"It's hard to write anything about Richard Tee without it bringing a warm smile to one's face. Over the many years of work here in New York, I had the distinct privilege of recording with Tee on countless sessions and live gigs too. It didn't take too long to learn that, when Richard Tee was at the acoustic piano or the Fender Rhodes, all you had to do was to listen to him and that was going to determine just what would be the best thing to play. By his sheer presence, he would always become the center of any track.
If you were in trouble, you simply had to lean on him and everything musical would work out. To fight against that would spell disaster! His instincts were pure and perfect. On any number of occasions there were moments where I was certain that I had died and gone to "Soul/R&B" heaven! Many recordings for Ashford & Simpson with Tee made me feel that way.
In addition to the 'feeling' with which he played, he was also a superb musician, with musicianship skills that could rival anyone. And, he was very, very funny. I think that he thought that the harmonic proclivities of some of us were a bit too strange for him. I recall the first rehearsals for a trip to Japan with the hastily assembled "NY All-Stars" which included:
The Brecker Bros.; David Sanborn; Mike Mainieri; Anthony Jackson; and Steve Gadd. We began to rehearse one of Randy's fantastic tunes, with
his very unique sense of harmony. As Tee sat there reading it perfectly,
the expression on his face after each successive chord was more pained and distorted. The looks seemed to say: "Are you f$&king kidding me with these chords?!?!?!?!" Randy could only offer a shrug and sheepish grin. The rest of us could only laugh because, by that time, those harmonic sounds were all very familiar to us.
Oddly enough in Tee's approach to Gospel chord movements, he employed some pretty wild harmonies himself. For example, when going from I to IV, let's say in the key of G, he would often play a B in the bass with a Bb triad over it as it passed to C7(9). Sometimes, it would be D../B moving to that same C7(9). These sounds just passed by quickly and smoothly, he never made 'a face' when those chords went by because it was sound and natural to him.
In the end, it was a great, great honor for me that, like many of his
fellow players, he also called me "Stuffy" as a term of endearment.
I will treasure that always!!!"
-Steve Khan 9.27.06
www.stevekhan.com
