Earth, Wind & Fire

After more than 30 years of making music, legendary band Earth, Wind & Fire performs on the island for the first time at the Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival to be staged next weekend in Montego Bay.

"We're very excited about visiting Jamaica... [The audience can] look forward to a great band with a great catalogue of songs coming to rock the house," said percussionist Ralph Johnson yesterday in a phone interview from Los Angeles. Johnson, who joined the band in 1972 after founder Maurice White dissolved the initial line-up, has weathered the climate of a constantly changing industry.

Notwithstanding, he has been one of the longest serving members of the band. The veteran musician told Splash how the 30-odd-year-old band manages to stay fresh.

"Clive Davis was the president of the label (Columbia Records) and he made sure we stayed out there in the public's ears and eyes through the decades," Johnson added. He noted that people, within the last couple of years, have taken an interest in the group's sound.

"You have fans bringing their children and grandchildren to hear us perform... a lot of today's generation really grew up listening to our music," Johnson said, explaining why his group still has a cult following.

Johnson maintained that the sampling of "old school" (70s music tracks) by some hip hop artistes introduces their music to a whole new generation. And this, he believes, helps to keep the popularity of their music out there.

But that, for the most part, only accounts for the listening public in North America. Their popularity spreads far and wide, and perhaps no audience outside the States will be more receptive than the one they'll perform for at next week's staging.

Though he and his band mates knew of their popularity locally, he said a trip to Jamaica before now couldn't happen because "certain logistical considerations would have to be given."

"We figured...but we didn't know the extent of our popularity. We just couldn't show up in Jamaica and play, we had to wait for the right promoter and the right show to bring us down there on the level at which we're used to performing. Before now, it would be pointless," Johnson said.

Johnson noted too, that the veteran musicians, whose latest album, Illumination (released in 2005) received a Grammy nomination, are still recording, but visitors to the festival can come expecting to hear all the hits.

"You can come expecting to hear the favourites like Shining Star, Reasons, September, Boogie Wonderland - all the hits, man," Johnson said.

And will patrons be seeing a different side of Earth, Wind & Fire, perhaps an experiment with a reggae-infused number?
"It'll just be a pure Earth, Wind & Fire performance... and there's no telling where that could go," he said before erupting into laughter.

The supergroup, which has recorded an impressive 23 albums, done several other compilations and released countless chart-topping singles, are billed to perform on January 27 - the final night of the Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival.

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