Picture an
energetic and vibrant soul singer, who was born in New York and who has worked
as an exemplary ambassador of soul music for fifteen years during his globetrotting
days. He has performed in China for almost ten years and visited such places
as Turkey, the U.K., Switzerland, Romania, Bali, Indonesia, Moscow (Russia),
Norway and France. Where do you think such a soul messenger and flag-bearer
goes to record his upcoming and in his own words his best album yet?
Self-evidently, to the magnetic hotspot of soul music – Helsinki, Finland!
Carlton 14 years old in school
IN SPANISH HARLEM
Carlton Jumel
Smith was born on May 11 in 1960 in New York. “I still have my apartment
there. I was born in Harlem, but I was raised in Spanish Harlem – 103rd
and Lexington Avenue – and I want to name my upcoming album 1634 Lexington
Avenue, because that’s where it all began for me.”
Carlton’s
mother, Corrine Brown, had a big influence on him, but neither she nor
Carlton’s father were in anyway involved in the music business. “She was my
first deejay. She always played records and had music going. My father passed
away, when I was very little, so I don’t really remember much of him, but my
mother was always there and she was the one to take me to concerts and buy me
records. She wasn’t a singer or anything like that, but she was a wonderful
woman.”
For Carlton,
East Harlem was a rewarding environment to grow up. “You hear about things
now, how crazy it was in the 60s, but I wasn’t really aware of it, because my
mother kept the household full of love and soul music. And when you’re
listening to soul music all day and allnight... you’resurrounded by love so that’s all I ever knew. She
had love and respect for everyone, so I didn’t witness hate. We would go down south
to visit my grandparents in South Carolinaand
even then I didn’t witness it. Of course there was racism but my grandparents kept
me shielded from it. Growing up was wonderful. My mother kept the house full
of music, people and good times. I have three sisters. I’m the only boy. Lord,
have mercy!”
Carlton himself
has two biological daughters, Misa Love – a singer in her own right - and
Dannae. “I’m blessed to have two great daughters like them. In reality
I have four daughters. My youngest daughter’s mother adopted two other girls,
her best friend’s daughters, so I consider them mine.”
SOUL BROTHER NUMBER ONE
Carlton’s
biggest influence in music is James Brown. “There simply was no other. There
was no one and I mean NO ONE more
important in soul music and his live show was something amazing to behold. Nowadays everyone has a
million dancers, backing tracks and special effects. James Brown had only his
band and his heart and soul. He was his own special effects! I first saw him in
1968. My father had just passed away, and my mother took us to the Apollo
Theatre in Harlem to see the James Brown Revue. I remember the curtains opened,
the band was standing there in their tuxedos and he came out in a royal blue
suit with a diamond pinky ring that sparkled up to where
we were sitting in the balcony. He immediately started singing Say it Loud –
I’m Black and I’m Proud, and the audience went crazy! I remember thinking
‘oh my God, he’s amazing. That’s what I
want to do for the rest of my life.’ That started my lifelong love affair with James Brown.”
There are also
other luminaries Carlton wants to point out. “They are all big favourites for
different reasons: Al Green for his smooth sexiness and the way he wrote
about his love of being inlove; Bobby
Womack for the way he wrote about the TRUTH of love with all of it’s ups
anddowns and he was always so honest
with his emotions; Tom Waits, because he’s just a brilliant American
songwriter; the Temptations, because they were the Temptations, a vocal
group that everybody admired,” There’s also another classic soul group that
Carlton admires. “I finally got a chance to meet the Dells. I’m almost
embarrassed at how nice they treated me. They were just so wonderful. A finer
set of gentlemen you will seldom meet. I am honoured that I am actuallyfriends with one of them, the always debonair
Mickey McGill.”
“I went to college for about a year and a half. One night a classmate leaned over and told
me that Stevie Wonder was down at Madison
Square Garden. We left class that night to go see the show and I never went
back (laughing). I’m not proud of that, but that’s what happened. After that
I kept on working little odd jobs here and there, but my passion was performing
and singing songs... not just any songs but songs I wrote. It seems I had
things to say”
Carlton with Whitney Houston
EXCITE ME
“There was a
Puerto Rican friend of mine in the neighbourhood by the name of Rick Torres.
He was in a local singing group called Full House, and they were phenomenal
singers. I met him in 1977. Rick always took the time to teach me things,
made me rehearse and constantly pushed me and promoted me. He’s the one that
got me into singing and into believing that I could sing.”
