Post by Emerald City on Aug 2, 2005 17:31:52 GMT -5
Detroit may have been a Northen city but the Motown Sound had a lot of the south in it. One of the principle reasons was the Mississippi funk that Eddie Willis brought to Studio A. After playing guitar in Marv Johnsons band (Motown’s first star and singer of Come To Me), Eddie became an integral part of the label’s recording operation in 1959. Unlike most of the Funk Brothers who were jazz musicians, Eddie came from more of a country and blues background.
His principle duty in the guitar triumvirate of Messina, White and Willis was to add the spontaneous funky fills and rhythms that played off the more foundation oriented parts the other two guitarists were usually laying down. Eddie was also a more active road musician than most of the Funk Brothers, touring with the Marvelettes and later spending almost two decades playing throughout the world with the Four Tops following the labels 1973 departure from Detroit.
