VERNON-REID-TIMELINE-2025

colors …
This is a Voyage into Sound
inst. of change
the players
instruments

 

 

Vernon Reid
“What’s Your Favorite Color?”
Living Colour 
1990 — Grammy Nominee Portrait
((( A Player )))

dave.

Overstaying Your Welcome Blues

“What’s Your Favorite Color” was a tune on Living Colour’s platinum debut, Vivid, in 1988. The extended version here was a performance at Sully’s Pub & Tiki Bar in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the closing song of WimBash 2013, the tenth of bassist Doug Wimbish’s annual event at the tiny bar and pizza joint in his hometown. His support of Sully’s and friendship with owner, Daryl (?) was always, and in 2013, it was the only club in Connecticut that featured LIVE MUSIC SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

Electric Guitarist
In the 1980s, LIVING COLOUR was a necessary reminder that Black musicians could rock as hard as anyone, a fact that became more obvious when the band exploded on MTV. Color Ribboned dreads, fluorescent green Body Gloves, Psychedelic Guitars, and Jimi Hendrix style jackets, making a “colorful” television debut on Saturday Night Live.

The Race to Space was On

No surprise that the first descriptions of Living Colour always made mention, if not focus on the obvious that the four members of Living Colour were Black, and it seemed unexpected that they would play with such seering Rock N Roll vigor. It was also immediately apparent, to anyone listening, that Vernon Reid saw ALL COLORS, and the lyrics were socially and politically active, and viciously honest.

Vivid‘s cover seemed appropriate … A colorful collage that not only visually represented the band’s political and social views, also represented Vernon’s abstract expressionist way of playing the guitar.

Having been schooled in Fusion and Jazz with Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society, he seamlessly fused Hard Rock, Metal, and Funk to New Wave, and Avant Punk. It was Vernon’s own style of Fusion that he was anxious to step out of the downtown New York shadow, and step into the pop culture light.

CBGB — Where it all began, dissolved, and reunited.

MEETING MICK — Having seen Living Colour at CBGB, Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stone, liked what he saw, and was instrumental in getting Sony Records to sign Vernon and the band to make Vivid.

STEEL WHEELS — Starting on an E-Ticket Ride

Living Colour’s anthem, “Cult of Personality,” features one of those unforgettable riffs, but the same with all virtuoso players, one song never paints a complete picture. Listening to Vivid and Time’s Up (Living Colour’s second album)one experience’s Vernon’s versatility, and understands why musicians, from Mick Jagger and Janet Jackson, to Public Enemy and John Zorn have asked Vernon to play on their records.

 

 

The Last Poets
Gil Scott-Heron
1978 — Saturday Night (Disco) Fever
Bee Gees
Rick James v. Ron Carter (Distinguished Gentleman)
1979 — Hip Hop Happens
THE ORIGINAL SUGAR HILL RHYTHM SECTION
Skip “Little Axe” McDonald (guitar)
Doug Wimbish (bass)
Keith LeBlanc (drums)
• Living Colour
• Tack>>Head
• Little Axe
• Bernard Fowler

Vernon Reid
w/Lenny White (“Hail To The Real Chief”)
w/Jack Bruce — Spectrum Road
w/Cindy Blackman — Give The Drummer Some
Carlos Santana
Kirk Hammett
John McLaughlin
Bill Connor
Earl Klugh
Al Di Meola
Carlos Santana
Eddie Hazel
Jeff Beck
Tommy Bolin
Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society
James Blood Ulmer (Are You Glad To Be In America?)
John Zorn (NYC @ The Knitting Factory)
Roy Hargrove
The Roots (NYC @ The Highline Ballroom)
Alex Skolnick (NYC @ Iridium)
(re.collections)

The Underground Railroad of Your Mind — On his semi-monthly broadcast (streaming on “Home”), Vernon plays and discusses favorites out of his vinyl record collection.

Electric Purgatory

• JIMI HENDRIX (ALONE)
• INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE (ELECTRIC GUITAR)
• PRINCE (THE ARTIST)
• THEY ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT (DOWNTOWN NYC)

BLUE (THE ORIGINAL COLOR OF SIN)
INST. OF CHANGE (ELECTRIC GUITAR)
EVOLUTION OF JAZZ (FUSION GUITAR)
A LIGHTER SHADE OF BLUE (YARDBIRDS)

Return to Forever
Bill Connors
Earl Klugh — Gold-Top Gibson Les Paul Guitar used while playing with Return To Forever (1975), between Bill Connors and Al Di Meola. (Vernon’s Guitars), Red Violin, Twenty Bucks, Captain Kirk.
Al Di Meola

Tommy Bolin
Zephyr
Bang (1973) 
Miami (1974)
Mind Transplant (1974)
Teaser (1975)
Come Taste the Band. (1975)
Private Eyes, (1976)
Tommy Bolin (The Drummers)
Billy Cobham Spectrum,
Alphonse Mouzon Mind Transplant
Jeff Porcaro
Narada Michael Walden
Ronald Shannon Jackson

