BIG CITY BLUES ACE’S ALLEYAugust – September 2003 Issue Zakiya Hooker and the John Lee Hooker Foundation By Johnny Ace September 10th, 2003 This interview took place in Oakland, California at Zakiya and her husbandís house/recording studio. Her husband, Olan Bell, vocalist, bass player and current CD producer and Eugene Skuratowicz, Zakiyaís manager, were also present. ACE: Zakiya, how has the Year of the Bluesî been treating you? And Zakiya, you can tell the truth! ZAKIYA: The Year of the Bluesî hasn't been to good to me. I don't play a lot. I don't know why. Maybe they think I talk too much. Maybe they think I should do more traditional blues. I really don't know. I think here in California, The Year of the Blues is not going to be good to me anyway. I always believed that in order to do what I want to do, it behooves me to do it outside of California. ACE: Sometimes you gotta leave your home to make it. ZAKIYA: This ainít my home! I donít know what it is about California, but California is not always healthy for the blues. ACE: What made you want to be a blues singer? ZAKIYA: I grew up with it and thatís all I knew. And to me jazz and blues are pretty much the same. I do a combination. I have a jazz feeling to mine. ACE: Of course your father influenced youóbut what women singers influenced you? ZAKIYA: I love Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, and Little Esther Phillips! As the kids say, ìthey were the bomb!î They were really, really special women. There can never be another one like Ella or Sarah. But just to take even some of what they did and to incorporate it into what I doóthatís what I hope to do. ACE: Letís talk about the CD that youíre working on of your fatherís. ZAKIYA: Before my father died, he was getting ready to record a new CD. He was talking about what he wanted to do--the songs he wanted on there. He never got to do it. He went home (passed away). We decided we were going to get it done for him because this is what he wanted. He wanted certain songs out there and it was our responsibility to get them on his CD. It was our responsibility because we had a love for this man. He was my father, Gene knew him as a friend, Olan as a father-in-law. It became imperative that we get the CD done the way that my father intended it to be done. And it was imperative that we do it with love and with care for his legacy. So we ended up going into the out takes! That was really a task right there. I was really surprised, after hearing those outtakes and then hearing my father's original albums that some of these same sessions were based on, to find that the quality of these outtakes were just not what I really expected. You know for yourself, Johnny, that when you go into a studio, you do not have bleed on a vocal track. There was guitar bleed, bass bleed and drum bleed all over his voice! So that meant that a lot of this project required editing to clean that bleed up. And there were certain tracks that werenít goodóthe musicians stunk up the tracks. That meant we had to go in and put new people on the tracks. ACE: Can you tell the readers of Big City Blues what musicians play on this CD of your fatherís? On the way here in the car, Eugene played me 3 cuts and they sounded real good. Also whatís the name of this CD? ZAKIYA: The new CD is going to be called ìFace to Face.î Johnny Winters plays slide on the cut you heard in the car. The other new musicians on the project are: Jack Cassidy on bass, Dickie Betts on guitar, George Throrogood on guitar, Johnny Johnson on pianoó and Van Morrison sings ìDimplesî with my father. I am very excited! Also, because we got to do it, weíve brought in local Bay Area talent like Ron Thompson on guitar, Marlin B. Green on drums and others. Iím there on 2 cuts with my father: ìMean, Mean Worldî and ìRocking Chair.î At first, I was really apprehensive because people might think, ìOh sheís got a lot of nerve being on there.