SOUL-PATROL DIGEST MAGAZINE

SP Digest Magazine 

4/2003 Volume 2, Issue 4 

Great Black Music From 

The Ancient To The Future: 

http://www.soul-patrol.com/ 

SOUL-PATROL DIGEST 

MAGAZINE 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

5/2003 SOUL-PATROL DIGEST MAGAZINE........................................................................2 

CONTACT INFO AND CREDITS..............................................................................................2 

COMMENTARY, REPORTS AND MORE...............................................................................3 

EDITORIALS .................................................................................................................................. 3 

Remembering the 45 (pt. 1)...................................................................................................... 3 

Why Apple's Shot at the Online Music Brass Ring Will Probably Fail................................ 4 

"Wonderlove 2000" - Sister Sledge + Brenda Russell .......................................................... 6 

Cultural Bandit & Other "Catch" Phrases...They've Trained Us Well.................................. 8 

CLASSIC SOUL............................................................................................................................. 9 

Audio Interview: Mary Wilson.................................................................................................. 9 

Analysis: Otis Redding 1967................................................................................................. 10 

The Escorts .............................................................................................................................. 13 

Analysis: "Grapevine"............................................................................................................. 15 

Analysis: What Is Soul Music (part 1)?................................................................................. 15 

Analysis: What Is Soul Music (part 2)?................................................................................. 16 

FUNK............................................................................................................................................ 18 

Concert Review: Chaka Khan, Rick James, Cameo, Ohio Players & Lakeside - In L.A. 

5/10/02 ....................................................................................................................................... 18 

N'Dambi @ Isaac Hayes Restaurant - 11-23-01.................................................................... 22 

Crusading for Good Music..................................................................................................... 25 

The American Standard Of Funk Recording Roughness................................................... 26 

Eddie Hazel, P-Funk, Original P............................................................................................. 26 

Ode To Minnie Rip…................................................................................................................ 27 

ROCK N' ROLL............................................................................................................................ 29 

Encounter With Janis Joplin.................................................................................................. 29 

Dear Mr. Rock n’ Roll:............................................................................................................. 30 

JAZZ ............................................................................................................................................. 32 

Miles Davis - In Person: Complete Saturday Night at the Blackhawk............................... 32 

You Wouldn’t Know About Bill Dixon, Unless… ................................................................. 33 

BOOK EXCERPT: TIMI YURO GIVING THEM THE TRUTH OF ME (FROM LADIES 

OF SOUL - DAVID FREELAND) PART 2 .............................................................................35 

INTERVIEW: EDDIE KRAMER...............................................................................................43 

CANDI STATON BIO/DISCOGRAPHY.................................................................................46 

SOUL PATROL SPONSORS....................................................................................................2

2 

5/2003 Soul-Patrol Digest Magazine 

Welcome to the May/2003 issue of the Soul-Patrol Digest Magazine! 

Soul-Patrol is a 100% Black owned and operated Informational, news gathering and educational series of 

internet resources focused on funk, soul, jazz, blues, rock artists, music and culture. 

Some Highlights of this month’s issue: 

Soul-Patrol Digest 

Magazine 

• EDITORIALS: Remember the 45, Apple’s Online Music Move, More on Culture Banditry, 

Wonderlove 2000 

• CLASSIC SOUL: Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, the Escorts, What Is Soul, Mary Wilson Interview 

• FUNK: Minnie Riperton, Crusaders, Eddie Hazel, review: Super Player's Soul Night, N’Dambi 

• ROCK N' ROLL: Janis Joplin and “Mr. Rock n’ Roll” 

• JAZZ: Miles Davis, Bill Dixon 

• SPECIAL FEATURES: Book Excerpt: Timi Yuro Giving Them The Truth Of Me Pt 2 (From Ladies 

Of Soul - David Freeland), Interview with Jimi Hendrix Sound Engineer Eddie Kramer, Candi 

Staton 

The 2003 Soul-Patrol East Coast Convention is coming on July 19 2003!!! Check the following link 

for the latest info: http://www.soul-patrol.com/convention 

If you are an artist, entrepreneur, organization, individual etc., who is interested in becoming one of the 

sponsors of the Soul-Patrol Magazine and delivering your message to our subscriber base, then feel free 

to contact me via email or telephone so that we can discuss your ideas. 

--Bob Davis 

earthjuice@prodigy.net 

Davis Industries: 

http://www.davisind.com 

Soul-Patrol: 

http://www.soul-patrol.com 

Editor: Bob Davis 

798 Woodlane Road #10264 

Mount Holly, NJ 08060 

Phone: (609)-351-0154 

E-Mail: 

earthjuice@prodigy.net 

Contact Info and Credits 

Soul-Patrol Digest Magazine Contributors: 

• David Freeland • Bill Carpenter 

• Charles Duke • Darrell McNeil 

• Debra Walker • Traci Evans 

• Mike Boone • Polar Levine 

• Dave Bartlett • KindahBlue 

• A. Scott Galloway • Antonio G. Pereira 

• Raymond Stevenson • Algy 

• Bob Davis • Ron Wynn 

Davis Industries All Rights Reserved

3 

EDITORIALS 

soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine 

Remembering the 45 (pt. 1) 


You know, I actually got into a big fight with one 

of my best girl friends back in the day over a 45. 

Trivial, I agree, but this was some serious 

business. In fact, come on, how many of you 

have gotten into heated arguments over your 

45's and you knew yours from everyone else's? 

I went over to my friend, Charlene’s house for 

New Year's Eve and we had gone to Portole's 

records. I bought Smoky Robinson's Crusin' 

and so did she. Hers didn't crackle in the 

beginning and mine did. 

Because she leaned her rotund ass back and 

cracked hers, she tried to switch bags. Before I 

left her house, I played the one she tucked away 

in her drawer and guess what? Crackle, crackle 

"Baby let's cruise...away from here!" 

I replaced the cracked 45 with mine and when 

my parents came to get me, I didn't say a word. 

When I got home, the phone was already ringing 

and she was shouting and promising to whip this 

and kick that and I was calling her every kind of 

liar because I had the right 45. 

Commentary, Reports and More 

::::ADV:::: 

http://www.soulofamerica.com/ 

She even tried to get our friend Donna in the 

middle of it and when Donna agreed that mine 

crackled and I put the telephone receiver up to 

the speaker to let them hear it, Charlene didn't 

speak to me from New Year's Eve until nearly 

February. 


Magazine 

Then, about three years later, my aunts and 

uncles came over for some eating function we 

had at the house. Could have been gumbo, or 

maybe a fish fry or just us Evanses getting 

together? 

Anyway, since my father thought little of 

replenishing his stash, they wanted to listen to 

mine since I had the jams. when they left, I 

couldn't find "On The One For Fun" by the Dass 

band. When we made our way to Richmond 

(about 40 miles away) two or three months later 

and were listening to records at my 

grandparents' house, guess what song was 

played. You know I made my way over to the 

stereo, had one of the little kids--probably one of 

my brothers--read the title and I stashed it in my 

purse. To this day, my aunt swears it was hers 

and she STILL wants it back. Even though I 

have since replaced it with the cd, I will not give 

it back to her because it 


was and is mine. My mother and father have 

arguments to this day because somehow, her 

younger brother walked out with the 45 of 

Smiling Faces by the Temps and he lost it. I 

have looked high and low, on and offline, trying 

to find it for Dad and up to this point, I have 

come up empty with the exception of a 

scoundrel trying to sell me the album in "good 

condition" for $25 which I refused to pay. I've 

never even heard of the album called "Sky's The 

Limit." If it is out of print, it must not have done 

too well, like our CEO of the list was saying 

about some of these "treasures" these money 

hungry vultures try to sell as if they were made 

of gold. 

PS even though it is not a 45, I still have the 

collector edition of "Thriller" you know the one 

with Michael Jackson's picture imprinted right on 

the album. 

--Traci Evans 


Why Apple's Shot at the 

Online Music Brass Ring 

Will Probably Fail 


I'm a dedicated Mac guy in a Mac family. We 

have a Mac museum stashed in the basement 

that goes back to a 512. God bless Apple and 

god bless Steve Jobs and may they have 

success in all things. But they probably won't 

have success in their online music venture if 

they charge a buck a song. 

I expend lots of digits ranting about the corrupt 

state of the culture biz and how vital music is to 

the maintenance of the human spirit. But music 

has always been a lot more than a metaphysical 

lubricant. Its many other uses have always 

included the groove to pulsate attacking 

infantries, work gangs and galley slaves. It 

glorifies leaders and heroes and entertains the 

creme of the elite and the drooling masses. In 

today's consumerist and entertainmentobsessed 

cultures, music spends most of its 

time serving as sonic wallpaper while we're 

working or dining or fornicating. In the past 

couple of decades Big Media has seen to it that 

music is as ubiquitous and almost as necessary 

to daily human existence as air molecules. It's 

on all day and night. It's in our environment most 

4 


Magazine 

of our conscious lives. It runs under and through 

every tv show, every commercial and it rumbles 

under major news reports. Hollywood films use 

music to tell us when we're supposed to be 

scared, weepy, when to laugh or cry and to lend 

chronological color. It's there in the gym, at the 

bowling alley, the restaurant. It won't shut the 

fuck up. And we don't want it to. I'm a cardcarrying 

member of the "we" I'm talking about. 

As living organisms we now are accustomed to 

a running soundtrack for every part of every day. 

And not only do we require this ongoing stream 

of songs, we require a regular turnover of songs 

because the stuff gets so familiar so quick. If the 

same familiar tunes gurgle away in the 

background for too long we suffer from a 

claustrophobic sense of the air going stale like 

an over-long plane ride. 

As a result of a number of years of free 

downloading, Apple has positioned itself with its 

iPod to make huge inroads into the music field 

by accommodating the millions of songs people 

have been dropping onto their hard drives. Who 

has the need for thousands of songs in one 

device? I have no idea but they're out there in 

great numbers. The way music is marketed, like 

breakfast cereal, every genre winds up 

populated by thousands of songs that sound 

virtually alike. But in most cases we don't notice 

or even care because it's droning in the 

background, barely perceptible to the conscious 

ear. 

We now require music in bulk and the only way 

we'll evolve from Point A - getting it for free in 

bulk to Point B - paying for it -- is this: we 

purchase it in bulk. That's the new economics of 

music that nobody's noticed yet. Or if the 

industry has noticed -- they want to litigate it out 

of existence, which is like litigating snowstorms 

out of existence. 

Music still serves the function of magic in our 

lives -- a prime spiritual lubricant. We still have 

our private transcendental moments late in the 

night with our headphones on and a couple hits 

of weed spinning our brain cells like 

knuckleballs. We'll always have those few 

precious CD's or mixes. But mainly we ingest 

the stuff by the barrelful. Until the distribution 

system understands that fully, it will fail to wean 

us off of free downloading. They can do it if they 

have any vision and it will be a win/win for all. 

So Apple has managed to get all the major 

labels on board and will provide us with their full 


catalogs. By the way, I'd like to know what that 

means exactly. The whole Sun Ra catalog? Or 

the whole catalog of big hits? Even if it's just the 

latter, a buck a song sounds pretty good. But 

when you think for a few seconds -- you'll realize 

that the cost of the CD full of 99cent songs you 

just downloaded is the same price you're paying 

right now for a CD full of songs. It's a better deal 

because there won't be a pile of mediocre songs 

per disc but when you think of those hundreds or 

thousands of songs you've been feeding your 

iPod and playing throughout the course of a 

single day, it will become clear that maintaining 

your bulk listening habit will cost a fortune. 

The buck a song idea will not work. It won't. It'll 

work for a while for non-bulk music users and 

some boomers and X'ers who are still well 

employed but Y'ers and Z'ers won't go there for 

a minute. That latter group has known free 

downloads for their entire audial lives and piracy 

exists as a sub-moral issue. And where does the 

industry come off charging the same for 

downloaded songs as they do for hard copy? 

Downloaded sales don't involve the costs for 

shipping, warehousing, manufacturing, printing, 

etc. We all know that the artists will not be 

compensated any more than they are already, 

which is barely at all. Probably the "new media" 

angle of downloading will enter recording 

contracts as providing less compensation than 

sales of hard copy. Many, maybe most, of the 

songs Apple will sell will be back catalog stuff 

that's been in the can for decades. It's free 

money for the labels, particularly since they 

won't get around to sending off those royalty 

checks -- the continuation of current practice. 

Will that change? 

The Big Media industry has created its own pet 

monster over the past 20 years and that monster 

demands to be fed. We're accustomed to 

listening in bulk and we now demand to buy at 

bulk rates. Many of us have gotten used to 

paying those bulk rates for the past few years -- 

a few hundred songs for the bulk rate of $0. At 

the same time, bands have gotten used to being 

treated as gods for writing little songs with 

nothing more to say than what was said four 

minutes earlier; and that probably wasn't much. 

They want those limos and all that. So the labels 

front the bands a half million bucks to record an 

album that could be done for well under 

$100,000. They fork over millions in corporate 

payola schemes in order to keep indie labels out 

of the field. All this money invested in collections 

5 


Magazine 

of songs that, by design, will be forgotten, if 

listened to all, within a year. And they moan on. 

We're expected to pay for these tunes like 

they're works of timeless art. Yeah, some are 

but almost all of it ain't. 

The industry will have to get real if it wants to get 

real paid and Apple would be real smart if it 

understands this dynamic while it's ahead of the 

game. Apple's historical role in the media culture 

is to start out way ahead of the curve and after 

some major strategical gaffe, fall way behind. In 

this case the decision to charge 99cents a drop 

might prove to be that gaffe. 

If Apple blows it and piracy continues ad 

infinitum despite the futile flailing of industry 

litigation -- what then? I guess people will stop 

creating and marketing music for riches and only 

those driven by the agony and ecstasy of the 

creative process will continue to make music. Is 

that so bad? 

--Polar Levine, popCULT 

www.popCULTmedia.com 

http://www.soul-patrol.com/convention 



6 

:::ADV::: 

http://www.thefunkstore.com/ 


"Wonderlove 2000" - Sister 

Sledge + Brenda Russell 


Stevie Wonder's back up singers at the 2000 

R&B Foundation awards were none other than... 

Sister Sledge + Brenda Russell 


Magazine 

Not only did they do a GREAT job as 

"Wonderlove 2000", but let me tell yall about my 

encounter with them earlier in the day.... 

1. Brenda Russell - Early in the afternoon, I 

was in the reception area upstairs. This 

reception area was about 1/2 the size of a 

football field, full of media folks and celebrities 

being interviewed. I was busy talking with 

Marshall Thompson of the Chi-Lite’s when Mike 

came over to me and said: 

"Brenda Russell is here if you want to talk with 

her..." I said……bet"! 

I quickly left Marshall in the dust and went over 

to where Brenda was standing....lol 

When I arrived, some reporter was interviewing 

her. 

Now I have seen pictures of Brenda Russell 

before but seeing her in person was a WHOLE 

NOTHA THANG...Her pictures DO NOT DO 

HER JUSTICE. 

She has perfectly smooth honey brown skin, 

beautiful long braids appears to be in her mid 

30's (although I think she is in her mid 40's) and 

a BODY THAT JUST WON'T QUIT :) 

In other words she is... 

DROP 

....DEAD 

........GOURGOUS 

I was standing right next to the other reporter 

and I was able to make eye contact with Brenda, 

and once I did I whispered without making a 

sound to "get rid of him" 

LOL 

Within moments (it seemed) this other reporter 

was gone and i had Brenda all to myself :) 

I looked deeply into her beautiful brown eyes, 

gave her a BIG HUG and pressed my body up 

close to hers (just kidding....lol) 

I then said.... 

"Brenda Russell, you are one BADD MAMA 

JAMMA......" she laughed and I said, "you know 

it's the damn truth". 

A few moments later Mike and AA came over 

and interrupted Brenda and I shifted the 

conversation to discuss her new CD called 

"Paris Rain", her tour schedule (she will be 

touring playing DC and Los Angeles this month), 


music on the internet, her band (which includes 

people like Kirk Whalum and Dave Koz) and 

other boring stuff like that......lol) 

When the interview was over, Brenda and I 

hugged and I screamed out.......look at me I got 

Brenda Russell and you can't have her...." 

LOL 

2. Kathy Sledge - About an hour later, Mike and 

i were standing outside of the ballroom drinking 

sodas when this brotha who was a freelance 

photographer came over. We had talked with 

him earlier about possibly doing some internet 

stuff together and had exchanged information. 

He told us that Sister Sledge was rehearsing 

over in the Manhattan Center and that if we 

hurried up we could catch up with them and 

possibly interview them. Mike and I looked at 

each other and said "interview them hell, we just 

wanna meet them.....lol" 

Super Foine - Kathy Sledge at the 2000 R&B 

Foundation Awards 

We rushed downstairs to grab AA and tell her, 

she was busy talking with the Dells in the hotel 

lobby. I said.."we can talk with the Dells anytime, 

but right now we have a chance to grab Sister 

Sledge....lol" 

(Sorry guys.....lol) 

After a few min. we left the hotel lobby and went 

over to the rehearsal hall in Manhattan Center 

(also the site of the evenings festivities) 

We got there just in time. 

The music had just stopped and I could see 

these three angels were walking off the stage. 

7 

As I got closer to them I started singing: 

"WE-ARE-FAMALIEE-I-KNOW-THREE- 

SISTAS-FOR-MEEEE" 

(They started cracking up) 


Magazine 

Now I'll let you all in on a little secret... 

(I have had a MAJOR crush on Kathy Sledge for 

YEARS) 

I yelled out.... 

"say sista sledge, say sista sledge, say sista 

sledge, say sista sledge, say sista sledge, say 

sista sledge, say sista sledge, say sista sledge, 

say sista sledge, say sista sledge, say sista 

sledge, say sista sledge..." 

They were rolling at this point and i introduced 

myself. And then I hugged all three of them, but 

I was focused like a damn laser on Kathy! 

Let me tell yall, if you think she is FOINE, you 

just don't KNOW...Kathy Sledge is a TEN (on a 

scale of 1-10) Sister Sledge had just finished 

their rehearsal and came off the stage... 

I said .... 

"LAWD HAVE MERCY, I MUST HAVE JUST 

DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN...I HAVE JUST 

BEEN SERANADED BY 3 BLACK ANGELS 

FROM PHILADELPHIA, QUICKLY NOW 

GIRLS, GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NUMBERS 

SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE THIS IN A 

MORE PRIVATE SETTING WHEN WE GET 

BACK HOME TO PHILLY...." 

