Post by Motorcity on Jul 3, 2004 21:02:47 GMT -5
The Motown Connection
The groove is as strong as ever for three key acts from Motown's heyday who bring us, again, the music that 'always took people to wonderful places'
BERNARD PERUSSE
The Gazette
July 3, 2004
During the 1960s, the rough-edged soul of Stax Records in Memphis might have stood in contrast to the Motown label's sometimes more pop-oriented sound out of Detroit, but the Stax-vs.-Motown game that inexplicably endures is as boring and as unproductive as Stones vs. Beatles. Great records are great records, and the presence of three key Motown acts at the Montreal International Jazz Festival during one 24-hour period is a heaven-sent opportunity to celebrate those seminal singles.
Tomorrow night, the Funk Brothers preside over the festival's second free outdoor blowout. These brilliant session musicians, who played on every classic 45 that came out of the legendary Motor City studio, received belated mainstream recognition two years ago, with the release of the documentary Standing In the Shadows of Motown. But lest we jump to the hasty conclusion that just anyone could have had hits with such inspired backing, a double bill Monday night featuring the Temptations and the Four Tops should remind us that the singers had a little something to do with the perfection that was those tracks.
Funk Brother Jack Ashford, who played vibes and tambourine on such evergreens as What's Going On, Ooh Baby Baby and Where Did Our Love Go, would be the first to admit that.
"By no means would I have been telling you that the Funk Brothers were the reason for the success of Motown. That would not be true," Ashford said. "We had great writers, great singers, great engineers. The Funk Brothers gave all these other elements an opportunity to really stretch out because they knew (their ideas) would not be above the heads of the people that were going to interpret their dreams."
In conversation, Ashford is not given to false modesty. "We knew we were the Muhammad Ali of that day," he said in a typically matter-of-fact way. "So anybody who'd say, 'Oh well, these guys were just innocently playing some songs,' - well, no, no, no. We were out there trying to knock suckers out." At one point, he even spoke of the Brothers as musical ambassadors chosen by God.
Abdul (Duke) Fakir, one of the two original Four Tops (with Renaldo (Obie) Benson) might be less evangelical, but he's a big supporter. "They were like the gas in everybody's tank. When you got a track that the Funk Brothers had laid out for you, the expression was 'Wow! Another red carpet to ride on.' All you had to do was just get in that groove," Fakir said.
According to Ashford, the groove is as strong as ever. "We had the sound. We got it today. People come and they walk up to me and say 'You guys sound the same.' We sound the same with six guys missing," he said.
Indeed, there have been departures and losses along the way. The Brothers' powerhouse drummer William (Benny) Benjamin died in 1969, and their beloved James Jamerson, one of popular music's most influential bassists, died in 1983. Several charter members followed, and even since the documentary's release two years ago, drummer Richard (Pistol) Allen and keyboardist Johnny Griffith have died. The Four Tops lost Lawrence Payton in 1997, while lead vocalist Levi Stubbs - the inimitable voice behind Reach Out, I'll Be There, I Can't Help Myself, and Bernadette, for starters - mostly uses a wheelchair after two strokes in recent years and finds himself unable to tour with the group.
Anyone who saw the 1998 television docudrama The Temptations knows the trail of self-destruction and tragedy that haunted that group: the suicide of Paul Williams in 1973, David Ruffin's erratic behaviour, culminating in a drug overdose in 1991, Eddie Kendricks's death from cancer a year later, and the demise of founding member Melvin Franklin in 1995. Only Franklin's friend Otis Williams remains from the original lineup.
In spite of it all, all three groups tour regularly. The Temptations even have an album of new material, Legacy, rising on the R & B charts and a Grammy win as recent as 2001.
Williams admitted he was amazed at his ability to keep the group going through so much darkness. "It's just perseverance, believing, always having some kind of sign saying 'You must continue,' and a strong fan base. Berry (Gordy Jr., Motown's president during the label's heyday) always believed in us, too, even though we were going through changes," Williams said. "I always said this must be where one of God's groups goes. We were supposed to have been through as a group a long time ago - possibly when David Ruffin and Eddie (Kendricks) left, but we have been able to survive."
