days. What
is the state of funk today?
Sonny: I think people are missing the point. I think a lot
of the younger players, they try to make it what it is not. Funk is a feeling.
It's a feeling that's created when all of the parts are coming together
creating this one thing. You have a lot of players who are growing up in this
information age where they're learning all this stuff, all these licks off of
YouTube. That seeps into their playing, across the board every instrument: drums,
bass guitar, keys. People are just playing, playing, playing because they have
access to all this information. In a funk band, it's great to have all of that,
but once you find your part, you lock that in and the next guy does that, and
the next guy does that, and the next guy does that. Nobody is showboating.
If you listen to any James Brown track, nobody is
showboating. Everybody is playing their part. And that's what's giving you that
hypnotic, repetitious, undeniable groove. I think people are overthinking it.
Once you get into that groove, that's when the funk becomes alive and that's
when people start to feel it. Everybody is working together to create the same
thing.
New Orleans has been world famous for that to me. The second
line stuff, that stuff grooves like all get out. It's the same concept, the
same principal. Nobody's trying to show off; everybody's just making that thing
jam. It's the frame of mind that guys are in when they're playing.
WYAT: Is funk the main style or genre of music that you like
to play?
Sonny: I'm a funk baby. I'm a funkateer. I love anything
that's funky. I grew up playing a lot of jazz, and I really love it. I love
acoustic jazz, and I love all aspects of jazz: Dixieland, second-line stuff
that you guys got going on down there. It's beautiful. And I love playing that
stuff too. But for me, there's just something about hardcore funk. I think it
stems from my childhood. My mom was an R&B monster. I listened to Al Green,
James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, Aretha Franklin, Earth, Wind & Fire,
Cameo…just all these funk bands. That stuff just really got into my soul. I'm
a drum technician as well, so I'm really blown away by the fusion thing: Chick
Corea. I love playing that stuff, that feeds me too. If I had to choose one out
of all the genres, it would be the funk thing because it unites people. I like
to see a hundred thousand people just bobbing their head and grooving all
together in unity. They're throwing down some serious funk, The Meters!
I'm looking forward to coming to New Orleans and bringing
this new project. The name of the album is Soul Ascension. Looking
forward to having some great gumbo, etouffee, and all that good food y'all got
going on down there.