Apparently Stevie Wonder decided to jump on stage with The Jazz Mafia at Coda Saturday night. Sounds like fun:
When Stevie Wonder got on stage at Coda he acknowledged the band and was very polite and gracious. Stevie got a mic and did a short “sermon” about how beautiful this music is – talked about the connection between John Lennon and Donny Hathaway, and how those songs moved him when he first heard them. I think Joe’s version of that song really did inspire Stevie to get up on stage with us – I feel like if we woulda played a funk jam instead, it would’ve probably not happened the same at all. Anyway, as the song wound down and Joe gave 110% we could tell Stevie wanted to SING too – he was inspired. So we chatted with him for 5 seconds and decided on the tune “All Day Sucker” which is a tune we used to play a lot in Supertaster and also with Realistic Orchestra for the annual Stevie Wonder Birthday Tribute that we put on. I have to say that when he started singing the song it was beyond goosebumps…the crowd was going completely insane yet being very respectful, the band was playing better than ever and we honestly had no idea that Stevie would even want to sing with us. He did what I felt like was my favorite version of that song ever. As the tune was nearing a stopping point a leaned over to Bagale and suggested testing the water by playing the riff from “Can’t Help it”, the hit song he wrote for Michael Jackson. Joe gave me a huge smile and head nod.
(Photo Kathleen Neves | Thanks to EPA and Around the Bay for the writeup tip)
