Influential producer, musician, and world-renowned Hungarian singer Leslie Mandoki formed his Mandoki Soulmates band 32 years ago alongside founding members Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Cream's Jack Bruce, and guitar great Al Di Meola. When he asked me if I'd rather get a handwritten love letter or a text, my answer was a handwritten love letter. And that's literally what he and his army of soulmates have delivered in their latest album, A Memory Of Our Future , a jazzy, prog rock love letter to all who appreciate truly great music in authentically beautiful vinyl form. To make it all the more lovely, it comes complete with an actual 12-page booklet of liner notes handwritten by Mandoki himself. I sat down with him virtually to hear all about it. This is a LifeMinute with Leslie Mandoki.
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00:00Hi, this is Leslie Mandoki from Mandoki Soulmates, and you're watching Live Minute TV.
00:06Influential producer, musician, and world-renowned Hungarian singer Leslie Mandoki formed his
00:11Mandoki Soulmates band 32 years ago, alongside founding members Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson,
00:18Cream's Jack Bruce, and guitar great Al DiMeola.
00:23Their latest masterpiece, recorded completely in analog vinyl from start to finish, is called
00:28A Memory of Our Future, and it's a handwritten love letter, a call to action, if you will,
00:33against division and for humanity, something we can all use right about now.
00:38We call it A Vinyl Jazzy Prog Rock Love Letter to All Who Appreciate Truly Great Music in
00:44Authentically Beautiful Vinyl Form.
00:47And to make it all the more lovely, it comes complete with an actual 12-page booklet of
00:52liner notes, handwritten by Mandoki himself.
00:56This is a Life Minute with Leslie Mandoki.
01:02Thanks so much for joining us.
01:04Hi, thank you for having me.
01:06Congratulations on this rock album.
01:10It's really beautiful.
01:11Thank you so much.
01:12Tell us about it for those that don't know.
01:15What did it all mean to you, and how did it come together?
01:17How should I start?
01:18I was a little boy growing up strong behind the Iron Curtain.
01:23Russian dictatorship, you're told in school that you're never going to see London or New
01:27York, or you have to hate America.
01:31And then I had a vision with my teenage band to fuse British prog rock like Chapter of
01:36Town with American fusion jazz like Return to Forever.
01:41So, as my father died, and it's that bad, he said, you've got to leave, and you should
01:46live your dreams and don't dream your life.
01:49And that's what became a song on the album.
01:51So it took about until I became 22 that we found the tunnel, and Gabo Chupro and myself,
01:58we just managed to escape.
01:59I was just trying to live my dreams and don't dream my life.
02:02What would you say the concept of this new record is?
02:06It has a lyrical message concept.
02:08That's also the reason why you have this black span as a cover.
02:12Because we all feel that we are living in a divided world, that we're living in a labyrinth
02:17of crisis, and the compass is lost.
02:20We are just in like a dark tunnel, and there is no lighting torch at the end of this tunnel.
02:26And we record an album which is really this guiding light at the end of the tunnel.
02:31Musically, it was a great experience because, first of all, it was an experiment.
02:37It was a huge challenge.
02:39We were out on the road.
02:40At the end of the show, we were singing the last song of Utopia for real.
02:46And I was saying at the end of the show, well, we're passing on the torch to the younger rebels.
02:52But then I kept on saying, wait a minute, wait a minute.
02:54The world turned to be a mess.
02:56We can't pass on the torch.
02:58We have to fix it first.
02:59So I kept on writing songs on the road.
03:01And one of the very special issues is that this album was not planned.
03:05It was not like we had already the advance of the record company, and we have to do it right now.
03:09But we looked at our itinerary, and we could locate only a very short period of time
03:15that everybody could get together.
03:17Here, by the way.
03:18And I said, you know what?
03:19What about to record this analog?
03:22Because the whole art and the whole creativity process is going to take place during the recording
03:29and not in a post-production.
03:30Now I'm asking you as a lady, how would you like to get a love letter?
03:33As a handwritten love letter or a text message?
03:36Handwritten.
03:37Okay, this is a handwritten album.
