Post by Emerald City on Oct 9, 2005 9:56:54 GMT -5
After touring with Marvin Gaye and various Motown road shows in the early '60s, Uriel became a Hitsville session player in 1964. Originally expected to be a Benny Benjamin clone (which he mastered as much as any human possibly could), Uriel quickly showed Motown's producers and arrangers that he had something else to offer: he rocked harder than any of the other drummers in the building.
Motown arranger Paul Riser explains, "Uriel's drum sound was the most open and laid back and he was the funkiest of the three guys we had. He had a mixed feel and did a lot of different things well."
Uriel was an indispensable component of producer Norman Whitfield's "psychedelic soul" recordings with the Temptations, and Ashford and Simpson's Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell duets were all fueled by his slammin' drum grooves. Joined at the hip with Earl Van Dyke for the next three decades, Uriel was the main drummer when the Funk Brothers performed at the Chit Chat club, the Twenty Grand, and the other venues they frequented during Detroit's booming nightlife scene of the '60s.
