thebes Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 From today's Washington Post: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO . . . PIERRE SPREY? WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO . . . PIERRE SPREY? Tuesday, May 16, 2006; Page A15 Pierre Sprey has hardly led a typical Washington life: 20 years in high-tech defense work, then another 20 producing recordings of avant-garde jazz and other music. Born in Nice, France, and raised in New York, Sprey as a young man knew Paul D. Wolfowitz, whose mathematician father, then teaching at Cornell University, was the best teacher Sprey recalls ever having. Brought to the Pentagon in 1966 as one of Robert S. McNamara's "wiz kids," Sprey became heavily involved in the design of two key Air Force warplanes -- the F-16 fighter and the A-10 ground attack jet. He left the Pentagon in 1986, he said,because"it became increasingly obvious that the atmosphere at the Pentagon was such that it would be impossible to build another honest aircraft." Based in an old mansion in Upper Marlboro, he pursued his true passion: recording music. He began by making a record with his friend Shirley Horn, a jazz pianist and singer whose once-promising career had stalled. He moved on to other jazz, some blues, then gospel, classical and flamenco music, on his own label, Mapleshade. Now 68 years old with a mane of snow-white hair, he presides over a business that sells the music he records as well as high-end stereo components. His approach to recording music, he said in a recent interview, "oddly was like the A-10." Dubbed the "Warthog," that warplane is notable because it is so ungainly but does its job so well. It is enormously difficult to shoot down, and is devastating against tanks and other armored vehicles. With recording music, as with warplanes, Sprey focused on the end product. "The whole essence of this is to judge everything by outcomes," he explained. A surprise success for him was the ARC Choir, whose version of "Walk With Me" was sampled by hip-hop superstar Kanye West for his megahit tune "Jesus Walks." Sprey said he earned enough royalties from the West song "to support 30 of my money-losing jazz albums." Coming full circle, he said he is appalled by the war in Iraq that Wolfowitz, as deputy secretary of defense, helped initiate. "It is an enormously unjust war, not fought for any of the reasons put forth," he said. "Very simply, I don't think we should be going to war for oil companies." -- Thomas E. Ricks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiser SET say Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Great article Thebes[] It's not hard to really understand why he left the Pentagon by the end of that read, I'm sure deviations were just as skewed back then as they are today[] I know after the nations address last night I sure feel safer[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 No truer words have been spoken, sad part is, more people get worked up by immigration than our troops dying in Iraq. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@silverfox@ Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 which soldiers should we get worked up about the immigrants or the nationals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted May 16, 2006 Author Share Posted May 16, 2006 It was posted primarily as a music/gear related commentary on the guy and also in a sense about the twists and turns of peoples lives as they make their way through it. As a history lesson the development of those jets were very controversial at the time. Mac and his "wizz kids" thought they could reap great savings by cutting the inter-service rivalry crap and produce arms platforms that could operate across all service missions. Of course, it didn't quite work out that way and all three services ended up with their own fighters. It had some logic behind it with all three services, for example, ordering up different belt-buckles from different manufactuerers using long-tailed seperate acquisiton systems. tTat's only the tip of iceberg though about Mac and his mighty mice, but many here have commented over the years about the gear this guy sells and some of the tunes he has recorded are first-class jazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jheis Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 thebes, Unfortunately we lost Shirley Horn last October. What a talent! A "best of" compilation came out about the time she passed - "But Beautiful" Gorgeous vocals & piano playing with a sense of style & timing all her own. One of my all time favorites. Pick up one of her recordings and be prepared to be awe struck. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Thebes, Is this the Mapleshade they are referring to? http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/index.php If so that bit of history is pretty neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 thebes, Fascinating article. This guy is a regular renaissance man. I'd like to hear some blues now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 It was posted primarily as a music/gear related commentary on the guy and also in a sense about the twists and turns of peoples lives as they make their way through it. As a history lesson the development of those jets were very controversial at the time. Mac and his "wizz kids" thought they could reap great savings by cutting the inter-service rivalry crap and produce arms platforms that could operate across all service missions. Of course, it didn't quite work out that way and all three services ended up with their own fighters. It had some logic behind it with all three services, for example, ordering up different belt-buckles from different manufactuerers using long-tailed seperate acquisiton systems. tTat's only the tip of iceberg though about Mac and his mighty mice, but many here have commented over the years about the gear this guy sells and some of the tunes he has recorded are first-class jazz. I believe the term is; Military Intelligence !!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Kaiser introduced me to mapleshade records. I would venture to say his recordings are among the best I have ever heard. The clarity and realism is astounding no matter what genre he records. If you haven't bought music from mapleshade buy one cd and I promise you will be back for more. I gave out a sample of one of the bands he recorded called Midnight last year at Hope. They were the only reggae band he had produced and it was a stunning session. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/main/aboutus.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted May 17, 2006 Author Share Posted May 17, 2006 Yup, this is the Mapleshade guy, and of yes I own some Shirley Horn on both CD and LP. One of the great ones. Glad to see people find this of interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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