Just because you’re old, that doesn’t mean you’ve got to be imprisoned by your past.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a choice.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you want to play it safe, giving people what they want, or do you want to explore?<\/p>\n
Steve Winwood left band after band, and then truly made his name when he went solo.\u00c2\u00a0 Who expected "While You See A Chance" to become a mainstream hit?<\/p>\n
Then Steve repeated the "Arc Of A Diver" formula to diminishing returns with "Talking Back To The Night".\u00c2\u00a0 It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t new, it was a replica, of a previously successful blueprint.<\/p>\n
Then Steve reinvented himself once again.\u00c2\u00a0 1986’s "Back In The High Life" was a smash, with "Higher Love" featured on both MTV and Top Forty radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Combining his blues roots with modern sounds, Winwood stumbled on an elixir the public just couldn’t get enough of.\u00c2\u00a0 And then he delivered three more albums just like it and just about lost his audience.\u00c2\u00a0 We want someone who roams around, experiments, tests the limits.<\/p>\n
Winwood joined the jam band crew.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, the young players weren’t only inspired by the Dead, but Traffic, others who used the song as a jumping off point, not a rigid formula to be repeated endlessly.\u00c2\u00a0 After gigging around, Steve cut an album, released it on his own label, it was not a smash, not enough people heard it, but it’s EXCELLENT!\u00c2\u00a0 No, that’s too soft a word.\u00c2\u00a0 "About Time" was a journey into a land unknown, jazz-influenced, that you didn’t even know you wanted to visit, paying further dividends with each spin.<\/p>\n
We create our best work when we’re unfettered, following our instincts, reaching for our own brass ring, our own Holy Grail.<\/p>\n
To get an idea what Winwood concocted, I want you to dial up this live video of Timmy Thomas’ "Why Can’t We Live Together".<\/p>\n
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