“I met Greg Fore in 1980. Greg Fore is
another guy from Harlem, and the two of them were my main influences. They
helped to change my life by making me go from fan worshipping James Brown to
believing that I could also record and sing and perform.”
“In the 1980s I
was performing here and there and fooling around with a lot of girls. That was
pretty much it. But I was always writing songs. I never pitched the songs. I
just wrote them. Loleatta Holloway recorded a demo of one of my songs,
but it never got placed anywhere.”
“I released my
first record in 1986. It was entitled Excite Me. Yvonne Turner, Loleatta
Holloway’s manager and a legend in house music, heard my demo and she took it
to Cathy Jacobson, and they released it.”
With Carlton singing in a surprisingly light tenor voice, this techno dancer
– 110 beats per minute - was co-written by him together with Andre C. Lovell,
and the single was produced by Kevin Calhoun and Yvonne Turner. In the
U.S. it was released on Infuture Music (IN-0001). “It was picked up for
release in the U.K. by Tim Palmer of CityBeat Records” (7” on CBE 708,
and 12” on CBE 1208).
THE THRILL CYCLE
In the 1990s
Carlton kept on looking for breakthrough opportunities in music. “I was
working on music, always writing, always trying to sing someplace... and
believing in myself.” However, he didn’t forsake house music, as in the early
90s he recorded under an alias Napoleon
Soul-O. He was the featured vocalist on a Fred Jorio produced dance
music CD entitled Sextravaganza. Napoleon’s Come on Girl – co written by Carlton and Azel Brown - was
released in 1991 on Eight Ball Recordings and Frederick JorioPresents
Sextravaganzacame out on Tribal America three years later. “That
was a dance music CD. I did a couple of lines on an album, and that’s about
it. And we did a few Napoleon Soul-O records. As long as the music is good, I
sing – be it rock, blues, soul, funk, r&b, house music, dance music –, and
it keeps my name out there.”
Soon hectic electronic
house and techno beats turned into hectic rock music. “I was in a rock band
called the Thrill Cycle.” In that N.Y. band the lead singer was knightly
called Sir Carlton J. Smith, and the other members were Pete Johnson and
John Rokosny on guitars, Marz Marleau on bass, Mark Brotter along
with his brother Jay Brotter on drums, and the original runway diva Sharon Quinn on
background vocals. “Those guys are still my friends today.”
In 1995 they
released on New York Music Corp. an EP titled First Taste Is Free, and
alongside four frenetic and storming rock tracks (Night Sugar Baby, All
around the Camp Fire, Every Once In Awhile and Stranger) there’s one
more moderate and melodic song called Honey Come Lately. “It’s one of
my favourite songs. I wrote it about my mother going to heaven and they shot a
video about some girl arriving at my show late! All of our music was produced
by a cat named Victor Campanile.” Three years later they released anotherCD titled Get Your Swerve On with the same
deafening rock guitar sound still dominating, although there were some serene
moments like a ballad named Believe You Me (It’s All Right) , “…that was
something my mother used to sayALL the time. After that I went solo
and I’ve been travelling doing my thing!”
SOUL BROTHER NUMBER NEW
After being cast
to play James Brown in the 1998 Barry Levinson film Liberty Heights, thereby
making him the first man to ever portray James Brown on the silver screen,
Carlton was nicknamed “Soul Brother Number New” by Alan Leeds, who
worked for Prince and Maxwell as well as James Brown.
In Liberty
Heights Carlton portrays James Browncirca
1954. “Harry Weinger,a music executive at Universal, saw me and recommended me. I filmed a video of me performing
someJames Brown songs from the 50s and -
as opposed to me mailing it in - Ihopped
on a plane and took it directly to them in L.A., and when Barry Levinson
(the director) saw it, he said ‘yes, that’s the guy!’”
Every time I step
onstage I am paying homage to James Brown. He changed my life. I’m just
honouring the energy and spirit he put forward. I would never try to replicate
him or be him, because you just can’t.”
Carlton got a
chance to fill in for James Brown in New York. “It was my supreme honour.