Sister Sledge...started cracking up, and they did 

in fact give me their business cards, after i 

explained who I was and they also recorded a 

station id for Soul-Patrol.net radio). Anyhow, 

just as I was explaining to them that i had lived 

in Pittsburgh and idolized them during the 

Pirates 1979 Championship drive, Mike and AA 

came over. 

• Mike said "I don't know him and I don't 

want you to think that I am with him 

either.....lol" 

• AA said "don't mind him, it's almost time 

for his Riddilin treatment....lol" 

So then I started talking to them about boring 

stuff like growing up in Philly, their plans for their 

new internet site, the new CD they are working 

on, etc. When it was time to go, I hugged all 

three of them, but naturally I saved that "extra 

special hug" for Kathy :) 


Later that evening at the actual awards 

ceremonies... 

The CHI-LITES had just been presented with 

their award and they were singing "Oh Girl". 

Kathy Sledge was standing right next to me and 

said... 

"This song takes me WAY BACK to those old 

days in Philly and those old basement parties..." 

I said... 

"yeah, I know what you mean, I was in college at 

that time at PITT, where there were a LOT of 

girls from Philly just like you who THOUGHT 

they knew how to GRIND. But once I threw 

some of my NEW YORK POWER GRINDING 

MOVES on their asses, they NEVER were able 

to walk the same way again..." 

She cracked up and said..."I gotta join your 

mailing list..." 

--Bob Davis (CEO/Soul-Patrol.com) 


Cultural Bandit & Other 

"Catch" Phrases...They've 

Trained Us Well 


Notes From a Recent Trip To GRACELAND.... 

Rock = White 

"Black Hero's Like Chuck Berry, Little Richard,& 

a Host Of Others" BE DAMNED !!!!!!!! 

They Have Been Reduced To Corporate House 

Negroes Who Get A Visual Of The 

"Right-Life-?" But Better Not Dare Have Hopes 

& Dreams & Aspirations Of Their Own "No 

Grammy's, Or Spoils Of HIS-Story" . 

Whereas The Script Has Already Been Written.. 

The Roots Of Rock "Is" Or Should I Say "Was" 

Our Culture, The Misery, The Blues, The Sweat 

& The Tears. 

The Blood & The Guts Of The Black Holocaust!! 

See This Was No Fad, 

It Was The Seeds Of A Struggle & IT WAS 

STOLEN, Albeit "Aided & Abetted" By The Very 

People It Was Stolen From. 

But Make No Mistake About it. 

(IT WAS STOLEN, The Very MUSIC That 40's & 

50's America Despised "Because They Knew 

Where It Came From". It Was 

"Hijacked, Re-Colored & Homogenized" By 

CORPORATE AMERICA "Knowing A Good 

Thing When They See It". 

8 

To Me It Was & Will Always Continue To Be 

About Money 

"The Thievery Is Just Residual Gravy" .. 


Magazine 

Yes The Term CULTURAL BANDIT Is Some 

Strong Stuff, But It Pales In Comparison To The 

"Raping, Cultural & Corporate Lynching" Of 

Some Of Our Greatest Poets, Musicians & 

Artist, Who Are Still SUFFERING As We Speak.. 

We Don't Have The Luxury Of The THEFT OF 

ROCK-N-ROLL&THE DEATH OF R&B Being 

Hundreds Of Years Behind Us. 

It Is RIGHT NOW !!! 

All You Need Now To Sell A Movie Is A 60'S 

BLACK Song & Martin Sheens Voice, & You 

Can Believe That Movie Is Not Being Marketed 

To My Black Ass, & What Are They Saying To 

You Subliminally When They Serve Up A 

BLACK SONG &Try To Sell You Something? 

Well I'll Tell Ya, They Are Saying Remember 

The FEELING You Had When You First Heard 

This Wonderful Song, Now Go Buy Our Shyt. 

MUSIC IS A VERY POWERFUL LIFE FORCE & 

Not Just SHEER ENTERTAINMENT ,It 

Was In The SLAVE CABINS & It Is NOW.. 

I Have No Problem With BLACK MUSIC Being 

Used As A Marketing Tool, But They Want It 

Both Ways, They Want To Deny, Denigrate, 

Disrespect The Purveyors Of The Music, But 

Then They Want To PROFIT From Their Works 

.Any Self-Respecting BLACK PERSON Should 

Be Offended, When They See A IN-SYNC Or 

BRITNEY SPEARS, Because They &Their 

Presenters Are CULTURAL BANDITS. 

They DIRECTLY Took A SLICE Of BLACK 

Culture & Ran With It & Actually Have Little 

Black & White Kids Thinking They Invented This 

Stuff ...IMAGINE THAT . 

Ps-&I Didn't Even Bring Up RAP, His-Story Says 

That This Is YOUR Cultural soundtrack Now.. 

There’s A Riot Goin' On, Who's Side You On... 

**You May Dig On The Rolling Stones, But They 

Didn't Come Up With That Shyt On Their Own. 

When I Wanna Get It On ,I Start Rockin' Some 

Nina Simone. I Don't Need KORN To Get It On, I 

Am Rock-n-Roll - Mos Def ** 

--Moonthangz 


9 

::::ADV:::: 

Embrace the Love of the Hip-O! 

The Greatest Love Songs of: 

Will Downing 

Angela Winbush 

Patti LaBelle 

Gregory Isaacs 

The “Greatest Love Songs” are only available 

on Hip-O. 

Be sure to check our site for information on all 

our releases. 

http://www.hip-o.com 

CLASSIC SOUL 


Magazine 


Audio Interview: Mary 

Wilson 


The Supreme MARY WILSON at the 2003 R&B 

Foundation Awards 

http://www.soul-patrol.net/marywilsonint.ram 

Wide ranging interview featuring Mary Wilson of 

the Supremes, during the Rhythm and Blues 

Pioneer Awards. Mary speaks on a wide range 

of topics such as the music and the production 

of the 70's Supremes, the impact of the 

Supremes from a historical perspective, the real 

life impact of the proliferation of fake groups, her 

work in pushing forward the girl group stamps 

project, her website and why it is important for 

artists to have their own websites and set them 

up for e-commerce and more. 

As the interview is ending, doo wop superstar 

Harvey Fuqua joins in the conversation. 

http://www.soul-patrol.net/marywilsonint.ram 




Analysis: Otis Redding 

1967 


(Sunday 3:28 pm Dec 10, 1967, " A Tragedy In 

Soul Music History") 

Jimi Hendrix Sept 18, 1970 

John Lennon Dec 8, 1980 

Sam Cooke Dec 11, 1964 

Janis Joplin Oct 4, 1970 

Elvis Presley Aug 16, 1977 

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big 

Bopper Feb 3, 1959 

These are tragic dates to remember in the 

history of music. 

One tragic date that comes to my mind, was that 

of, Sunday Dec 10, 1967, the untimely death 

of R&B and Pop music's greatest loss, Otis 

Redding. Otis celebrated what would be his 

greatest triumph and tragedy in 1967. I'm not 

10 


Magazine 

going to go into his biography, but more or less, 

sum up the events and daily ritual of one Otis 

Redding in 1967. 

1. Otis Redding's " Dictionary of Soul" LP 

hits No 5 on the R&B Lp charts on Jan 

7, 1967. 

2. The single released from the LP " 

Dictionary of Soul", " Try A Little 

Tenderness" hits No 4 on the R&B 

singles charts on Jan 21, 1967 

3. Otis and Carla Thomas begin to record 

the " King & Queen" LP during the 

month of January, 67' 

4. Otis records two Christmas classics in 

the Atco catalog, " Merry Christmas, 

Baby" and " White Christmas" on Feb of 

67' 

5. Otis begins to write and produce for a 

young singer he discovered in Baltimore 

in 1965 named Arthur Conley. Arthur's 

first released single was on Otis' label 

Jotis, " I'm A Lonely Stranger" in 65'. 

Arthur records Otis' composition, "Sweet 

Soul Music", from a borrowed tune 

penned by Sam Cooke entitled, "Yeah 

Man". "Sweet Soul Music" is released in 

the spring of 67'. 

6. The LP " King & Queen" is released. 

7. The Stax-Volt revue plans a concert 

overseas in Europe. The powerhouse 

lineup includes, Otis, Sam & Dave, 

Arthur Conley, Carla Thomas, Booker T. 

& The MG's, Eddie Floyd, The Mar-Keys 

and The Memphis Horns. Otis and the 

entourage arrive in London, England on 

March 13. The Beatles sent their 

personal limos to pick them up for a 

rehearsal in a very private club in 

London. The concert is a huge success. 

Meanwhile, the popular trade magazine 

Melody Makers claims Otis Redding the 


number 1 male singer, dethoning Elvis 

Presley, who held the title for 10 

years!!!!!!!! 

8. By this time, Arthur's hit, " Sweet Soul 

Music" sell over 1 million copies!!!!! 

9. In New York during the month January, 

Aretha Franklin records her LP, " I 

Never Loved A Man" and includes one 

of her favorite Otis tune, " Respect". 

10. Respect is released as a single in April 

67'. 

11. Otis & Carla's " King & Queen" LP hits 

No 5 on the R&B Lp charts on May 5, 

1967. 

12. Otis takes a conference call from Dick 

Clark on American Bandstand in May to 

discuss his career and his happenings 

and talk about his release of a live 

recording the Sam Cooke classic hit of 

65', " Shake". The taped show is aired 

on Saturday, June 3. 

13. Speaking of Saturday June 3, Otis 

Redding appears at the Apollo Theater 

with Carla Thomas, Jean Wells, 

Clarence Carter, The Bar-Kays, and 

Toussaint McCall. 

14. "Respect" is the No 1 song in the 

country, on both the R&B and Pop 

charts in May 67'. It goes on to sell two 

million copies worldwide !!!!!!! Otis by 

now is laughing all the way to the bank. 

By the way, " Respect" was No 1 also 

that week of June 3, during Otis' phone 

call interview taped that day on 

American Bandstand !!!!! 

15. Otis settles a lawsuit from Sam Cooke's 

partner J.W. Alexander who owns 

KAGS Music (Sam Cooke's publishing) 

11 


Magazine 

for Otis borrowing Sam's song "Yeah 

Man" for his hit," Sweet Soul Music". 

J.W. exchanges instead Otis' assurance 

that he will continue to record from the 

catalog in the future. 

16. The single " Tramp" is released from the 

" King & Queen LP and hits No 2 on the 

R&B singles chart on June 17, 1967. 

What kept it from hitting No 1 was 

Aretha Franklin's " Respect" which had 

a continuous run of 8 weeks at No 1. 

Otis was indeed in chart competition 

with himself! 

17. Otis and Booker T. & The MG's appear 

at a now legendary concert in California, 

called, "Monterey Pop" during the 

summer of 1967. Smokey & The 

Miracles and The Impressions bowed 

out in the last minute. Otis, Booker T. & 

The MG's and The Memphis Horns take 

the stage at 1am after the group 

Jefferson Airplane during a rainstorm 

and rocked the house. The flower 

children loved them!!!! 

18. Otis also appeared at the Filmore West 

for the second time as well. 

19. During his stay in California on a 

houseboat in Sausalito, while listening 

to the Beatles newly released " 

Sergeant Pepper" LP, he's inspired to 

compose what would be one of the 

greatest songs of his entire career, " 

Sitting On The Dock of The Bay". When 

returning from California, he would 

promote the Stax's LP, " Stay In 

School". 

20. The Stax label releases 4 LP's in during 

the month of July, " The Stax/ Volt 

Revue Volume One", "The Stax / Volt 

Revue Volume Two Live in Paris", Otis 

Redding Live In Europe" and " The Mar- 

Keys and Booker T. & The MG's: Back 

To Back". All 4 LP's are absolute 

masterpieces!!!!!! 

21. The Atco label releases two new LP's 

and a single on Arthur Conley. The LP's 

are " Sweet Soul Music" and " Shake 

Rattle & Roll, which the latter is released 

as a single as well. All are produced by 

Otis Redding. 

22. During the month of Sept, the 2nd single 

released from the, " King & Queen" LP " 

Knock On Wood" hits No 8 R&B and No 

30 Pop. 

23. All previous engagements are canceled 

during the month of Sept, as Otis has 


polyps removed from his throat. The 

operation took place in Mt Sinai Hospital 

located in NY. He's forced off the road 

and spends time constructing his Big-O 

swimming pool on his ranch in his home 

in Macon, Ga. During this time, he lets 

his regular traveling band members go 

and recruits the group, The 

24. Bar-Kays who had a monster hit with, " 

Soul Finger" and newly released, " Give 

Everybody Some", during the summer of 

67'. The group was happy to go on the 

road with Otis, figuring that this would 

be wonderful exposure for their careers. 

25. The " King & Queen LP re-enters the 

R&B LP charts on Oct 10, 1967, along 

with, " Otis Redding Live In Europe " 

which also re-enters the R&B LP charts 

on Oct 21, 1967. The " Live In Europe" 

LP would enter the charts in August and 

hit No 8 on Sept 9, 1967 and fall off the 

charts during the end of the month. 

26. "Shout Bamalama" one of Otis' old hits 

from 1962, is released and recorded by 

soul singer Mickey Murray. Mickey's 

version hits No 11 on Nov 18, 1967 on 

the R&B singles charts and is one of my 

favorite cuts by this great singer. 

27. On Dec 9, Otis flies into Cleveland on 

his brand new Beechcraft twin-engine 

plane, to tape the local syndicated tv 

dance show " Upbeat" hosted by Don 

Webster. Guests on the show included, 

Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. Otis 

and Mitch duets together the song " 

Knock On Wood". That same evening, 

Otis and the Bar-Keys appear at a 

popular club named, Leo's Casino which 

would be considered his last 

appearance ever. 

28. Before Otis goes on his last road trip, he 

records " Sitting On The Dock Of The 

Bay" on Dec 6th & 7th. Afterwards, Otis 

flies into Nashville on Dec 8. 

29. Sunday morning, Dec 10, Otis makes a 

phone call home to his wife Zelma 

around 8:30 am. In a later interview, 

Zelma said that remembered that Otis 

was depressed about something and 

then talked to his 3 year old son, Otis Jr. 

She said that Otis said he would call her 

when they arrive in Madison, Wisconsin. 

30. At 3:28 pm in the afternoon, Otis' 

Beechcraft plane would crash into the 

icy waters of Lake Monona, outside of 

Madison. Otis along with his pilot 

12 


Magazine 

Richard Fraser and 4 members of the 

Bar-Kays with exception of Ben Cauley 

and James Alexander ( who decided to 

take a commercial flight) were killed. It 

was considered during that time, one of 

the worst air tragedies in entertainment 

history, since the Buddy Holly air crash 

in 1959. 

31. Condolences are sent from entertainers 

around the world. The Beatles were 

slated to leave from London to attend 

his funeral and Vice-President Hubert H. 

Humphrey who wrote the liner notes in 

his, " Stay In School" LP sends his 

condolences as well. 

32. Here in NY, DJ Hal Atkins awaken the 

soul listeners the next day on Monday 

morning with sad announcements of 

Otis' death on WWRL (Super 16), NY's 

number one soul station. 

33. Tributes pour on various radio stations 

all over the world. Even in Vietnam, a 

popular white DJ airman Thomas 

Atkinson devotes his whole entire show 

on Otis Redding during the Christmas 

week of Dec, 1967. 

34. Otis' funeral is held in Macon, Ga in the 

Macon City Auditorium. More than 

25,000 people viewed his body and 4, 

500. It included a who who's of soul 

stars and politicians. 

35. James Brown, Joe Tex, Joe Simon, 

Johnnie Taylor, Arthur Conley, Earl 

Simms, Clark Waldon, Sylvester 

Huckaby childhood friends of Otis, were 

the pallbears. 

36. Joe Simon sings " Jesus Keep Me Near 

The Cross" and Johnnie Taylor sang "I'll 

Be Standing By". Vice President of 

Atlantic records Jerry Wexler delivered 

the eulogy. 

37. Afterwards, Otis is laid to rest in the 

backyard of his Big O ranch, just a 

hundred yards on his 300-acre farm, 

located not to far from his house. The 

family will have a private funeral. 

38. Otis' death is published in Jet magazine 

showing pictures of him being strapped 

in his co-pilot seat as his body is being 

pulled out of the icy waters. People 

around the country, are outraged that 

Jet would published pictures of his 

tragedy. 

39. Ben Cauley ( one of the member of the 

Bar-Kays, who survived the crash) tells 

the tragic tale in a bedside interview to 


the Jet magazine press. Cauley raised 

by very religious parents said that in a 

quote, " God was with me". Ben gave 

the interview at the new Methodist 

Hospital in Madison where his legs was 

completely numb from being in the cold 

waters for a long while. 

40. Otis' dad, Otis Redding Sr becomes the 

administrator of his son's estate. As 

included in Otis' will, Otis' estate was 

over a million dollars. 

41. William Bell writes and records a song 

entitled, " A Tribute To A King" in early 

1968 in tribute to Otis Redding. William 

releases the song in March 68' and 

becomes a hit. 

42. " Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay" hits 

No 1 on both the R&B and Pop charts in 

March 68'. 

43. All of Otis Redding's recordings will be 

released throughout the years of 1968- 

70 

Like I said tomorrow is 34 years that the gates of 

soul heaven were opened to this great artist. 

Let's continue to remember Otis and thank him 

for the great entertainment that he's has grace 

upon the world of music. If people can honor 

Elvis Presley and John Lennon on their deaths, 

why can't we do the same for our man Otis. Dig 

out all of your Otis collection and play him. Let's 

make this week or each and every day Otis 

Redding day !!!!!!!! 

We love and miss you very very much Otis. 

Sleep on my brother and thank you so very 

much, for the wonderful memories. 

-- Mike Boone (Chancellor of Soul) 

13 

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Magazine 


The Escorts 


Belive it or not, I actually listened to artists other 

than Smokey Robinson and Jimi Hendrix, when I 

was a teenager :) 

Now I know that some of yall are gonna tell me 

all about Blue magic, Black Ivory, Delfonics, 

Stylistics, etc, but I seriously don't think that ANY 

of them could hang with the Escorts! 

This is one group that for about a year or so, I 

thought was the BADDEST SLOW JAM GROUP 

OF ALL... 

