Earth, Wind, and Fire: “My Promise” Rehearsal Performance

Today is Verdine White’s birthday, and we’re celebrating with the band’s sneak preview of their album, Now, Then, and Forever.

This clip is a rehearsal performance for its first single, “My Promise,” and Verdine is in his usual energetic form, grooving like only he can.

Happy birthday, Verdine!

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Leave a Reply to Mike Matthews Cancel reply

  1. sounds like EWF doing their same ol’ thang! nobody sounds like them and they’ve still got it! I miss maurice though.

  2. Love that bottom groove!

  3. don’t want to be a bummer here but as much as I love Verdine’s playing on all the 70’s hits, the last few years he has been holding the bass as a prop while he dances and another bassist actually plays. Don’t know why this is. Here he is not even miming the part very accurately. What happened?

    • Looks like sloppy video editing. I saw EWF live in Moscow in 2005 and Verdine was in great shape as a player.

    • I I agree completely.. I’ve noticed that a few years ago… All show and no thumping… Pretty odd!

    • Ron Reid

      Have noticed that for a while now. Makes it seem fake.

  4. Sorry to respectfully disagree with you. Saw EWF 2 times this summer and he was playing bass. The guitars on stage are six string guitar players G-Mo & Morris. I was wondering what other bass player are you referring to. Where was the other bassist? Sometimes bands use bass (music) tracks that they play along with which is common.

  5. usual groove, rythm..the best ever! Happy birthday Verdine!

  6. He was the reason i wanted to play the Bass, he’s Funky Classify and you know the old saying Bass Players are Sexy

  7. Lucas

    I’m sorry, but Verdine is a terrible bass player … Poor knowledge of musicianship, he only knows the pentatonic scale, he doesn’t have a good technique and fingering, and also his timing is terrible … Of course that’s my point, but if you pay attention to his playing and look at his solos on youtube you’ll see what I’m talking about, MOREOVER he’s not even playing on stage anymore, Nathan East or some other guys are playing in the back of the stage next to the drummer. The only explanation I found is that the band realized that he’s definitely not good enough to keep playing bas in EWF so they chose to keep him on stage but unplugged with an other bass player in the back. Once again that’s just my opinion and I would be happy to debate and to know what you guys think about it.

    • yeah yeah..he’s getting older, but EWF have a pretty good selection of hits and Verdine’s bass grooves have inspired thousands of bass players all over the world. To accomplish that, it seems that you don’t need to know more than the pentatonic scale;)

    • Mike Matthews

      I don’t know man. Some of his old school bass lines are just fantastic !!!. Maybe he’s got some carpal or tendinitis going on… ? All I know is he has created some great grooves through the years and I still respect him and EWF.

  8. Yeah, I don’t know what he’s playing, but it’s not the bassline I’m hearing There’s some fast runs, a few high register notes, and some slap and pop. Yet he never leaves first position in the video, nor does he change from fingerstyle playing. He doesn’t even appear to be playing in time with what’s going on. This is very upsetting. This is not like it’s Gene Simmons, for whom it is well know that his best playing was actually done by Will Lee and other session guys. This is Verdine White. If he couldn’t play anymore, he should have retired like his brother did. This charade does nothing but discredit him and EW&F. Very sad.