James Brown was scheduled to perform at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in
Times Square on New Year’s Eve. He passed away on Christmas (25.12.2006). I
was on a bus headed to theairport when I
got the phone call from B.B. King’s telling me they’d let me perform in place
of JamesBrown. They told me Chaka
Khan would be the headliner, but I’d open up the show and do the James
Brown songs. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried some tears, because it was
anunexpected blessing to perform for my
hero. James Brown always treated me graciously.”
AT B.B. KING’S
Carlton has done
salutesnot only to James, but also to Al Green,
Curtis Mayfield, Sly & the Family Stone, the Temptations, Marvin
Gaye... “I did a series of theseshowsat B.B. King’s.Once a month I would
select a different artist that had an impact on my musical awareness anddevelopment. Even now I still include a couple
of songs from these different artists in myshow. After B.B. King’s I wound up in China for ten
years... and hada fantastic time”
Carlton’s
performances at B.B. King’s started in 2002, and he was very sorry to hear that
this legendaryTimes Square venue closed
down at the end of April 2018. However, we are lucky to have some recorded
material from that period, Carlton J. Smith Live at B.B. King’s (2003).
“Ray Charles was supposed to perform there and he got sick and wound up
cancelling. He passed away not long after that (10.6.2004). When he
cancelled, they asked me would I do the show for him. I did the show and
recorded a liveCD for that. It was a
self-release. I played some covers that night but I opened with an original
song entitled Mr. Smith – self explanatory! I was letting the audience
know exactly who I was. My favourite song was a cover of a country and western
song called Ode to Billie Joe. It was originally recorded by Bobbie
Gentry, but it was so funky I always wanted to do an R&B version of it
and that night we did it, and it was great.” Bobbie’s record hit # 1 and
turned to gold in 1967.
“I also recorded. Thinking about James Brown and A Few Nice Things
at B.B. King’s which was the New Years Eve performance I did for James
Brown. I haven’t released it yet, but I have all the tapes and I will get it
out there one day. After all…it’s the show James Brown never did.”
SINOSOUL
For a long while
there was no use looking for Carlton at B.B. Kings, because he took his energy
and vivid stage show all the way to China. “A jazz group cancelled its China
gigs, and there’s a great man by the name of Alan Pepper. He had a
historic concert venue in New Yorkcalled
The Bottom Line. Everybody from Miles Davis to Bruce Springsteen performed
there, and I used to do shows there. When that jazz group cancelled, the
person that booked acts in China called all over the world looking for
someone. She called Alan, who said ‘I know just a guy.’ I was supposed to go
there for three months, and I wound up performing there for close to a decade,
from 2005 till 2014. I would come home for a week or two, and then I would go
back. I think I was very popular” (laughing).
“In China I was
doing six nights a week, three shows a night. A
lot of my fellow entertainersthink
that’s an exhausting, excessive schedule, but I loved it because it gave
purpose to my day…just knowing that each night I would have a show in front of
a room full of brand new people. I didn’t use local bands in China. They let
me bring my own musicians over. I love having myown
band. I love to rehearse a lot and work hard on putting together a tight show.
I have beenfortunate to work with two
great bands both here in Finland and in Turkey.”
WAITING
While in China,
in addition to performing nightly, Carlton also got a chance to record new
music. His next album was called Waiting, and it was released in 2006.
“I’ve already talked about how much I love Tom Waits. I reinterpreted his
songs in an R&B style and the results were fantastic. I still perform some
of those songs to this very day. His song Clap Hands became That’s
That. I also covered his songs Johnsburg, Illinois and Make It
Rain. Aside from some lyrical changes I pretty much stayed true to his
original versions of the song. I also added an original song of mine called All
I Want Is You.”
Two years later
Carlton revisited Tom Waits’ songbook again on an album titled The
Skinnybone Tree on Exile Records (www.exilerecords.com).
“That was a lot of fun. Exile Records is a label put together by a great
producer and a great guy by the name of Mark Unthank.” Known also as a
saxophone player, these days Mark is the CEO of a digital media company called
CoolNerd Kiosks, and prior to that he was the president of Exile Records for
fifteen years starting from 1998.
The
Skinnybone Tree is a 14-track CD with music varying from fast and poppy
songs (A Man’s Gotta Do, All I’m Ever Going to Know, Make It Rain) and
jazzy numbers (Momma’s House, What Am I to Do?) to more downtempo, even
folksy cuts (The Train Song). A couple of midtempo jams lean either on
funk (Reasons to Cry) or have classical elements to them (I Can Only
Be Me). Add to that still the uptempo I’ll Be Gone, which can best
be described as a show tune! “I am extremely proud of TheSkinnybone Tree. I
perform songs from it and get a fantastic reception. It is some of my best
work and I have started writing The Skinnybone Tree II.”
