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August 29, 1996 AUGUSTA FOCUS
SN A S 4
Gl Yy
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Hleming s fohn
If you were to ask Fleming
McWilliams and John Mark Paint
er what their music is all about,
their honest answer — delivered
with a friendly chuckle, perhaps
— would be simple: Music. From
anearly age, both were enthralled
‘By the alluring spell of creativity,
‘and their years of making music
_for the sheer joy of it find expres
sion on their debut Universal
‘Recordsalbum, Delusionsof Gran
“deur. The songs within explore
the interaction of artistic expres
‘sion withlife, love and the modern
“yorld. Because for Fleming &
“John, music is their life, and vice
versa.
* “The music we make comes from
our lives,” notes Fleming, “and we
are doing the music we love.” Al
“though it’'s taken the duo some
'éeight years of hard work since
sthey first joined forces to start
“having a widespread impact, the
spay-off is already evident in the
guzz created by Delusions of Gran
leur after its initial independent
“release. According to Alternative
#Press, “Fleming & John explode
awith big, grandiose productionand
5 soaring female voice that can fill
stadiums with broad, excessive
emotions. It’s pure, heavy gor
geousness ...” Their “sophisticat
®d, distinctive pop” (Nashville
Scene) hasearned substantial air
“play on new rock, album rock and
“adult alternative stations in such
%ley markets as Atlanta, Phoenix,
Memphis, Norfolk and their
“homebase of Nashville, as well as
an Europe. Meanwhile, the band
% whichalsofeaturesbassistStan
Rawls and drummer Shawn
McWilliams (Fleming’s brother)
% has gone from packing Nash
ille’s largest clubs to carving out
@ tour circuit across the South
east.
% Thesymmetry between vocalist
#xtraordinaire and lyricist
#lemingMcWilliams and compos
#r, arranger and multi-instrumen
#alist John Mark Painter is fasci-
Mating. “He’s everything I'm not,”
€xplains Fleming. “I would come
#p with melodies and words, and
%e’s so good at voicings.”
& “Iwasreally neverinterested in
§lriting whole songs,” John notes.
# always wanted to take some
thing and do arrangements and
production.”
% Music was “so important in our
ievelopment, but in really differ
#nt ways,” says Fleming. Both the
g:ildren of teachers, they flour
%hed musically at an early age.
McWilliams was raised in the
small town of East Prairie, Mo.
fpopulation: 3,400), a town with
Ho stop light, no fast food restau
fants and no record store. “It’s
¥ery small and very Southern,”
she explains. From the first time
e sangin publicin first grade, “I
Enew I wanted to sing. The whole
mmunity got it into their heads
t I was going to be a famous
er.” She sang anywhere there
as anything resembling a stage:
urch services, weddings, funer
%the high-school jazz band, the
ual school musical and even
rm co-op meetings.
Her yearning to create was so
rong, she recalls, “I would lock
yself in the bathroom, which
as the only place in the house I
uld have any privacy, and just
and sing for hours, making it
1 up. It was like a meditative
ocess for me.”
Meanwhile, Painter was growing
in Miami with a father “who
Eally wanted me to be a musician.
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“Fleming and John are the carpenters of the
’Bos with Led Zeppelin’s rhythm ti ”
pp ythm section...
Ben Folds of Ben Folds Fi
Says ben roias or ben roias rive.
He would buy me these different
instruments: trumpet, saxophone,
bass, guitars, an organ,” explains
John. By 11, he was transcribing
arrangements off Beatles records.
At 12, he got his first four-track
recorder. By 13, he started taking
music classes at the local communi
ty college, and at 14 he graduated
from high school.
“lalways used totell people that
I wanted to be a producer and
arranger,” he says, adding with a
rueful laugh, “It’s a curse.”
For both of them, the question
was how to make their own delu
sions of grandeur come true. Re
calls Fleming, “I used to see peo
ple sing on TV and wonder, ‘How
did they get there?”
The initial answer for both was
the commercial music program at
Belmont College in Nashville,
where they met and started mak
ing beautiful music together on
John’s four-track. But, as Fleming
notes, “It’s hard to sit in a class
room and talk about performing
and not go out and do it.”
[ts Our Pleasure.
An offer to play in a band for a
year at a Grand Cayman Islands
resort “became a great way to quit
school,” says John, as well as a
chance to hone their act on stage.
They worked on their songs and
demos late into the night after
their shows, and spent their days
sunning, swimming and scuba
diving. By the time they returned
to Nashville, Fleming & John had
found their sound and upgraded
toan eight-track home studio, but
had alsotraded in paradise for 49-
centtacos asthey tried to get their
band off the ground.