They made 2 Classic albums in the mid 1970's 

that were absolutely HUGE at Basement parties 

that I went to in NYC at that time. 

(THANK GOD THAT BOTH ARE AVAILABLE 

ON CD) 

Interestingly enough, most of their songs are 

"covers". Interestingly enough, some of those 

"covers" are better than the originals. Take for 

example, the Escorts version of "Ooh Baby 

Baby". (It's BETTER than Smokey's in my 

opinion!!!!!) 

I dunno if these brotha's made much noise 

outside of the NY/NJ area, but let me tell you, 

they were BADD. These are the kind of albums 

that if they came on at a party, you could count 

on them playing the whole side and the lights 

would go out :) 


Anyhow, here is the track listing for the two 

classic albums by the Escorts. If you haven't 

heard of them before and you are a lover of 

GREAT slow jams, then you owe it to yourself 

and the one you love to pick up on BOTH of 

these two CD's if you see them in the store. 

And when you get them home, if you are smart, 

you will send the kids away for the weekend :) 

All We Need Is Another Chance 

1. Intro: I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow 

2. By The Time I Get To Phoenix 

3. Little Green Apples 

4. All We Need (Is Another Chance) 

5. Look Over Your Shoulder 

6. I'm So Glad I Found You 

7. Ooh Baby, Baby 

3 Down 4 To Go 

1. Disrespect Can Wreck 

2. Let's Make Love (At Home Sometime) 

3. Corruption (Man's Self Destruction) 

4. We've Gone Too Far To End It Now 

5. Brother 

6. I Only Have Eyes For You 

7. Shoo Nough, The 

8. La La (Means I Love You) 

9. Within Without 

10. I Can't Stand (To See You Cry) 


14 

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Magazine 

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Analysis: "Grapevine" 


The apocrypha on "I Heard it Through the 

Grapevine" at Motown is as follows: 

The story goes that the song was originally 

RECORDED first by Marvin Gaye. But either 

Berry Gordy (who approved all 45 releases), 

Marvin himself, or both gentlemen (the stories 

vary) didn't like the song, considering it too slow 

and depressing (??!!), and too much in contrast 

to Gaye's upbeat soul style to even use it as 

album filler or a b-side, and the master tape was 

shelved. (Those stories which blame Gordy 

exclusively say that "Grapevine" was the 

beginning of Gaye becoming a more 

introspective singer, culminating several years 

later in things like "Trouble Man" and the What's 

Going On album). 

Like any other song at Motown, though, failure 

with one artist did not mean the song was 

"dead", and it was shopped around (no pun 

intended) to various producers and artists in 

hopes somebody would come up with a hit 

version of the song (or, barring that, their 

recordings would end up as album filler, which 

would mean the composer and lyricist would 

make some royalty money through this parking 

of their song on an album). 

15 


Magazine 

I think Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong were 

the ones who produced the version of the song 

that Gladys Knight and the Pips did, and their 

funky, upbeat interpretation (I always imagine 

some guy coming home and finding his wife 

throwing his stuff out on the front lawn while she 

tells him off) seemed a sure hit by all involved. 

But, again, Gordy didn't like "Grapevine", though 

this time it DID end up as album filler or a b-side 

(again, stories vary). But a disc jockey in a 

major market found the song, like it, and started 

playing it. It got such a pop that Motown started 

to release it as a single in some of the 20 or so 

"test markets" in the US, where it also went over 

big. It would become, at least to that point 

(1967) the biggest selling Motown single, with 

sales something like 2.5 or 3.5 million, which 

back in the day was simply outrageous for a 

single. 

Strangely, though, the GK&TP version did NOT 

change Berry Gordy's mind concerning Marvin 

Gaye's version, although Marvin's version was 

dusted off and used as album filler. Again, 

though, a disc jockey dropped the needle on 

Gaye's "Grapevine", and again it got a pop. 

Ironically, Gaye's version became the NEW 

biggest selling single for Motown, moving 

something between 3.5 to 4.5 million copies, 

and it would remain the biggest selling Motown 

single for well over a decade. 

-- Dave Bartlett 


Analysis: What Is Soul 

Music (part 1)? 


Soul Music the GENRE is what I was talking 

about when I said I'm not a big Barry White fan. 

It's pretty obvious that Barry sings SOUL Music, 

because the elements of the genre are right 

there: it's blues/gospel based music where the 

bass is oftentimes emphasized (whether it's 

electric bass or bass synthesizer). Some of it 

even has a string section - (not anomaly as 

some would have you believe) - many SOUL 

songs do, there is sometimes the call and 

response technique, the syncopation, vocally 

and musically...and around the time of the Civil 

Rights movement, R&B became Soul because 

many times a lot of artists would infuse their 

music with socio/political lyrics and themes in 


many of their songs...it wasn't JUST about the 

"moon in June" as Marvin would say. 

But the "moon in June" aspect will always have 

its place in Soul Music. 

All of that doesn't necessarily mean that I 

automatically like what I'm hearing just because 

it's Soul Music. It doesn't mean it automatically 

moves me. D'Angelo sings SOUL music too, but 

I'm not moved by anything I've heard him sing 

either. Loving the genre of Soul Music is 

obviously something we all have in common or 

else we wouldn't be here. 

But it's sort of like food: many of us like peach 

cobbler, potato pie and pecan pie. But everyone 

who makes them isn't going to make them the 

same way. I like the way my Mother bakes them 

all. I like the way some others bake them. But 

there might be a few people whose pies I don't 

particularly care for. It's NOT because I don't like 

the pies in general, it's just that everyone's way 

of baking them is different. Even if there is the 

slightest bit of differences between my pies and 

my Mothers - I love them both. Different 

shouldn't always be equated with inferior. 

I love Stevie Wonder's style of Soul Music, just 

as I love Isaac Hayes' style of Soul Music. 

I don't really care for 99% of Barry White's Soul 

Music, because I find it to be a bit of a caricature 

of himself. It doesn't move me just because it's 

Soul Music. So that criteria by itself would be out 

the window. 

OK, but having said all that (and I hope I'm 

making it all clear), there is music that HAS Soul 

- but it may not have ALL the same elements as 

the SOUL MUSIC GENRE does - and there IS 

SOUL MUSIC. 

Some of Jeff Buckley's songs have soul. Some 

of Carol King's songs have soul (yes, I do know 

she and ex Gerry Goffin were the authors of 

many songs by Aretha and other Soul Music 

artists). But I've never heard anything by those 

two (Buckley and King) that I'd consider SOUL 

MUSIC when it comes to the elements that 

make the genre what it is. 

And it's not a race thing. The Average White 

Band obviously played Soul AND Funk music. 

Bobby Caldwell sang Soul Music. Teena Marie 

sang Soul Music. Even Van Morrison has sings 

16 

some songs that have ALL of the elements of 

the Soul Music genre. 


Magazine 

In essence my response to being able to "feel" it 

to consider it Soul Music isn't something I 

believe has to happen, because of the Barry 

White example. I don't feel 99% of Barry's 

music, I don't feel D'Angelo's music - that 

doesn't mean it's not Soul Music. 

The whole "Neo Soul" category to the contrary - 

it's nothing but Soul Music created by another 

generation of recording artists. The big wigs just 

think they have to have a new category 

sometimes to sell the music to a different 

generation. The same thing happened with the 

"Grunge" movement. It really wasn't that much 

different from the rock music that came before it. 

--KindahBlue 


Analysis: What Is Soul 

Music (part 2)? 


There is soul music and there is music that is 

"soulful". There is a difference. Soul Music was 

born out of gospel music, which later 'gave birth' 

to the blues. It is uniquely associated with 

African-American people. In that music is 

embedded the hardships that black people 

suffered from the inception of their being forced 

to come to the United States, the vicious racism, 

poverty and hopelessness. 

The EXPERIENCE of being black is IN the 

music. Also embedded in that music is hope, 

the love of God and the experience of just being 

alive. It is not all sad and woeful...it is 

sometimes happy and joyful. 

Soulful music can be found in any type music, 

pop, country, opera and symphonies. A singer or 

musician may feel deeply what they are playing 

or singing and may convey those feelings to the 

listener. That's soulful, but it is not 'soul music' 

as described above. 

If country artists feel what they are singing, they 

are feeling something different than what soul 

music is all about. Those songs were born of a 

different experience. It was created by a free 

people, not those in bondage and certainly not 

by and for people who have suffered in America 

as black people have and still do. 


"Having soul" has long been envied by a lot of 

non-blacks. It's difficult for them to believe that 

blacks have something they they do not have. 

But they forget that their ancestry and 

experience living in this racist society is 

markedly different. Anyone can enjoy soul 

music, imitate it, try to sing it, etc. 

It's supposedly a "free" country and folks can do 

what they want and sing what they will. But 

there is nothing like the original, believe me. 

--Algy 

17 

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18 

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FUNK 


Magazine 


Concert Review: Chaka 

Khan, Rick James, Cameo, 

Ohio Players & Lakeside - In 

L.A. 5/10/02 


(Notes From the Champagne & Cashew Nut 

Gallery) 

It had the makings of a fantastic way to spend a 

Friday night after a long week of hard work... 

Comedian-turned radio-morning-show-jock 

Steve Harvey (of L.A.'s "100.3 The Beat") 

hosted the opening night of the Greek Theatre's 

2002 season in what was billed as "Super 

Player's Soul Night!" 

However, soul fans who might have placed bets 

on who would "turn the show out" (and why) 

would most likely have lost their shirt, shoes 

AND trousers. 

Hold on to your hats for his one Soul Patrollers. 

The acts: Chaka Khan, Rick James, Cameo, 

Ohio Players and Lakeside. 

Let me just start off saying that I LOVE MY 

BLACK PEOPLE! The "over 25" (and well up 

into their 50s) crowd was out IN FORCE for this 

show, ready to PAR-TEE, dressed to the nines 

and, in many cases, very sexily for an outdoor 

evening show. Sistas were flashing much skin, 

but it was one brutha who won "the fashion 

show" hands-down. He was sporting a crushed 

purple velvet ensemble complete with a fly-ass 

hat (with an orange feather on the side), the coat 

of which was 


opened to reveal MUCH bare "sexual chocolate 

chest!" My man was seated in the "A" section, 

but strolled to other sections entirely to have his 

picture taken with folks dying to document his 

painstakingly authentic `70s pimpology! I hope 

to see him again soon...as an extra in Eddie 

Griffin's upcoming "Undercover Brother!" 

Onto the REAL show! 

It was SUPPOSED to start at 6 PM, but the first 

act didn't hit until 7. 

Let's see: five acts trying to rock a venue with a 

drop-dead Midnight curfew amounts to a recipe 

for disaster. You do the math. In between time, 

we were treated to Mary J. Blige's entire No 

More Drama CD, which gave me achance to 

point out to my friends how superior the album 

cut "Testimony" is to ANY of the singles 

released from this album (though I do love the 

"perculatin'," Dr. Dre-produced "Family Affair"). 

Up first was Dayton, Ohio's Lakeside, eight-men 

strong including two cats on Korg synths and a 

brutha slammin' on Simmons electronic drums. 

They opened with "Raid" which set the funk off 

strong. They were all dressed in either black 

sweat shirts or t-shirts emblazoned with the 

Lakeside logo, while some also wore baseball 

caps with the logo. Then, they turned the heat 

up another notch by slamming into, "the song 

that first brought us national attention," 1978's 

"All The Way Live!" THIS brought most anyone 

else who wasn't already dancing to their feet as 

the vibe escalated. Guitarist Steve Shockley 

took a killin' solo, I must say. Lakeside closed 

with their 1980 chart-topper "Fantastic Voyage." 

If there had been a roof on the Greek, it surely 

would have come off at this point! Folks was 

PARTYIN'!!!! 

During the stage change, Steve Harvey came 

out and clowned with the audience, whose 

outfits provided ample "material." He joked 

about cussing as much as he wanted tonight 

because he can't do it on the radio (though all he 

really said was "ass" a few times). And, as he 

does on his radio show, he closed with a 

positive thought about how if we can all party 

next to each other at this concert, we should be 

able to live next door to each other, too. "It's the 

way God wants it," Harvey preached before 

"Introducing The Players" - the one and only 

OHIO Players - to the stage. 

19 


Magazine 

THIS is the act I personally came to see. One of 

my all-time favorites, I was stoked with the 

knowledge that Billy Beck has returned to the 

fold playing keyboards and singing. What I 

DIDN''T know was that the Players once again 

have a three-man horn section now, PLUS a 

percussionist and a second keyboardist to go 

along with longtime bassist Darwin Dortch and 

guitarist Chet Willis. The Players' co-leaders 

remain drummer James "Diamond" Williams and 

the one-and-only Leroy "Sugar/Sugarfoot" 

Bonner. 

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cynthiad1@prodigy.net 

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Though it saddens me to report that "Sugar" is 

no longer able to play the guitar due to some 

physical problems with the dexterity of his 

fingers, he is still quite the lively front man. The 

band opened with "Love Rollercoaster/O-H-I-O" 

with a rail-thin "Sugar" taking the stage wearing 

a shirt opened to his navel (tied with a sash), 

"skin tight" britches and cream colored boots. He 

topped it all off with a cowboy hat over what 

looked like might be a now clean-shaven head. 

"Sugar"'s infamous afro wig is am thang of the 

past. "I'm not a cowboy though, baby" he said 

flirting with a woman in the front row, "I'm a 

WILD boy!" 

Due to time constraints, the rest of the Players' 

set consisted of a frolic through "Funky Worm," 

a pause for the heart's cause on "Let's Love," 

followed by a double-barreled blast of "Skin 

Tight" and "Fire," the latter on which Sugar 

brought back one of the members of Ohio 


homeboys Lakeside to sing with him, and 

Diamond slammed HARD on a dual with the 

percussionist on timbales. 

All in all, the Players' hearts were deep into it 

and they were just warming up. Under the stars, 

it sure would have been nice to hear "Heaven 

Must Be Like This," "Together," "Alone," "I Want 

To Be Free" or some "Sweet Sticky Thing" (to 

give the sax player some), but I MUST-MUST- 

MUST give mad props to whoever the trumpet 

player was because he recreated the late Ralph 

"Pee Wee" Middlebrook's solo from "Pain" 

(though within another song) note-for-note, then 

kissed his instrument up to the heavens in his 

honor...a moment only a fan would have 

recognized. I say all that to say, "The Players 

still got it!" When they come to your town, be 

checkin'! I know I will... They're fully fortified 

now. 

Next up was an 8-strong, all-dressed-in-black 

Cameo that included leader Larry Blackmon 

(with his signature red codpiece firmly in place) 

and "star" alumni Charlie Singleton on guitar (his 

face concealed by a white "Phantom of the 

Opera" mask), bassist Aaron Mills and vocalist 

Tomi Jenkins. Their show wasn't bad, but in my 

humble opinion - for what was clearly going to 

be 

an abbreviated set - they emphasized the wrong 

period and material from their 25-year career. 

They opened with "Single Life" followed by 

"She's Strange," cool `80s funk numbers but not 

fire starters by any means. Then they went into 

'"Candy," STILL fresh in people's minds from its 

wonderful use in the wedding reception scene of 

the film "The Best Man." Folks got up on this 

one – and Charlie did rock a few bars on the 

guitar, but there was no sax man to play 

THAT solo (sigh)! Then they did two ballads 

back-to-back: "Why Have I Lost You" (we STILL 

miss you, Wayne Cooper) and "Sparkle." After 

that, Cameo was forced to jump into "closemode" 

with 1986's "Word Up," which, I'm sorry, 

is under whelming when you haven't heard `70s 

staples like "Shake Your Pants," "I Just Want To 

Be," "Funk Funk" or even 1981's "Freaky 

Dancin'." 

Between the next set change, "The Beat's" DJ 

Paradise brought the party back to life jamming 

no-brainers like JB's "The Payback," Brick's 

"Dazz," Parliament's "Flashlight" and George 

Clinton's "Atomic Dog." In an inspired move, he 

20 


Magazine 

slipped in the go-go classic "Da Butt" by EU 

(immortalized in Spike Lee's joint, "School 

Daze") and had EVERYBODY shakin'' dat "big 

ole butt!" Paradise cooled the crowd down with 

Maze's "Before I Let Go" - 'before' the NEXT act 

took the stage...and things got deeply weird... 

According to what was on the face of the tickets, 

it appeared as though Rick James was going to 

be the closing act. Something must have went 

down backstage, though, because when the 

curtain opened, the sprawling latest edition of 

his Stone City Band was on stage playing a 

dramatic instrumental overture. 

Rick was CLEARLY none-too-pleased when he 

walked on stage - his back to the audience - 

then conducted the drummer to drop the 

downbeat on "Ghetto Life." He started singing in 

one mic, which wasn't on, so he tossed it, went 

to the keyboard mic which wasn't on either, 

SMACKED it, then grabbed his original mic 

which worked now, but drop kicked that mic's 

stand...OVER HIS SHOULDER. 

Like I said, Rick's band was LARGE (a 

drummer, bassist, guitarist, two keys, FOUR 

horns who also sang male background vocals 

and one female singer) – and they were tight. 

They were not the problem. Rick was. 

First of all, he was "bustin' out" at the gut of his 

black western shirt and leather pants. Worse, his 

voice was hoarse and just plain shot. At some 

points, he didn't even "attempt" to hit any note at 

all, just croaking lines and commanding the 

increasingly appalled crowd to "SING!" After 

"Ghetto 

Life" came his first hit, "You and I," followed by 

the lesser single "Hard To Get" and a version of 

the song he wrote and produced for the reunited 

Temptations in `82, "Standing On The Top." 

WHY he would even do the latter two on a tight 

schedule is bewildering. That he did them 

terribly just REALLY stunk up the joint. 

And did I mention that almost every instrument - 

be it guitar or board - that Rick went to play, was 

suspect as to whether it was even "on," "plugged 

in" or at the very least (and most kind) properly 

amplified or mic'd?!?! The one time that things 

seemed like they'd get mo' betta was during a 

brief 

"Cold-Blooded" - a song so stripped to the raw 

"funk essentials," it would shake you on pure 

essence as just an instrumental! 