“They Only Come Out At Night”
1981 — PARADISE GARAGE, COLUMBIA, MTV
Larry Levan / NYC Peech Boys (“Don’t Make Me Wait”)
David Mancuso (The Loft) Studio 54 (‎A Night at Studio 54, ‎Studio 54 (film), ‎54 Below, ‎Steve Rubell) The Roxy
King Crimson Discipline King Crimson’s first album after a seven-year hiatus. Only band co-founder and guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Bill Bruford remained from the previous incarnation. They were joined by two American musicians: guitarist, vocalist and lyricist Adrian Belew and bassist and backing vocalist Tony Levin. The album introduced a new sound for the band, influenced by new wave, post-punk and world music, while retaining an experimental character, helping lay the groundwork for what would eventually be known as post-progressive rock.
1982 — Bill Laswell (Material)
Bernard Fowler,  Nona Hendryx, and Whitney Houston.
Concrete Blonde, X Los Angeles , CDs introduced
1983 — Herbie Hancock (“Rockit / Future Shock“)
1984 — BEAT STREET, George Orwell 1984 (Book)
1985 — Dire Straits Brothers In Arms, Sting Bring On The Night (1986).

1985 — Living Colour
A Band Grows In Brooklyn
CBGB
Knitting Factory
Iridium
1985 — Mick Jagger
She’s The Boss
Artists United Against Apartheid
Miami Vice w/Jan Hammer

1986 — Jeff Beck Flash
Japanese Tour w/Jan Hammer, Doug Wimbish, Simon Phillips, Steve Lukather, Jimmy Hall, Santana, Alphonso Johnson
Keith Leblanc “Major Malfunction”
Adrian Sherwood (ON-U SOUND)
1986 — King Missile, Paul Simon Graceland, Challenger.
1987 — Mick Jagger Primitive Cool, NWA,
1988 — Vivid
Colors (Movie)
Bloods v. Crips
Robert Duvall,
Sean Penn,
Dennis Hopper,
Bill Hicks (LA Riots),
Michelle Shocked
1989 — “Elvis Is Dead”
Living Colour International Rock Awards “Best Newcomer”
1989 — Bill Hicks Dangerous
Rolling Stones
1989 — Steel Wheels Tour (album)
1990 — Time’s Up
Hubble Telescope
1991 — Lollapalooza
Biscuits (EP) New Jack City (Movie)
“Living For The City”
Troop and LeVert w/ Queen Latifah
New Jack City (Soundtrack)
1991
((( song )))

Warner Bros.

Ice-T (Body Count)
Bill Hicks (HBO) One Night Stand
Public Enemy (“Funny Vibe”) w/ Living Color
1992 — Seattle (Grunge)
Nirvana Nevermind, Singles (Movie)
Annie Lennox Diva
1993 — Stain
Living Colour No Dread (Live)
Little Axe Never Turn Back
Billy Idol Cyberpunk
Judgement Night (Movie)
“Me, Myself, & My Microphone” (Run DMC w/ Living Colour)
•Bill Hicks (Arizona Bay)
1994 — Little Axe The Wolf that House Built (Okeh)
1995 — Living Colour Pride Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” w/ Sting, 
Annie Lennox Medusa. O.J. Simpson (Getting Away With Murder)
1996 — Vernon Reid Mistaken Identity
Little Axe Slow Fuse.  (Lillehammer Winter Olympics)
1997 — Bill Clinton, Naked Launch, Harry Potter …
1998 — Corey Glover Hymns (Vice)
1999 — Herb Alpert, Colors, Y2K
by Jonathan Widran
It would be easy for the former Tijuana Brassman and founder of A&M to just rest on his career achievements or just make music to pass the time, but instead, the 60-something trumpeter rings in with one of the year’s most remarkable jams. Alpert’s recent output has ranged from the heart of smooth jazz (Second Wind, produced by Jeff Lorber) to fiery Latin (Passion Dance), but here the muse takes him to the mystical world of studio-bred trip-hop. Working with multi-instrumentalists and producers Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbish, Alpert surrounds his muted trumpet with hypnotic vibes and ambiences — some of which seem to drift into the sonic atmospheres, others bred from thick machine generated exotic percussion textures percolating over throbbing urban bass grooves. While ethereal experimentation with tons of cool studio equipment and sonic possibilities seems to be the general philosophy, he hasn’t forgotten his Latin roots. The opening track, “Libertango,” features a lighthearted horn melody drifting over a throbbing urban bass groove, percussion clicks, and the galloping flamenco flavors of Wimbish’s acoustic guitar, all wrapped up in a dramatic synth orchestral sweep. “Dorita” centers Bernard Fowler‘s Spanish vocals amidst a wacky swirl of pitter patter and marching percussion, spacey sound effects, exotic soundscaping, moody retro keyboards, and Alpert’s catchy, laid-back melody. Bridging past and present, Alpert approaches Burt Bachrach’s “The Look of Love” as if it were a Miles Davis/Brian Eno collaboration, his smoky horn enhanced by his wife Lani Hall‘s breathy vocals. He also covers himself with a new hip-hop shuffle arrangement of his popular early-’80s gem, “Magic Man.” Older and wiser than either Rick Braun or Chris Botti, Alpert gives the genre’s two top horn guns a powerful run for their smooth jazz money.