Tal Wilkenfeld Opens Up on Working With Prince

Tal Winkenfeld: "Nobody Makes Records Like That Anymore Everyone wants to edit and edit and re-record, and this and that"

Bassist Tal Wilkenfeld reflected on how Prince didn't want her re-recording any mistakes she made in the studio, arguing that such an approach could hardly be seen in today's music industry.

Tal's collab with Prince eventually saw the light of day in 2021 under the name of "Welcome 2 America", but even though what ended up as the "Purple Rain" icon's 40th studio album was released posthumously, its origins could actually be traced back to 2008, when Tal was just starting to make waves in the music world, not least via her legendary collab with Jeff Beck. (Ultimateguitar)

"He called me up and said, 'I want to make a band with you. I'm really inspired by what you're doing with Jeff Beck. Do you like the drum rolls of Jack DeJohnette?'; that was his first question to me. I'm like, 'Yeah, who doesn't?' We had a discussion about drum sounds, and he said, 'Well, it sounds like you're particular about drummers, so why don't you find us the drummer and I'll trust you?'"

Describing the atmosphere in the studio, Tal noted how Prince immediately had a plan for every part, diving straight into the recording process — which proved all the more exciting because the late icon didn't want her to "punch in anything", i. e. re-record and iron out any mistakes that were caught on tape:

"He did not want me to punch in anything. There was one song called 'Same Page, Different Book'. He like talked me through it, and then he had me soloing between each phrase. I didn't know that was going to come up. And he loved that; he loved to have me on the edge of my seat. That was my first like real falling-off-a-cliff moment [with] somebody else holding me at the edge of the cliff. Now, I just do it on my own, because it's so fun, and it's the best thing for the music."

Prince's no re-recording policy, Tal said:

"He didn't want that. He [said], 'Well, my favorite records are those where whatever happened, happened. That's a moment in time. Let's make a new moment in time.' It's great. Nobody makes records like that anymore. Everyone wants to edit and edit and re-record, and this and that. And unfortunately, with a lot of music — I'm not saying all music, because there's plenty of great music coming out — but there's the danger of it being flat, because every little imperfection is digitally removed."