When I saw someone from the wings bringing 

an ACOUSTIC guitar and a stool to center stage 

for Rick, I seized that moment to make a 

bathroom run. Again, I LOVE MY PEOPLE, cuz I 

got an earful of disgruntled comments up in 

there! Even downstairs in the john, I could still 

hear Rick crucifying his once beautiful "Ebony 

Eyes," which he'd had the "honor" of recording 

with Smokey Robinson...and he had the nerve to 

be reminding folks of the record while he 

murdered it!!! I kid you not, though, Soul 

Patrollers, things got even worse than this... 

By the time I got back to my seat, Rick had 

switched to keyboards to playing the oceanic 

ebb-n-flow chords of "Deja Vu," a song he wrote 

and produced for Teena Marie's debut album, 

Wild and Peaceful. Fans instantly suspected that 

Los Angeles resident Teena was probably "in 

the house" and began praying that she would 

return some supplemental value to the money 

they'd spent on these concert tickets. Sure 

enough, we heard her off stage starting her 

signature wails, then take the stage draped in a 

full-length fur. They performed the song as a 

chaste duet - Teena singing, Rick croaking – 

before the drummer (a MUTHA, I must add) 

dropped the downbeat on "Fire and Desire" - 

upon which time Teena dropped her mink to the 

floor and showed the audience how nicely she's 

been keeping her hips of late in her tight leather 

pants. 

Thankfully, Rick respectfully did not subject 

Teena to the near-X-rated slob-down that "he 

used to when loved her and left her" (on stage) 

in the `80s. After all, she was showing him 

MUCH LOVE for even taking the stage with him 

on this night that was clearly, oh, an OFF one for 

him!!! He kept 

his mitts mostly to himself, but did hug her a few 

times as he did his first verse. The TRAGIC 

thing is that when it was time for Teena's verse, 

she walked to the front of the stage and - 

unbeknownst to her at first, the curtain abruptly 

closed followed by the merciless "click" of the 

band's sound being shut off. With the spotlight 

still on her, though, Teena copped an armsspread 

Diana Ross pose, took a bow and the 

crowd showed her love. 

There was some bustling behind the curtain 

before Rick came out, took her mic, said, "F 'em, 

Teena. We're out of here," then walked her 

backstage. 

21 


Magazine 

That has got to be one of the most embarrassing 

scenes I have ever witnessed at a concert...right 

up there with Billy Preston "sitting in" for Sly 

Stone at Hollywood's Las Palmas Theatre when 

Sly was promptly arrested outside before show 

time. 

My heart goes out for "Lady Tee" who was just 

that (a lady) throughout the entire debacle. 

It was now `round about 11 and people were 

basically pissed off, restless and punch drunk. 

As that Mary CD attempted to soothe frayed 

nerves, we waited. Finally, Chaka and her band 

(a 5-piece rhythm section with three female 

background vocalists) took the stage with a mild 

cover of The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out," 

possibly a message to soul fans clearly 

disappointed with the turn of the evening's 

events. Then, just like the album from which that 

cover came, she went right into "Whatcha 

Gonna Do For Me." Chaka looked good - all in 

black spandex, her trademark tresses wild as 

ever and a sweet smile on her face when she 

could spare it. 

Before the third song, Chaka stated, "I just 

wanna say one little thing. I'm sorry to say this is 

going to be an abbreviated set. I know...I'm 

pissed, too, but we're going to be back here in 

August." She closed out with crowd-pleasing if 

understandably unspectacular versions of 

"Sweet Thing," "I'm Every Woman" and "Ain't 

Nobody" before her time was up. 

So, who turned the show out? By sheer luck of 

the draw and the matter-of-factness of their 

predicament, it was Lakeside! By only having 

time to do three songs - all of which were hits - 

pacing them properly and playing the hell out of 

them, underdog openers Lakeside packed more 

bounce into every ounce of their short set than 

any other act on the bill. 

Like Gilda Radner used to say as Roseann 

Roseannadanna on Saturday Night Live, "It just 

goes to show you, it's always somethin'!" On any 

given night, you never know "who shall 

overcome," "where ya gonna git yo funk from," 

or who is carrying the biggest "Bop Gun" - "in 

The Land of Funk." 

- A. Scott Galloway 


22 

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SISTA FACTORY is dedicated to producing 

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A Few of Our Artists: 

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Felicia Collins 

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Sandra St. Victor 

Abby Dobson 

Ledisi 

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advocates of the performing artist and their 

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N'Dambi @ Isaac Hayes 

Restaurant - 11-23-01 


Hello, everyone. I hope that everyone had a 

beautiful and peaceful Thanksgiving Day. *I* 

did, and I am very thankful for so many things... 

Well, if anyone here is interested, here is my 

"little ole" review of the show: 

First of all, this was the first time that I'd visited 

Issac Hayes Restaurant/Club. It's a rather small 

place, located on the North Side of Chicago, in a 

trendy part of our downtown area. The 

atmosphere is comfy, casual and friendly, and 

prices are moderate. And, those who 

know me, by now, just KNOW that I had to get 

there a little early to grab some dinner before the 

show...LOL! I had a nice, tasty barbecued 

chicken meal that I thoroughly enjoyed. So, 

would I recommend stopping in for a bite? In a 

word, "Yes"... 

One thing that was cool, about arriving at the 

restaurant early, was watching some of the 


Magazine 

musicians do sound-checks. Well, N'Dambi and 

her band were ALSO there, early, doing their 

sound-check while I was enjoying my dinner. 

And, towards the end, N'Dambi, herself, got up 

and 

sang (I should say, SANG) most of "Soul From 

the Abyss"! She did so well, in my opinion, that 

*I* put down my fork, and gave her a 

hand...LOL! 

Anyway... The show officially started around 

7:30 P.M. with a performance from Big James 

and the Chicago Playboys. I had never heard of 

them before last night. However, I think that the 

band (yes, they are singers and musicians...) did 

a very good set. They opened with a decent 

version of "Cosmic Slop", and took it away from 

there... Many of the crowd, including myself, got 

into them, as they performed, too. A couple of 

highlights were (1) their rendition of "A Woman's 

Gotta Have It", and (2) an original song from one 

of their CD's, called "It Wasn't Me". The band 

also exhibited a lot of showmanship, especially 

that bass guitar player, who came off the stage 

and played to the audience at (or near) the end! 

Pretty good stuff, y'all, with MUCH homage paid 

to good old straight-up R&B, funk, soul AND 

blues (Chicago style, of course...)... For 

more info, check out http://bigjames.com. 

Let me say, at this point, that fellow S. P., Gary 

Tyson, arrived at the restaurant/club, during Big 

James' set. So, we kept each other company, at 

the show, for the duration :)... Thanks, Gary! 

Moving on... After Big James' hour-long set, 

there was a bit of an intermission, and, then, 

N'Dambi, et. al., began their show - the main 

event of the evening. First up, we saw more 

locally based talent, namely D.J. Anthony 

Nicholson, The Poetree, Avery Young, and 

Se'ance Divine, featuring Peven Everett, in order 

of appearance (as I remember it...). Again, I had 

not heard of any of these performers before last 

night. But, I was interested (as I always am...) to 

see what they had to offer. 

D.J. Anthony Nicholson played some 

tunes/mixes for a little while. I couldn't 

personally identify anything in his set, but it 

sounded OK (I guess...). The words/categories 

of "neo-soul", "nu-soul" were bandied about, 

several times, last night. So, I suppose THAT's 

the best way to describe that music, for some 

folks. I don't know, since I'm not UP on all of 

that stuff . 


Then, as I recall, the M.C. for the evening - 

Phenom of 'The Poetree' - came out to introduce 

the rest of the acts. IMHO, he was quite an 

engaging young man, doin' his thing very well... 

The Poetree - a group of four young adults, two 

men and two women (including Phenom) - came 

on, and did a quite dazzling spoken-word 

performance of a piece, entitled "Spinnin'". I 

believe that the subject was something like, 

"Have you ever been in love?" One of the 

sisters began singing (I mean, SANGIN') - with 

no musical accompaniment - and then the 

others gradually 

joined in, with different "voices", until, in the end, 

a "whole" was formed. I guess that you could 

say that I was very impressed, eh? Well, you'd 

be right! Much love to these young(er) adults for 

carrying on the tradition! And, the audience 

gave them a lot of love/praise, too :)... 

Next up was a brother named Avery Young, who 

also did a spoken word piece. Unfortunately, I 

don't have a title for you. However, this man 

came out smokin', and worked up to a feverish, 

highly-emotional, and highly-charged, tone (that 

would take you to "church", if you go/have 

gone to church, and your preacher preaches like 

THAT...). In the end, Mr. Young gave HIGH 

praise to ALL black women - singers, actors, 

mamas, other everyday women, etc. To me, 

and many of the women in the crowd, it was 

beautiful! Whew... All I could say was 

"Halleujah!" 

The last opening act (for N'Dambi) was Se'ance 

Divine, with Peven Everett. Se'ance Divine is 

the band, and Peven is the lead singer, who also 

plays keyboards. AFAICT, Peven is a very 

energetic and pretty good singer/musician. And, 

the band is pretty good, too. No amateurs, 

basically speaking, here... However, *I* had a 

problem, getting into the general "groove" of the 

music that I heard from this group, during this 

set. I can't explain it real well, except to say that 

most of what I heard sounded like "extended jam 

sessions". IOW, to me, these folks were "ALL 

over the place", musically, if you know what I 

mean. 

No criticism from me, here, since I saw that, 

apparently, it works for some other folks. Just 

because *I* don't get it, it doesn't mean that it's 

"bad" music, as presented. I just call 'em as I 

see 'em. Hey...Once Peven, et. al., hit the 

stage, the space in front of the stage that had 

23 


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been cleared out for dancing/standing room 

gradually filled up with people seriously gettin' 

their groove on! I think that he (Peven) must 

have quite a local following. If so, then more 

power to him! IMHO, he DOES have a great 

voice, and potential for a great stage presence. 

Peven can be QUITE dramatic...LOL! 

After a bit of an extended intermission, the main 

event, the star of the show - N'Dambi - finally hit 

the stage around 11:30 p.m. (or so...). IMHO, 

sister girl had a little bit of a shaky start, and *I* 

figured that she must have been kind of 

nervous. N'Dambi DID admit to feeling this way, 

early on, and during her set. AND, I gave her 

the benefit of the doubt, since I think that, 

overall, N'Dambi made the most of the 

(relatively) brief time that she was given to 

perform. See, sister 

girl only had, in the end, roughly one (1) full hour 

of performance time, and, at times, I thought that 

she felt rushed. This is my take on things, here, 

and more on this a little later... 

At any rate, N'Dambi's performance focussed on 

the material from her latest CD-set, "Tunin' Up 

and Cosignin'". Here are the selections, as per 

my memory, that she sang: 

• Ode 2 Nina 

• Day Dreamer (she busted out on that 

one, along with her sax player in 

• her band!) 

• Black Star 

• Soul From The Abyss 

• Lonely Woman/Eva's Song 

• Deep 

• What's Wrong With U? 

I'm probably missing a few. If so, then I 

apologize. 

While *I*, and many others in the crowd 

(especially those who, like me, are already 

familiar with both of her recordings) seriously got 

into N'Dambi's performance during her set, and 

(perhaps, like I did...) forgave her for the initial 

"shakiness" (so to speak) WRT her voice, and 

such, I, for one, just wish that she had MORE 

time to sing (SANG). One hour just wasn't 

enough, as far as I'm concerned... BTW, there's 

a preview article, in the "Critics' Choice" section, 

from the Chicago 


Reader, on this paper's Web site, that (to me) 

wonderfully assesses N'Dambi, her talents, how 

she "flows", etc. - 

http://www.chicagoreader.com/music/critic.html# 

CNDAMBI 

Check it out, and then, maybe, you'll see what I 

mean... 

Anyway... Personally, I was very happy, overall, 

with N'Dambi's own performance. I'd never 

seen her before in concert, and it was great to 

hear her great voice and see her, LIVE... 

However, I hope that, in the future, whether she 

comes back here to Chicago or goes out 

elsewhere to perform, that N'Dambi is given 

WAY more than one hour to do her thing. 

IMHO, her singing and song styling are such 

that one must savor and digest it all, like a big, 

tasty meal, in several courses. Such musical 

expression, as I see it, is not meant to be rushed 

along or compartmentalized in some form of 

brief confinement... 

BTW... It's possible that, during N'Dambi's 

appearance here in Chicago last night, her 

performance might have seemed/been rushed 

for two reasons: 

1. The whole program was running late, after a 

while, as the evening progressed, like ~ 15-20 

minutes, or more... 

2. There WAS a free "after-party" scheduled at 

the House of Blues, right after the end of the 

show, that the MC HIGHLY publicized... 

At any rate, *I* had a very interesting, and 

entertaining evening last night at this event. It 

wasn't perfect (of course...), but, at least, I got a 

great opportunity to see a lot of current, new, 

and local musical (and diverse) talent, PLUS 

N'Dambi, for a total of ~5 hours, at a ticket price 

of $20.00. If one only thinks of value vs. time 

spent, then, in my opinion, and in that regard 

(these days), that is STILL a bargain/BIG value 

for a night out, especially in the "big" city (cities)! 

Still... I highly recommend that y'all consider 

buying N'Dambi's two CD's - "Little Lost Girls 

Blues" and "Tunin' Up and Cosignin'". And, 

then, if she and her band come to your area, 

then please go check them out! And, also, as 

she, herself, reminded us, before the end of her 

(sadly, to me...) brief set, here in Chicago, 

please DO consider supporting independent 

music from her, and other artists. Take it from 

24 


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me, if you will... This sister AND her band are 

really BADD! IMHO, the 

process of simple "word-of-mouth" promotion is, 

apparently, doing wonders for the sheer 

numbers of the crowds that I've seen at both this 

concert, as well as the Ledisi show (last 

month...), at least here in Chicago! 

And, before I go, I must give much love and 

gratitude to the following folks/entities: 

1. Sol (soul) Productions, Inc., i.e., Kedar and 

Tyrone. In my opinion, these brothers are to be 

commended for their concert 

promotion/production efforts in THIS regard, and 

elsewhere. Gary and I both made contact with 

Kedar while we were at the show last night :)... 

AND, thank YOU, Cecile, once again, for 

introducing us to Kedar during the night of that 

fabulous Ledisi show, here in Chicago! 

2. N'Dambi, and (hey...) all of the rest of the 

acts on the bill, for gracing us with their 

individual/collective talents, no matter what 

glitches/shortcomings surfaced... 

3. Gary Tyson - Hey, fellow Soul Patroller... 

Thanks so much for just "being there" and 

putting up with me, "warts and all"...LOL! You 

are SO cool, brother . 

4. The Soul Patrol, as a whole - Hey, without 

you guys and your influence, I probably would 

have "slept" on N'Dambi, and other artists like 

her, and, most likely, would have NEVER woke 

up, in this regard! 

Believe it or not, you all, as a collective, are now 

my OWN "CNN", "411", and, sometimes, "911", 

for the music, and related information, that 

MATTERS to me! 

I've kept y'all long enough (that is, if you're still 

reading and interested)...LOL! Anyway, once 

again, this is a "little ole" review of a show that I 

thought might interest some of you... I hope that 

somebody, out there, enjoyed it...:)... If nothing 

else, I just call 'em as I see 'em, when I want to 

express real opinions. 

May the Lord (Goddess) bless and keep ALL of 

y'all...:)... And, corrections and/or any feedback 

is much welcomed by me! 

--Debra Walker 


25 

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http://www.averagewhiteband.com/ 


Magazine 


Crusading for Good Music 


Shame on me!!! 

I don't even have a web page up on Soul Patrol 

about the Crusaders and they are one of my 

favorite groups! 

Straight outta "H-Town", my favorite song by 

them is a SUPER FUNKY cut called SCRATCH, 

came out around 72-73 ish? from the album of 

the same name, which is the color of 

CALOMINE LOTION (get it scratch/calamine 

lotion?....lol) any of yall out there remember that 

one? 

However my very favorite album by the 

Crusaders is the album called Southern 

Comfort. 

It came out around 74-75 ish? 

That album is a MONSTER FUNK BOMB 

In fact my favorite song from the album is one 

called" "TIME BOMB" which sounds like fatback 

frying in a frying pan :) 

Here is the track listing for SOUTHERN 

COMFORT 

1. Stomp And Buck Dance 

2. Greasy Spoon 

3. Get On The Soul Ship (It's Sailing) 

4. Super-Stuff 

5. Double Bubble 

6. Well's Gone Dry, The 

7. Southern Comfort 

8. Time Bomb 

9. When There's Love Around 

10. Lilies Of The Nile 

11. Whispering Pines 


12. Ballad For Joe (Louis) 

If you DON'T own a copy of this album and you 

find yourself in the record store not knowing 

what to buy, treat yourself to this album. It's a 

shame that most people only think of the 

Crusaders nowadays as a sort of "back up band 

for the has been and never were". They are in 

fact one of the top FUNK (jazz?) bands of all 

time. 

I remember that they used to get a lot of 

criticism from "jazz purists", prior to dropping the 

word "jazz" from their name. Their response to 

that criticism... 

"We are just CRUSADING for good music..." 

I would say that they achieved their goal :) 

In some ways the Crusaders are like the 

METERS or the JB's in that after several hours 

worth of listening, their music can sound 

monotonous. (But I love that "same beat") 

Btw...if you are already hip to the MONSTER 

FUNK of the Crusaders, then you might want to 

check out the album by the former keyboard 

player of the Crusaders: "The Song Lives On" - 

Joe Sample (featuring Lalah Hathaway) 

it's a very nice "3am FUNK album :) 



The American Standard Of 

Funk Recording Roughness 


The American Standard Of Funk Recording 

Roughness, is a recording standard 

as set forth by Raymond T.Stevenson. 

To comply with this standard, records must be 

recorded at very high threshold levels and be on 

the verge of distortion at all times. 

Recordings must be made with no more than 2 

drum microphones, and must be recorded to 

analog tape. The end result must be a recording 

that sounds crunchy and have a wide gamut of 

elementary tones. 

No digital equipment may be used and the 

standard applies to vinyl records only. Although 

CD's are excluded form this standard, it is 

considered good practice that any CD's be 

26 


Magazine 

derived from and/or recorded from the standard 

compliant analog 2 track masters, and never 

"direct from the board". All mix downs must be 

made to 2 track analog tape or other analog 

tape format. 

Under no circumstances must any mix downs be 

made direct to DAT, this not only sounds bad 

but you will also forfeit your approval rating. 

