The above interview was done in 2006. This year, 2010 saw the release
of "The M&M mixes" on BBE, a retrospective of some of John's
work, a lot of which was previously unissued... Below are the sleevenotes
from the album. Thanks to BBE for sharing.
"30 years! Has it really been that long since I stepped into my first
recording studio," reflects a nostalgic John Morales from his basement
studio in New Jersey. "It was a late night in 1978, when I walked into
Nola Recording Studio on 57th Street in Manhattan to see Greg Carmichael
and Patrick Adams, and there on the other side of the glass, was a young
Jocelyn Brown. The song they were working on was 'Caught Up (In A One
Night Love Affair)'. Little did I know the magic that was being created
that night, and the impact that session would have on my life".
He left the studio the following morning walking into the pressure cooker
that was New York rush-hour traffic, straining in the bright daylight
after a night locked within a sound proofed studio. Yet far from tired,
he was energized and invigorated with only one thought on his mind. "I
knew exactly what I wanted to do, and from that day on, and for the next
few years I was at just about every single session that Greg and Patrick
had." In near stalker mode he followed the two hottest producers on the
circuit from studio-to-studio, befriending and assisting them with his
creativity, knowledge and studio-proficiency. "John is certainly one of
the angels in my life," confirms Patrick Adams, one of the stalwarts and
leading lights on the then burgeoning disco scene. "At the time that John
was involved with us, I always felt that my work was in good hands," he
continues. "The original process of 're-mixing records' was intended to
provide an alternative listening experience which had been optimized for
people who went out to dance at discos. John was one of the early pioneers
who loved music, understood his craft and had respect for the creative
work from which his mixes were derived."
Their union would result in Morales collaborating on the majority of Carmichael's
and Adam's work during those heady years, including working on recordings
for the likes of Inner Life, Logg, the Universal Robot Band, Bumble Bee
Unlimited, Conversion, Musique, and Wish Ð the majority centred around
the vocal dexterity of Jocelyn Brown and Leroy Burgess. "John Morales
is the beginning of Jocelyn Brown," enthuses the songstress in her typically
larger-than-life persona. "We started out with a demo of 'Caught Up'
and there it began. He knew how to record and work the sound of my voice
like no other engineer has. John was the reason I stayed in the studio
with Inner Life; he made each day that we were together a wonderful and
exciting adventure. Being a singer is one thing, but being an artist is
another. He made me see the difference and how to apply the talent that
I had to the knowledge he had to our music. People never forget the songs
we did together and the feeling that went with the songs. And throughout
it there was one constant: John Morales was there for every session: first
one in and last one out. ! I am so happy to have had this chance in my
life with him and how it all still is so important in the recording business
after 30 years. I will always know him as a part of my family and most
of all, the one who believed in me, and my voice."
Similarly it's by no means a one-way street with the mutate appreciation
for each other's respective talents: "In my opinion Jocelyn has one of
the greatest voices of all time," continues Morales. "I spent a lot of
time in the studio watching her sing, and words cannot describe the feeling
of hearing her flawless work. She always gives 110 %, and then some; she's
a true professional and a creative genius with her voice, to me Jocelyn's
voice is so unique and powerful you can pick her out of a crowd of thousands.
Jocelyn is my angel. From the first day I met her, I was blown away by
her amazing talent and I am proud to call her my friend for over 30-years."
30-years ago the music world was a very different place from where we
are today. Yet for every chart hit that pounded into the public's consciousness,
there were dozens of far superior tracks being played at a hard-to-find
basement club. Some of these cuts would enter the lower regions of the
charts six months later; others would remain deliciously obscure and cause
an ethereal trance-like beauty to envelop the disco fanatic whenever they
were obsessively discussed in terms of the hair-raising highs they engendered
on the dancefloor. Chances were many were touched by the skilled hands
of John Morales.
Born into a hard working Puerto Rican household in the Bronx, at the start
of the rock 'n' roll era, Morales, like many children of the era, was
fascinated by this new art-form that was saturating the airwaves and rebelling
parents everywhere. So in love with the music he heard, as a 12-year old
he persuaded his local record store to give him a part-time job with payment
not in dollars, but in 45s. By the time he was old enough to get a full-time
job his burgeoning record collection had helped land him one of his first
DJ gigs at the influential Stardust Ballroom in the Bronx (his father
had earlier owned a bar in Jersey City where John had first got the DJ
bug). As his reputation grew Morales was invited downtown to Manhattan
to play guest spots at the likes of Pippins, Bentleys, 1018, Limelight
and the infamous Studio 54.
Like many DJs of the '70s, John ventured into the studio more through
need than necessity: "I started to make medleys and remixes because the
records in those days were too short, most in the 3 minute range, and
being a DJ I needed to get more out of the records I was spinning. I first
started editing using the pause button on a cassette deck, and then I
graduated up and I purchased a used Sony quarter inch reel-to-reel tape
recorder and really learned to edit properly on that. It was hard work
and long hours editing and putting all the little pieces of tape together
and making something creative happen. Reflecting now, I realize how important
it was to what I would later do. It taught me a lot about what I wanted
to do and how to do it, so that by the time I got in a real studio I was
virtually a whiz at editing tape much to the amazement of some of the
engineers I worked with."
