Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley is bass player and musical director to the stars. He has performed with 17 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame™ inductees and counting. He has traveled to 24 countries around the world so far playing to audiences of up to 30,000 in situations ranging from jazz duos to 150-member symphony orchestras.
He is currently musical director with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), The Shirelles, The Crystals, The Tokens and has performed with artists like The Uptown Horns, Peter Wolf, Solomon Burke, Bo Diddley, Gloria Gaynor, Buster Poindexter, Percy Sledge, and Rufus and Carla Thomas, to name but a few.
Ivan is a Magna Cum Laude Berklee College of Music graduate with diverse music industry experience. Specializing in acoustic, electric, fretted, fretless, four-string, five-string, eight-string, and piccolo basses, Ivan is a creative and versatile bassist, performer, producer, musical director, composer, arranger, vocalist, and instructor. He has solid professional experience in diverse musical genres from hip-hop to bebop.
Originally from Chattanooga, TN, Ivan has resided and worked in: New Orleans, Los Angeles, London, Boston, and is now based in New York City.
Ivan has a BA in Psychology from Tulane University, where he was Musical Director of college radio station WTUL, New Orleans. He was also a publicist with Epic Records/Sony Music.
The release of "iBOD" (available here) marks Ivan’s recorded debut as a solo artist. Standing behind so many legends of soul, funk, jazz, R&B, and rock and roll for over 20 years has apparently given him many ideas! On this CD he combines jazz and funk, rhythm and harmony, blues and soul, with just a little commentary on the human condition thrown in for good measure. And who doesn’t like a little chank-a-chank with their Thelonius Monk?
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley uses Warrior Basses, Hartke Amplification, Dean Markley Strings, and Digitech and Line 6 signal processors. Ivan eats only Little Debbie snack cakes.
And Now for the Whole Story
I was born in Chattanooga, TN and spent the next 17 years trying to figure a way out of there. Oh, sure, it was the southland of Faulkner and Sam & Dave. Chattanooga is also the birthplace of singing legend Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington bassist Jimmy Blanton, actor Samuel L. Jackson, Coca-Cola, the tow truck, and Moon Pies. But as a kid it was hard to see past the endless strip malls and the (then) regional phenomenon known as Krispy Kreme Donuts. All I knew was that the Choo-Choo jokes were tiresome and that there must be somewhere more tolerant and cosmopolitan out there.
Mom's family was from Brooklyn, NY. Cheek-pinching visits to the relatives in Le Grande Apple gave me an early clue as to just what all was out there beyond the suburban chain restaurants down south. Not that I didn't enjoy many a meal at Shoney's Big Boy; don't get me wrong.
My musical career started on one fortuitous visit to New York City. My aunt's friend was a former publicist at a major record label. As such she had shelves and shelves of albums (vinyl in those days). I had never seen so many records and was astounded to learn that she hadn't paid a dime for any of them. I was sent home with an envelope full of about a dozen free albums and knew I now had a very sudden and urgent new personal imperative. Somehow I had heard of Elvis Costello and Devo by this time and had occasionally seen Rolling Stone magazine. But I had no idea that there was so much cool music out there to be had: Marianne Faithful, Public Image, Ltd., Patti Smith, Sex Pistols, Prince, etc. And for free? Forget it! I was on a mission.
I decided to call all of the local radio stations in Chattanooga when I got home to ask for old promo albums they were tossing out, realizing that they received them by the 100s (for free!). I had the audacious idea that I could be providing them with some sort of disposal service and that I would reap a benefit of my own in the process. Amazingly, some of them went for it. My record collection increased ten-fold as did my quickly developing ear for sorting the good stuff out of a mountain of artists I had never heard of.
Oh, also at age 17 I decided that it would be a good idea to start playing the Electric Bass Guitar. There had been some very brief musical flirtations with a couple of instruments as a younger kid: guitar, viola, piano, but nothing stuck. There was no musical program at my very snooty and prestigious prep school (go figure! And I wondered why I didn't fit in there.). So the bass was a very self-motivated endeavour. I washed dishes at a dude ranch in Colorado one summer and saved up the $400 to buy my first used 1978 Fender Precision Bass. Excellent purchase; I still have it and use it on recording sessions to this day.
My very first gig, after only six months of playing, was the high school talent show doing Stones, Police, Rush, and Pat Benatar covers. Somehow I ended up having to organizing the show by default and turned a profit on the gate that night from the exorbitant $1 admission price. I made money while simultaneously being applauded by a school full of people who hated me. This was something I could get used to.
Concurrently I had aspirations developing in the music business (read: free records!) and musical performance (playing bass, hopefully on records; you know, the things I now get for free!). I chose to attend Tulane University in New Orleans, LA sight unseen because it was the school in the largest metropolitan area of those to which I was accepted. Immediately upon arrival I had to find a new source for free records and promptly discovered the campus radio station, WTUL-FM.
Within five months of my arrival I was made the musical director of the station, a post I held my entire four years at school. I started school majoring in Biomedical Engineering, ended up graduating with a BS in Psychology, and mostly just majored in college radio and the record business.
I ended up being a drive-time air personality for the station, writing for the local music magazine, “Wavelength,” hosting my own cable access TV alternative music video program ("N.O.TV"), and becoming a college representative for MCA records (more free stuff, I was in heaven).
Most importantly, in New Orleans I was getting the basis of my musical education by studying at the University of The Meters, Neville Brothers College, and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Academy. Ok, these are clearly not accredited schools, but I studied hard and learned my lessons well.