By monitoring strict compliance to the above 

stated guideline, 

The American Standard Of Funk Recording 

Roughness guarantees the discerning funk 

enthusiast a rough listening experience without 

the inconvenience of "clean" sounding records. 

--Raymond Stevenson 


Eddie Hazel, P-Funk, 

Original P 


Here goes a little something off the top of my 

head. I forgot to write something at home. All my 

albums and information is at home. 

The mention of Eddie Hazel to some means little 

when you mention great guitar players. I spoke 

to a high-ranking black where I live about great 

guitar players who could play blues as well. Eric 

Clapton came out of her mouth. I felt Clapton 

could even was or is not worthy enough to tie 

Mr. Hazel's shoes. She was not even familiar 

with Hazel although she was very familiar with 

Funkadelic. She even questioned what the hell I 

knew about Funkadelic when I was basically a 

baby when they started out. It really showed 

how brainwashed she was. I will get into trouble 

if I told you what city I live in. Anyway, she also 

stated that blacks did not invented Rock and 

Roll, and that Jimi Hendrix was a blues player. 

Well, Hendrix did play blues but he was a rock 

guitarist, which she would not admit. 

This really brings the point of are we really being 

educated about our own music. As a result of 

this, people like Eddie Hazel, Glenn Goins, 

Garry Shider, Roland Bautista, Johnny Graham, 

Ernie Isley are looked upon as footnote in the 

history books. People probably do not know that 

Eddie Hazel along with Billy Bass Nelson 

founded Funkadelic. And came up with the while 

they gigging in Ohio. Nor do people realize that 

Eddie Hazel was a key writer and wrote with 


George Clinton the whole "Standing On The 

Verge OF Getting It On" LP from 1974 (he as 

under the name G.Cook). 

Tunes like Maggot Brain, Super Stupid, Red Hot 

Mama, You And Your Folks, Me and My Folks, 

and I'll Bet You, should have been American 

guitar classics. 

The problem is that the rock stations in this area 

will not play these songs or anything else by 

Funkadelic. But I was told that this is not the 

case in other parts of the country(You tell me). 

The thing is there are actually whites out there 

who bought these albums and continue to do so 

despite what radio does not play. Which is good. 

I even had a white stop me at record show 

wanting to know if there were any more copies 

Games, Dames And Guitar Things lp (I bought 

for $5.00 in 1990). He was not happy when I told 

him that was the only one. 

Not too many people even know that P-Vine 

records (go to a search engine to get there 

website and see the numerous listing that are 

available) put a CD with some previously 

unreleased material. It includes a song that 

would eventually become COMIN ROUND THE 

MOUNTAIN. This particular song is FUNKY and 

longer and more space is added. 

Like I said this right off the top of my head. I 

noticed some mentioned the Original P. It would 

not surprise me on bit if they actually sound 

better than the P-Funk All Stars right now. The 

CONNECTIONS AND DISCONNECTIONS 

(called Who's A Funkadelic on CD. They made a 

mistake and put another song instead of COME 

BACK from 1981 was a very funky LP. I actually 

like it better than the ELECTRIC SPANKING lp. 


Ode To Minnie Rip… 


Gee, I wonder how much money she could be 

making if she were still here with us? 

It's funny how music can sometimes make you 

think of a time, a place, an event, etc. 

The music of Minnie Riperton holds a special 

place in my heart because it makes me think of 

a special person :-) 

Almost 5 years ago I created the very FIRST 

web page on the internet about the life and 

music of Minnie Riperton at: 

http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/minnie.htm 

27 


Magazine 

It's a web page that I poured quite a bit of my 

own heart and soul into as I was creating it, and 

after I finished it, I would often just go to it, 

seeking inspiration from the depth of what I 

knew that I had put into it. Now I realize that the 

depth of emotion that I personally put into that 

page may not be apparent to the casual reader, 

but for me personally, it jumps right off of the 

page. 

When the page first went up, a lot of folks wrote 

in to me and asked questions like... 

• "What's Minnie Riperton doing on a FUNK 

music site”? 

• “Why devote a web page to someone who 

was a "one hit wonder"? 

I do believe that as time has passed, that 

frequent visitors to the site have come to 

understand EXACTLY why Minnie is there, as I 

have recommended specific music to listen to 

and talked with folks about the impact her music 

has had on me. 

Since that time of course, a lot of other people 

have created web sites about Minnie Rip and 

they are all quite good. However many people 

have written to me over the past four years and 

asked me why I haven't updated the page since 

I put it up? 

Well I did actually update it once, and that was 

when we had the chance to pose some 

questions to Minnie's daughter Maya Rudolph, 

which you can see at: 

http://pages.prodigy.com/funk/maya.htm 

Maya Rudolph is a beautiful person, who was 

most concerned about the privacy of her family 

and didn't want any publicity for herself or for 

anyone to think that she was trying to ca$h in on 


her mother in any way. But she was glad to 

answer a few questions from the many fans who 

have written to me about Minnie Riperton. Since 

that time, I haven't ever tried to contact Maya, 

out of respect for her wishes. 

After that I just left Minnie alone.... 

The pain of her death is such that when coupled 

with the beauty of her music and the emotion 

that I put into the web page at: 

http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/minnie.htm 

Has rendered me speechless. 

Minnie Riperton created some of the most 

erotic/sensuous music that I have ever heard 

I don't have anything else to say about her 

except to recommend to you all of the brothas 

out there to grab a hold of whomever your 

PERFECT ANGEL might happen to be, crack 

open a bottle of wine, light some candles and 

load up as many Minnie Riperton CD's as you 

can get your hands on. 

And be prepared to treat your PERFECT 

ANGEL like the queen that she is. Hold your 

PERFECT ANGEL close to your heart. 

Love her like you have never loved her before 

Make sure that she knows that she is your 

PERFECT ANGEL Sometimes it's difficult for 

brothas to express themselves. It's even harder 

for our PERFECT ANGELS to know how we feel 

about them. We OWE it to them to let them 

know that they are our PERFECT ANGELS 

And just in case you can't find the right words to 

let your PERFECT ANGEL know how you feel, 

have no fear; the words are right nearby. Minnie 

Riperton has made it so easy for us to let them 

know just how we feel about them thru the 

beauty of the music that she left behind for us 

I don't have anything left to say about Minnie 

Riperton. Maybe you do? 

Maybe her music has impacted your life as 

much as it has mine? 

"You are one....and I am another....we should 

be....ONE inside each other....You can see inside 

me will you COME INSIDE ME.....do you wanna 

RIDE....my LOVE" 

(& being on the ONE, is what FUNK is all 

about....) 


28 

::::ADV:::: 


Magazine 

The Motown house band, The Funk Brothers, 

reunite to tell the stories of the greatest 

Motown hits and perform live versions of their 

classics with today's singers. 

Winner of 2 Grammy Awards!! 

Standing in the Shadows of Motown 

In Stores Now! 

The Funk Brothers receive Grammys for: 

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A 

Motion Picture, TV or Other Visual Media 

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: 

Chaka Khan & the Funk Brothers – 

“What’s Going On” 

www.hip-o.com/shadows 


ROCK N' ROLL 


Encounter With Janis Joplin 


We met at a studio apartment belonging to the 

road manager's mother in North Beach. That 

was fine with me, I pretty much lived the past 

couple years out of a suitcase. 

We met bassist Brad Campbell of the Last 

Words, the only Canadian in the group, at the 

temporary digs. Rolling Stone magazine had 

announced the hiring of both Brad and Skip 

Prokop from Lighthouse, but the latter never 

materialized. It was probably just as well in that 

the three of us had spent our lives in the 

shadows rather than the glare of spotlights. This 

was Janis's show. 

Janis invited us to her Noe street apartment for 

a get-to-know-you session. After dragging our 

nightclub-trained bodies up a severe slope to 

Joplin's door, we were greeted by a snarling dog 

that dared entry. Joplin's live-in mate, ex-wife of 

blues singer Nick Gravenites, interceded then 

directed us to a small sitting room resplendent in 

Salvation Army home furnishings. After a few 

somber moments, Joplin burst from the hallway 

like a Texas whirlwind, laughing and joking 

about a compact stereo Columbia records had 

given her, which she stored, in baggage during 

her flight home from New York. Janis watched 

29 

it's fatal plunge from an economy window seat 

as it bounced along transporting roller pins 

between cargo and flatbed eventually crashing 

to the tarmac below. The story was repeated 

throughout orientation. 


Magazine 

Janis was the perfect host serving shots of 

Southern Comfort and reefer sticks. When I 

passed on refreshments she paused and 

commented, "What did Albert send me, Christ?" 

I apologized and assured her I wasn't one of 

those bible-thumping characters sent to protect 

her from herself. 

She was more than comfortable with my 

assurances then invited us back for dinner later 

that evening. She said there were a few friends 

she wanted us to meet. 

When we arrived after nearly succumbing to the 

tortuous climb it was apparent a party was 

brewing in a nearby room. The soulful voice of 

Carla Thomas was blaring amongst a few 

loitering denim boys. As soon as we reached the 

doorway to the dining room Janis came bursting 

through this time directing us to what from a 

distance appeared to be a white stalagmite 

sitting near the window. As I move closer it 

becomes evident it was a polished sculpture of a 

penis, a gift from a local Haight Ashbury artist. 

The coveted centerpiece remained the focal 

point of conversation throughout the ensuing 

hour. 

With each rap at the door another group of 

tattooed denim boys enter each greasier than 

the other. The three of us looked like choirboys 

at a prison picnic. Janis journeyed from lap to 

lap kissing and hugging each man. Eventually, 

when the room filled she introduced us as her 

new band and the men in denim as the Oakland 

Chapter of the Hell's Angels. I was more than a 

bit uncomfortable in this crowd especially when 

the drugs start flowing, the music intensified and 

the booze pouring. We politely excuse ourselves 

and tell Janis we'd meet again at rehearsal. 

The next couple days we awaited the arrival of 

two horn players who had just completed service 

in the Electric Flag. Brad, Roy and myself 

scoured the pool halls of North Beach playing 

snooker until past midnight. We'd listen to jazz 

and trade road stories until our guts nearly split 

from laughter, relive the failed dinner party and 

speculate about the future. Roy and I never took 

rock music that serious. Miles and Coltrane were 

the most talked about players in our sphere; 


Joplin was merely a quirky individualist with a 

wide following. For the two of us it was a better 

gig than lounging about Grossingers in the 

Catskills. 

-- Bill King 





month ($24.00/yr). 




Dear Mr. Rock n’ Roll: 


Dear Mr Rock&Roll: 

I do really not understand how the so-called 

"Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" works. Can you tell 

me WHY with each passing year we're getting 

further and further away from American Rock & 

Roll artists? Look at the 2003 inductees! AC/DC 

(Australia), Clash (England), Elvis Costello & the 

Attractions (England), Police (England); the 

ONLY ones from America are the Righteous 

Brothers! What's the deal?---Flustered in Florida 

Dear Flustered: 

My best guess is that America has FINALLY run 

out of Rock & Roll artists to honor. Seriously, 

America is not the only country in the world, 

which has Rock & Roll artists. We get 

contributions from all over the world. My only 

suggestion would be that we move the Hall of 

Fame from Cleveland, Ohio...to London, 

England!---MrR&R 


Is there some reason why the so-called "Oldies 

but Goodies" rock & roll radio stations are mostly 

ignoring original American rock & roll artists? I 

haven't heard Fats Domino or Little Richard for it 

seems like ages. Where's Ray Charles? Give 

30 

me more than just "I Feel Good" by James 

Brown! Surely Chuck Berry wrote more music 

than just "Johnny B. Goode"! Where's Ricky? 

Dion? Beachboys? Even Elvis would be okay. 

What's all this Led Zep, Black Sabbath, and 

(yech) Elton John? They ain't my idea of 

American rock & roll!---Peeved in Peoria 

Dear Peeved: 


Magazine 

I hear you and I feel your pain. Radio stations 

throughout America have gone totally corporate. 

They're all basically owned by just one or two 

corporations, and they are run by 30-something 

year old CEO's who love THEIR version of 

"oldies". Since these guys have only been alive 

for a couple of decades or so, they think Pink 

Floyd is early American rock & roll. Its really sad 

to flip on these stations and hear nothing but 

"hair bands" all day long. I say flip 'em off!--- 

MrR&R 


Regarding "oldies" radio, we don't even have to 

go as far back as Fats Domino: Where's Sly & 

the Family Stone? Where's Aretha? Practically 

all of the girl groups are missing! Motown gets a 

token play once in a while. Sam & Dave are 

gone. Wilson Pickett seems to be history. What 

about Roy Orbison? Richie Valens? Doowop is 

MIA as well. What are these idiots doing to early 

American Rock & Roll?---Obstinate in Oxnard 

Dear Obstinate: 

We need to quit believing that "oldies" radio is 

ever going to be what it once was, my friend. 

Unless you're into Grand Funk or Megadeth. 

Trying to get these guys to play the songs we've 

been mentioning is like asking them to play 

Frank Sinatra or something! Fats Domino just 

isn't "cool" enough for them. Unfortunately they 

need screaming amplifiers, pyrotechnics, and 

superbright spotlights. Except in very small, 

specialized circles around America, such as a 

dedicated oldies time frame on a Sunday 

afternoon, original Rock & Roll is dying, thanks 

to these "bright" dudes.---MrR&R 


Are you serious? Who really cares about Fats 

Domino any more? The guy is, what, 75 years 

old (?) and living with his wife in New Orleans? 

Get into the 21st Century, dude! I mean, its okay 


to have respect for these "originals", and its 

okay to hold a place in your heart for them if you 

want, but hey! Get REAL! Get OVER them. They 

started it all, but now we're way OVER HERE! 

Try to keep up!---Reality in Reno 

Dear Reality: 

Of course you're right. We old-school rockers 

are so out of it. Thanks for bringing a little light 

into our miserable lives. Hey, do you think 

Britney and Justin will get back together? I hear 

he still pines for her, you know?---MrR&R 


Dude! Hey, who cares what YOU think anyway? 

Don't you suppose we all have minds of our own 

when it comes to appreciating music? Don't you 

believe that we can think for ourselves? We 

don't need you to brainwash us into liking the 

music that you like, WHATEVER that is! I 

happen to love "hair bands". Dude, you are so 

out of it. Get a life!---Telling it like it is in Telluride 

Dear Telling: 

Hey, I can appreciate where you're coming from, 

dude. I'm only here if you need someone to talk 

to, or yell at. Actually, "hair bands" are okay...in 

their proper place...like on "hair band" radio. Just 

keep them outta my "oldies but goodies" 

formats, is all. I gotta hear Fats, Ricky, or Chuck 

once in a while, and Def Leppard and Motley 

Crue keep getting in the way. Can you dig it?--- 

MrR&R 


Who stands out to you as one of the greatest 

female singers of the rock & roll era? ---Edna in 

Edentown 

Dear Edna: 

What a loaded question! This invites debate 

every time. So many come to mind! Like Tina 

Turner, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, Aretha 

Franklin, Leslie Gore, Petula Clark, Gladys 

Knight...I could go on and on...they're ALL 

excellent at what they did.To me, a better 

question would be: WHO is the greatest female 

rock & roll singer of all time? My answer would 

then have to be: Janis Joplin! For so many 

reasons. There are way too many biographies of 

Janis which do a much better job than what I 

31 

could ever do here, so I'll just invite you to read 

them for yourself.---MrR&R 


Yes, Janis Joplin was a cool chick singer and 

way ahead of her time and everything, but why 

do these really cool singers do themselves in 

like they do? Jimi Hendrix messed up as well. 

What's wrong with these musician types who 

think they gotta play with drugs in order to be 

cool?---Phoebe in Phoenix 

Dear Phoebe: 


Magazine 

Welcome to the human race. The "real world" 

can be cruel when you mix hard drugs with fame 

and fortune. Its not much different in the world of 

sports or in Hollywood. They all seem to have 

problems with accepting this wonderful new 

glitzy world they find themselves in. I feel that 

way once in a while...---MrR&R 

::::ADV:::: 

http://www.blackrockcoalition.org/ 


32 

JAZZ 


Miles Davis - In Person: 

Complete Saturday Night at 

the Blackhawk 


Though it seems hard to believe given he 

recorded for the label more than 30 years, 

Columbia often bungled some of trumpeter Miles 

Davis releases. A glaring example of this was 

the mess originally made of the 1961 Davis 

quintet recording at the Blackhawk in San 

Francisco. Davis was then at his playing peak, 

equally able to execute blazing fast numbers or 

incredibly tender ballads, and routinely 

delivering long, imaginative, probing solos. 

He was heading a quintet that included 

criminally underrated tenor saxophonist Hank 

Mobley, a great blues-and-ballad player, pianist 

Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and 

drummer Jimmy Cobb. The company¹s intention 

was to replicate the concert performance of a 

topflight band on record. Engineers were told to 

just roll tape and let things percolate. 

Unfortunately, the finished product was horribly 

botched. The original single albums Friday Night 

at the Blackhawk and Saturday Night at the 

Blackhawk were replete with technical problems. 


Magazine 

These included poor edits, erratic sound quality, 

and songs presented out of sequence. A pair of 

1988 reissues didn¹t completely fix the 

problems, though these remastered editions 

were at least better balanced sound wise. 

Thankfully, Sony/Legacy has finally correctly 

released the Blackhawk sessions. A pair of 

comprehensive two-disc packages issued in 

April present all the great music recorded April 

21 and 22, 1961. Each double CD contains full 

sets, although for time purposes, the Friday 

night disc has set number two on the second 

disc rather than the first. Still, In Person: 

Complete Friday Night At The Blackhawk offers 

1 3/4 hours of top caliber music, with four 

previously unissued tracks. In Person: Complete 

Saturday Night at The 

Blackhawk is even longer, topping the two-hour 

mark and adding eight fresh tracks. These four 

discs provide a fuller, more complete picture of 

the Davis band during this period than ever, 

thanks to the live context. 

One myth this collection refutes is the widely 

held notion Hank Mobley was an impediment 

during his stay in the Davis band. Mobley lacked 

John Coltrane¹s booming sound or Wayne 

Shorter¹s nimble elegance, but he¹s never 

deserved the dismissive treatment he¹s gotten 

from some Davis purists. Sure, he sometimes 

lagged behind the rhythm section, but Mobley 

compensated for that with a smooth, steady 

style and gritty, bluesy approach that could be 

quite striking, even poignant. He¹s a revelation 

on both sets, sparkling on Friday Night¹s ³No 

Blues,² ³If I Were A Bell,² ³Green Dolphin Street² 

and the bonus cuts ³Walkin¹,² and ³All Of You.² 

It¹s a testament to Mobley¹s skill that¹s he never 

eclipsed by Davis¹ bristling, fiery playing. 