But it was in the studio environment that Morales truly excelled, while
his now infamous 'Deadly Medleys' and 'Sunshine Acetate Medleys' brought
him to the attention of Greg Carmichael and Patrick Adams, who were impressed
by the hunger and desire of the self-taught engineer. "My first credited
mix was Inner Life's 'Caught Up (In A One Night Love Affair)', even though
I had worked on a few other tracks before that, but I hadn't been credited,
like 'Dance And Shake Your Tambourine' for the Universal Robot Band and
Musique's 'In The Bush'."
Bob Blank, engineer and owner of the now legendary Blank Tapes studios
on 20th Street in NYC where half of disco's greatest records were recorded,
picks up the story. "Back then one of the problems with mixing was that
it was unsung. For every album credit that I did get, there were three
or four that I didn't. It was much more about the artist name then who
worked with them. John's modesty has kept him from the acclaim that he
justly deserves. One of the things about John that I admire so much is
that he was a catalyst in making a lot of this stuff happen, particularly
with his work with Greg and Patrick. Patrick Adams is a brilliant arranger,
a good engineer, and an excellent songwriter. Whereas Greg Carmichael
was very good at surrounding himself with talented people who did the
things that they do well."
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"John is also very modest: for years he would come to my studio and be
hanging out in the lounge, fast asleep or propped up just waiting. I'd
say to him, "What are you waiting for?" and he'd say, "Until the end of
the session so that I can get a reference mix for myself." I told him
that may be several hours from now, and to go in there and tell them you've
got to leave... but he was more than happy just to wait for these guys."
The wait paid off, and several of the masters on this album are direct
reference copy mixes from those original sessions. "After the mixes were
completed for the label I'd stay behind in the studio and make up additional
mixes that I could use myself when DJing, or on the radio" Morales adds.
"I'd run off reels of out-takes and pieces that I could edit into the
mixes to make them longer and unique, I would be in there till I got kicked
out. This is what is on this CD - the JM After-Session M+M Mix - along
with unique tracks that were never released." These include his original
demo mix of the Universal Robot Band's boogie classic, 'Barely Breaking
Even'; along with restylings of Logg's Leroy Burgess-sung 'You Got (That
Something)' and Inner Life's archetypal cover of the Ashford & Simpson
standard, 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' fronted by Jocelyn Brown.
"The Universal Robot Band's 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' and La-Rita Gaskin's
'Never Can Say Goodbye' were intended for album releases after 'Barely
Breakin' Even' and Wish's 'Nice & Soft' were respectively released" recalls
Morales. "That never materialized, nor did many others I have, that I
hope to share with you on future releases. To my understanding they were
never finished, and the master-tapes were lost forever. These are the
only existing versions I know of." Bob Blank concurs: "He is one of the
last guys around that actually has master copies of a lot of these things.
He basically was there from the beginning to the end of the night making
a copy for himself. He has reference copies of music-in-progress that
nobody else has. He's like a behind-the-music stud. He's a music nerd!"
A meeting at New York's influential WBLS radio station, where Cuban-born
Sergio Munzibai worked as musical director alongside Frankie Crocker,
would signal the next chapter in John's career, and result in unquestionably
the most prolific remix partnership of the 1980s with over 650 mixes to
their name. "I started to do mix tapes for Frankie's show on WBLS - I
was doing the midday mix shows as well as some of the Friday night mix
shows," John continues. "Later I was privileged to work with Frankie on
his syndicated Westwood One Show. This is where I first met Sergio. After
frequent visits to the station we became friends and I invited him to
some of my mix sessions at Blank Tapes, one of the first being Mikki's
'Itching For Love', the Aleem Brothers' 'Get Down Friday Night' and Instant
Funk's 'No Stoppin' That Rockin'. We both shared similar ideas and concepts
for mixing so we decided to start a partnership and the M+M Mix Productions
moniker was born".
"When John told me he was going to go into partnership with Sergio I thought
that's going to be interesting," picks up Bob Blank, "Sergio was very
much an out-and-about young guy, while John was a workaholic; always in
the studio and that's what happened. John would come in and he'd be working
for hours then Sergio would show up and say, "Oh, that's great!" Sergio
was really one of these guys who'd know-when-he'd-hear-it, whereas John
would be able to say, 'it needs this' or 'it needs that'." Sergio would
make a contribution, but it was all basically down to John.
