Q&A: Ahead of Clearwater Smooth Jazz Jam, Sheila E. talks new album and Ringo Starr memories

Being a musical trailblazer isn’t always easy, but luckily, Sheila E. had a support system that was second to none when she got started.

Sheila Escovedo came from a highly musical family, with her father being legendary Latin percussionist Pete Escovedo , and as a child, the 66-year-old was never told that girls don’t play the drums.

“My mom plays a little bit, we have family all the time over at home, and everyone jammed. Everyone picked up instruments and started playing,” she told Creative Loafing Tampa during a recent phone call.

Sure, there were advances, snarky comments, and belittlements from pretentious men (all of which Sheila rejected or ignored), but it never got her down. Prince and Ringo Starr have both expressed their amazement at her skill, and to her knowledge, she has collaborated with the Purple One on over 200 unreleased songs sitting in the Paisley Park vault.

“We sat there trying to listen to as many songs as possible,” Sheila added. “And it was all night. We had cassettes, listening songs back-to-back on each side, and I just couldn't believe it.”

She won’t be playing tracks from her new album Bailar (her first salsa album with guest spots from both of her parents, Luis Enrique, and her old friend Gloria Estefan) when she fronts The E-Train during day two of the Clearwater Smooth Jazz Jam at Ruth Eckerd Hall this weekend, but she plans to put together a salsa band to give the album a push in the coming months. “It's gonna be challenging, because no one ever does 12 to 17-piece bands anymore,” she told CL.

Tickets to the two-day Clearwater Smooth Jazz Jam at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Friday and Saturday, June 14-15 are still available and start at $63.75.

Read our full Q&A with Sheila E. below.
[event-1] Thanks for talking with me today, Sheila. Will you be playing any tracks from your new album Bailar in Clearwater? I feel like a lot of those songs would be great in a venue like Ruth Eckerd Hall.

No, we're not doing any of those songs for this show. That specific band—for me to play the new salsa, which we're working on—will be half of my band, and then another eight people onstage, because playing the live salsa music is extremely challenging, and it's got to be right. I don't want to jeopardize the sound, the quality and the musicianship. It needs to be right, so it's gonna be challenging, because no one ever does 12 to 17-piece bands anymore! And I'm excited to play with the new band, however, we're not doing it quite yet.

Just need a little bit more time to work on putting that band together, huh?

Yeah. We put one band together, and now, I'm in the process of putting the next thing together, because we are going to do a smaller version on Tiny Desk coming up in July, so I'm working on getting a band together, and then we'll go out and do some shows with this new band as well. So this will make my third band, and constant touring, which is great, because I love to play.

Nice. Do you mind if I ask you a couple things about Bailar , though?

Sure.

How far do you and Gloria Estefan go back? I really liked the song you two did together.

Thank you. On Bailar , we did “Bemba Colorá,” which is an amazing Celia Cruz song. I was growing up listening to salsa music, and when I finally met Celia and was able to play with her, I said “if I do a record, I’d love to redo that song.” So I called…I texted Gloria, actually. I didn’t call, I texted because I was out of the country again, and Gloria and I, we’re friends. We’re family. We go back as far as, I wanna say 1984, whenever their first single came out, because I think I was out on tour as well.

It also looks like both of your parents appear on this album too. How often does your dad still play?

He plays, but not as much as he used to. Maybe once a month now, because he said that he's retiring or going to retire, and we said he can't because if he does, he'll die. So, we're keeping him busy, and so, he'll perform with me on a couple of shows coming up. He's performing in July. Actually, he just played a few shows already this month, and then he's playing his birthday show in Los Angeles, so we'll all be at that. And he'll be 89 years young, and he's still playing. So we're proud of him.

Cool. And I read recently that your parents are going on 68 years of marriage. That’s incredible.

Exactly. That’s a miracle in itself. Yeah, I'll be 67, so that means their 68th anniversary is in October, and we're just…I'm so blessed, first of all, that they're still together. They're in love, they crack us up, they make us laugh every day. I talk to them 20 times a day, and if I'm home, of course, I see them all the time. But yeah, it's just a miracle and a blessing to have both my parents and them doing well.

Right on. So, going back to music a little bit. Tell me about the first time you met Tito Puente, because I know salsa music was a big part of your upbringing, and there’s a story about when Tom Petty met Elvis Presley for the first time, and that kind of ignited his entire career. So I was wondering if meeting Tito inspired you to dive even deeper into salsa, or even into drumming in general.

Well, it's interesting, because my dad met Tito when Pops was 18, and I’m not sure how Tito was, but having him around in the family, and going to see him play, absolutely. But I think growing up and listening to that music was very inspiring. Being able to meet him was, first of all, amazing, but at the same time, I didn't realize who he was, you know? I didn't realize how amazing he was until later on. You start playing, and everyone's like “wow, you know Tito Puente?!” And then, my dad and I would be going around, hanging out with him in New York, at the Corso and the Palladium, watching him play, listening to him perform, meeting the family. Yes, I loved who he was, and though people knew him for playing timbalis, and he was also an incredible vibraphone player, he wrote music. And not a lot of percussionists would write music. They didn't know how to specifically do that. That was not common. So, it was a big deal to have someone write their own music for a 15 to 17 piece band. It was amazing.

That leads me into my next question, here. When you got started, there really weren't that many female drummers on the scene. Viola Smith and Karen Carpenter are the only ones I can think of. What kind of pressure did you face at the beginning of your career? Like, what sort of biases were in place when you first started?