03:39So we thought, okay, and like in a handwritten letter,
03:41if in the second page you mess up something, then you have to restart the whole process.
03:45So this time I was not programming anything.
03:47So I just took the pencil, I wrote it down, sheet music, and I learned.
03:51And we got together, put up the red light, and played.
03:54Consequently, the whole everything sounds totally different
03:57because we don't have this solo after solo, whatever.
04:00It's all we played together.
04:02You feel this interaction.
04:03We had really a lot of joy to record this way in analog.
04:08How did you come up with the name Mandoki Soulmates?
04:11I was born as Leslie Mandoki.
04:13Actually, my original Hungarian name was Leslie.
04:16One of my bandmates had the same name.
04:18So we thought, okay, one of us is going to change it to English.
04:21So that's how I became Leslie.
04:23But Mandoki is the way I was born.
04:25So this is my original name.
04:26But Soulmates, it was not my idea.
04:28It was a funny situation.
04:30The band always being called just Mandoki, like Santana or Bon Jovi.
04:34But as well about the third album,
04:36I had approximately nine titles for the album on a piece of paper.
04:40And I was visiting my dear friend Aldi Manola.
04:43Which of these eight or nine titles would you prefer?
04:46Because I can't decide. I think I like all of them.
04:49And he said, you know what, I have a better one.
04:51Why don't we call ourselves Soulmates?
04:53Because that's what we are.
04:54We are truly Soulmates.
04:55Actually, we left this Mandoki because everything in our catalog
04:59is running on the Mandoki service.
05:04Most of my songs are not written by me.
05:07I just wrote them down.
05:08Life gave me the privilege to be a songwriter.
05:12I can't believe that Ian Anderson, for example,
05:15he was your idol.
05:17Now you're playing with him.
05:19You did this record.
05:20How did you even get in touch with him?
05:22He loved my songs, my writing, my playing.
05:24And so he just joined the band.
05:27And this happened with all the others.
05:29Actually, when you see on the YouTube bar Frank Prescott,
05:32there is a making of and Ian Anderson is telling the story.
05:34So from his point of view, I only can recommend.
05:37Check that out because it's wonderful to hear.
05:40And then you were a producer too.
05:42Tell us about your producing career too.
05:44You produced for a lot of heavy hit artists.
05:46No Angels, Lionel Richie, Phil Collins.
05:48To become a producer was kind of the most organic,
05:52natural growing thing in life.
05:54Because I think Ian Anderson is perfectly right
05:57that you should be a great musician, as he's saying,
06:00to be a great producer.
06:02To have this understanding for how we work in the studio,
06:04what is the atmosphere.
06:06And I was spending my lifetime in the studios.
06:09Until about four years ago,
06:11I was building one of the biggest studios in mainland Europe.
06:14And I became a father.
06:16I didn't want to move back and forth
06:18between the States and England and Germany.
06:20Actually, in the first year as I established my studio,
06:23here by the lake, I mean, I'll show you.
06:26Wow, it's so beautiful.
06:28You know, we are candling here with all the stars.
06:31I'm very happy about all these wonderful, great artists
06:35giving me the privilege and the honor to trust me.
06:38What I'm trying to give is artistical and technical added values.
06:43So I'm a kind of American type of producer.
06:46Most of the mainland European producers have a certain sound,
06:49especially Swedish producers or German producers.
06:52I'm not that kind.
06:54I'm rather like in the school of my dear friend, Chris Johns,
06:57that I'm trying to create with certain artists
07:00and artistical added values.
07:02And you're touring?
07:03Yeah, of course, touring a lot.
07:05And actually, this time we're going to play
07:07a couple of big, big, big summer festivals in Europe.
07:10And it's always a big fun.
07:12♪
07:25What will fans get when they see you play live?
07:27They get the best concert experience.
07:29No show, no big lighting things.
07:32We just play, and we play four and a half hours.
07:36What does music do for people?
07:38Create peace and understanding and mutual values,
07:41builds bridges.
07:43Music is the greatest human form.
07:45I think it's just time to say again,
07:47let's make music and love more work.
07:50To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast,
07:52Life Minute TV on iTunes and all streaming podcast platforms.
07:57♪