If you’re reading jazz-not-jazz for some time now you hopefully remember my mention of the Motown Remixed album and the comment DJ Smash (aka Wayne Hunter who’ve remixed Stevie’s Signed, Sealed & Delivered I’m Yours on this album) wrote. I’ve also wrote an answer here and instead of doing this on and on, Wayne suggested an interview to tell you all more about this project and remixing in general. So enjoy the interview with the man who coined the phrase jazz-not-jazz.
Q: Please tell me how you got involved in the Motown Remixed project and how you ended up remixing Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed & Delivered I’m Yours. Were you able to choose the song you wanted from Motown’s back catalogue or did the label come up with the songs?
Wayne Hunter: I got involved through fellow remixer Paul Simpson (who remixed “Let’s Get it On” by Marvin Gaye) and Harry Weinger (A&R and producer of the project). Since I was one of the first to be invited to participate, luckily, this song had not been chosen by anyone else yet.
Q: What is your general opinion about a label doing a whole album of remixes of vintage songs like the Motown Remix or the Mayfield Remixed albums or the Verve Remixed series? While I can’t argue with a good remix of an old song on a 12″ single here and there, I’m usually not very fond of a whole album especially if it’s released on a major label. For me this looks more like the label’s executives finally have run out of ideas.
Wayne Hunter: I have mixed feelings about it. Obviously it is easier to take one song by an artist and really focus on making that the best it can be than it is to take a whole batch of classics and try to make them all good remixes. It really depends on what the real message and meaning is behind the project. Major labels always follow and eventually copy or buy out what the underground is doing, so they don’t have many original ideas anyway. What they do have is catalog. Remember, Motown, Curtom (Mayfield’s label) Verve and many others were independent labels back in their day but have been bought out buy the majors, so in a sense, this was ‘independent’ music (when it was made) it is just now percieved as ‘major label’ music since that’s who owns it now.
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