Questlove of The Roots will perform at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with his group and Christian McBride Sat, Nov. 16.
If you ask Amir "Questlove" Thompson where he's from, he'll say "Philly." And recently he's been able to trace his ancestry back to the last group of slaves to come to America from Ghana, West Africa.
But The Roots drummer and co-frontman credits New Jersey for helping to nurture his musical talent from an early age. His father was famed Doo Wop singer Lee Andrews. In the 1970s, he and Questlove's mom, Jacquelin Thompson, formed a soul band called Congress Alley. Questlove traveled with his parents when they were on tour, bouncing around from city to city, making frequent stops in the Garden State.
"A lion's share of my dad's shows were either done on the Atlantic City boardwalk, done in Wildwood, New Jersey...Asbury Park," Questlove said. "All crazy parts of Jersey."
Saturday night, Questlove - who now lives in New York where The Roots serve as the house band for "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon" - will make his return as The Roots are slated to headline a concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). The band will be accompanied by acclaimed jazz bassist, longtime friend and Montclair resident Christian McBride.
The group known for their unique fusion of neo-soul and hip-hop have played with some of the biggest names in music history and after nearly 30 years in the game have become local legends.
We talked to Questlove about the upcoming NJPAC show plus his favorite stories about some of our beloved New Jersey artists.
You talked about how New Jersey had a large impact on your musical journey early on. Do you have any stories about big names to come out of the state. First, Bruce Springsteen:
One of our first amazing moments of our life at ("Late Night With Jimmy Fallon") was Little Steven (Van Zandt) and Springsteen talking to Jimmy Fallon about some of the 45s they used to listen to back in the late '60s. And Springsteen talked about a song like "Oh Wiggle Waggle. I love that song." I knew (Herbie Hancock's) "Wiggle Waggle" and I just told the band - because the way my hookup is on our bandstand - I have a computer next to my drum set. I have it set up in case anything gets called out, I can go to YouTube real quick, and it's in our headphones and we can learn it. And that's what happened. As soon as we (went to) commercial we started playing "Wiggle Waggle." All of a sudden, Springsteen and Little Steven looked at each other like "Oh my God, they're playing 'Wiggle Waggle.'" It was like the most amazing thing. You mention a song and the Roots can play it. So I always think of starting our friendship with Springsteen based on "Wiggle Waggle."
How about Whitney Houston?
One of my main regrets...I ran into one of her longtime associates, Robyn. And Robyn told me that (Whitney) wants you to drum on her new record, and I was out of town. This was the last album she released when she was alive. I couldn't make it happen, man. I will say that she had nothing but love for us. In passing, whenever we saw her, it was definitely love.
And the Jonas Brothers?
I'm really good friends with those guys. I first got to know them personally when Kevin (Jonas) asked me to DJ his wedding party. My list of celebrity weddings that I've done is damn near in the 20s or 30s now. But I will say Kevin Jonas' was the first celebrity wedding that I've ever done.
A few of us in the newsroom have debated who's the better pure musician: Bruce Springsteen or George Clinton? Care to weigh in?
My heart always belongs to George Clinton. I DJ'd the wedding for Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers like a month ago. And George officiated the wedding. He was so damn poetic. So at the after dinner, me and George are at the same table and I was like "yo man, that was really some profound words you spoke, so poetic. Was that like from a song or something?" And he says "nah man, I was just going off the top of my head." His level of ideas and his level of thinking is above anything I could imagine.
Any stories about the Fugees?
One of my favorite memories of touring with them was we were kids, and Lauryn and I used to have vicious water fights. We'd stop at rest stops on the highway, buying those Super Soaker water guns. It was some of the most fun we've ever had. To me, I will always remember the water wars between the Roots and The Fugees. (Lauryn) could throw a mean water balloon.
What can fans expect from the NJPAC show?
Our shows are usually somewhere between two and a half or three hours. We have 16 records out. So there's the diehards that have been there from the beginning so they want to hear certain songs from our first five albums. There's kind of a new audience that has been curious about us ever since our 10 years on "Jimmy Fallon." And then just for my personal enjoyment, I just really want to have a dance party. But not in a cheesy wedding band type way. We're the premier black band. One of the last of the Mohicans. We really haven't delved too much on that the true funk dance soul side of things.
The Roots with Christian McBride perform at NJPAC Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. You can find tickets here
