That Eric Alper

Continuing the international success of the Mandoki Soulmates’ latest album, A Memory Of Our Future, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Vice President Jason Hanley invited Leslie Mandoki to the Rock Hall to celebrate “30 Years Of Soulmates” in the motherland of rock music. “We are thrilled to welcome Leslie Mandoki to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to commemorate 30 years of Mandoki Soulmates and their latest album, A Memory of Our Future,” Hanley said, and honored Mandoki’s oft-quoted maxim that “music is the greatest unifier,” especially in this “labyrinth of crises where the compass has seemingly been lost.”

This Thursday evening in the Theater of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland became one of those memorable magical moments: During an evening of stories, film and music, the audience was treated to a look behind the scenes in the new film Mandoki Soulmates Inside Sound, shown here for the first time. The legendary musicians in the Soulmates are seen recording in the studio and playing live on stage; we see what backstage life is like and learn about the nearly-lost art of creating an entire album using a completely analog process, from first note to final vinyl LP. The film was followed by a Q&A with Leslie Mandoki, a devotee and master of analogue recordings, which he views as a way to honor his fans, saying he insists on their quality to send “a handwritten love letter to our audience—not a text message.” In addition, many fascinating stories about playing with the Soulmates over 30 years were recounted, including tales of band and Rock Hall members Chaka Khan, and the late Jack Bruce and Jon Lord.

Mandoki expressed his very personal gratitude to the Rock Hall and the audience: “What an honor be here in the legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and to present our new album A Memory Of Our Future here. My father was right when he told me on his deathbed ‘Don’t dream your life, live your dream.’ I was 15 years old, and that became my life’s motto.”

Leslie Mandoki’s own story begins with his escape from behind the Iron Curtain to pursue freedom of musical expression, which eventually led to his work as a producer for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees including Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, and Lionel Richie, as well as working in key roles with icons of rock music such as Eric Burdon, Jon Lord, Robin Gibb, and Peter Frampton, as well as Jennifer Rush und Bonnie Tyler, and ultimately to the founding of the Mandoki Soulmates band. This virtuosic meeting of musical minds has been rightly called a “band of bandleaders,” and Leslie has become known as the “Hungarian Quincy Jones,” dubbed thusly by Steve Lukather and Al Di Meola. Younger Soulmate, bassist Richard Bona, explains: “Leslie and Quincy have the same kind of essence to pull out forces and put them together to get to this result. So, it’s a wonderful gift he’s got.” The late, great Jack Bruce compared this ability to unite different characters in the band, both humanly and musically, with Duke Ellington.

In 1992, Ian Anderson, Jack Bruce and Al Di Meola became founding members of what, until then, was Leslie Mandoki’s project band, Mandoki Soulmates. Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) describes Leslie as the “master chef in the kitchen, mixing all these exotic spices and mystical musical influences together. He is a great musician and it’s very rare that you get good musicians and good record producers in one person. He is the mastermind, we just turn up for work.” Over the years, Leslie has continued to bring new musicians into the fold, and the Soulmates have developed into a unique supergroup with 13 albums, several live DVDs, Blu-rays, and countless concerts worldwide. The result of all this was once summed up by Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) who simply described the Soulmates as “one of the best bands you will ever hear.”

Mandoki’s vision for the Soulmates band is to bring progressive jazz-rock back to sociopolitical relevance. For him, music has always been an expression of freedom. With intellectual, poetic lyrics, the band takes a stand on sociopolitical change. Even after more than 30 years, the Mandoki Soulmates prove that they are one of the most creative and committed bands of our time. A Memory Of Our Future impresses not only with its musical brilliance, but also with its profound messages that encourage and unite us in a challenging world. As Supertramp saxophonist and Mandoki Soulmates member John Helliwell tells it, Leslie is “a bona fide rock star who travels in the circles of presidents and prime ministers—Mikhail Gorbachev called Leslie ‘my old friend’ and told him that rock and roll was instrumental in tearing down what Churchill called the Iron Curtain. Leslie’s whole story, which he tells through his music, is about escaping oppression and standing up for freedom – and for this he was honored by Henry Kissinger“.

Mandoki explains: “In these trying times, when the bridge-builders in our society are missing or ineffective, we artists have a responsibility to respectfully, and with humility, give something back to the audience – for their decades of love, and for carrying us in their hands forward to this day.”

“Especially in New York, where I’ve recently spent much time, A Memory Of Our Future is getting traction with American media as one of the ‘most important albums of the year.’ At the Times Square billboard in New York City, our album cover beamed at me with the caption ‘Modern Day Masterpiece.’ The black swan cover image is an eye-catcher, and is prominently displayed in the trendy record stores in New York and London—and it literally shone like a light at the end of the tunnel for my Soulmate John Helliwell and me from the LED wall in London’s Waterloo Station. The euphoric reviews, especially from America, really touch me: I fled to the West through the Iron Curtain as a young musician almost 50 years ago, so this is a realization of a dream. As a teenager in the East, I was immensely proud of my seventh-generation tape copy of a copy of a copy (etc.) of a Jethro Tull album that I played (in mono) on my “Tesla” brand tape recorder. I dreamed that one day my own records would be presented in the legendary HMV flagship record store on London’s Oxford Street.” Soulmates founding member Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull says, looking back on Leslie Mandoki’s story, “Leslie often thinks of himself as a ‘refugee,’ escaping from something disagreeable and leaving the past behind. But I prefer to think of Leslie as one who arrives in a new place, with new resolve, new commitment, new optimism.”

As is customary at events like this at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, after the main event, Mandoki met the enthusiastic audience members, talking with them and signing CDs, LPs, and the 30 Years of Mandoki Soulmates Tour Book until late in the evening.