*Maurice White, the Memphis-born musician and visionary best known as the founder of supergroup Earth, Wind & Fire, was a man with many ambitions. One was to create an extended instrumental work of shifting textures reflecting his early musical journeys which whisked him to Chicago where he first became a session drummer for Chess Records, joined the trio of renowned jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis then subsequently toured the world.
In 2003, White, in collaboration with composer/arranger/pianist Bill Meyers, began work on such a piece but wound up abandoning it to work on his Broadway musical, “Hot Feet.” From that time until White’s passing in 2016, the piece was never much thought about again. However, one man never forgot it. While doing some digging, video footage, documenting its composition, happened to include the entire piece, albeit with White and Meyers talking over it making notes.
Mitch Glickman, Music Director of the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, commissioned Meyers to reconstruct the piece from the serendipitously found videotape. And on Saturday evening, May 9, 2026, the resulting piece, “Passages,” was premiered by the 68-member Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (SJO) under the direction of Glickman at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, CA.
To create a full evening of music, “Passages” was bookended between two apropos selections by the late George Duke (a former SJO co-MD whose son, Rashid Duke, now sits on the SJO’s Music Advisory Board), as well as six orchestral arrangements of classic Earth, Wind & Fire classics. Special featured guests were singer/songwriter Chanté Moore and saxophonist/composer Lakecia Benjamin.
The program opened with George Duke’s “Festival,” a driving Latin Jazz piece that Duke recorded with just rhythm section, voices and a phalanx of synthesizers on his 1979 LP, Follow the Rainbow. Glickman blossomed the arrangement for the orchestra with thrilling horn punctuation, a tasty trombone solo by Alan Kaplan, a percussion section break that led into audience participation hand claps, capped by a robust piano solo from Alexis Lombre. It was a roundly dynamic piece to open the show reflecting the energy that both Duke and White were known to deliver.
Next was a soaring Glickman arrangement of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Fantasy” for which Lakecia Benjamin joined the ensemble playing the lead melody as well as soloing. This was followed by one of the true highlights of the evening: a lush and lovely new Marshall Gilkes arrangement of the EWF ballad, “Reasons.” The strings beautifully mirrored the recording’s vocal “la-las,” leading to a standout brass section on the chorus. Here, Lakecia brought the jazzy swing and the dark romance with a richly soulful and affirmatively emotive tone. The native New Yorker certainly did Don Myrick, famous for playing alto sax on EWF’s live version of “Reasons,” very proud.
It was then time to present the piece of the hour. To set it up, Glickman brought co-composer Bill Meyers to the stage who shared about the honor of being handpicked by Maurice White to work with him and the band. Their first collaboration was “Can’t Let Go,” a 3-way co-write between White, Meyers and the great Allee Willis from EWF’s 1979 album, I Am. Meyers then spoke specifically about “Passages” – how he and “Reese” spent 5 months working it out and then the three months decades later it took Meyers to reconstruct it.
The last part of introducing the piece was an audio clip of White speaking about the inspiration behind its creation. White confessed his desire to give fans an intimate portrait of his story. The initial direction of the piece was apparently more thrilling and dynamic. However, White ultimately wanted it to reflect less of EWF’s grandeur and more of White’s own soft essence. “This is my story,” he said. “It’s all about…discovery.”
Meyers, who described White as a “Renaissance Man,” then sat at the piano and with Glickman conducting, away they went into “Passages”: an extended instrumental work in 5 sections.
The lovely opening was slightly reminiscent of the intro to EWF’s minor hit “Fall in Love with Me” then settled into a laidback soul groove that suddenly switched up to swing. Here, Lakecia Benjamin took the lead. Her solo over the orchestral backing segued into a section where she played all alone which gave way to a sentimental string interlude. Suddenly, the music took off into a Latin Soul groove which urged Lakecia into some peppery licks before returning to the main melody. A section featuring mallet percussion oozed into a sexy ostinato groove anchored by bassist Edwin Livingston. For “Passages”’ grand finale, there was a drum solo by Christian Euman tagged by emphatic brass accents.
As pleasant as the piece was – and it was warmly received – it retained a ‘not quite finished’ feel. Perhaps there is a little more fleshing out that can be done for future presentations and, hopefully, a commemorative recording.
Following an intermission, the program continued with orchestral arrangements of Earth, Wind & Fire songs. Glickman introduced Ms. Chanté Moore, a 35-year veteran of soul-pop excellence who worked with Maurice White on two occasions. The set began with Glickman’s arrangement of EWF’s majestic “In the Stone,” which opened with a floating floral motif. When the more familiar groove of the tune commenced, Moore entered several bars early on the first verse but recovered by the chorus, greeting all with the song’s inspirational message:
Deep inside your heart for you to keep
Lies a spark of light that never sleeps
The greatest love you ever known
Love is, love is written in the stone
Second up was another song of self-affirmation, “Be Ever Wonderful.” Glickman’s arrangement began with a serene nod to Brazilian master Milton Nascimento’s “Ponta de Areia” which White had utilized as an interlude leading into “Be Ever Wonderful” on EWF’s 1977 album, All `N All. As the song commenced, it was clear that San Francisco-native Moore was a true believer in its uplifting vibe, which led to a bravura vocal from the star, concluding with one of her signature ‘whistle note’ runs in her high sopranino range.
Next was an easy-breezy swoon through the meditative “That’s The Way of The World,” this arrangement by the ever-sensitive Vince Mendoza. The arranger held two places for lovely trumpet solos and had the string section play the B.B. King-inspired guitar solos of EWF’s Johnny Graham note for note. The warm, long note swells of the orchestra in full were a lovely tribute to original arranger/co-composer, Charles Stepney.
Moore detoured from the Earth, Wind & Fire material to sing a personal tribute to George Duke – a man heavily involved with her 1992 debut album, Precious, and who also presented her in her first major concert performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. For her homage, Moore sang the ‘jazz man’s 1981 Top 10 pop hit, “Sweet Baby,” a song Duke wrote to honor his wife, Corinne, and sang the lead on in a duo project with kindred crossover spirit, Stanley Clarke. Moore’s spot-on delivery of the lyric and Alexis Lombre’s piano solo filled the room with loving energy.
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What else could be the closing number for a Maurice White salute but “September,” spiritedly arranged by John Clayton with Lakecia Benjamin returning to blow her ‘alto horn,’ and led by Moore with several rousing choruses of “BA-DE-YA!!”
All `N All, this was a heartwarming musical salute to a never-to-be-forgotten master that additionally doubled as a fitting fundraiser for music in the schools.
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