î But I figure, you knowÖ(Ace buds in). ACE: Natalie Cole did it with her papa; you can do it with your father. ZAKIYA: Yeah! So I am really excited about it. There will also be a DVD put out too. We have obtained more than 300 performance videos of John, so we are looking forward to that project as well. After finishing my Dadís CD and DVD, weíll be doing my CD. I am hoping mine will be done by the end of the year. ACE: Can you talk about the John Lee Hooker Foundation? ZAKIYA: When my father was alive, he was very concerned about children and education because he wasnít able to get an education as a child. So after my father died, the John Lee Hooker Foundation was started according to his wishes. The goal of the foundation is to help underprivileged, under represented children to pursue their dream of doing music, of learning musicóand of creating their own music. We have the capalbilities and the facilities to bring these children hereóteach them how to record for themselves, teach them about both recording and engineering. We can provide them with instruments---actually give them the instruments. We are able to bring in skilled musicians to teach them the fundamentals of music. This house right here, we are going to turn into a school. This is where it has to be. Weíre are in the process of that right now. ACE: Any address to give to people so that they can make contributions to The John Lee Hooker Foundation? ZAKIYA: Yes! The address is: The John Lee Hooker Foundation P.O. Box 29023 Oakland, CA 94604 The phone number is: (209) 832-3500 Email: ollanz@ozaproducsions.com ZAKIYA: Any money or musical instruments would be greatly appreciated. We are also going to start a John Lee Hooker Fund and somewhere down the line we want to have a real blues nightclub. John always wanted his own club, not like the Boom Boom Room, that was just a licensing agreement. He wanted his own club; a club that when it said on the marquee; John Lee Hooker, it meant John Lee Hooker and it was true to the blues!!!!!! ACE: I can dig that!!!! Amen! Anything else Zakiya? ZAKIYA: Yeah! Hello Detroit from little bitty Vera Hooker who graduated from Southeast High School back in 1965! Cooking Questions with Zakiya Hooker ACE: The first question is this: What is your favorite meal from your mama? ZAKIYA: That would be Sunday dinner—that would always be: chicken, dressing, macaroni and cheese, beans, candy yams and corn bread. The good old Sunday, southern, traditional dinner! ACE: Can you share a recipe from your Mama or Grandmama? ZAKIYA: That would be Spaghetti! A traditional Italian dish—but my people cook it differently. You take bell peppers, onions, celery and some cooking oil in a skillet—cook them ‘till everything is soft and the onions are clear. You take them out of the skillet and you put in your ground beef. You cook the ground beef in there and you season it with salt and pepper or other special spices you might like. Then you add your bell peppers, onions and celery back into the skillet. In the mean time you have your spaghetti that you already cooked sitting there and you mix everything together. Then you take a can of tomato paste; add about 2 cans of tomato paste and then mix it up real good with the ground beef, bell pepper, onions and celery. My grandmother always used to add a little bit of cheese to it—always sharp cheese. ACE: What is your favorite place to eat besides your mama’s? ZAKIYA: My Aunt Melissa’s house back in Detroit. Out of everyone she was the best cook. It’s her spaghetti recipe I gave you. And she made the best caramel cakes! I haven’t tasted caramel cakes like that since I left Detroit and I never will. ACE: Can you tell me a funny story about cooking? ZAKIYA: (Laughing) Oh yeah! Back in Detroit, my mom was always in there assisting us when we were leaning how to cook. My sister Diane and myself were always responsible for cooking dinner. In our house we wanted to cook and be able to go outside and play, so we were, say, going to cook some greens. Back in the day when you’d buy greens, they were always fresh. And they still had the dirt on them, so you’d have to really clean the greens good before you’d cook them. You know, wash them off real good to get all that dirt and grit off—one at a time—clean them really, really good. So Diane and me were really rushing trying to get these greens cleaned so we could go out and play—and we didn’t clean ‘em good—and we cooked ‘em. Well, when it was time to eat, all that dirt and grit was still on them and we didn’t put enough cooking oil on them to make them soft and tender. They were just like leather. Gritty leather greens! They were horrible! Mom made us eat some of them ourselves to make us understand. Because that’s what happens when you don’t do it right—and no one’s going to eat them! ACE: Any advice for people learning to cook? ZAKIYA: Yes! Pay attention to what you are doing and don’t rush to do it! Contact Information: ollanz@ozaproducsions.com For donations and or inquiries into the John Lee Hooker Foundation, a charitable trust set up for underprivileged children write or call: The John Lee Hooker Foundation P.O. Box 29023 Oakland, CA 94604 Phone: (209) 832-3500 Email: ollanz@ozaproducsions.com