The complete industry didn't look much different from what it does today. People want to hear what we've done to contribute to change it. The music industry is part of the greater entertainment industry. It is concerned about money, profit and money. And the only change I can really honestly say that I can see in the music, is the incredible growth of independence; not just from myself and other black companies, but white companies as well, where it's moved away from the big corporate control of the mega-companies of the thirties and forties that have their histories in the very beginning of the industry. It’s been kind of democratised in a way since the seventies. You could feel it.
I so much missed the music of the sixties and the seventies. That's not a very technical theoretical answer. But that's just an emotional response. The artists of the sixties and the seventies were voices of the community first and foremost, that's what I felt. Whereas today, I hear about black artists, you know, donating their money to political parties and things like that. In the sixties, that wouldn't have happened and even if it did happen - you know, because I do suspect, great artists like Bill Withers possibly did things like that - they kept it secret to themselves, and they were using that platform they were on to speak about issues, and it was from a genuine space. If you listen to Curtis Mayfield talking about ‘we people who are darker than blue’, he means that. This isn't just a marketing ploy or another way to get to number one - he means it's coming from the heart. When Bob Marley says ‘those who feel it know it’, he means that. So that's the difference I’m seeing. The industry is no longer ours: it belongs to hedge funds, marketing people. They've destroyed the power of art, I think.
One specific was the first time I played with Ernest Ranglin. I can't remember the date, it would have been early nineties. It was the first time he came to play with me… I knew him as a child, but it wasn't until my fifties that we actually got the opportunity to get him in the country. And which I believe kind of helped restart his career and people's interest in him. I would have to say that was a big one. But then there's been so many, you know!
And the Queen I mean, meeting the Queen [in 2019]! I have to consider it as a high one, seriously. I already had an OBE but last year, after having a brain haemorrhage - pretty depressing place to be, you know, I've lost my mobility and all this sort of stuff. Then, literally, a few months later, I get to be one of three people with the Queen herself in a room talking about music and art. I'm this close to the Queen of England and she says ‘Gary’. I mean, Jesus Christ. ‘I know how you jazz musicians think.’ And I’m there sitting thinking, ‘Is this for real?’ Now, I don't know if this will look good on paper, but I'm an ex-Rasta. You know, as a teenager, my name was Tetra Selassie. This is the Queen of Babylon. You know? Me, I sit down with the Queen of Babylon thinking, ‘Oh my god. I'm in the room. I could change history.’ And then she said, ‘I know what you jazz musicians do, you start with a little idea and you expand on it.’ And I was like, brilliant Queenie. I was just about to fist bump the Queen and I thought, ‘No, no, no, no, don't get too fresh.
When the band split up. It rejuvenated me… you know, I came to terms [with the fact] that two of the important band members had left, but I do remember being told on Friday, in quick succession, two of them phoned me, quite aggressive calls, to say, ‘It’s done, I won’t ever work with you again.’ That was a very bad weekend for me, because I was faced with possibly one of the biggest projects I had just falling apart in my hand. I lost a record company. I've lost all kinds of things, but when you start to lose core soldiers, then it becomes really worrying.
There's an orchestra I've been trying to develop called the New Civilization Orchestra. And they played The Proms with Monty Alexander at the Royal Albert Hall last year, with a choir of 100 singers and an orchestra. The orchestra is our orchestra. My friend who had helped initiate the gig was dying of cancer at the time, so he couldn't make it. So I found the seats that we were given and I imagined he was sitting beside me, you know, and we're looking at this. I’m looking at this band and looking at this just wonderful Black human being called Peter Edwards conducting this orchestra. I've known this guy from since he was a teenager. To see him in front of an orchestra, that was very proud. Yeah, proud and it proved something a philosopher I look up to says, that the ‘something you do today can inspire others to take action in the future.’ There I was looking at it, something me and Janine started, which we knew we possibly wouldn't be there to see the end of. But I can see what's coming by just looking at these young people on stage. He passed out university, he went to music school, he got a degree. I've known some of them from 12, 13; it proves it works. Environment does matter. Yeah. Environment does matter, given the chance anybody's capable.
I play for the team. Even though sometimes, I've been asked to leave the team, which is to my natural instinct, an uncomfortable position. But it's for the team. And if in some way I've either been chosen or asked to lead for the team, then I'll do that. I think that’s one of the strengths. I remember the first time I was asked to meet the Queen, I threw away the offer, I threw it across the room.
I didn't want to take the OBE, you know, I had to go through all kinds of asking my ex-Rasta friends, my Black community down in South London that I knew, I wanted to guarantee that if I did such a thing, they would understand and they wouldn't reject me, because I'm part of the team. There’s no amount of money or awards that can wipe away some of the pain that we felt as teenagers, as being part of the problem.
So me taking [the] OBE would help the company, would help the young people that I was dealing with, and that's how they convinced me to take it in the office. It was this big party about to kick off - champagne, and ‘Gary, look at this!’, and I went ‘I ain’t taking that’ because I saw what I had to lose was far greater than [an] OBE. Integrity, which is silly, sort of, because integrity doesn't put food on the table.
I hope I get a good retirement in a couple of years’ time. I have this strange way of looking at the future of not just my industry, but also my people and everything. I'm supposed to do what I can, within this time that I live, the future is not mine to decide. I don't want to sound like I don't care, but I'm hoping my industry could rediscover the functionality and the importance it had in the sixties. That’s the only hope I can hope for it because otherwise, I can't see anything pleasant that I actually like about it. I see people who are just really talented amateurs calling themselves billionaires. I mean, Jesus Christ, I grew up watching Ella Fitzgerald. You know, I was on tour with Mavis Staples, I did six days with Dionne Warwick. Right. Some hard drinking, smoking, cussing all dem... And as soon as showtime comes, I'm watching a proper professional. No swearing, human beings, civilised. And what I'm watching, from my community's point of view, is that we have these backward, uneducated juveniles representing black people. It's unbelievable. Everybody can sing. Curtis Mayfield could sing, Otis Redding could sing, you know, but now what we're seeing within especially the young - not the young, I shouldn’t say that - the R&B group, they have been totally hypnotised by money. And fame. Totally. And all I keep hearing about is ‘he’s a billionaire, he's a billionaire, he's a billionaire.’ Where's the mega black record company? Where's the mega black touring agency?
Study - study your craft is the most important thing. Take it to the nth degree. Be functional with your skills, and generous with your skills - to not just your audience, but your community, your immediate community. You must be functional. And believe in the power of arts to change lives. That's all we have. Enjoy the ride as well, because it's gonna be a nice ride.