I ended up performing all around the Crescent City including a jazz gig with percussionist Raphael Cruz at Snug Harbour. The piano player on that gig was a young kid named Harry Connick, Jr. It didn't seem significant at the time. Who knew? I also played the Jazz Festival, made my first ever recording (vinyl again) with bluesman "Mighty Sam" McClain (Orleans Records), and did three different gigs in a pickup band backing the great rock and roll pioneer, Bo Diddley. Never mind that the club owner threatened to murder me and burn down the club to hide my body if I didn't return to him my souvenir board tape of my performance. Bo fears bootleggers apparently. I decided to return it. Yes, folks, it felt like the big time.
I moved to New York City and embarked on a colourful publicist career with Epic Records. Not only was I continuing to gather free stuff (hey, what are these new CD thingys?), but I was getting to meet and work with some of my musical heroes: Stanley Clarke, Living Colour, Luther Vandross, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Suicidal Tendencies, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Michael Jackson…. Oh, the list goes on and on. They even gave me eight gold and platinum album awards for my trouble while I was there. The record company job moved me out to Los Angeles where I was able to spend evenings matriculating at the Bass Institute of Technology. The day gig was fun and all, but the performance side was suffering.
Fortunately I got an opportunity to chuck the music business altogether, move to London and live for free (ok, it was a girl!), and do nothing but play music. I had about 2,000 vinyl albums by this time and about 1,000 CDs. It was an agonizing decision, but I figured it would be ok to shut down the free stuff pipeline for a while, put the collection in storage, and try to follow my dreams. The free place to stay in London only lasted about six months (ok, the girl!), but I stayed there a year and a half, gathering my illegal immigrant income only from playing music. I went from the cushy corporate expense account secure day gig to eating potatoes in a freezing flat in the drizzliest February in North London and couldn't have been happier about it.
Realizing that I had run out of options for careers other than “Musician” that I thought would be fun, I decided to get serious about it and fill in some gaps in my formal musical education. Partly at the urging of the British Home Office, I returned to the USA and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. I loved Berklee. I hated Boston. (Nothing personal, Beantowners! It just wasn’t my tempo.) After graduating Berklee, Magna Cum Laude, an officially licensed Board Certified Bass Player, I returned to New York City to a temp job, typing resumes for the people the phone company was laying off at the time. It wasn't necessarily a good karma job, but it allowed me to begin building my freelance bass career at night.
A cousin of a cousin of a friend of a friend who had never actually heard me play bass recommended me as a bass sub to The Shirelles. The Shirelles drummer, the late great Crusher Green (also music director for Wilson Pickett), recommended me to The Uptown Horns. They've been the horn section for the Rolling Stones, James Brown, B-52s, Ohio Players, Ray Charles, BB King, Ru Paul, and on and on. I already knew all the member’s names of the horn section from the 3,000 or so records I had amassed. No, I wasn't too intimidated!
The first Uptown Horns gig I did was with a week's notice. The show at the Bottom Line in NYC, August 16, 1994, also featured Peter Wolf from The J. Geils Band, Bernard Fowler from The Rolling Stones, and Vernon Reid from Living Colour. I had been a business friend of Vernon's from my Epic Records days. I can't tell you how gratifying it was to be now playing with him on stage. I knew then that I was on my way.
I then recorded my first CD under the band name: Jazz/Funk Unit (available here). Corey Glover from Living Colour sang on it. Raphael Cruz played percussion. And my buddies from Berklee who were now in New York played as well. I turned my music business head back on for a minute, this time promoting my own work for a change. I got some great reviews, tons of college radio airplay, some national television spots, and an evening headlining at the world-famous Blue Note in NYC.
Through The Uptown Horns and The Shirelles, my web of friends and musical contacts grew ever wider. With The Uptown Horns I've backed up: Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, Ben E. King, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), Eddie Floyd, Howard Tate, Gary US Bonds, Peter Wolf, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Buster Poindexter, Johnny Copeland, Gene Chandler, and on and on. I owe over half of all of my professional credits directly to The Uptown Horns.
The oldies rock and roll circuit, first traveled with The Shirelles, lead me to play with: The Crystals, The Tokens, The Drifters, The Platters, The Coasters, The Marvelettes, Bowzer (Sha-Na-Na), Fabian, Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, The Angels, Freda Payne, Spencer Davis, Peter Noone, and on and on.
I’m now also Musical Director and conductor with artists like: Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), The Shirelles, The Crystals, The Tokens and many others.
And now, the release of “iBOD" (available here) marks my recorded debut as a solo artist. Standing behind so many legends of soul, funk, jazz, R&B, and rock and roll for over 20 years has apparently given me many ideas! On this CD I combine jazz and funk, rhythm and harmony, blues and soul, with just a little commentary on the human condition thrown in for good measure. And who doesn’t like a little chank-a-chank with their Thelonius Monk?
My list of credits tells many tales. So far I've performed in 24 countries around the world. There are a thousand different stories with a thousand different highlights. I toured Brazil and Singapore as Gloria Gaynor's musical director. I got to lead a band for former Hooter, Eric Bazilian, at a festival in front of 30,000 people in the north of Sweden under the midnight sun. I recorded with Bazilian on some tracks he produced for Carlos Santana for the "Supernatural" CD. Never mind that I only played with Carlos on the computer and never mind that the tracks were never released: I recorded with Santana!
I have toured in many parts of the world including playing the millenium celebration in Hong Kong. I’m playing with symphony orchestras now with violinist Alexander Markov all over the world. We had 150 musicians onstage at our concert in Istanbul! I am also producing records now (see my "Recordings" section). I have all of my equipment endorsements including a very rewarding relationship with JD Lewis and the folks down at Warrior Instruments in, you guessed it, Chattanooga, TN.
And perhaps most significantly to me, I finally surpassed the salary I gave up when I left Epic Records. It was a really painful decision to leave "the straight world;" as straight as a record company job is. Now that I'm finally making a better income as an artist, it somehow seems completely justified. At least in my mind.
Ivan Bodley
New York City