Indeed, Davis constantly amazes with the edge 

and flair he shows. There are fewer of the laidback, 

gliding, serene passages that became his 

trademark in the late 1960s, and plenty of upperregister 

fireworks, long phrases and slashing 

statements. 

Bassist Paul Chambers was a marvel at fulfilling 

his duties as a timekeeper while simultaneously 

delivering dancing, engaging lines. He was so 

comfortable with pianist Kelly and drummer 

Cobb that they created a shifting rhythmic fabric 

they smoothly adjusted in mid-song, depending 

on what Davis and Mobley needed on top. On 

such songs as ³If I Were A Bell² or ³No Blues² 

they swing and sway one minute, then race 


ahead the next. Other occasions like ³Round 

Midnight² or ³Well You Needn¹t,² they¹d become 

ultra-supportive, letting the horns soothing 

melodies and solos dominate the arrangement 

while they blended into the background. Yet 

each man was also a formidable soloist when. 

Kelly often eased into his spotlight segments, 

playing with delicacy and understatement. Yet, 

he could be energetic, even unpredictable, 

occasionally surprising his section mates by 

increasing the ntensity while Chambers and 

Cobb scrambled to answer. 

This quintet seldom receives the accolades 

given Davis¹ other bands like the O50s sextet 

with Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley or the 

O60s quintet that included Shorter, Herbie 

Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. But 

these twin discs show they could generate as 

much fire and musical passion on a given night 

as any of Davis¹ more critically acclaimed 

acoustic units. 

More importantly, the collection spotlights 

technically exquisite Miles Davis. On the 

Blackhawk sessions, he wasn¹t just a 

flamboyant personality and beloved bandleader. 

He was also a first-rate trumpet soloist. In 

Person: Complete Friday and Saturday Night at 

the Blackhawk reaffirms Miles Davis¹ genuine 

greatness. 

--Ron Wynn 


You Wouldn’t Know About 

Bill Dixon, Unless… 


Bill Dixon has led a pretty remarkable life. Born 

on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts in 1925, his 

family moved to New York City when he was a 

child, and he grew up in the city. Initially, quite a 

gifted Painter, he later became an equally gifted 

musician. A Trumpeter, his music reminds one 

of his paintings. Done in bold strokes of deep 

colors. The concert recordings from a Zurich 

performance in Switzerland, on the album, 

‘November 1981’ (Soul Note Records), by his 

group, The Bill Dixon Quartet, are pure evidence 

of this. Most striking are his compositions 

‘Windswept Winterset’ and ‘Velvet’. Another 

named, ‘Webern’, is an homage to composer 

33 


Magazine 

Anton Webern; played by Dixon solo on trumpet, 

employing half tones. (Guitarist Frank Zappa 

was also an admirer of Anton Webern. It would 

have been quite interesting to hear both Dixon 

and Zappa play together.) 

Bill Dixon was the Founder and first President of 

the United Nations Jazz Society in 1958. 

Besides producing records in his position as 

Artistic Director of Jazz Catalogue, for the Savoy 

record label in New York during the 1960’s, he 

was the creator of the October Revolution in 

Jazz; a week of concerts that exploded at the 

Cellar Café in New York in October 1964. It was 

the first time that the purveyors of what has 

since historically been known as ‘New Music’, 

had the opportunity to expose their creations to 

the general public. Dixon, (himself one of the 

purveyors of the music, which was a direct 

descendent of Bebop) in partnership with 

filmmaker Peter Sabino (who was then owner of 

the Cellar Café), mounted the concerts. And all 

hell broke loose. Some of the musicians who 

performed during these week-long concerts 

were, Albert Ayler (then performing with Gary 

Peacock on bass and Sunny Murry on drums), 

Sun Ra (with the makings of a revolutionary 

Arkestra) and Giuseppi Logan (who though he 

made few recordings, was quite an astonishing 

musician. Search down his album: The Giuseppi 

Logan Quartet – ESP Record No. 1007. 

Originally recorded in 1965 on ESP Records in 

New York, Logan along with Ayler and Sun Ra 

went on to make other recordings on the label; 

as well as other New Music musicians. Giuseppi 

Logan’s Quartet album along with the entire 

ESP catalogue has been re-released by Base 

Records, Via Collamarini 26, Bologna Italy. 

Phone# (051) 534697 Telex 511483). 

From the ‘October Revolution’, came the 

germination of a totally new and radical idea that 

was planned and carried out by Bill Dixon. ‘The 

Jazz Composers’ Guild’. The Jazz Composers’ 

Guild was formed as an outgrowth of the 

October Revolution, to protect the musicians 

from exploitation, maintain control of their music 

(as in self-booking and self-promotion 

possibilities) and to provide legal services, if 

needed. It was a revolutionary idea and also 

ahead of it’s time; as financially, it couldn’t stay 

afloat. After some very successful additional 

concerts, that December of 1964 in Judson Hall 

at 57 th St., across from Carnegie Hall, things 

slowly began to fall apart. (In a three-part 

extensive interview, conducted by Editor Bob 


Rusch of ‘Cadence Magazine’, with Dixon, in the 

March, April and May 1982 issues of the 

magazine, Dixon goes into detail about what 

happened.) Bill Dixon continued teaching music 

privately, painting, and occasionally doing 

concerts. In 1967, he created and directed the 

music program of ‘The Free Conservatory of the 

University of the Streets’, on New York’s Lower 

East Side; the first of it’s kind, and the model for 

which many variations have been done (some 

very successfully) ever since. His immense 

contributions are covered, as stated before, in a 

monumental three-part interview that was done 

for Cadence Magazine in 1982. This interview 

was later published in it’s entirety (with all 

grammatical errors the magazine had made 

corrected by Bill himself) in book form; with other 

interviews conducted with Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, 

Freddie Hubbard, Art Blakey and Milt Hinton, in 

the book: 

Jazz Talk by Robert D. Rusch 

Published by Cadence Magazine 

The Cadence Building 

Redwood N.Y. 13679-9612 

U.S.A. 

Among the areas Bill Dixon covers in this highly 

informative interview, besides the Jazz 

Composers’ Guild, are his early life on 

Nantucket Island, growing up in New York City 

as an Art Student, and his work at the U.N. Jazz 

Society and at Savoy Records. He also 

discusses the October Revolution in detail, 

along with it’s impact and the reaction of the 

‘Jazz Critics’, his creation of the musical 

program of University of the Streets; as well as 

the subject of the exclusion of Black Painters 

from Art Gallery showings in the New York Art 

Circle Establishment during the 1960’s. Quite an 

ugly subject. (For further reading on this topic 

and for biographical information on other artists, 

you can check out the books: 

(1). Seventeen Black Artists by Elton C. Fax 

(2). Black Artists Of The New Generation by 

Elton C. Fax 

(3). Through Black Eyes: Journeys Of A Black 

Artist To East Africa And Asia by Elton C. Fax 

All published by Dodd, Mead and Company-New 

York 

All three books are full of historical research 

information by Mr. Fax, who himself is an artist. 

And additionally: 

Why I Left America by Oliver W. Harrington 

34 

Published by University Press of Mississippi 

3825 Ridgewood Road 

Jackson, MS 39211-6492 

U.S.A. 

Is well worth reading ☺ 


Magazine 

Bill Dixon was also interviewed by Music 

Journalist and Photographer, Valerie Wilmer, 

and appears in her book, ‘As Serious As Your 

Life. The Story of the new jazz.’ Published by 

Lawrence Hill and Co. (U.S.A.) And in her highly 

recommended autobiography, ‘Mama Said 

There’d Be Days Like This. My Life In The Jazz 

World.’ Published by The Women’s Press (U.K.) 

Both of these books (in particular Ms. Wilmer’s 

autobiography) are full of a wealth of 

information. 

Bill Dixon appears in the Canadian documentary 

film, ‘Imagine The Sound’ by Bill Smith (editor of 

Coda Magazine), along with Cecil Taylor, Paul 

Bley and Archie Shepp. And he has published 

his own book, ‘L’Opera’. 

L’Opera by Bill Dixon 

Published by Metamorphosis Music 

P.O. Box 215 

North Bennington, Vermont 05257 

U.S.A. 

Web Site: www.bill-dixon.com 

L’Opera is a collection of historical writings, 

essays, reproductions of Dixon’s artwork, 

historical photographs, musical scores and 

lectures from his teaching job as Head of the 

Music Department at Bennington College in 

Vermont. A highly informative book and a gold 

mine of knowledge. It also includes a 

Discography of his recordings. Again, here is a 

wealth of information about his early life, 

recordings, the October Revolution, the Jazz 

Composers’ Guild, his years of work as a 

teacher at Bennington College, and recollections 

of people he has known and worked with; 

among them, Dancer and Choreographer Judith 

Dunn, Pianist Cecil Taylor and Alto Saxophonist 

Jimmy Lyons. Some recollections, like that of 

instrumentalist Wade Davis, are jolting and 

ultimately very moving. 

Bill Dixon is quite an incisive intellect, and 

causes one to think very deeply about many 

subjects; the result being that afterward, the 

questioning and skeptical mind might feel the 


need to take a second look. And after all, is this 

not the example set by great minds down 

through the centuries? 

-- Antonio G. Pereira 


Book Excerpt: Timi Yuro 

Giving Them The Truth of 

Me (from Ladies of Soul - 

David Freeland) Part 2 


After the end of the Sinatra tour in late 1961, 

Yuro remained at Liberty for another two and 

half years. Her relations there were not always 

peaceable. After “What’s a Matter, Baby,” one of 

Yuro’s biggest (and best) records, hit #12 on the 

pop and #16 on the R&B charts in 1962, Clyde 

Otis stopped working with Liberty after an 

administrative disagreement. In losing Otis, Yuro 

lost her most sympathetic producer. 

They had a beef with Clyde and it was my 

misfortune. He understood me as much as my 

mother did. He was the epitome of the music 

business. Nat “King” Cole adored him, Dinah 

adored him. He made Brook Benton. Clyde Otis 

was there for all them singers, and they adored 

him because he had soul that was unbelievable. 

Still, Liberty president Al Bennett provided a 

constant source of support for the strong-willed 

singer. 

Most of the time, I feel I was very fortunate that I 

got to do most every song I wanted to do. Like 

when Liberty put me with Phil Spector and he 

35 


Magazine 

wanted me to do those Ronette-type songs, I 

couldn’t do it, so Al Bennett said, “Then you 

won’t work with him.” So I was lucky in that 

respect. Then there was [Liberty staff producer] 

Snuffy Garrett, who wanted me to sing “Happy 

Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,” and even though it 

was a smash I couldn’t do it. I sang “Hurt.” How 

could you make me turn around and sing “It’s 

my party and I’ll cry if I want to?” I couldn’t do 

that. And Al Bennett always respected that. 

“Okay,” he said, “then you won’t work with him.” 

And that’s what I went through for a long time, 

when they took Clyde away from me. 

Despite the often scattershot production 

approach to her records, Yuro’s tenure with 

Liberty - both during and after her work with 

Clyde Otis - was full of highlights. The years 

between 1961 and 1963 saw Yuro record 

straight-ahead R&B (the classic “What’s a 

Matter Baby” - a record that won her allegiance 

among hard-core soul fans), a version of Charlie 

Chaplin’s “Smile” that attracted the praise of the 

writer himself (“Charlie Chaplin sent me a 

telegram, when I first sang it, that he never 

dreamed anyone could do that the way I did”), 

and a countrypolitan album (Make the World Go 

Away), that despite its unevenness featured 

some of her most soulful performances (most 

notably an astonishing, pull out all the stops 

reading of “A Legend in My Time”). 

Another high point was Yuro’s third single 

release on Liberty, her duet with Johnnie Ray on 

“I Believe.” This hoary “inspirational” tune has 

been performed by everyone from Dinah 

Washington to Patti LaBelle, but Yuro’s version 

achieves a reverent, eerie power - her utter 

commitment to the message of the song comes 

through in spite of the corn. She doesn’t have 

fond memories of the session, however. Ray, 

recording ten years after he cut his careermaking 

hit, “Cry,” was somewhat past his prime 

vocally and in the midst of a sea of personal 

troubles. 

Recording with Johnnie was a real problem for 

me. It was really rough. I guess ‘cause he was 

messed up. He was a sweet guy when he wasn’t 

drinking. But I didn’t enjoy recording with him. I 

didn’t enjoy it at all. Clyde made me do that. 

Yuro admits to a low tolerance for alcoholic 

behavior, an aversion that stems from her 

childhood. 


I never drank. I hate drunks. I hated drinking. My 

grandma owned two bars when I was a little girl, 

so I lived with all these drunks around me all the 

time and I hated it. I really hated it. So when I 

was on the road and someone was drunk, “do 

not bring them to my dressing room, please. Do 

not bring me no drunks in front of my face. I’ll 

freak out.” And I would trip out, if they came to 

my room drunk. And I just hated drunks. It’s not 

that I hated drunks or alcoholics, I just can’t deal 

with someone who’s slobbering over me. So I 

was always - I became a speed freak, never a 

downer freak. I just hated being down. 

I think I tried to - I was gonna become a drunk 

once in my career. I was fighting with Al Bennett, 

that’s what it was, I was fighting with Al Bennett 

to release “Make the World Go Away.” It took 

me three months to get him to put “What’s a 

Matter Baby” out and he wouldn’t release it. He 

didn’t believe in it like I did. I went to Pittsburgh 

and said to the disc jockey, I said, “Do you want 

to hear my new record? I don’t think it’s printed 

yet, but I have an acetate. I think you should 

really hear it.” And he played “What’s a Matter 

Baby” and got calls for three days - called Al 

Bennett, said, “Where’s ‘What’s a Matter Baby?’” 

Al Bennett printed that record in two or three 

days and started shipping it out. But I went 

around the country and just went over his head 

and got it released. And I was fighting with him 

about “Make the World Go Away,” and I decided 

to become a drunk one night. I went and bought 

the best scotch you could buy, some Ballantine 

black bottle or something, and a gallon of milk. 

And I drank scotch and milk, maybe eight drinks, 

and I was ossified. I woke up with my head over 

the toilet bowl. I woke up in vomit. I woke up like 

the biggest sleaze in the world, and I said, “This 

shit will never happen again for me.” And I never 

drank again. I just couldn’t drink. 

I remember one time I smoked a joint and went 

on stage. It was at the Thunderbird in Las 

Vegas. And I thought I was so fabulous that 

night. I did about twelve ballads, and Davy 

Victorson, who was the talent director of the 

Thunderbird, came up to me after the show and 

said, “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” 

And I just stood there and I said, “What do you 

mean?” And he said, “If you felt this bad I would 

have never let you go on tonight.” I said, “Well, 

did I sound bad?” He said, “Well, you sang 

twelve ballads, but they weren’t all that good. 

Why didn’t you just tell me you got [sick]? I could 

have given you the whole night off.” And I 

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thought I was great that night. And after that, I 

said, “Never again.” So I never smoked another 

joint after that, ‘cause I really thought I was 

fabulous that night. And it turned out he thought 

I was deathly ill! I learned a lot of shit on the 

road. I learned a lot of stuff. 

One of Yuro’s favorite stories comes from her 

1963 engagement at the Copa, then New York’s 

toniest nightclub. A gig at the Copa meant you 

had made it (Sam Cooke’s appearance there 

around the same time had introduced him to an 

entirely new audience). At the Copa, Yuro soon 

became aware of which parties it was important 

to please. 

That was incredible. I was there with George 

Kirby. He was the headliner, and the next day in 

the paper, I think it said, “Yuro/Kirby pair at the 

Copa.” And Jules Podell [was] the owner at that 

time. I think that place was run by the mob - I’m 

not sure, but Julie Podell was definitely a 

mafioso character. [imitates deep, gruff voice] 

“Sing it again, Timi.” You know, that kind of 

person. He loved me, and gave me anything I 

wanted there. And one night there was this huge 

table of maybe 10, 12 men and all these little 

blond ladies, and I sang “Hurt” and all these men 

were like, crying, and they were hoodlums, you 

just knew they were hoodlums. And one got up 

and went in the back and then I would hear Julie 

Podell say [in the gruff voice], “Timi, sing it 

again.” And I said, “But Mr. Podell, I have to go. 

I’ll be back on the next show.” [gruff voice] “Sing 

it again!” And I think I sang “Hurt” one night six 

times, just for these gangsters. 

That experience at the Copa was something I’ll 

never, never forget. I sang “Pagliacci” at that 

show. It was incredible, it was an incredible, 

incredible - oh, and opening night, it was 

standing ovations, and any kid in the world 

would just dream of a night like that, that I had 

there. And Burt Bacharach came to me and 

said, “What you need now to complete this 

fabulous opening night is to have me make love 

to you” [laughing as she finishes the sentence]. 

Raul: “If Little Things Mean a Lot.” 

Timi: That’s what I told him. [laughs] And I 

missed out on a friggin’ smash. I went to the 

office a few days later and he played “What the 

World Needs Now” for me. And I started singing 

it and he said, “No, I want you to say, [beats 

hand against the table to accent every word] 


“What..the..world..needs..now...” And I said, 

“Oh, go fuck yourself,” and I left his office. And I 

blew that song. It was out a few weeks later with 

Jackie DeShannon. 

Walking out on Bacharach (he had actually 

written and arranged two unsuccessful songs for 

her, “The Love of a Boy” and “If I Never Get to 

Love You” at the end of 1962) is an example of 

the kind of self-assertiveness that earned Yuro 

something of a reputation for difficulty within the 

industry. Today, Yuro justifies her firm attitude in 

the studio as a necessity, since recording time 

was deducted as an artist expense. 

You had to be in charge. When Clyde was with 

me, I never had a friggin’ worry in the world. 

When Clyde was with me, I could sing, go home, 

and know that I would have a hit, and not worry 

about nothin.’ When they started throwing me 

with a bunch of jerks, I had to fight for everything 

I did. So it was bad, and a lot of times they 

called me a spoiled brat and a bitch, and I didn’t 

give a shit. People come screwed up to my 

session, get the hell outta here. Or I’d cancel the 

whole thing rather than waste the money. 

