On July 20, 2022, the Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents welcomed a group whose fame owes much to its conductor, the late Prince Rogers Nelson, who passed away in April 2016. Since that disastrous date, its former musicians and partners have revitalized the spirit of their chaperone by delivering invigorating performances punctuated by the great classics of the maestro. New Power Generation was the formation created by Prince at the dawn of the 1990s. The members of NPG therefore have a heavy responsibility to perpetuate the musical heritage of their hero.
If Prince’s greatest hits date back to the 1980s (“Purple Rain”, “Kiss”, “Girls & Boys”), let’s not minimize the repertoire that punctuated the end of the 20th century.e century. Diamonds & Pearls and The Gold Experience, for example, were great albums from which we always like to hum the most catchy melodies like “Cream”, “Money don’t matter 2 night” or “The most beautiful girl in the world”. This is the reason why the European tour of New Power Generation did not elude any major work of the brilliant Prince.
“You know, Prince’s discography spans decades. And throughout these 40 years, he has produced dozens of hits that have become legendary. Prince fans span multiple generations. There are those who grew up with ‘Prince & The Revolution’, others only knew ‘New Power Generation’. Every musician who has played with Prince must know all of these repertoires, because the public, whatever it is, will want to hear the songs that they appreciated in their youth. It would be strange for us to only play the compositions we recorded with ‘New Power Generation’. Fans would be disappointed, as they obviously want to hear the bulk of Prince’s repertoire. ‘Purple Rain’ was a global hit. This title, this album and this film, marked the spirits. Why deprive the public of these famous melodies ? Besides, we don’t feel frustrated since a lot of records were released during the ‘New Power Generation’ period. The goal is first to satisfy the fans before making us happy. We want the spectators to come out happy from a concert that we have given”. (Morris Hayes, Prince’s pianist, on the microphone of Joe Farmer)
The main protagonists of “The Prince Epic” are delighted to return to the stage and to honor the memory of their late mentor. However, it was necessary to give a new voice to the daring re-readings of the compositions of yesteryear. It is a singer, originally from Virginia in the United States, who will arouse the curiosity of Jill Willis, the former manager of Prince. The voice of the young MacKenzie, his gestures, his energy, then convince her to offer him to officially join New Power Generation.
The stakes are high, because comparisons with the illustrious Prince are inevitable. “It’s very intimidating. Each of the band members took me under their wing and encouraged me to be myself. I’m not trying to be a new Prince, because he was unique. I just want to honor him by being myself. So, I don’t really feel the pressure that such a musical adventure represents. It’s never a good idea to impersonate a great personality. It’s better to be yourself and that’s what I try to do. I simply let myself be carried away by the emotion.” (MacKenzie, July 20, 2022 in Marseille)
What future looms for the musicians of NPG? How much longer will they receive cheers from the crowd? Will they have the desire to continue these tours indefinitely in tribute to Prince? The rapper, guitarist and pillar of the group, is aware of the limits of the exercise and is already thinking about the continuation of this extraordinary adventure: “We’re here to honor Prince, to stay honest, and to evolve his repertoire. I think he had a secret desire to see his music evolve and survive him. He also wanted us to keep making music and progress. Our duty is therefore to be creators before being interpreters. We need to get new audiences interested in Prince music.” (Tony Mosley on RFI – July 2022)
There is no doubt that the princely heritage will continue to nurture nostalgia, but also the inspiration of many musicians across the planet. We therefore salute the happy initiative of these dedicated virtuosos who carry within them the ingenuity of a formidable jack-of-all-trades, whose absence always saddens his admirers despite NPG’s indisputable efforts to preserve the flame and glimpse the future…