DIAGRAM OF A RELATIONSHIP
Already prior to
The Skinnybone Tree they had released in early 2008 on Exile Records an album
called
Diagram of a Relationship. “That was me telling the story that
was on my mind at the time, because there’s a certain diagram in a
relationship.”
This concept
album describes a love affair turning from sweet to sour and finally to a sort
of reconciliation, and this time the music tends to lean toward neo-soul with a
few street-beat tracks. More traditional soul is available on a ballad called Love
Love Love and two melodic mid-tempo floaters, I’m Fidna and I
Still Believe in the Future.
The album also
contains a single release from 2007, two fine Al Green type of mid-tempo
floaters called
I’d Better and Love. “That was a double-sided
single on Soulchoonz Records (DLP 004). That label was headed by a lady named Di
Lee – God bless her, she’s no longer with us – and a friend of mine, a
radio DJ by the name of Danny Brookings. He helped facilitate that. It
got great reviews, did very well, but I didn’t go out to promote it. I went
back to China instead and lost some of the momentum. I’m redoing that song on
my upcoming album.”
Carlton returned
home from China in the summer of 2014 and soon released an album titled G.U.M.
(Grown up Music). “This was the one that I was trying to appeal to
an older crowd. There were adult grooves…not so much funk as just good music
to ride and listen to. The themes as always consisted of the never ending
situations between men and women. My love and praise for women is never
ending. Listen to Glisten, a funky and soulful salute to women all over
the world, and I’ll Always Love You, which is not the Whitney Houston
song.”
A funkier
rendition of I’ll Always Love You will appear also on the upcoming
album, as well as a new version of I’d Better. There are three songs
lifted from The Skinnybone Tree, a funkier version of A Man’s Gotta
Do What a Man’s Gotta Do and the same mixes of All I’m Ever Going to
Know and Blow Wind Blow. From the Diagram of a Relationship album
Carlton chose as many as four songs (I Desire You, Beautiful Thing, I
Believe We Can Work It Out and the catchy I Still Believe in the Future)
and one song, What Am I To Do, from the preceding Waiting CD.
“I Love What
We’re Doing is a new song that always goes over very well, when I perform
it live. It’s all about the joy of a new relationship. Delicious Kisses is
a brand new song about kissing your loved one and how delightful that can be.”
A LIFETIME OF R&B
During the last
twenty years and already prior to China, Carlton has been involved in a number
of theatrical productions, such as Largo in 2000. “That was a lot of
fun. That was me and Cindy Lauper, who played my wife. I sang all the
songs that Taj Mahal sang on the actual recording. He’s a brilliant
artist. He does one of my favourite versions of Corrina, Corrina. The
play never made it to Broadway, but it’s great and if they’d call up again I’d
gladly do it.” The original Largo CD was released on Polygram in 1998
and among the artists – besides Taj Mahal - on that particular album there were
Joan Osborne, Carole King and the above Cyndi Lauper.
“I’ve been
collecting posters for a long time. I went on and put together a show, where I
displayed those posters, talked about the artists, talked about the shows and
then I did a few of their songs. I would have like ten posters on stage, and
then in an adjoining room I would have about fifteen more posters, where people
can walk around and have a look at them. A lot of posters I’ve been trying to
get signed by the artists that are still alive.”
“I was calling
it Hello Music, but now I’ve begun calling it A Lifetime of R&B.
My only problem is trying to get the posters signed. 40 years – it’s a race
against time, because they’re all passing away. When I ask them to sign, they
say ‘most people usually give me a napkin or a piece of paper. You have a
concert poster from 1976. Sure I’m going to sign it!’ And they all usually –
eight times out of ten – ask me to take a picture of it. We don’t have this
stuff anymore. We were making history.”
NOTHING MATTERS EXCEPT THE MUSIC
In the future
we’ll be able to read about A Lifetime of R&B and other matters more
in detail in Carlton’s upcoming book called Nothing Matters Except the
Music.“Nothing Matters Except the Music is all about the music
experiences that I’ve had from a fan’s perspective of coming into contact with
people I have loved and admire for years - Sly Stone, Bobby Womack, the
Isley Brothers, Patti Labelle.I’m a
fan first and foremost.I’ve had crazy,
weird things happening in music.”
