Onaje Allan Gumbs
Musician/arranger
Forty year veteran of the music industry Onaje Gumbs, part of the musical genius behind mega hits of yesteryear like “Betcha By Golly Wow,” has reemerged on the scene with his latest album Just Like Yesterday which includes popular standards like Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon In The Sky,” the gap band’s “ Yearning for Your Love” and the Spinners’ “Ill Be Around.” Rolling out spoke with Gumbs about the album, the music and what’s next for him. -roz edward
You started your career in Buffalo, why not new York?
I ended up in Buffalo because I applied for a CO deferment … during that time in 1971 the Vietnam War was very heavily involved and they were using lottery system — my number was 49. I knew I was not going to go around killing people, this was not my MO and it was not in my DNA. … A friend of mine, Sabu Adeyola, asked me to come work at a city program in Buffalo, and actually this filled my obligations of having a CO deferment which required me to work in a non profit organization that’s more than fifty miles away from base, and Buffalo is 500 miles.
How did you move your career from Buffalo and on to the next phase?
Many musicians came through Buffalo including Norman Connors who had just completed his debut album and he was looking for somebody to write and arrange Brazilian pieces for his next album. I was standing right there … and I said, “I’m your person, I’m your man.” He worked with me to do the title track of his second album… I ended up doing arrangements for about five or six albums for Norman[Connors], the most famous of which would be my arrangement for “Betcha By Golly Wow.”
Your bio is so impressive and you have such a huge body of work. But you stayed in the background for a while. Why?
There are a lot of musician, composers, producers, who had been kind of in the background and who had contributed to a lot of work. I was rather happy doing that and I did get to play with some very incredible people, but still I didn’t feel ready to go out there because I wasn’t that comfortable with what was happening with the industry. Being a young man in my 20’s, I wasn’t really happy with what was going on and I didn’t want to take that responsibility.
… Many times a musician would write a piece of music, but it would be controlled by the record company and they would own all the publishing. But I was approached by MCA to work on their album and out of that record came Quiet Storm. Everybody enjoyed it, and that was the first of seven albums I have done as a solo artist.
Okay, lets talk about your latest Just Like Yesterday.
The concept was brought to me by a Japanese friend and producer who wanted me to do a record of R&B standards … I pretty much played everything acoustically … on the acoustic piano. At first I was not excited about it, but then I kind of warmed up to it and the project, and we ended up doing a lot of great tunes that had meaningful beats … that also included some jazz standards. The album kind of became a whole biography of a musical journey.
Is jazz making a resurgence?
I think that its always been kind of in the cut, but I think with Esperanza Spalding winning the Grammy for Best new Artist, it reinstated the importance of the music and the viability of the music. I applaud her for breaking the mold. I think she has a chance, because she has already been supported by people such as the president of the United States, and the music received a lot more visibility and a lot more credibility.
How do you feel about hip-hop?
I love certain types of hip-hop. I feel that it’s a genre that is very viable. … Hip-hop is not just music, it’s a lifestyle. You have poets who are hip-hop, you have dress and fashion that are hip-hop — although I do not like the young men that don’t keep their pants up, that part doesn’t do anything for me.
What’s next for you?
I’m finishing up a score for an all independent film called Delible. I am also doing engagements to introduce the audience to my Just like Yesterday and then kind of introduce them to Avery Sharpe’s new Album called Running Man that was actually dedicated to Jesse Owens.
