Sweetening "Come Back To Me"

​An AOF story about encountering difference.
By Nick Raths
 
In the late 80’s and early 90’s I was a busy studio guitarist. I played on many records and commercials and also on the records of many black artists. At Flyte Tyme I was always called in for the "sweetener." I guess it was for my clean playing and ability to create a part on the spot. The irony was, at that time I was also a Doctoral Candidate in Music at the U of M. I was studying counterpoint, orchestration, Schenkerian analysis, and honing my skills as a classical guitarist. But the calls kept coming.
 
I was called in to Flyte Tyme Studios to do some "sweetening" on a Janet Jackson record. The song was in Ab (bad key for guitar) so I thought I’d better make a chart to save time and takes. So, Jimmy "Jam" Harris and I went through the song slowly, him slowly on the piano, me quickly writing a chart. When we were done, Jimmy looked at the chart and was very impressed at my scrawling. I was very impressed that he could write such a song and not know the names of any of the chords or anything about music theory!
 
This encounter hastened me back to a time of my own innocent spontaneity. The more sessions I did, the more my playing spontaneously breathed. Surprisingly to me, Jimmy was a perfectionist. I’d say, “Was that a good one?” He’d say, “We’re getting close.” Then I’d play it perfectly and chime up, “That take was awesome!!” And he’d say, “Sorry Nick, I didn’t have it in record.” I couldn’t help but forgive him and know the next take was going to be the one.

Nick Raths is a member of Unity Church, former Worship Associate and Welcome Team member, current choir and Sangha participant.