Yesterday one of the musicians died who influenced so many of my colleagues: Maurice White. I think all the big band people I knew were dreaming of playing in Earth Wind & Fire (EWF) when we were in our late teens and early twenties because of this cd. Maurice White and his younger brother Verdine White founded the band already in 1969. Maurice White started out as a jaz drummer. In the first albums you still hear a big jazz and latin influence, also in the instrumental tunes. Maurice was not "only" a drummer, he wrote most of the tracks, producer, arranger, band leader and last but not least co-lead singer together with Philip Bailey. This cd from 1996 is what got my generation into: "EWF: Plugged in and live", also called "Live in Velfarre" or "Greatest Hits Live". Appearently they sold the material to a couple of rcord labels. By my knowledge it's all the same concert, with Morris Pleasure on keys and Scott Mayo on sax. Hard to find these days but people uploaded it to Youtube, so we can enjoy it here:
All their big hits who are so universal and made so many people dance throughout the last third of last century and still do. It's incredible. Put a EWF tune on any party and people will start dancing or keep dancing.
Due to copyrights I cannot post the whole clip on YouTube, only 60 secondsBut it's on Facebook and InstagramThis true classic always works... Man with the Red Face (Here's the Hardwell Remix)Haarlem's Grand Market was on fire!So lovely to see so many people enjoying our performance.Dennis van der Geest & Bjørn (dj's)Jackie Lou (vocals+filming)Susanne Alt (saxophone)Filmed by Robert Glass and Jackie Lou on August 15th, 2025 during Haarlem Jazz & More, the Netherlands - Yesterday one of the musicians died who influenced so many of my colleagues: Maurice White. I think all the big band people I knew were dreaming of playing in Earth Wind & Fire (EWF) when we were in our late teens and early twenties because of this cd. Maurice White and his younger brother Verdine White founded the band already in 1969. Maurice White started out as a jaz drummer. In the first albums you still hear a big jazz and latin influence, also in the instrumental tunes. Maurice was not only a drummer, he wrote most of the tracks, producer, arranger, band leader and last but not least co-lead singer together with Philip Bailey. This cd from 1996 is what got my generation into: EWF: Plugged in and live, also called Live in Velfarre or Greatest Hits Live. Appearently they sold the material to a couple of rcord labels. By my knowledge it's all the same concert, with Morris Pleasure on keys and Scott Mayo on sax. Hard to find these days but people uploaded it to Youtube, so we can enjoy it here:All their big hits who are so universal and made so many people dance throughout the last third of last century and still do. It's incredible. Put a EWF tune on any party and people will start dancing or keep dancing.
