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MILES JAYE SPOTLIGHTS: 'Will Downing - The Downing Factor'
 If Will Downing had a clothing line it would sell at Barney's New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus and I'd be one of the first in line to sport Downing Wear.If he had an SUV endorsement like Eddie Bauer had with Ford, you might very well see me behind the wheel of a Will Downing Expedition. The point is; some names represent a proven standard of quality and excellence and the name Will Downing is one of them. When you first hear a Downing CD his velvety smooth baritone and effortless phrasing are immediately apparent. What is not so apparent is the standard Will applies to each and every project. Hours, weeks, months and years of preparation are transparent - he makes it seem effortless. We're not supposed to notice it, we're supposed to feel it and we do - I call it the Downing Factor. When the Downing Factor is applied the result is predictable - excellence. Someone once said, "Excellence can be obtained if you: care more than others think is wise; risk more than others think is safe; dream more than other's think is practical and expect more than other's think is possible." Artists like Will do care more, risk more, dream more and expect more. Will shared an experience with me that will underscore my point about the man. Unknown to many of his fans, he is an accomplished photographer. I asked how he was introduced to photography and he recalled a photo shoot for one of his CD covers in which he thought certain aspects of the concept could be adjusted. The photographer challenged Will to get behind the lens and try it himself. Not long after that shoot he purchased his own camera gear and got busy. He says it took exhaustive trial and error, the patience of Job and many, many rolls of film before he began to develop the multiple skill sets required to master photography. He had a vision. He had the determination. He expected to succeed and he did. Aristotle referred to excellence as habit - it's one of Will's. Excellence becomes formula like great putting or free throw shooting. Anyone who has done either knows there are at least a dozen elements to consider for consistent success at what appear to be very simple actions; hit a small round ball into a hole in the ground ten feet away with a long metal club or toss a large round ball, unchallenged, into a cylinder ten feet from the ground and fifteen feet from the baseline. Catch up with Shaq at the upcoming All-Star game and ask him about free throws. Physical consistency requires among other things, Muscle Memory. Mental consistency requires a formula - a mental path to follow each and every time. Warren Buffet's ability to "pick" winning stocks time and time again has made him legend. He owes it, at least in part, to tried and true formula's from which he does not waiver. Will has a simple but very practical formula for successful recordings: great songs, perfectly crafted rhythm arrangements with only the best musicians and top notch production, and of course - that voice. A Dream Fulfilled was the project that first made me aware of the Downing Factor. It was clear to me that he had raised the bar and set a new standard by which all other vocal projects in similar categories would be measured. For years I wondered how he did it. What do I mean by perfect? I mean as soon as the proverbial needle hits the wax, something good happens to the space you're in - not just sonically but psychologically - it's a vibe thing. The mood becomes a wrinkle free zone, like the final smoothing stroke of a hand on a perfectly made California king. The tones you hear seem to automatically dim the lights in the room. Everything around you slows down a beat per minute. It's like the Twilight Zone... you no longer control the vertical or horizontal. He's got you... you're absorbed. You want to hear every lyric and every line - this is Downing Time. Ironically, Will has another perspective on the so-called perfect record. He suggests that a recording that is fifty-five minutes of quantized, sonically correct, mistake free, squeaky clean may, in fact, be too perfect if it lacks warmth. He also notes that such productions often lack originality as labels and producers eager to capture success in a bottle, model successive productions after the latest radio hits. It's the music industry's version of cloning. Who can be the next Mary J. or the next Chris Brown? Simple and to the point Will says; "I just do what I do... I do what I do best." Confucius said; "A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions." Will expounded; "There are so few of us left it looks like I'm doing something unique, but I'm not." "Everyone else is singing tenor today so it makes me appear unique." I appreciate Will's rare sense of generous humility, but I must insist that Will Downing is unique. He says he simply does what he does best, but his artistic range has spanned dance tracks to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" making it evident to me that Will Downing's artistic engine is just getting warmed up and the only place left for him to go is a place Canadian jazz pianist Paul Bley likes to refer to as beyond excellence. Where ever beyond excellence is and whatever Will decides to do once he arrives, you can be sure that he will continue to generously apply the Downing Factor and the results will continue to be predictable - magical. Will's newest release After Tonight is #1 on Billboard's R&B chart. Hear the title track here. Article published in Dallas Weekly and EURWeb.com |