A 1991 show during the Nashville
Extravaganza showcase with their
band and a string quartet got the
ball rolling, attracting 700 people
and sparking a music industry rip
ple. They secured a publishing deal
with EMI Music, got married, solid
ified the band in its current line-up
and then proceeded to spend the
next few years in unfulfilled court
ship with a number of record labels
while building a loyal fan base in
Nashville that started expanding
art « music ¢ literature « theatre
outward through the Southeast re
gion. Meanwhile, John forged a ca
reer playing sessions, and after pro
ducer Peter Collins heard the band
play atone Nashville show, he hired
John to play guitar, trumpet and
accordion, and arrange strings on
the Indigo Girls’ Swamp Ophelia
and on Nanci Griffith’s Flyer.
Fleming & John formed a creative
alliance with fellow musician Ben
Folds, sharing bills with his critical
ly-acclaimed Ben Folds Five
throughout the South, and recruit
ing Folds to play drums on some of
the tracks for their debut album.
Eventually, they released Delu
sions of Grandeur, recorded in
their home studio, on the Nash
ville-basedindieß.E.X., and start
ed earning airplay and pressraves.
Thanks to its success, Fleming &
John finally caught the ear of the
newly formed Universal Records,
which is making Delusions one of
its first releases, with “I'm Not
Afraid” (“out of the gate, a run
away smash,” says Alternative
Press)asthefirstsingle and video.
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Jean Carne
Internationally renowned vo
calist Jean Carne will grace the
stage at Paine College’s 7th An
nual Evening of Jazz. The con
cert will take place at the Jessye
Norman Amphitheater
(Riverwalk Augusta)on Septem
ber 1 from 6 to 10 p.m. She will be
one of four artists to perform at
this year’s concert. Ms. Carne
has recorded on a number of la
bels, including CBS, Motown,
Atlantic and Philadelphia’s In
ternational. Known for her in
credible range, Ms. Carne has
performed all over the world and
has recently collaborated with
such artists as Stevie Wonder
and Grover Washington Jr. Her
No. 1 record Closer Than Close
helped establish her as one of the
most commanding vocalists of
our time. Her new CD, Love Les
sons, on the Mola Label, just re
ceived an enthusiastic review in
Billboard and is quickly becom
ing a favorite among her many
fans.
Test your jazz I.Q.
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1. What instruments did Erskine
Hawkins start out playing?
2. Who gave Quincy Jones his
first trumpet lesson (a profes
sional)?
3. He plays the harmonica and
guitar, but he also whistles pro
fessionally. What is his name?
4, He was born on January 17,
1937 in Port Arthur, Texas. He
graduated in 1959 from Texas
Southern University with a de
greein pharmacy. He is a profes
sional guitarist and is on the
staffof Livingston College. Name
him.
5. Oliver Nelson, Benny Golson,
Benny Carter and J.J. Johnson
have what in common in addi
tion to being musicians?
6. Name the group that has re
worked the name of a popular
New Orleans group the Dukes of
Other acts at the 7th Annual
Evening of Jazz include local fa
vorites Playback “The Band,”
Confirmation and JUST US.
Ticket prices are sls for adults
and $7 for students with ID and
children 12 and under. Tickets
are available at Paine College
(Haygood-Holsey 115), Pyramid
Music and Video and Home
Folks. Call (707) 821-8233 for
tickets and additional informa
tion. This event benefits the 1996
Paine College-United Negro Col
lege Fund Joint Campaign.
Paine College is a four-year,
church-related, residential, liber
al arts college. Its mission of pro
viding an education of high qual
ity in a wholesome and nurturing
environment has not changed
since its founding in 1882. Paine
is supported by The United Meth
odist Church, the Christian Meth
odist Episcopal Church, and the
United Negro College Fund. Dr.
Shirley A. R. Lewis is president of
Paine College.
Dixieland.
7. What instrument is played by
McCoy Tyner, Art Tatum, Bill
Evans and Bud Powell?
8. What was Duke Ellington’s
recording of “Black, Brown and
Beige” lacking?
9. What do Kevin Eubanks, Doc
Severinsen and Brandford
Marsalis have in common?
10. What was the title of the first
talking film?
11. What do Jon Hendricks, Sa
rah Vaughn, Jackie Cain, Jackie
Paris and Cleo Laine have in
common other than being sing
ersand at times singing with the
same musicians?
12. What instruments make up
the basic of the jazz ensemble?
13. Saxophonist John Coltrane
isknown for playing various sax
ophones. What brass instrument
did he play?
14. Who are Jabbo Smith, Sidney
De Paris, Phil Napoleon and
George Mitchell?
15. Who was the leader of a com
bo called Morton’s Red Hot Pep
pers?
16. Who is considered the father
of stride piano?
17. Name the two most outstand
ing modern trumpeters that
made coronet popular in jazz.
18. Is the Smithsonian Collec
tion of Classic Jazz a collection of
recordings or paintings?
19. What saxophonist was fea
tured in the movie ‘Round Mid
night?
20. Upon what two musicians
was the movie based? :
Answers on page 16