Discovering an instant rapport and musical appreciation it translated
well into the recording studio where the M+M stamp became synonymous with
almost every major dance release of the era, with the duo remixing upwards
of 10 records in any given month. Alongside cult and groundbreaking records
including Class Action's 'Weekend', Julia & Co. with 'Breakin' Down (Sugar
Samba)', 'I Want You (All Tonight)' from Curtis Hairston, Ronnie Dyson's
'All Over Your Face', and 'Move To The Groove' by Margie Joseph, they
refashioned certified pop smashes for DeBarge ('Rhythm Of The Night'),
Harold Faltermeyer ('Alex F'), Shakatak ('Down On The Street'), Miami
Sound Machine ('Dr Beat'), the Temptations ('Treat Her Like A Lady') and
of course Jocelyn Brown ('Somebody Else's Guy'). Along with hundreds more,
in an eight year period that saw them almost an ever present on the Billboard
Dance, R&B or Hot 100 pop charts. Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, Spandau
Ballet, Aretha Franklin, Shalamar, Hall & Oates, Dan Hartman, Candi Staton,
Melba Moore, Rose Royce, Billy Ocean, Debbie Gibson, Odyssey, the Commodores
and even Peter Schilling and Rod Stewart, in fact just about every major
artist of the day was in someway retouched by the hands of Morales & Munzibai.
"Me and Sergio worked together till around 1989," John recalls. During
the late 80's music started to evolve and change as new genre's started
to appear and the dance music we knew and loved started to change and
take a back seat. For this and other reasons we decided to separate. Sergio
left the business after that and passed away in the early 90's. Sergio
was a wonderful person who was full of life, and loved by all he touched
for his outgoing and fun loving charismatic personality, he was a great
people person, me I just loved to be in the studio making music. Anyone
who knew him loved him, and I'm sure wherever he is he's listening to
some M+M music."
"Now, moving the clock forward after that I continued to work on some
projects doing what I did best; mixing and producing and also getting
into writing till the mid 90's, when I took ill and decided that living
was a far more important option. After I got better and back on my feet
I continued in the industry I love, but in a different capacity, I started
to work for the software company Steinberg, makers of the CuBase DAW software
which I still use today, the integration of software and computers was
becoming the new foundation of the industry as mammoth studios were starting
to be replaced by Atari, Mac and PC Computers. Having been someone who
had embraced the technology in the early '80s it was an easy transition
for me. During this time I still continued to tinker and played at home."
"One day my dear friend Paul Simpson asked me to be part of a new Marvin
Gaye mix project he was doing, and thus that feeling and passion came
rushing back, knowing I still had the chops and was good at this, I needed
to re-establish myself once again, with the encouragement of my family
and constant urging of Paul, Bobby Eli and my closest friend Tom Moulton
they pushed me to continue and move forward, and I'm happy and grateful
to them for this, as I feel I'm well on my way to being back on top of
my game again, having in recent years had the pleasure of mixing Artist
like Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Double Exposure,
The Four Tops and many more. I look forward to continuing to do what I
do best.. Mix and Produce Music. It's in my blood, it's my life's passion."
"I want to add and share a few thoughts, for me working with artists like
Jocelyn Brown, Leroy Burgess, Patrick Adams and then later Randy Muller,
was an experience and opportunity you can't buy anywhere. To see Jocelyn
work her magic, step into the studio, open her mouth and bring a song
to life before my eyes - WOW!, that was a pleasure I was afforded for
many years, and to sit next to Leroy as he was molding and weaving and
creating his synth lines in and out of so many classic tracks, I pinch
myself because I was there, sat next to him for it all. I remember him
saying to Greg on many a day when he was on a roll "Don't worry, I got
it", and he'd go on to lay down some serious masterful pieces. You can't
get that today, watching Leroy and the guys cutting tracks live, musicians
locked in a tight groove as the boogie kept coming; another take, another
song, another day, another hit. Seeing Patrick putting down and making
music come together it was surreal to be there, for reflecting back, some
of the greatest dance records of all time "Caught Up", "In the Bush",
"Weekend", "Keep On Jumping", "Barley Breakin Even" it goes on and on.
And later on, the opportunity to see and work with Randy Muller as he
worked his magic with Brass Construction, Skyy and Funk Deluxe was also
a magical moment. I'm also happy to call Randy my friend after 30 Years."
"I'm so grateful and fortunate, I had the opportunity to be there, with
them all, those memories will live with me forever and I hope in listening
to this CD you can get a glimpse of what I was fortunate to witness. I
again can't thank Greg and Patrick enough for letting me be a part of
it, even as long ago as this all was, I can still close my eyes and see
them playing and singing in the studio like it's happening right now.
Jocelyn's "Ain't No Mountain", Leroy's "Barley Breaking Even", Patrick's
"In the Bush" and "Weekend". You can't buy that DVD, anywhere. Not any
loops or no sample can give you that feeling. All hands on deck that is
how it was. I know things are different today. But I'm sorry you missed
it. And I'm glad I didn't.
LISTEN
TO JOHN'S PROMO MIX FOR BBE
WATCH
THE M&M EPK
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