On the music:
I was a young musician in the 1960s and when I listened to records by Sam and Dave, Otis Redding & Don Covay, I was as much in love with Booker T & the M.G.s and the Memphis Horns, the backing musicians. When I heard all of the Motown stars, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Little Stevie, it was the driving rhythms and orchestral excellence that made art out of the juvenile twists on love.
  
I wanna' serve up those rhythms, with a splash of New Orleans Mardi Gras and Jamaican reggae, with soulful players, to make the dancers work out like they used to work before masters of machines began formulating music.
 
On Retirement:
In 2002, after logging over five thousand events in eighteen summers with Arnett Howard's Creole Funk Band, I needed to take a break from performing, recover my health from asthma and cultivate some other interests. Miles Davis stated, "Even something that you really love, you have to walk away from for a little while."  What brought me back were the people.  I enjoy the audience's enjoyment, whether they are very young or very old.  My performance brings miles of hugs and smiles, things easy to love.

On the Band:   
I call my band Arnett Howard and Friends. I like the people I play with, we call each other to check on our health, families, work, travel.  Meet my friends...
 
It starts with the drums and Ron Henderson. I have played with many great drummers; Gregg "The Governor" Pearson, Eric Paton, Rizzi Bowers.  Ron's an old school cat who plays pure, uncut, ghetto bred funk, something that is impossible to teach.

Of course, the seventies gave the bass guitar a new sound that was popularized by Larry Graham and, later, Marcus Miller. My current bassist, David Hampton, is from a musical family and was on the national touring circuit with Rick James and the Stone City Band. Next to James Brown's Band, that's as funky as it gets!

Kraig Phillips is a rare guitarist, or is he a rare guitar. He builds jazz guitars and replicas of the classics. He plays country, blues and every kind of style I need to execute the melange' of music that I toss to the audience.

Bob Davis was the keyboardist and music director of the Vadicans Band from 1962 until 1969. I joined the Vadicans in 1967, after my junior year in high school and have played with various members during the decades. In 2007, we shall celebrate forty years since we began making joyful sounds together. He is my mentor and I still feel a lot of confidence in his playing and friendship. Enough said.