“Ready” Freddie Washington Interview…

[Old Man Riva]

This popped up on YouTube yesterday and is well worth a watch. The interviewer, Mason Marangella, is the owner of a company called Vertex Effects, and the channel does a really interesting blend of effect demos and also carries some really good/interesting interviews with musicians - this Freddie Washington one is great!

 

Freddie talks about (and plays along to) tracks from various points in his career - amongst others; Herbie Hancock, Phil Collins, his time with Michael Jackson, Anita Baker, and of course, Patrice Rushen. There’s also a really nice reminiscing section at the end!

 

Amongst many high points, for me, is the play-through of Sweet Love, by Anita Baker. His line, and playing, are a masterclass in note choice, feel and (quite often overlooked) note length…

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Edited August 1, 2024 by Old Man Riva
Edited to spell Mason Marangella’s name correctly!

[itu]

I am learning Sweet Love from @ChrisDev 's transcription. This video is a good addition. Thank you both.

[JohnR]

He still plays beautifully. 

[three]

Absolutely joyous!  Thanks for the link

[Reggaebass]

What a great guy and a wonderful player, he plays so effortlessly especially on forget me nots , which I don’t think is easy to play 

[Mykesbass]

The dexterity in his right hand on Forget-me-nots is phenomenal! Will watch the whole interview later. Thanks for posting.

[chris_b]

Great player.

 

No wasted energy and none of that silly OFPF and stretching stuff.

 

He makes it look so easy. . . . cos it is easy. Learning how to play that easy is the difficult part.

Edited August 2, 2024 by chris_b

[Mickyk]

He's one hell of a player this lad.

[diskwave]

23 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

which I don’t think is easy to play 

Tell me about it. When  it came out I was in a three piece funky outfit sharing vox with the guitarist, tho he did sing the Lions share. We all thgt this would be fun to do but could he play and sing it? Nope. So muggins here spent the next few months torturing anyone who would listen. Thank goodness mobile phones were but a distant futuristic dream.

[Reggaebass]

8 minutes ago, diskwave said:

Tell me about it. When  it came out I was in a three piece funky outfit sharing vox with the guitarist, tho he did sing the Lions share. We all thgt this would be fun to do but could he play and sing it? Nope. So muggins here spent the next few months torturing anyone who would listen. Thank goodness mobile phones were but a distant futuristic dream.

I had lessons for it during my short period of wanting to learn some slap lines, Freddie makes it look so easy, I wouldn’t expose anyone to my version, it wouldn’t be fair on their ears 😁

[Mykesbass]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

 

Learning how to play that easy is the difficult part.

Very profound statement there 😯

[EJWW]

On 01/08/2024 at 08:56, Old Man Riva said:

This popped up on YouTube yesterday and is well worth a watch. The interviewer, Mason Marangella, is the owner of a company called Vertex Effects, and the channel does a really interesting blend of effect demos and also carries some really good/interesting interviews with musicians - this Freddie Washington one is great!

 

Freddie talks about (and plays along to) tracks from various points in his career - amongst others; Herbie Hancock, Phil Collins, his time with Michael Jackson, Anita Baker, and of course, Patrice Rushen. There’s also a really nice reminiscing section at the end!

 

Amongst many high points, for me, is the play-through of Sweet Love, by Anita Baker. His line, and playing, are a masterclass in note choice, feel and (quite often overlooked) note length…

 

Enjoy!

 

 

This is an excellent video on so many levels. It is such a pleasure to listen to Freddie play and to talk about stuff. 

The interviewer asks such good questions as well and seems to know exactly what the nerds among us want to know!

Thanks for posting 👍

[StickyDBRmf]

Jeez the interviewer is gonna pi** himself on Sweet Love.

[Piers_Williamson]

I saw him play with Steely Dan in London a few years ago and he played beautifully.  Sweet Love by Anita Baker is also one of my favourite basslines to play.  This vid is a great contribution. Thanks for posting.

[fretmeister]

Mason from Vertex is scum.

He ripped off loads and threatened lawyers before a half arsed apology.

 

Full thread, including his own written apology/ excuse is on TGP.

[jonno1981]

That’s a shame. We’re talking about Freddy here though aren’t we? 

[fretmeister]

Yes. But unfortunately it’s also advertising a person who admits fraudulent behaviour and by all accounts got away with it. 

[Old Man Riva]

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

Yes. But unfortunately it’s also advertising a person who admits fraudulent behaviour and by all accounts got away with it. 

Apologies, I hadn’t realised that, and wasn’t aware of any backstory. It popped up on my YouTube feed, and thought I’d share.

 

Was posting solely for the Freddie content, but happy for it to be removed if it’s inappropriate…

Edited August 10, 2024 by Old Man Riva

[Piers_Williamson]

The interview looks like it's posted as a vid now on No Treble

[Reggaebass]

I didn’t know anything about the interviewer and never heard of him, I’m more interested in watching and listening to Freddy talk and do his thing 

[fretmeister]

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

I didn’t know anything about the interviewer and never heard of him, I’m more interested in watching and listening to Freddy talk and do his thing 

 

Basically he bought cheap copy pedals from the far east, the glooped them to hide the circuit. He claimed he designed and built them and sold them at boutique prices.

 

 

He got endorsements from some big name players including Robben Ford, Michael Landau etc which in turn increased his sales of things he claimed he designed and built. 

 

When the game was finally up he did that most American of things… a rambling Mea Culpa story about his growth as a person and learning about himself etc etc. He’s even posted Ford’s letter on his own website.

 

Basically after years of ripping off and denying it and threats of legal actions he’s managed to turn it into a story of redemption that he hasn’t earned.

 

There’s about 500 different threads on TGP, Reddit etc and loads of videos about the Mason / Vertex “controversy”.

 

There8s no controversy at all. He ripped people off, denied it when he was caught and threatened litigation, and then only started to claim he was sorry when it was clear he was going to lose.

 

He’s since moved into interviews and so on to further launder his reputation. He’s still got his company and his other products are still stocked in shops all over the world. 
 

Other than a few uncomfortable months, he got away with it.
 

I Doubt Freddie knew anything about this.

 

 

[Reggaebass]

5 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

Basically he bought cheap copy pedals from the far east, the glooped them to hide the circuit. He claimed he designed and built them and sold them at boutique prices.

 

 

He got endorsements from some big name players including Robben Ford, Michael Landau etc which in turn increased his sales of things he claimed he designed and built. 

 

When the game was finally up he did that most American of things… a rambling Mea Culpa story about his growth as a person and learning about himself etc etc. He’s even posted Ford’s letter on his own website.

 

Basically after years of ripping off and denying it and threats of legal actions he’s managed to turn it into a story of redemption that he hasn’t earned.

 

There’s about 500 different threads on TGP, Reddit etc and loads of videos about the Mason / Vertex “controversy”.

 

There8s no controversy at all. He ripped people off, denied it when he was caught and threatened litigation, and then only started to claim he was sorry when it was clear he was going to lose.

 

He’s since moved into interviews and so on to further launder his reputation. He’s still got his company and his other products are still stocked in shops all over the world. 
 

Other than a few uncomfortable months, he got away with it.
 

I Doubt Freddie knew anything about this.

 

 

Thanks for that info fretmeister, I didn’t know all that, pretty naughty really