Disc of the day
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
News
MOTOWN MONTH: Wayne Kramer Salutes Motown’s Musos
5:02 PM GMT 23/01/2009
The MC5er on why The Funk Brothers were America’s greatest band…
THE MUSIC STORE in my neighbourhood in North West Detroit was called Capital Music and it was where a lot of Motown session players bought their music and it was the local bodega, the place you went to hang out.
I was intimidated by the Motown guys because they played on a level so superior to anything I’d been exposed to. You see, there was a strong music education policy in the Detroit school system and that created a generation of schooled musicians who had a leg up on the rest of the world, in my less than humble opinion.
Plus, the auto industry worked 24-7 with three shifts that worked so there were a lot of night clubs that could support live music seven days a week and some of those clubs were jazz clubs and it was a thriving world of gigs, where money was flowing and people had work and money and wanted to spend it and there was a thriving record industry.
If you recorded a record and it was good enough you could get it played on local radio and if you got it played on local radio people would go to the local record stores and buy the reord. So you had a whole thriving music economy and that helped birth a high calibre of musician. That meant that there was a high level of competition and the natural culling effect meant that the better players rose to the top, and the best players worked at Motown.
The thing that set them apart was that they were jazz musicians who could compete with the best of them but they never played down to pop music. They applied their knowledge of harmony and syncopation to pop music and Berry Gordy was smart enough to realise that if he treated them with dignity and respect they would produce wonderful music for him.
As a result, what happened at Motown compares with the great American Song canon, the Broadway composers, your Cole Porters and Irving Berlins. I don’t think I can play well enough yet to have worked at Motown. My reading was not good and you had to know your chords. The first rock guitar player that did well at Motown was Paul Warren (right, onstage at LA’s Whisky A Go-Go), this good-looking white boy who played on Papa Was A Rolling Stone. He brought the wah-wah in.
Wayne Kramer
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 5:02 PM GMT 23/01/2009
Previous Blog
-
HOW TO BUY...DEEP PURPLE
What's their best album? Let us know your thoughts and recommendations...
2:21 PM GMT 16/11/2009
-
Turn Me On, Satan!
Is the Devil tempting kids with backwards messages in rock songs? Or is that a daol fo yenolab?
6:00 AM GMT 10/11/2009
-
Toyko, Rock'N'Roll Capital Of The World!
MOJO's Mark Paytress goes off in search of the spirit of Japanese Rock, 2009-style, and gets more th
12:31 PM GMT 04/11/2009
-
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
MOJO's James McNair welcomes Halloween with a selection of music to scare your pants off.
12:30 PM GMT 28/10/2009
-
HOW TO BUY...ECM!
Which ECM releases should we splurge our hard-earned on? Tell us, please.
3:33 PM GMT 12/10/2009
-
The 10 Best Rock Guitars Ever!
How good was the late Les Paul's namesake axe? The best, argues MOJO's Mat Snow.
9:48 AM GMT 12/10/2009
end of body content back to top
Footer
Join us on:
© Copyright Bauer - all
rights reserved.
Reproduction of this
website, in whole or in
part, in any form or
medium without express
written permission from
Bauer is prohibited. All
use is subject to our
Terms of Use
|
|
Comments
Comment on this post
Keyboardist Earl Van Dyke. The drummers w/ their unique intros. The overall kinetic sound.
James Jamerson played the bass w/ one finger. He knew when and when not to play. Literally down on his drunken back, he played What's Goin On? Even in his near-passed out condition, Marvin Gaye knew he was the man for the job.
Posted by dlt at 2:13 PM GMT 26/01/2009 Report Abuse
Reply to this post
Comment on this post