Not only as a
singer, impressive performer and a prolific songwriter, Carlton has
distinguished himself in acting, too. Already as early as in 1992 he appeared
– what is called – an interactive movie called I’m Your Man. “I did
that, but I barely remember it at all.” Let There Be Clothes was
released in 1998. “It was a comedy, and I was with this model Carol Alt.”
Liberty Heights (1999) was discussed above in the James Brown chapter,
and there’s As the World Turns. “That’s a TV series. I was basically a
glorified extra. I was just a policeman, walking around and arresting people
and had a couple of lines here and there.” One more detail: In 2015 Carlton’s
song Make it Rain was featured in the Kevin Costner film McFarland,
USA.
TIMMION RECORDS
“I met Kirsi
Rouhiainen in China and she brought me to Finland. She wound up bringing
me to perform in Casino Helsinki. There I met this amazing singer by the name
of Jepa Lambert and she told me about a show by a guy that does soul and
r&b here in Finland named Tuomo, and Tuomo took me to Timmion
Records.”
Located in the
former cable factory building in Helsinki, Timmion Records (https://timmion.com) has released in the 2000s
and 2010s a number of impressive funk, soul and jazz records by such renowned artists
as Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators and Willie West. Two
of the founders and owners of the company – Sami Kantelinen (bass) and Jukka
Sarapää (drums), along with Seppo Salmi (guitar) – are the members
of the in-house band and they also record as Cold Diamond & Mink.
Other noteworthy domestic artists on the label include Pratt & Moody aka
Tuomo Prättälä and Markus Nordenstreng,best known for their
smooth, cool and sophisticated ballad sound, and Jukka Eskola Soul Trio,
who last year surprised a lot of soul jazz fans with its innovative
instrumental, self-titled album. Let’s not forget the trombonist/flutist Ernie
Hawks and his recent jazz-funk album Scorpio Man. Timmion has its
own recording studio and even vinyl cutting equipment.
Carlton and Jukka Sarapää
Carlton’s debut
single on the label, I Can’t Love You Anymore, was released early this
year (TR 718). Written by Carlton, Cold Diamond and Mink, the song is a
fascinating mid-tempo floater, which especially in the chorus bears a slight
resemblance to Teddy Pendergrass’ 1977 hit, I Don’t Love You Anymore,
only slower in tempo. “Teddy is a major influence on me. I must behonest… I wasn’t thinking about Teddy’s song,
when I was recording I Can’t Love You Anymore. I was writing about my
truth. There was a certain girl I just couldn’t love anymore. The fact ofthematter
is in writing and recording the song, I came to the realization that I never
really knew HOWto love her in the first
place.”
“I have all my
heroes’ names tattooed down my arms: James Brown, Al Green, Bobby Womack, Sly
& the Family Stone, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Johnnie Taylor,
Joe Tex and Tom Waits. This other arm: the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Curtin
Mayfield, Teddy Pendergrass, D.J. Rogers, Willie Hutch,
Michael Henderson, Glen Goins from P-Funk and Ray Charles. I could
put up a song by any of these artists and it could make my day... or make me
cry.”
On this Timmion
debut single and upcoming album, Carlton is backed by Sami, Jukka, Seppo and
Tuomo (on keys and background vocals), and the essential horn section
consisting of Jukka Eskola on trumpet – he also arranged the horns - Jimi
Tenor on tenor saxophone and Pope Puolitaival on baritone
saxophone. The album is scheduled for release by the end of this year, and on
sneak listening I can assure that you’re about to be hit hard by genuine soul
sounds storm.
Carlton has a
lot of music on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/MrCarltonjsmith)
- actually about 80 videos – so you’re able to enjoy his salutes to James Brown
and his other favourites, his performances in Finland, Turkey, New York, Shanghai
and other places, his interpretations of some of the Motown hits - the whole
wide spectrum of his repertoire.
“People, be sure
to put some music in your life every day. Try to be as positive as you can and
look after people, because that’s what music does. Music takes care of
people.”
(Interview
conducted on April 4, 2018, at Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki; acknowledgements to
Carlton, Mickey McGill of the Dells, Kirsi Rouhiainen and Timmion
Records).