About this conversation
Freddie Ravel grew up speaking three languages: Spanish from his Colombian mother Ruby, then music, then English in kindergarten. That third language took him everywhere. He directed Earth, Wind & Fire, played the Grammys three feet from Prince, recorded Evita with Madonna, and toured the world on Carlos Santana's Universal Tone tour. Today the City of Los Angeles calls him the Keynote Maestro for Life In Tune, the system he brings to companies like IBM and NASA: melody is leadership, harmony is collaboration, rhythm is execution. In this hour he plays his way through all of it, from Mas Que Nada to Beethoven's Fifth, and makes the case that the space between the notes, and really listening, is the whole secret. Asked at the end what a life in tune sounds like, he answered in one word: bliss.
In this conversation
- 00:00How music found him: his mother Ruby
- 03:09Touring with Sergio Mendes, and how music is built
- 09:01What a musical director does: September at the Hollywood Bowl
- 16:26Life In Tune: melody, harmony, rhythm, and the score
- 19:37The studio years, and leadership from inside the bands
- 26:44Prince, Santana, and Earth, Wind & Fire
- 33:31From the keyboard to the keynote
- 35:36Beethoven's Fifth: the space between the notes
- 42:48Ruby, Dad at 91, and a Christmas album like no other
- 52:11Rapid fire: the accordion, Mozart, and a 97-key piano