For Williams, 40 years in the business was inconceivable when he and his partners started out. "The kind of longevity that we have grown accustomed to didn't enter our minds. We just wanted to get that hit record and tour and make some money," he said.
Fakir is equally surprised as the Tops reach their 50th anniversary. "We realized we wanted to do this for life, but we thought life and a career was probably 25 years, max," he said.
Much of the Motown magic was lost when the key players left, as the Holland-Dozier-Holland writing-production team did in 1968. When the label moved to California in 1972, things were never the same, and only self-sufficient singer-songwriters like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye weathered the storm and moved beyond oldies-act limbo.
Still, the public's seemingly unending appetite for golden-era Motown music ensures its survival as a genre unto itself.
"People know when they come to see the Temptations, we're going to give them a good show," Williams said. "We're not going to come out there cussing, with our pants halfway across our asses and grabbing our crotches. We won't be offensive to a family man. If he wants to bring his family, he doesn't have to worry about putting his hands over his kids' ears. We just give them pure entertainment, and I think that's what our fans the world over have come to love and respect of the Tempts."
"The music from Motown always took people to wonderful places," Fakir said "It was just a factory that made a car that everyone could drive."
Ashford adopted a similar tone. "The songs did not offend anyone," he said, slowly stretching out the last four words for dramatic emphasis. "You had Ku Klux Klan people that liked our music, as well as antagonists for the system that liked our music. You had people that didn't like the war, people that were in the war. They all sang My Girl."
The Funk Brothers, with special guests, perform free tomorrow might at 9:30 on a special Labatt Blue stage, corner of St. Urbain St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. The Four Tops and the Temptations perform at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts Monday night at 8:30. Tickets cost between $45.50 and $75.50. Telephone (514) 790-1245 or see Web site www.admission.com
bperusse@thegazette.canwest.com
Montreal International Jazz Festival
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2004
Montreal Gazzette
The groove is as strong as ever for three key acts from Motown's heyday who bring us, again, the music that 'always took people to wonderful places'
BERNARD PERUSSE
The Gazette
July 3, 2004
During the 1960s, the rough-edged soul of Stax Records in Memphis might have stood in contrast to the Motown label's sometimes more pop-oriented sound out of Detroit, but the Stax-vs.-Motown game that inexplicably endures is as boring and as unproductive as Stones vs. Beatles. Great records are great records, and the presence of three key Motown acts at the Montreal International Jazz Festival during one 24-hour period is a heaven-sent opportunity to celebrate those seminal singles.
Tomorrow night, the Funk Brothers preside over the festival's second free outdoor blowout. These brilliant session musicians, who played on every classic 45 that came out of the legendary Motor City studio, received belated mainstream recognition two years ago, with the release of the documentary Standing In the Shadows of Motown. But lest we jump to the hasty conclusion that just anyone could have had hits with such inspired backing, a double bill Monday night featuring the Temptations and the Four Tops should remind us that the singers had a little something to do with the perfection that was those tracks.
Funk Brother Jack Ashford, who played vibes and tambourine on such evergreens as What's Going On, Ooh Baby Baby and Where Did Our Love Go, would be the first to admit that.
"By no means would I have been telling you that the Funk Brothers were the reason for the success of Motown. That would not be true," Ashford said. "We had great writers, great singers, great engineers. The Funk Brothers gave all these other elements an opportunity to really stretch out because they knew (their ideas) would not be above the heads of the people that were going to interpret their dreams."
In conversation, Ashford is not given to false modesty. "We knew we were the Muhammad Ali of that day," he said in a typically matter-of-fact way. "So anybody who'd say, 'Oh well, these guys were just innocently playing some songs,' - well, no, no, no. We were out there trying to knock suckers out." At one point, he even spoke of the Brothers as musical ambassadors chosen by God.