Yeah, it was strange outside of the Bay Area, where I grew up, in Oakland, and outside of my home. It was never said that I wasn’t allowed to play because it was better-known for a male to play. That was never mentioned in the home at all. My mom plays a little bit, we have family all the time over at home, and everyone jammed. Everyone picked up instruments and started playing.

When I got outside the home and started recording sessions with other artists in Los Angeles, did I realize that. I’d be walking into the the main room where all the instruments were, and drummers would say “hey, excuse me, can you get me a cup of coffee?” And I'll go “uh, I can get you a cup of coffee, but I'm not the receptionist. I'm actually the percussionist.” And they're like, “Oh, no, no, that's not possible.” And I’m like, “Yeah, it is.” You know, different things like that. Men being very rude and dismissive to me, and in a place where they were trying to make me feel less-than. Wanting to take me to their room, promising to give me this and that and “further your career” and “I can produce you and get you a record deal if you sleep with me,” all of those things.

And to overcome all of that, the amazing part was having Mom and Pops, my parents, be the most amazing support team ever, and to be able to go and speak with them about these situations, and them helping me by saying “Look, you're different, because they're not used to seeing this. It’s normal for us, but people outside are not used to this. And you are different, in that you grew up in this music and you're playing and it's okay.” You know, just keeping me very confident, and Pops was always telling me early on that if I walk into a room prepared, like when the studio has given us the music ahead of time. If I practiced and rehearsed it and know what I have to play, I walk into a room with comfort and confidence. And that allows me to have fun, be myself, and not be stressed out or think like “I'm not able to do this.”

I don't read music, and so learning different time signatures, and playing with Billy Cobham, George Duke and Herbie Hancock allows me to learn all these different rhythms right on the spot, without reading music, and really listening. And when they would play it down, and pay attention to the time changes and stuff without reading, it was insane. So I had a gift, and to overcome all that is really having the rock, the stronghold of my parents being so supportive.

Speaking of walking into a room with confidence, I only have one Prince-related question for you. It's been said that his vault has like, 8000 unreleased songs. Did you two do any songs together that never ended up seeing the light of day? Like, are there any that you thought “Man, that's a hit,” but Prince was just like “nah?”

Even when I was still there in the 80s, writing and producing, or if I was producing my own stuff in the other room, or we started playing together, or when jam sessions end up becoming songs…I know for a fact one day, there were at least 200 songs, and that was back then. I stopped counting. And we sat there trying to listen to as many songs as possible. And it was all night. We had cassettes, listening songs back-to-back on each side, and I just couldn't believe it. And that was with and without me, but I know I was on at least 200, and and it's past that. I don't even know how many songs. And until something is released, do I even realize it's me or not?

Still, over 200 is crazy.

Yeah.

Stepping away from music for a minute. I read recently that when you're traveling abroad, you love learning about local food scenes. Are there any that you've indulged in that just really stuck out to you more than the others?

I mean, everywhere I go, it's different. I could find the right spot and go, “oh my god, this is amazing.” I just came back from Greece. I went to Mykonos and Santorini again. I love going there, it wasn’t my first time. But there's one specific restaurant in Mykonos that was simply incredible. It was fresh, it was brand new, it was on that mountain, and we just happened to stumble. We were wanting to get something to eat, have lunch, and look over into the ocean. And we found the place. I forgot the name of it, but I have the card and actually took a picture of it. But simply the most amazing food I've had in a very long time. It was so fresh, it came out within not even 10 minutes. The whole experience, being on the Mediterranean Sea and looking out, eating this food with your friends and family. It was just incredible. It's all about the experience. It really is, and I love that part of my life to be able to experience that.

Totally. Last question, and then I'll let you go. You played in a few different versions of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band earlier this century. While you were there, whose songs were the most challenging to learn the percussion parts to?

It wasn't percussion, because I played drums, but I'll say right off the bat, it was the first version of the band I did, and it was with Greg Lake from Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. The one song that I played with him was one of his famous songs that the group played, and I had problems learning it, because the tempo just dropped out of nowhere, and I was playing in time. I had my metronome, and I just went “why is it changing?” I couldn't figure it out, so I actually had to call him. I was like, “Is this in time?” He goes “Yeah." He said "it's just that we’re used to playing with each other, so if we slow down, we slow down. If we speed up, we speed up.” I said “oh, okay.”

So, that song from Greg Lake was one that was overwhelming in a way, but a lot of fun because I knew that I couldn't wait to play it. I always said to myself, and people know, that I always wanted to be in a rock band, and that was my chance to really play in a rock band, playing all these songs as a drummer. I had a blast.

Although, when we did rehearsal, on the first day, Greg turned around and he said “have you ever played rock and roll before?” And I thought, “see? Those kinds of sarcastic—“ *laughs* I looked at him and said “Yes, I have. Have you played Latin music before?” He’s like “well, no.” But I said “yeah, I gotcha. Don't worry about it.” And Ringo kind of laughed and chuckled. He looked at me like “uh-oh,” and I swear, I needed to prove a point to him. I played that song so hard. And I played it in time, which Greg had never played the song, he said, in time before. And he said it was probably the best version he's ever played. But very sarcastic at the beginning, to go “yeah, have you ever played rock and roll before?” Like seriously, dude? Yeah. And he shut down, and then Ringo turned around at the end of the song and said, “Wow! She's the drummer of the band!” *laughs*

Checkmate, Greg Lake.

Yeah.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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