Whenever Clyde was there, everything was in 

such control. I mean, nothing was ever wrong. 

When they took him away from me, oh my god, 

it was like I was in a jungle by myself. 

Yuro compares her behavior with that of her 

friend Dusty Springfield, whose tantrums during 

the Dusty in Memphis sessions are legendary. 

I love Dusty. Dusty and I were really close in 

England, and then she just tripped out. She was 

always in love with the wrong people - with the 

wrong girl. She was a very down-to-earth girl. 

Same with me, they called me a bitch too in the 

studio, but it was only because I wanted shit 

right. Don’t come to my recording session all 

screwed up and waste my money waiting for you 

to get your shit together. It would piss us off. 

And Dusty was the same way. If someone gave 

her a lot of shit, she’d yell and scream, pull a 

little tantrum, and that made us bad. But it didn’t 

- it was always because someone was screwing 

up on our time and money. Every time I got 

pissed off in the studio it was with reason, and 

same with her. She never acted like a star or 

nothin,’ she was always pretty cool. 

Yuro’s departure from Liberty was surrounded 

by the atmosphere of turbulence that often 

pervaded her relations in the studio and found 

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Magazine 

expression in her music. By the end of 1963, 

she had received an offer from Mercury 

Records. The prospect of recording for Mercury 

- once the vaunted home of her idol Dinah 

Washington - certainly appealed to her. Her 

transition to Mercury, however, was hampered 

by a legal dispute with her managers. 

You just can’t trust people the way I did. Bobby 

Darin said the same thing. Bobby Darin gave me 

money to get out of trouble. Mercury couldn’t 

sign me when I left Liberty because I was hung 

up in a lawsuit with this manager shit. The 

managers had me just over a barrel - they had 

stolen all my money and when I went into a 

coma in Las Vegas here (I got pneumonia here 

in Vegas, I was singing at the Thunderbird), the 

manager went to the record company and got 

advances that I didn’t know about, but they were 

able to because of my contract with them. It said 

in case of serious illness or death that they could 

collect my monies. And Al Bennett didn’t know 

what was going on and he gave them a lot of 

money thinking it was for me. And when I came 

out of the coma I had nothing. My mother was 

there with her rosaries and the same dress I 

went into the coma with. And we had to fight. My 

mother went home and got ten, fifteen grand 

together from her restaurant business and 

Bobby Darin gave me five grand, and 

somewhere or another I got thirty grand together 

to give to them to get my contract back, and 

after I got free from them, then Mercury signed 

me. 

As an addendum to this story, Yuro remarks that 

the Queen of the Blues herself, then nearing the 

end of her life (she would pass away in 

December of that year, 1963) had just finished 

an engagement at the Thunderbird. 

I opened right after Dinah Washington. I can say 

some things about her but I never would. 

Raul: She was married to a kid that I knew that 

was quite a character, gay guy. Rafael Campos. 

Oh, he carried on. I did a show with him one 

time. 

Timi: He was a big actor. Have you ever heard 

of him? He was in them movies with Sal Mineo 

and all that stuff. He was in a lot of movies. And 

she adored him, I know she adored him. She 

was a funny lady. 


By 1964 Yuro had worked out her contractual 

dispute and was excited about her promising 

new relationship with Mercury. In September of 

that year, she released The Amazing Timi Yuro 

album. Produced by Quincy Jones and arranged 

by songwriter Bobby Scott, the album contained 

one of her greatest performances in “Johnny.” 

Yuro imbued the song, a torchy ballad about a 

long-lost, never-was love, with the same sense 

of high tragedy that a great opera singer might 

bring to a Puccini aria. Her performance 

gradually builds to a heart-rending climax, then 

diminishes to a tone of contemplative sadness 

as the song fades. At certain times there is a 

country sob in her voice that begs comparison 

with Tammy Wynette or Brenda Lee, but the 

style - hyperdramatic yet completely believable, 

is all Timi’s own. Although one of her leastknown 

recordings (it was buried on a B-side 

when it was finally released as a single), it is 

perhaps her very best - truly a one of a kind 

record. 

The whole Amazing album was one or two 

takes. I don’t think I did three takes of any song 

except “The Masquerade [Is Over]” because 

Quincy thought that it was going to be a single. 

And I think it was, but it wasn’t the single that I 

thought should be released. I really loved 

“Johnny.” I really loved that for a single and 

Quincy said no. That’s probably the best album 

I’ve ever done in my life. I loved it, I loved it. 

Bobby Scott was incredible. You know, he wrote 

“A Taste of Honey.” Quincy was there, but not 

really for me. Who was really there for me was 

Phil Ramone, the engineer, who works with Billy 

Joel, and Bobby Scott - they were there for me 

on that album. They made me sing that album. 

They were wonderful to me. 

After her initial artistic high point with certain 

tracks on the Amazing album, Yuro quickly 

became dissatisfied with her experience at 

Mercury. Once the album failed to be the huge 

seller the company had hoped for, she 

languished aimlessly for the next three years. 

There would be no more albums for Mercury, 

and none of her post-Amazing singles on the 

label succeeded in charting. Her career, which 

had been on an upward swing, lost momentum 

as Yuro slowly disappeared from the public 

view. Yuro blames her lack of success at 

Mercury on the absence of the company’s ailing 

co-founder, Irving Green. 

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That company did nothing for me. That Mercury 

Records did absolutely nothing for me, and that 

album could have been giant. It could have been 

so huge. I think when Irving Green got sick I 

went down the tubes there. And that was sad, 

‘cause I thought it was probably the greatest 

album I’d ever do. ‘Cause he was the one who 

wanted me there, and if he had stayed with me 

and Quincy I think it would have been bigger, 

but I think he got sick at that point, and that’s 

what blew my whole album. But it should have 

done something more than it did. 

Still, the remainder of Yuro’s time at Mercury did 

offer at least one high point. “Cutting In,” 

released as a B-side in 1967, was a terrific 

performance that briefly gave Yuro a bit of 

restored attention on the R&B market (according 

to Ralph McKnight, a soul station in Kansas City 

had so many listener requests that it played it 

every hour on the hour). In a performance that 

owes as much to Sophie Tucker as it does to 

Etta James, Yuro plays the brazen 

housewrecker to the hilt (“Pardon me honey, but 

I’m cutting in on you”). Full of gospel-styled 

screams and slangy asides (at one point she 

calls her hapless target “sister”), the song is a 

complete kick from start to finish. 

How could you even think of that song? Do you 

know that’s the most favorite song of mine that I 

ever did at Mercury? Well, aside from my album. 

[sings the opening line] “Pardon me, girl, for 

being so cold…” Oh, I love that song. [with 

sudden enthusiasm] That song is my absolute 

favoritest in the whole world. And I didn’t think 

anyone had ever heard of it. It’s fabulous, it’s 

fabulous. 

Although Yuro’s career began to lose its footing 

as the ‘60s wore on, she retained her popularity 

with her core fans - her cult audience. In 

particular, she never lost her appeal among 

southern listeners. Although Yuro has spent little 

time in the South, she believes that her style of 

performance carries a special resonance for 

southerners. She refers to a southern friend who 

claims to still hear her records on the radio. 

In the South I’m still very big. I don’t believe it, 

it’s like 35 years, but she said they play my 

records every day in New Orleans and 

Mississippi. I just feel that they feel that I’m from 

there. The southern people feel they have a lot 

more soul than Northerners. And actually, they 

do. As human beings, they’ve been through a lot 


more than we have. I don’t know. People up 

north now, it’s just fast and cold. And there’s still 

something about the way I sing, something 

about the way Gladys Knight sings - she did 

then and she still does now, that just makes 

southern people - they tend to live the blues so 

they love the blues. And people think I’m very, I 

was always very sad. And I was. It was good, 

though. My greatest pleasure on earth was to go 

on stage and be sad. And when people would 

applaud it was the greatest thing in the world for 

me. No one could ever know the happiness that 

I felt in those moments on stage. Just going out 

there and crying and singing a song. And it 

wasn’t just to blow people away. It was to give 

them the truth of me. And people accepted it, 

and then they would scream and clap and that 

made me feel like a giant. 

Another audience that has always found Yuro’s 

music truthful is her large gay following. Yuro is 

particularly appreciative of her gay fans, having 

acknowledged their presence from the earliest 

stages of her career. In the early ‘60s, “Hurt” 

was a fixture on the jukeboxes of gay bars 

across the country, many of which Yuro would 

visit regularly. She insists that if she could still 

perform, she would be a huge success in San 

Francisco. 

Gay kids love Timi Yuro. Everywhere I went, 

they would tell me. Any gay bar. I used to go to 

them always. And when I would walk in, 

someone would look at me and I’d say [with 

mock hauteur], “Go play my song.” And they 

would crack up. 

Raul: Well, gay people always follow the best 

singers, let’s face it. They made the big singers. 

Timi: I think that gay people have more heart 

than many, many people I’ve ever met. 

Here, Timi’s friend Isabel adds, “I like that show 

you made - don’t you have it on film? At that gay 

bar? Remember, at that place? Oh, that was 

such a good show.” 

I sang at a club in L.A. that was really great. And 

the owner killed himself about two months after I 

left there because he had found out he had 

AIDS and he didn’t want to go through that 

whole trip, so he shot himself, but the tape I 

have there is really nice. Gay people always 

love me, though. 

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Magazine 

After her frustration with Mercury, Yuro returned 

to Liberty for a brief period from 1968 to 1969, 

releasing one album, Something Bad on My 

Mind. With the southern soul explosion in full 

gear (Yuro would have been perfectly at home in 

Memphis or Muscle Shoals), the album’s MOR 

approach seems like a bit of a waste. Some of 

the material is not of top-notch quality, but 

Yuro’s own sensitive composition, “Wrong” and 

two beautifully sung songs, “I Must Have Been 

Out of My Mind” and “When You Were Mine,” 

provide lovely highlights. Yuro, recording in 

London, recruited long-time Clyde Otis associate 

Belford Hendricks to work on the album, but the 

net result was bogged down by an oppressive 

production. 

“I Must Have Been Out of My Mind” is probably 

my most favorite in that whole Something Bad 

album. I called Belford Hendricks, called him 

back to record with me, because him and Clyde 

were like this [crossing her fingers]. So Belford 

would lend everything that he learned from 

Clyde to my sessions on the Something Bad 

album. I couldn’t have done a lot of stuff without 

Belford. I think I even paid for Clyde to come out 

just to listen to everything. And then when he 

had it all real good for me, my friend, [producer] 

Marshall Leib, buried me in the remixing of the 

whole album, so he ruined that album for me. He 

didn’t do it well. It would have been great if he’d 

of left it the way Belford and Clyde did it. 

Yuro’s second time around with Liberty Records 

didn’t last long. Something Bad on My Mind was 

not a huge seller, and a second album that had 

been scheduled for release in 1969, Timi Yuro 

Live at P.J.’s, never saw the light of day 

(although several of its tracks turned up on an 

internationally-released United Artists album in 

1976). The cancellation of the P.J.’s album was 

particularly unfortunate, since the set 

showcased her in the kind of stripped-down R&B 

setting that suited her perfectly. A Variety 

reviewer, praising one of the engagement’s 

performances, wrote that Yuro “comes charging 

on with initial entry, ‘A Place in the Sun,’ and 

never lets go of her extra sensitive 

interpretations until the very end of [this] 

perspiring, exhausting and thoroughly 

entertaining 50-minute show.” 

Yuro spent the early ‘70s recording the 

occasional single (one of the best was a 

breathtaking reading of “Nothing Takes the 

Place of You,” recorded in Memphis with Willie 


Mitchell around the same time as his work with 

Denise LaSalle), performing at oldies festivals, 

and raising her daughter Milan, who was born in 

1970. One of her favorite performances was at 

Madison Square Garden in 1970, where she 

shared a bill with a group of artists that included 

Little Richard (“He’s crazy, he’s wonderful. He 

stole all my perfume. He did. He loved Replique 

by Rafael. Stole it all.”). In the early ‘80s, she 

found a belated fame in Holland, recording three 

low budget albums for a Dutch label and 

enjoying a European hit with a re-recording of 

“Hurt.” A videotape of her performances in 

Europe during this period reveals the reverent, 

devotional feelings her overseas fans have for 

her: after almost every song, she is swarmed by 

audience members running up to the stage, 

bestowing her with flowers and other gifts. 

Yuro’s last album, Timi Yuro Sings Willie 

Nelson, has never been released commercially 

in the U.S. (although Yuro has a stash of copies 

that her former husband released on his own 

small label). Recorded in 1984 right before her 

first operation for throat cancer, the album was 

financed by Nelson as a way of thanking Yuro 

for the kindness her mother had bestowed upon 

him in the early ‘60s, while he was still a 

struggling songwriter. 

The reason Willie did that last album with me 

was in the ‘60s, when Willie was just a fat old 

slob songwriter, he drove from Austin one night 

to Houston. I was singing at the Court Club in 

Houston, a private club. And after the show - 

2:00 I think it was, or 1:30 - he called me and 

said, “Can I come up and play you these 

songs?” I said, “Well, sure.” And my mom was 

with me. My mother said, “Are you hungry, son?” 

And he said, “Well…” And so she ordered him 

food and she treated him like a king. And we 

loved his songs and I took “Permanently 

Lonely,” “Are You Sure,” and another one that 

Willie wrote back to L.A. to do the Make the 

World Go Away album. Then, I had never seen 

Willie after that till I was married, years later. I 

went to see him at Caesar’s with my husband 

and my daughter. And he said, “In November, I’ll 

send you tickets.” And I said, “Yeah, right.” And 

in November the tickets came to the door. 

Yuro flew to Nelson’s studio in Austin, Texas to 

record the album. 

He paid for everything. He let me stay there, and 

I did that whole album there. We fixed it up when 

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Magazine 

I came home ‘cause it really wasn’t all that great. 

[pause] I can’t believe it’s been so long, you 

know. ‘Cause I can listen to those songs and 

feel like I did them yesterday. On all my albums. 

I sit there and I can remember sitting in the 

studio, what I did, and it’s just amazing that - I 

still get fan mail from people and, I mean, it’s 

almost 40 years ago. It’s pretty frightening. 

With characteristic bravado, Yuro compares her 

style with those of several singers who are 

working today. 

I can’t find another girl who feels about a song 

the way I do. I love Celine Dion, I love Gladys 

Knight, but I can’t find anyone who I feel feels 

like I do about a song. I ain’t never heard a 

person yet. If I don’t like the song I can’t sing it, 

that’s number one. Number two, it generally had 

something to do with where I was at at the time, 

most songs that I sing. I can’t find another girl 

that…there is one chick who possibly could go 

where I was. Or where I would go with a song. 

Only she don’t, she’s shuckin’ and jivin.’ She’s 

still jivin’ and she needs to…I don’t know if she 

needs to be hurt or if somebody just needs to tell 

her to get down. Wynonna Judd. I believe that if 

she could listen to me sing and then go in the 

studio…I love her, I love her to bits, but I still feel 

like she’s jivin, you know. She’s bullshittin.’ If I 

could have her alone in the studio and make her 

get down with a song I think she’d be a friggin’ 

bomb, I think she’d tear up the world. There’s 

even songs I think about for her to sing. I tell 

Isabel, but I can’t be callin’ up people. If I could 

just get next to her and just tell her where I’ve 

been, if she would read the song before she 

sang it - and I know she don’t - I know she looks 

at the song and she learns it, but she didn’t take 

it home and sit with it and read it and get into it. I 

know sometimes where she’s coming from 

because I did it myself. There are songs that I 

shucked and jived on that I knew would never do 

anything and they never did. And it was 

generally because I didn’t like it or I had to do it 

because Clyde made me or somebody made 

me. 

Here, Yuro has one of the fits of coughing that, 

with the tracheostomy, affects her from time to 

time. 

This is why I don’t go and talk to people and see 

stars, because I don’t want to be chokin’ and 

coughin’ in their faces. 


Yuro tends to overemphasize the effect of the 

tracheostomy and the extent of her weight gain. 

In fact, were it not for the difficulty she 

sometimes experiences when speaking, it would 

be hard to know that she had ever been so sick. 

Her skin is smooth and unlined, her nicely styled 

hair is an attractive salt and pepper, she wears a 

becoming blouse and black stretch pants, and is 

not nearly as overweight as she seems to 

believe. 

I look like a little fat greaseball. I always knew I’d 

end up looking like my mother. I’m 58. I’m 58 

now. It’s unreal. I don’t even believe it…Can I 

call my grandchildren? 

After she leaves a message for her daughter, I 

remark that she doesn’t seem that heavy. 

Well, you know what put on all the weight, when 

I had half a lung removed, they gave me total 

steroid treatment for two months, and that just 

blew me up. 

Yuro is extremely proud of her two 

grandchildren, first showing me a picture of 

Sienna, Milan’s daughter, then Nico (short for 

Niccolino), her one year-old son. 

They have the same birthday. 

Isabel adds, “Nico. I love that name.” 

“Niccolino.” That’s what made me live. And that 

child, [referring to Sienna] I had to live for her. 

Otherwise I think I’d have given up. My daughter 

was really screwed up for a long time. And all of 

a sudden, two years ago, she came home and 

went with her boyfriend of ten years, went back 

to him, got pregnant with Nico and she just - 

God did something to her. Well, aside from the 

fact that Isabel and I have been on our knees. 

Milan was really tripping, though. We’ve been on 

our knees for years praying for Milan, and now 

she’s the most incredible wife and mother. 

Isabel: Never gave up on her. Ever. 

Timi: God didn’t. 

Isabel: That’s why we just kept praying. 

Timi: And I came here in ‘69 and I married, uh, 

Milan’s father… 

Isabel: [cutting in, laughing] “Milan’s father.” 

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Magazine 

…which was the biggest mistake I made. After I 

had her I should’ve left, but I didn’t. And I really 

feel that I was a jerk and I wasted 29 years of 

my life. He was always in the gambling 

business, and I shouldn’t have stayed, but…I 

don’t think I’d be in this situation today with this 

tracheostomy or anything if I had left him. I’d still 

be singing. He stopped me from doing so many 

things in my life regarding a career. 

I ask if her husband supported her in her desire 

to perform. 

Yeah, but his way. And it was always wrong. He 

didn’t know nothin’ about it and he always 

screwed me out of fabulous deals. 

