Standing in the Shadows of Motown Page #2

Joe's referring to on june 3, 1962.

Berry Gordy sang the demo

for The Contours.

"Do You Love Me?"

originally hit number three in '62...

and returned to the charts when featured

in the hit film Dirty Dancing in 1988.

Bootsy is an influential

and innovative bassist

who was heavily influenced

byjames jamerson.

Bootsy admits he could

never play likejamerson, so

he developed his own unique,

"liquid funk" style...

as heard on james Brown's "Sex Machine,"

several P-Funk classics

and with his own band.

Berry Gordy originally turned down The

Contours. jackie Wilson

spoke up on their behalf.

Wilson was shot by his girlfriend in front

of his NYC apartment February 15, 1961.

Because of his injuries,

Wilson could only handle

three shows a week. The

Funks made $25 per show.

However, their expenses were

$60 a week, leaving them with

only $15 profit. They were

better off in the "Snakepit. "

On the road,james jamerson

spent the better part of his

time searching for soul food.

Hotel food made him grouchy.

Jamerson liked odd food concoctions

like raccoon and possum gumbo.

Pig's feet are considered a Chinese

delicacy and are eaten for good luck.

The music heard here is,

"The Way You Do The Things You Do. "

Smokey Robinson and

fellow Miracle Bobby Rogers

wrote it in a similar

station wagon while on tour.

Blues singerjoe Weaver

was Benny's first cousin.

Pre-Motown, The Funk Brothers

often backed him live.

Corn liquor, aka "moonshine,"

is also called "panther's breath... "

"ruckus juice," "hillbilly pop"

and "white lightning. "

The "Hitch Hike" session was on September

16, 1962. The producer was Mickey Stevenson.

Uriel's nickname was "Possum. "

"Pistol" is sitting at

his original drum set,

still in that exact spot

at the Motown Museum.

At that time, "Funk" is lowdown, nasty

- a word not used in everyday conversation.

When the band had

an album released in '64...

Berry Gordy changed the name of the group

to Earl Van Dyke & The Soul Brothers.

Jr. Walker & The All Stars' original

"Shotgun" was recorded December 15, 1964.

While the song stemmed from

Jr. 's regular club dates...

The Funk Brothers, not The All Stars,

recorded his Motown hit.

It reached number four

on the Pop charts.

Jr. Walker played a Selmer saxophone,

but retired the original in the '80s.

His style influenced dozens

of later players like Tom Scott.

The original version's

signature intro resulted

from Eddie Willis accidentally

kicking a reverb tank.

Johnny Griffith recorded for Motown's

short-lived Workshopjazz label.

His album, "jazz," received a four-star

review from Downbeat in May 1963.

Mickey Stevenson is

surrounded by Jamerson (left),

his wife and singer Kim

Weston and jack Ashford.

"Pride And joy" features some ofjoe

Hunter's best piano playing at Motown.

The session they're discussing was

recorded midweek, September 12, 1962.

Joe had been gigging

with Hank Ballard & The Midnighters...

when he took a gamble to go with

Berry Gordy's new record venture in '58.

Joe describes himself as a "down-home

boogie woogie" piano player.

Ethel Waters first popularized "Stormy

Weather" in 1933, when

joe was a very young boy.

Lottie was originally a Lindy Hop dancer

in New York in the late "40s.

Soul singer Solomon Burke says she

was "the first naked woman I ever saw

- with a snake. "

The two versions of

"I Heard It Through The

Grapevine," inspired

by Lottie's rhythms...

were recorded four months apart

in 1967- Marvin Gaye's was cut first.

They're standing on 12th

Street, where the '67

riots began. It's now known

as Rosa Parks Boulevard.

Martha jean "The Queen" Steinberg,

a blues Dj on Wj LB...

would routinely broadcast

The Funk Brothers' jam sessions...

at the Chit Chat during

the glory days of the 1960s.

Motown producerjohnny Bristol said

The Funk Brothers "breathed together. "

He once recalled a session

where one of the guys went

out to get a sandwich, came

back five minutes later...

and fell back into the groove

as if he'd never left.

The Funk Brothers are

re-creating the original

session recorded at Hitsville

on September 28, 1965.

Producer Norman Whitfield

had written it as "Please

Don't Leave Me Girl" and

intended it for Marvin Gaye.

With new lyrics by Eddie

Holland, "Ain't Too Proud To

Beg" by the Temptations

reached number four in 1966.

Kasuku Mafia, an original

member of the Motown

horn section, re-creates

his solo from the record.

Ben Harper also covered Marvin Gaye's

only non-Motown hit, "Sexual Healing. "

Motown engineering graduated

to eight-track recording

in january 1965, using

hand-built machines that opened...

the sonic spectrum and allowed room for

the sophisticated arrangements cited.

Earl Van Dyke joined in '63 and evolved

into the bandleader a year later.

He was called not only "Big Funk,"

but "Ookie" and "Chunk of Funk. "

Earl's exceptional

jazz-soul organ chops...

can be heard on saxophonist

Fred jackson's rare

Blue Note album from

1963, Hootin' 'N Tootin.

Berry Gordy instructed

The Funk Brothers to teach

young Stevie Wonder how

to play piano and drums.

The lessons would often

turn comical, leaving Stevie

locked in a closet after

a game of Hide-And-Seek.

Earl died of prostate cancer

on September 19, 1992.

Uriel, like Berry Gordy,

was a young boxer.

Elsewhere in the Snakepit, Robert White

was an expert martial artist.

PAC-3, United and Golden

World were all Detroit

studios located within a

few minutes of Hitsville.

The "few bucks" Eddie mentions rose from

an initial $5 per track in late "59...

to the union scale of $52.50

per three-hour session in 1964.

Johnny's extra $100 a week then translates

to more than $500 a week in 2002 dollars.

Most of the Funks were

salaried employees earning a

steady income they could

augment with outside gigs.

Jamerson eventually made close to

$100,000 a year in the late '60s.

Bootsy performs "Cooljerk,"

originally a hit for Detroit

group The Capitols. It was a

Top 10 smash in spring 1966.

The original "Cooljerk" session

was one of the last cut at

Golden World Studios, just before

its purchase by Berry Gordy.

Golden World was to

become Motown's "Studio B."

Johnny Griffith, Eddie

Willis and Bob Babbitt

re-create their original

parts from the record.

The original session also

included saxophonist Mike

Terry and future Motown

guitarist Dennis Coffey.

Between 1962 and 1975, 75 percent of

all Motown releases made the Pop charts.

In December '68, Motown held

the top three spots for four weeks.

The Tamla-Motown UK tour ran

from March 20 through April 12, 1965.

The Funks not only

backed the stars, they

were billed as "The

Earl Van Dyke Sextet"...

and had two instrumental singles already in

the market:
"All For You" and "Soul Stomp. "

The Beatles also paid Motown homage by

having Mary Wells open their '64 UK tour.

Motown's Brenda Holloway

opened dates on their '65 U.S. tour.

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