The name Rickey Minor is synonymous with musical excellence. The Emmy-winning bassist has worn many hats in the music industry, including musical director, producer, conductor, and composer.

Outside of his many accomplishments, Minor has become one of the go-to musical directors for some of the biggest artists, including Beyoncé, Alicia Keys Ray Charles, and some on television productions such as Grammy Awards, the NAACP Image Awards, and the Super Bowl

Recently, he served as the music director of the Kennedy Center Honors in December and for the Primetime Emmys in January.

For his latest endeavor, Minor has been tapped to be the musical director of the 2024 Academy Awards, which he considers one of his highest honors as a musician.

BET.com caught up with Minor, who spoke about how one of the most influential music groups of all time inspired him to pursue music as his vocation, which landed him where he is today more than 50 years later.

“When I was nine, this group came out called the Jackson Five. That’s really when I began to love music,” Minor said. In our neighborhood, we had a talent show for Christmas, and they had these guys dressed like Santa. So I won the talent show, and when the Santas took off their suits, it was the Jackson Five. If that ain't a sign, I don’t know what is.”

Two of Minor’s greatest influences, acclaimed bassists Nathan East and Freddie Washington, were instrumental in his development as a musician. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles, which had a thriving music scene. Both East and Washington helped Minor cultivate his gifts and were generous with the opportunities they offered him.

“I started subbing for Freddie because he was working with Al Jarreau and he had a bunch of sessions. I ended up working with Jarreau from 1987 to 1997. Because of Nathan, I played with Hubert Laws and a bunch of people. Nathan played on Gladys’ records and her bass player was late. He missed his flight and they hired Nathan. They were going back on the road, and he needed somebody to take that guy's place. Nathan told them, ‘I have just the guy.’ I'd never been on a plane before I started playing with Gladys Knight and the Pips.”

As a highly regarded musician, Minor said that he owes his success to his wealth ethic and the lessons he learned from his grandmother, who inspired his book “There's No Traffic on the Extra Mile: Lessons on the Road from Dreams to Destiny.” 

“A Lot of people say, ‘I'm trying to make it happen.’ I say, ‘Do the work. You got the formula wrong. Do the work and watch it happen.’”

When he was asked to be musical director for the Oscars, it was a brainer for Minor, who described the event as the “crème de la crème” of awards season. While the task is daunting with so much music and ensuring everything runs smoothly in the live show, Minor is more than ready for the challenge as he shares his creative approach to the project.

“In terms of the preparation, I got the call around October,” he said. “Then we go back and forth and find ideas for the producers that they can look at and say, ‘I love all of it. I'm having a hard time picking,’ it' or ‘I love none of it. Come back with more tomorrow [Laughs].”

“The music that's nominated will always get a chance to shine. Where I feel like I can contribute on a higher level is by being inclusive with all the music,” he added.

With the wealth of knowledge he’s gained over the years, Minor is committed to being a team leader and transparent throughout the creative process. He believes that keeping things as simple as possible leads to the success of any project.

“Less is more, so more is not more because you only need what you need. When you're making a meal, you only need the ingredients for that meal,” Minor said. “You don't need ingredients for all meals [Laughs]. So I assembled a team, everyone got assignments, and then they returned and we met to go over everything. We put it out, and everyone comes back with their thoughts about it.”

Thankfully, Minor and his musicians are not required to watch every film or know every song in this year’s show. His vision is to highlight the nominee's work in the Best Song category in a special way and create memorable musical moments throughout the ceremony.

“There's no way to watch every film so I don't do that because we don't have to play the whole score. So we play the winners on and the presenters on, we create some of the other packages,” he said. “For the five songs that are nominated, we look for ways to make it a special performance for the Oscars, so you'll see some treatments and some music either taken away or added or stripped down or bigger or with a different vibe on it.”

After getting the call several months ago, Minor noted that a part of the process is working with the producers to ensure that his musical selection complements the show.

“In terms of the preparation, I got the call around October,” Minor recalled. “We go back and forth and find ideas for the producers that they can look at and say, ‘I love all of it. I'm having a hard time picking,’ it or ‘ I love none of it, come back with more tomorrow [Laughs]. So I spend my time getting my playlists up and I just let it play while I'm working to see what parts of the songs I could infuse.” 

Following months of preparation, Minor is excited to show the world what he and his team have come up with. This moment is one of the crown jewels of the renowned musician’s remarkable career.

“We're now at 96 years of film and there's so much great music and so many great composers from Duke Ellington,” he continued. “There's also Quincy Jones, Ennio Morricone, and the list goes on. We have music from composers from all over the world. Bring your fire extinguisher because it's going to be hot!

The 96th Academy Awards will air on Saturday, March 10, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will air live on ABC.