Andre, a stickler for basics

THE EDITOR: I had the pleasure, honour and privilege of working closely with Andre Tanker over the last three months as he prepared his music for Carnival release. Contrary to popular opinion, Andre was not a perfectionist. He loved rough edges, serendipitous mistakes and going against the norm sonically to create an effect on the listener.  However, Andre was a believer in excellence. And his idea of what constituted excellence went way beyond that of the average musician. He always strove to provide the ultimate experience to his listeners. Even if that meant constant reworking and re-recording.

After a song was “finished”, Andre would take it out in the field and canvass opinions from young and old, layman and professional. Invariably, he would call up a few days later apologising, “It’s my fault,” he would say.  “I should have noticed it sooner. But we really need to change the snare drum in the chorus.” Or, “I don’t know how we missed it, but the backing vocals need to be just a little bit louder.” He was a stickler for basics such as diction. Every word had to be clear to the listener. Andre saw himself as a storyteller first. It was of crucial importance that the story not get lost amid the music. Andre would always ask you to make these changes in the nicest possible way. He was one of the coolest, most laid back person I knew.  

I never once saw Andre angry or upset. Even when things did not go according to plan in a session, or musician’s tempers got frayed, at the end Andre would always give you a big, warm hug and thank you from the bottom of his heart for your time and energy. I think that Andre genuinely had no idea how great he was. He was always very humble. He would not hesitate to ask for advice or opinion from his juniors in both age and experience. He knew how easy it was to lose objectivity when working for weeks in the vacuum of a recording studio. Andre was hip. Andre loved to be around young people. It was how he kept himself on the cutting edge. He was always interested in working with the younger artistes and producers. Last year, I was genuinely surprised to discover that he was 60 years old. He always appeared to be much younger.

Andre loved reading the hip-hop magazines Vibe and The Source. We would have long discussions about Dr Dre’s production techniques versus The Neptunes. Or Eminem lyrics as opposed to Nas and JayZ. Andre was into all the latest technology. He crafted all his recent hits on his home PC using the latest software. He was always pushing the envelope. Once he called me up to ask if he should buy an MPC (a combined drum machine and sampler popular with hip-hop producers). He had been taking part in an online discussion where some of these hip-hop guys were debating the use of computers and saying the “computers beats” weren’t tough enough and couldn’t stand up against an MPC.

I told him, “Andre, if these guys hear what you are doing with a computer, they would all pack up and go back to school!” Andre had only recently embarked on a whole new musical journey. He had hundreds of recorded songs and was working on new ones all the time. There is no telling where this journey may have ended. We were fortunate to get a small glimpse over the last few years. Andre had a genuine love for music and the people who made it. So Andre, all I can say is, “Thanks for the music.”

MARTIN ‘MICE’
RAYMOND
Port-of-Spain