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THE TUTTI FLUTTI SHOP
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SHINE ON THE WORLD for HAITI We have all been deeply affected by the recent disaster in Haiti, and our hearts go out to all those who perished and to those left behind in rebuilding a devastated country. I remember well my own visit to Haiti in 1981, while on a State Department tour of the Caribbean playing flute in Chick Corea’s group. I remember how gracious the Haitian people were in welcoming us to their country, and how enthusiastic they were about our concert. I also remember the faces of children as we handed American dollars out of our tour bus windows into their outstretched hands. I was reminded of this when reading of the isolated earthquake survivors desperately scrambling for supplies being dropped to them from helicopters in remote locations. The need for dollars is exponentially higher now. With so many artists and songwriters putting out their songs and donating proceeds to the various relief organizations, I decided this would be an appropriate time for me to offer up another song of hope by releasing Shine On The World. I first wrote the music for this song twenty years ago (with a different title) for an instrumental pop/jazz flute CD of mine. Frank Davies, my Toronto based publisher, approached Canadian singer/songwriter Shirley Eikhard about writing a lyric. (Shirley is perhaps best known for writing Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-winning hit “Let’s Give Them Something To Talk About”). Shirley rose to the occasion with a universal world-themed lyric, and in June & July of 2007 we recorded the song with a top-flight lineup of musicians, singers, producers and arrangers in Los Angeles. Nita Whitaker, our lead vocalist, is one of the true gems of the singing world, and I knew of her through our mutual friend Dave Loeb. We recorded her vocals at A&M (now Henson) studio D – the very studio that my group Auracle recorded our first album back in 1977! (And where We Are The World was recorded in 1984). Bill Purse (my longtime friend from high school days in the Chicago suburbs), producer of my first album for CBS back in the 80’s, and himself a brilliant songwriter, composer, arranger and pianist, came onboard to co-produce with me. Bill and Nita had worked together back in the Star Search days, where Bill was the staff arranger and Nita won the grand prize in the last year of its run. My friend, colleague and fellow Chicagoan Les Hooper did his usual masterful job of orchestrating and conducting a 30-piece orchestra of some of LA’s finest studio musicians led by concertmaster extraordinaire Kathleen Robertson. Bill’s daughter Jessie (formerly of Sergio Mendez’ group) directed a children’s choir comprised of nine of her young voice students – recorded in my living room! Engineer Peter Doell, a veteran of all the L.A. studios, recorded and mixed all the tracks. Teri Koide led twelve of LA’s top studio singers for the background vocals – and her husband Wade Culbreath did all the amazing percussion! And of course, a crack rhythm section consisting of Bill on Piano along with my colleagues Ken Wild (bass), Bernie Dresel (drums) and Thom Rotella (guitar). All in all, a rewarding project through and through!! The promotional video makes use of some beautifully shot stock footage from the Digital Juice Video Library chosen to underscore the text of Shirley’s positive and uplifting words (rather then replaying the images of Haiti that we see on the news 24/7), as well as some still pictures of the musicians (actually, selected frames from low-res archival video) taken at the recording sessions. Shine On The World was originally intended for inclusion in my Tutti Flutti/PBS show as an encore or closing number (see the rest of this website for more info), but it seems more appropriate to release it now as a tribute to the people of Haiti. To those of you that found your way to this page, Shirley and I hope you enjoy the song and will consider buying the mp3. My sincere thanks also to Nita, Bill, Shirley and Peer Music who, along with me, are donating their artist, producer, writer and publishing royalties for this cause. Until further notice, the net proceeds from the downloads of the song will be donated to the Save The Children:Haiti Earthquake Children in Emergency Fund (www.savethechildren.org) and a small portion (5%) to the Humane Society International (www.HSUS.org/HSI), one of Shirley’s favorite charities. -Steve Kujala, February 1, 2010
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