Stevie Wonder
singer-songwriter
Motown singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; Barry names him as the exception among today’s songwriters, someone who has written quite a few pretty songs.
- mentions
- 2
- recordings
- 2
- Barry speaking
- 0
What Barry says
Talking about how jazz was cut off from dancing, Barry says his generation had pretty songs to remember, while the present one has few. Stevie Wonder is his exception: he has written quite a few pretty songs, though Barry adds that that is about it.
He sets Wonder apart from what he calls noisy guitar songs, made by guitar players who know only three chords yet make the money and set themselves up as authorities on how to live.
In his own words
See, this generation, I have pretty songs – not too many pretty songs to remember. But Stevie Wonder, he’s written quite a few pretty songs, but that’s it, not too many, you know.
Every mention
2 moments in the recordings, 0 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
- 59:16
Someone else
A speaker in a Detroit TV programme suggests that listening to Stevie Wonder also means hearing a Shango rhythm.
My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris
- 48:21
A teacher
Chris Parks mentions a podcast by Open Studio’s founders spending an hour on a Stevie Wonder album; nothing about Barry.
In the interviews and notes
Barry tells Aaron Graves that jazz should never have been separated from dancing, and that his generation had pretty songs to remember. Today there are few; Stevie Wonder has written quite a few, but otherwise there are noisy guitar songs.
A guitarist who went to Barry’s classes and spoke with him weekly writes that Barry can surprise you: it surprised him when Barry said he liked Stevie Wonder’s writing.
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