Abdul (Duke) Fakir, one of the two original Four Tops (with Renaldo (Obie) Benson) might be less evangelical, but he's a big supporter. "They were like the gas in everybody's tank. When you got a track that the Funk Brothers had laid out for you, the expression was 'Wow! Another red carpet to ride on.' All you had to do was just get in that groove," Fakir said.
According to Ashford, the groove is as strong as ever. "We had the sound. We got it today. People come and they walk up to me and say 'You guys sound the same.' We sound the same with six guys missing," he said.
Indeed, there have been departures and losses along the way. The Brothers' powerhouse drummer William (Benny) Benjamin died in 1969, and their beloved James Jamerson, one of popular music's most influential bassists, died in 1983. Several charter members followed, and even since the documentary's release two years ago, drummer Richard (Pistol) Allen and keyboardist Johnny Griffith have died. The Four Tops lost Lawrence Payton in 1997, while lead vocalist Levi Stubbs - the inimitable voice behind Reach Out, I'll Be There, I Can't Help Myself, and Bernadette, for starters - mostly uses a wheelchair after two strokes in recent years and finds himself unable to tour with the group.
Anyone who saw the 1998 television docudrama The Temptations knows the trail of self-destruction and tragedy that haunted that group: the suicide of Paul Williams in 1973, David Ruffin's erratic behaviour, culminating in a drug overdose in 1991, Eddie Kendricks's death from cancer a year later, and the demise of founding member Melvin Franklin in 1995. Only Franklin's friend Otis Williams remains from the original lineup.
In spite of it all, all three groups tour regularly. The Temptations even have an album of new material, Legacy, rising on the R & B charts and a Grammy win as recent as 2001.
Williams admitted he was amazed at his ability to keep the group going through so much darkness. "It's just perseverance, believing, always having some kind of sign saying 'You must continue,' and a strong fan base. Berry (Gordy Jr., Motown's president during the label's heyday) always believed in us, too, even though we were going through changes," Williams said. "I always said this must be where one of God's groups goes. We were supposed to have been through as a group a long time ago - possibly when David Ruffin and Eddie (Kendricks) left, but we have been able to survive."
For Williams, 40 years in the business was inconceivable when he and his partners started out. "The kind of longevity that we have grown accustomed to didn't enter our minds. We just wanted to get that hit record and tour and make some money," he said.
Fakir is equally surprised as the Tops reach their 50th anniversary. "We realized we wanted to do this for life, but we thought life and a career was probably 25 years, max," he said.
Much of the Motown magic was lost when the key players left, as the Holland-Dozier-Holland writing-production team did in 1968. When the label moved to California in 1972, things were never the same, and only self-sufficient singer-songwriters like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye weathered the storm and moved beyond oldies-act limbo.
Still, the public's seemingly unending appetite for golden-era Motown music ensures its survival as a genre unto itself.
"People know when they come to see the Temptations, we're going to give them a good show," Williams said. "We're not going to come out there cussing, with our pants halfway across our asses and grabbing our crotches. We won't be offensive to a family man. If he wants to bring his family, he doesn't have to worry about putting his hands over his kids' ears. We just give them pure entertainment, and I think that's what our fans the world over have come to love and respect of the Tempts."
"The music from Motown always took people to wonderful places," Fakir said "It was just a factory that made a car that everyone could drive."
Ashford adopted a similar tone. "The songs did not offend anyone," he said, slowly stretching out the last four words for dramatic emphasis. "You had Ku Klux Klan people that liked our music, as well as antagonists for the system that liked our music. You had people that didn't like the war, people that were in the war. They all sang My Girl."
The Funk Brothers, with special guests, perform free tomorrow might at 9:30 on a special Labatt Blue stage, corner of St. Urbain St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. The Four Tops and the Temptations perform at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts Monday night at 8:30. Tickets cost between $45.50 and $75.50. Telephone (514) 790-1245 or see Web site www.admission.com
bperusse@thegazette.canwest.com
Montreal International Jazz Festival
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2004
Montreal Gazzette
