Soul Talkin': Preston Glass
PRESTON GLASS: HEART OF GLASS by Jeff Lorez (Dejanu Music) Los Angeles, November 2006: While Preston Glass may not have scaled the dizzying heights of the likes of Jam & Lewis and LA & Babyface in the late ‘80’s, he was certainly a prominent fixture in the rolodex’s of many an A&R exec during the latter part of the decade and into the ‘90’s, working with a who’s who of R&B staples such as Natalie Cole, Kenny G, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Jermaine Jackson, The Stylistics and many more. While he has branched into other areas of the music biz of late such as film scoring, soundtracks and even teaching, Glass has also put to good use all those big name friendships he made during the halcyon ‘80’s and has conjured up a soulful, AC concept album, “Street Corner Prophecy” that features Al Jarreau, Maurice White, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Wilton Felder, Johnny Mathis, The Spinners and more.
Preston Glass: It’s a labor of love. In the back of my mind I’ve always wanted to do. Because I consider myself a songwriter/producer first and that’s my primary thing, I knew it was something that would come around at the right time. I was actually producing a couple of projects for this label, BCS Records and they’re the ones who presented this idea to me – to be an artist. I knew if I did that I would have to call in reinforcements. Once they offered me that opportunity, I started thinking about who I would bring along and what the lyrics would be. I wanted some kind of continuity. I wanted to do an album that was musically cool and diverse. I didn’t want it to be just a bunch of love songs. Not in a preachy way but something that would make you think. There were a couple of songs such sitting there. One was the Al Jarreau song “Think Twice” which was originally going to be part of his “Tomorrow, Today” CD. He was in between labels when we did that. The people at the label loved that and that sparked the whole thing. The Johnny Mathis song was also one that was sitting there. I’ve known him for years and worked with him back in the late ‘80’s. We’ve always stayed in touch. A few years back I played him this uptempo thing I had and he said, “Yeah I’d like to try my hand at that” but basically he was in semi retirement. When I was putting this together, he calls me. Soulmusic.com: Where did you record it? P.G.: I have a home studio that I built a couple of years ago. I started writing songs for the project. The song “Street Corner Prophecy” was one that I’d written but didn’t have a place for it. The label is a smooth jazz label that does a few R&B things so that song has some smooth jazz elements. So I worked out of the home studio and a few studios in Hollywood. I also worked with my brother, who’s based out of London and we transferred some files. In fact, the title cut features an 18 year old British singer, Juliette Ashby. Soulmusic.com: Are you always writing just for the love of writing songs or do you write for specific projects? P.G.: More often that not I’m inspired by a project that comes across my desk or I want to purse. That inspires you. For instance Whitney Houston is looking for new material and Clive put the word out and I’ll write some things for her based on what she might need. Soulmusic.com: How did you get Maurice White involved in this album. I wasn’t aware that he was actively doing music these days. P.G.: He’s someone I worked with back in the late ‘80’s on the “Touch The World” album. Quietly, he and I have written about 40 songs over the years. “Breakin’ In A Brand New Heart” was written for Heather Headly but it never got to her attention, so we changed it into a male key. His health is a lot better now and he’s taking more of an active role in EW&F and they are about to release a tribute CD to him on Concord Records. Soulmusic.com: You were working with everyone in the ‘80’s. What are your memories of those times? P.G.: It was a time of musicality. Also creative freedom because synths, music video, rap/hip-hop were all coming in so the boundaries were being extended musically. You could write about anything and try different things. I was in my early ‘20’s. Thom Bell from the Philly sound gave me my start. He was a great orchestrator and arranger. I noticed even 7,8,9,10 most of the records I liked were his records so he was someone I pursued. I’ve worked with a lot of English groups but actually only been there once. In the ‘80’s working with Narada Michael Walden in the Bay Area was somewhat a throwback to what I imagine the early days of Motown to have been. He had a been office and writing rooms with a bunch of great musicians such as Randy Jackson (from American Idol) and Walter Afanansieff (Mariah Carey) came out of there, all of whom became great producers in their own right. The sessions were like great musicians getting together and working together and the songs took on a whole new shape. In fact, “Freeway Of Love” when it was first presented everyone thought it was too bubblegum but when the musicans got on it, it took on another life. I loved those recordings with the other musicians. Thom Bell’s productions were more structured as opposed to Narada’s which was totally loose and I’m glad I learned from both of those things. Soulmusic.com: It seems the music industry seems content to have put a lot of the veteran producers from that era “out to pasture”, when obviously their talent hasn’t diminished. P.G.: A lot of the older cats in their minds are as sharp as ever but the industry considers them dinosaurs. I write with a lot of young kids and I don’t see much difference. In fact, I wrote recently with Lamont Dozier and he was so happy to be writing. We wrote 4 songs in one days. I don’t see that passion with the young kids. Here’s Lamont, he never has to write another song in his life. The labels don’t understand the resources that these veteran producers are. If they put the young kids with the vets it would a great combination. Soulmusic.com: What are you up to currently? P.G.: Evelyn Champagne King who sang on my record, I went ahead and got her a deal, so I’m doing her whole solo album right now. I’m also about to make a deal for the Stylistics do to a new project and I'm working on a certain 'David Nathan''s new CD! :) A lot of these artists who don’t see the vision, I see the vision and put the deal together for them. I’m doing a lot more of that than I’m used to even though I’m a songwriter first. Soulmusic.com: What are some of the highlights of your career? P.G.: The collaborating with the many people I’ve collaborated with. From Michael Masser to Thom Bell, Linda Creed, Maurice White. The process of doing all that is so enjoyable. And to be able to call a lot of those people still friends is great. Soulmusic.com: What have been the turning points in your career? P.G.: When I had the opportunity to produce this unknown sax player, Kenny G. The only producing I’d done before that was a couple of co-productions on Stacy Lattisaw and Johnny Gill. They’d presented Kenny G to Narada to produce and he didn’t want to do it. I’d expressed an interest because when I was up in Seattle with Thom Bell I’d met Kenny with Jeff Lorber. We didn’ t expect the album to do what it did. Kenny was about to get dropped. All the other jazz acts did get dropped. So when the first two singles came out and didn’t do anything, he was getting ready to be on the chopping block. To his credit, he told Clive to put “Songbird” as a single and he said he’d pay for the promotion and the video out of his own pocket. His career exploded. I started getting all these calls from there from sax players. That was a turning point. I was a writer on 6 or 7 songs on the album. It’s sold around 12 million copies to date. Soulmusic.com: Is music still your main source of income these days or do you have other business interests? P.G.: On the songwriting/publishing side is really where the money is, especially when you start owning some catalog. I have a relationship with an off shoot of Universal – Universal Music Publishing Library – UMPLmusic.com. I’m on there and they try to place music in unique avenues – video games etc. I’ve also taught at UCLS and San Francisco State when I was in the Bay Area. I keep myself busy. (c) 2006, Dejanu Music |
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