How do they do this?
Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, of course, are the best-known examples. I imagine George Shearing composed to some extent, as well, but I don’t know offhand of anything he wrote. And José Feliciano supposedly wrote the theme song for Chico and the Man while riding in a car, on his way to the office of the producer to whom he was to submit the song.
How do they manage to compose music? 
What’s the problem?
They compose the melody and harmony on the keyboard (you don’t need to see it to play it), somebody writes it down. They say, “I want some saxophones here, some vibraphone like this, and some electric guitar over here. The bass goes boomdy-boom-boom, and the drummer rides the high-hat cymbal.” The producer writes it down.
Non-pop music is a little trickier. The British composer Frederick Delius was blind by the mid-1920s. He completed his orchestral and choral works in progress with the help of Eric Fenby, who took dictation, until his death in 1934.
[QUOTE]
They compose the melody and harmony on the keyboard (you don’t need to see it to play it), somebody writes it down. They say, “I want some saxophones here, some vibraphone like this, and some electric guitar over here. The bass goes boomdy-boom-boom, and the drummer rides the high-hat cymbal.” The producer writes it down.{/QUOTE]
OK, then, so how did José Feliciano compose in the back seat of a car? 