Raul adds, “Kept at her for years telling her this 

and she would never listen to me.” 

He screwed me out of very good things. 

Raul: Keep him out of your business. That’s 

happened to a lot of artists who let their 

husbands… 

Timi: He just screwed up every good deal I ever 

had. 

I comment upon how well Yuro looks. 

Raul: Survivor. 

Isabel: Her hair turned white overnight. But it’s 

beautiful, I think it’s beautiful. 

Timi: After my radiation. [Before the radiation] 

my hair was, like, just gray here [points to her 

temples]. And I had a natural. When I was in 

Holland, I had a natural. One of those afro-type 

things, and I just had little gray sides. Then I 

come home and got sick and after the radiation I 

think in like 12 weeks my hair was just white. 

During Yuro’s recent battle with lung cancer, 

another of her current problems was brewing. 

After recuperating at Milan’s residence, she 

returned to her own home to find it severely 

damaged by the tenants who had been staying 

there. 

Our house is a mess, and I felt really bad that 

you were here now because the whole house 

has to be done over. The kitchen cabinets are all 

ruined, the sink is ruined, everything is ruined. 


Everything. We need new carpet. Everything 

was just ruined. You can not believe what we 

have to do. We have to even plaster the wall. 

We need new doors, we need everything. But 

we don’t owe any money on the house. We owe 

maybe three or four thousand dollars on the 

house, so we can take all the money we need to 

fix it up, but we don’t know if we want to ‘cause 

it’s in a very old neighborhood, although we love 

the old neighborhood - we’ve been there for 

years. Everybody on the block knows 

everybody. So we don't know what to do. I don’t 

like to move into a new place, because if you put 

eighty thousand dollars down on a house in Las 

Vegas today, you’re still gonna have a six, 

seven hundred dollar a month payment and we 

don’t need that. So we don’t know what to do, 

but it’s been awful, you know, to see all your shit 

just ruined. My beautiful green antique couch is 

full of milk and shit. 

Here, Isabel reassures her gently, “We’ll get it all 

taken care of.” Yuro particularly misses being 

able to cook for large groups of people, one of 

her favorite pastimes. 

Oh, I cook. I cook good. I don’t cook good - no 

one ever cooked like my mother cooked. 

Nobody. My brother cooks, he learned a lot of 

shit from my mother. I cook good Italian food, 

nothing spectacular, although everybody who 

eats it really loves it. 

Isabel: Her raviolis are really great. And her 

lasagnas. 

We’re not big on American food. I’m not a steak 

cooker. If I couldn’t have macaroni, or if there’s 

no macaroni in heaven, I ain’t goin.’ I gotta have 

macaroni. 

As Yuro has continued to recuperate, her life 

has been brightened in several ways. She finds 

tremendous emotional support through her 

family, especially her relationship with Milan. 

Like the tie with her own mother that preceded it, 

Yuro and her daughter share an extremely tight 

bond. On a lesser note, she recently received 

some much-needed royalty payments when 

“Hurt” was used in the soundtrack to the Martin 

Scorcese film, Casino. And then there are the 

fans who, after 35 years, still treasure the 

memories of her glorious voice. 

It’s an unbelievable feeling. I got a letter a few 

months ago from a man who kind of feels like 

42 


Magazine 

you do about the way I do a song, and it just 

made me feel so great. It was on one of my very 

bad days. To get a letter like this, and then have 

people write me from London still and from 

Holland. I don’t know that I could ever say that 

I’ve left a mark somewhere, but I know there are 

some people who really loved what I said 

musically, and that gives me enough joy to go 

on living. I never will understand why I had to 

lose my voice. I’m sure I will whenever I see 

God. The first thing I’m gonna ask Him is “What 

is this shit?” 

Raul: At least she didn’t lose her life. 

Timi: Yeah, but what was life without singing for 

me? I could never imagine. And then I have 

Sienna, and Sienna and my daughter and Nico 

and that became my life, but still, every day I 

wake up and wonder why I can’t sing. 

I start to ask the question that seems to surface 

by itself: “Do you think it’s possible you’ll 

ever…?” Timi’s eyes immediately fill up with 

tears and she is unable to speak - the possibility 

overwhelms her. The long pause that follows is 

the most wrenching moment I have experienced 

during any of my interviews. 

Raul finally breaks the silence: 

Well, God works in mysterious ways too, you 

know. Things are so advanced nowadays. She 

didn’t lose her vocal chords, so you never know. 

We keep hoping. That’s all you can do in life is 

hope and pray. She’s still alive, you know. When 

I took her with me, when we found out that she 

had this, it was real hard for both of us. For me, 

to have to be there when they tell her this. 

Isabel: [to Timi, softly] You were worth it all, 

honey. 

Raul: Oh yeah, but I mean it was hard for both of 

us. I know it was hard for me watching her. 

Timi: Yeah, that’s what killed him, what I was 

going through. 

Yuro hides nothing. Defiant, honest, and 

unapologetic, all of the emotion she feels is 

discernible on her face. After a few moments her 

eyes dry and, once again, there is much 

laughter and high spirits. Yuro is, surprisingly, a 

good listener as well as a talker - while others 

are speaking she looks them straight in the face 


and quietly absorbs what they are saying. Raul 

is talking about working on an AIDS benefit 

recently that featured Liza Minnelli as a 

performer. 

Liza Minnelli was sitting there hoarse, and she 

couldn’t even hit the notes and smoked like this, 

one cigarette after another. I mean like this, 

without stopping. I told her about Timi and I saw 

her smoking. I said, “You better take it easy with 

that.” 

Yuro adds, “Yeah, she can’t do that shit.” She 

says that, during the ‘60s, she smoked no more 

than anyone else. 

When I was young, but never a lot. I was not a 

heavy smoker…Okay, pumpkin. 

It is time for Yuro to get back to her 

grandchildren. As she leaves we discuss my 

coming out to visit again “when we get our 

house fixed up.” Standing, she seems taller than 

her much publicized five feet - the strength of 

her personality adds inches to her physical 

stature. Outside, glowing in the setting Vegas 

sun, she is commanding and attractive. It’s been 

many years since her glory days but that 

intrinsic star quality has not diminished. If she 

could suddenly sing tomorrow, one could picture 

her striding confidently onto a stage and never 

stepping down until capturing the audience in 

hand. Anything less would be giving up, and 

Timi Yuro has never given up. 

Footnotes: 

1 For evidence of this assertion, refer to the 

mono version of the song. The stereo version of 

“Hurt” is poorly mixed, putting Yuro’s voice in the 

background - exactly where it shouldn’t be. 

2 The song to which Yuro refers is “Long John 

Blues,” a self-composition that Washington first 

recorded in 1947. 

3 “I Want to Be Loved,” one of the most 

enduring songs in the Dinah Washington canon, 

was also first recorded by the Queen in 1947. 

4 The song is included in Roy Hamilton’s first 

album for Epic Records, You’ll Never Walk 

Alone. The album - which can still be found in 

used record bins - is a must for fans of R&Btinged 

pop music. Since Hamilton’s version was 

not released until 1954, Yuro must have been 

closer to 13 or 14 when she first heard it. 

5 Yuro often refers to her close friends as 

“mami.” 

43 


Magazine 

6 Kirby (1924-1995) was one of the first African- 

American stand-up comedians to play in Vegas 

clubs. He was renowned for his impressions of 

singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. 

--David Freeland 

(Excerpted from Ladies of Soul, published by the 

University Press of Mississippi) 

http://www.upress.state.ms.us 


INTERVIEW: EDDIE 

KRAMER 


INTERVIEW WITH EDDIE KRAMER 

There's very little else that can be (nor need be) 

said about visionary Jimi Hendrix' profound and 

indelible impact on the world of popular music. 

But very few people ever had the privilege of 

being inside his creative mind. 

Eddie Kramer, Hendrix' right hand man during all 

of his major incarnations as an artist, is blessed 

to have had more intimate knowledge of 

Hendrix' creative process than anyone on Earth. 

Kramer offered some insight as to what made 

James Marshall Hendrix arguably the greatest 

guitarist who ever lived. 

Given your history with the man and the 

material, what do you believe to be the biggest 

misconception about Jimi Hendrix and his work? 


Wow. Yeah, that's a good one. (Laughs) I think 

the biggest misconception is that Jimi Hendrix 

was this freak, this stoned-out character and 

everything was sort of done in this stoned haze. 

It's completely the opposite of that. Jimi was a 

very, very well prepared individual. He knew his 

music. He knew what he was capable of doing. 

He was in complete control of his guitar. He 

was a master. He was the master of the guitar. 

He was the master of his sound. He was the 

master of his lyrics. He was very much in control 

and he would prepare for days, for weeks if 

necessary, to get the right musicians in at the 

right time, to perform the task of playing with 

him. "Task" may be too strong a word, but 

certainly the preparation that Jimi went through 

to get "Voodoo Child," for instance. That was 

not an accident. That was planned. 

Jimi knew what he was looking for, he knew the 

musicians he was looking for. I feel his image 

has sometimes suffered by people saying, "Oh, 

he was this crazy guy with the wild hair and the 

flamboyant clothes and the burning the guitar 

and all that." But that really didn't represent who 

Jimi Hendrix was. 

In terms of the way he worked- 

Do you agree with me or not? 

It's hard for me to say one way of the next. 

Hendrix died when I was only six years old and 

my indoctrination into Hendrix came after he 

passed away. I came into Hendrix by listening to 

his records with no first hand experience. 

Unfortunately, I discovered a lot of giants after 

the fact. Duke Ellington Coltrane, Parker- 

Exactly. And there are varying stories about their 

genius, where the wellspring comes from. 

Whether it comes from being cogent, lucid and 

in control of the powers, or if it comes from being 

"freaks of nature," or being inspire by drugs or 

alcohol- 

Well, let's address a couple those issues. As far 

as "freaks of nature," I mean (chuckles) one 

would love to say that Jimi Hendrix was a freak 

of nature, but definitely he was different from 

everybody else. (Laughs) That's for sure. And 

gifted beyond the normal human being. The way 

that he was able to take the guitar and make it 

virtually a toy and behave any way he wanted 

it to. That took real God-given gifts and a lotta 

hard work! A lot of discipline! That's the thing 

that I want people to understand. Not only was 

44 


Magazine 

this man a genius guitar player—which is a 

given. But he was disciplined. Yeah, did he DO 

drugs? Of course, he did. And so did every other 

bloody 

musician on the planet. Did he them to excess? I 

don't know. I mean, I wasn't there. I wasn't there 

for the private life. I was there for the studio part 

of it. And from my perspective, working with the 

man in the studio was a pleasure. I mean, the 

guy was great, he was funny, he was sharp, 

attentive, creative and a total blast to be with. 

You talked briefly about the way that he prepped 

to work in the studio. Being that you did work so 

closely with him, how much of what he did was 

instinctive, how much was planned and how 

much did he rely on you in terms of expressing 

certain ideas? 

I think Jimi's playing is instinctive. But the way 

we worked was kind of restrictive for him in the 

beginning, the first two years, year and a half. 

'Cause Chaz [Chandler] didn't have much 

money. That translated into not having enough 

time in the studio to really develop ideas. And 

plus Chaz had a particular way of working and a 

particular mindset, which was to do three and a 

half minute songs. So that, in a sense, was a 

little bit restricting for Jimi. But, on the positive 

side of that, one could say that it forced Jimi to 

think in terms of, say, a 16-bar solo, it's an eightbar 

solo, and he had to bloody well get the damn 

thing (laughs) condensed and distilled into this 

monumental bit quickly. So, the improvising, the 

inspiration, the instincts, all of that behavior was 

channeled and compressed into a very, very 

narrow frame of time, in the beginning. And it 

was only later on, i.e. when he came to the 

States and when I followed him over in '68 to 

make him Electric Ladyland, that the "time 

shackles" were off. And the fact that he wanted 

to expand his horizons and Chaz and he just 

didn't get on at that point. Chaz didn't want all 

the hangers-on and Jimi wanted to sort of 

experiment, have people come in and jam. But 

there is where I say, I go back to the phrase I 

was using before, that in that jamming he was 

able to pre-plan or work things out in his mind. 

"Okay, if I get this guy and that guy and I get the 

right mood, I'll be able to create this particular 

song. This is what I'm looking 

for." So therefore it took him a while to get there, 

but he would get there. 

And that's when the instinct and the 

improvisation would take over. In other words, 

some stuff is left to chance, but there's a 


structure. There is a very clear path from his 

brain to his heart to his hands to the session to 

the time. It was all laid out. He had a master 

plan. 

Was there a demarcation in his mind in terms of 

his approach to live work and studio work? 

I think that the studio, for Jimi, was home. The 

studio was a safe haven. No interruptions, no 

distractions, only distractions that he wanted. 

And an ability to create sounds, for me to help 

him out. He came up with something that 

sounded amazing in the studio, and I would 

listen to it and I would go, 

"Wow, I can really make that even better. I can 

tweak that up." And then he would come in and 

listen and go "Wow, oh, I love that. That's cool." 

So he would be turned on by sounds in the 

studio that either he was creating in first and I 

would enhance—make bigger, better or 

whatever or twisted in such a way that he would 

go, "Oh, great." There was always a little bit of a 

competition thing going to see who could freak 

the next person out. (Laughs) 

Right. 

So that's the studio, that's that atmosphere. But 

then you have to separate it, because when he 

when out on stage, he knew a) he could not 

create those same sounds on stage with all the 

layering and b) a different mindset would take 

over. This is Jimi being the showman the he was 

and growing up doing the chitlin' circuit and all 

the rest of it and learning all the tricks of the 

trade from Little Richard and the Isley Brothers 

and all that. Presenting a show, during the early 

days—during all the "fireworks"—guitar between 

the legs, setting it on fire, playing behind his 

head and all that stuff was great and wonderful 

and "Show time! Yeah, here we go!" But I think 

he tired 

of it very quickly. He didn’t really want to do that 

too much in the end. He wanted to be regarded 

as a musician, just to stand there and play. 

Which he did, he demanded that of his audience 

towards the end, particularly with Band of 

Gypsies. But there are two very distinctive 

mindsets. There's the Jimi Hendrix on stage, the 

consummate showman, with all the terrible 

problems that you would have live. Can you 

imagine going on stage and tuning up on the 

first song [laughs] before you even started? It 

would never happen today. The audiences were 

more patient and he was impatient with the 

45 


Magazine 

tuning of the guitar and the RF that would come 

through the amps and all this stuff. Different 

guy, different animal, different vibe, different 

approach. That was the trick for me in the 

studio, to try to preserve some of that live animal 

thing as much as I could. Hopefully, we got that 

on Voodoo Child. I think one could honestly say 

that that's one of the better studio/live 

performances. 

What's left in the vault? Is there any more that 

we can expect in the next few years? 

I can conservatively say that there's enough 

material in the library to put out a new Hendrix 

record every year for about the next ten to 12 

years, maybe more. Right now, we're working on 

the 5.1 version of the Isle of Wight. That is really 

great. It was not the greatest performance for 

Jimi, but a very compelling movie. And when 

you see it in its full two hours, in 5.1, you feel 

like you're sitting in the audience. It really grabs 

you. It's really, really quite impressive how he 

manages to struggle through that concert and 

make it actually work for him. And then we're 

working on Berkeley 5.1, so there's a lot of 5.1 

stuff coming up. DVD audio, the whole thing. 

And that is great. 

You really feel like you're part of it. 

-- Darrell McNeil 

Black Rock Coalition Newsletter 

http://www.blackrockcoalition.org 

::::ADV:::: 

Best-Selling Novelist 

Karen E. Quinones Miller 

For more Info, go to Karen’s site at: 

http://www.karenequinonesmiller.com/ 



CANDI STATON 

BIO/DISCOGRAPHY 


Over the years Candi Staton has made her mark 

in country, rhythm and blues, pop, disco and 

gospel music. But, all of it has been wrapped in 

her own incomparable brand of sweet southern 

soul. That's why she's been tagged the 

Sweetheart of Soul. She's sold tons of records, 

won a mountain of awards and has placed 

songs such as 'Young Hearts Run Free" and "In 

The Ghetto" into the popular vernacular. 

As the millennium dawns, Candi felt it necessary 

to close the century with a bang. After 

exclusively spending the last fifteen years as 

one of the brightest stars in the gospel field, 

Candi has recorded her first pop album since 

1981. But, Candi's not singing of broken 

promises and adultery this time around. It's 

positive pop music with inspiring messages and 

clean lyrics. 

The new set, On the Outside Looking In, will be 

released on the British React Records label in 

late winter 1999. It reflects Candi's spiritual, 

emotional and lyrical maturation since her glory 

days as the First Lady of Southern Soul and 

later stint as a disco diva. 

46 


Magazine 

Born in Hanceville, Alabama, Candi's was a 

farming family. They spent most of their time 

picking cotton and attending the Pentecostal 

church. At the age of four, Candi sang her first 

solo at church. Her father was an alcoholic and 

gambled away the family's money. After she'd 

had enough, Candi's mother moved with her 

children to Cleveland where her oldest son lived. 

They attended his church where Candi and her 

sister Maggie began to sing in the services. 

Impressed by their obvious talent, the pastor 

asked the Sutton girls to sing with her group 

called the Jewel Gospel Trio. They recorded 

several singles for Nashboro Records such as "I 

Looked Down The Line (And I Wondered)" and 

"Too Late in die fifties and toured internationally. 

When she came of age, Candi left the group and 

studied nursing. She married and had four 

children. However, after seven years of 

matrimony, she grew tired of her husband's 

jealousy and physical abuse. Eventually, she left 

him and sought to begin a secular music career. 

She recorded a couple of singles for the Minaret 

and Unity labels, but the big break came later. 

Her brother dared her to sing on amateur night 

at the 27/28 Club in Birmingham. She went up 

and sang "Do Right Woman" and won a booking 

to open for Clarence Carter. 

He liked her and asked her to open for him on 

the road. Caner introduced Candi to his 

producer. Rick Hall (renowned for the Muscle 

Shoals sound), who snagged her a deal with 

Capitol Records. 

In 1969 Sutton's debut "I'd Rather Be an Old 

Man's Sweetheart (Than a Young One's Fool)' 

became a Top Ten R&B smash and her first 

million-seller. Over the next few years, she 

racked up southern soul smashes such as 

'Never In Public," "I'm Just a Prisoner,' "He 

Called Me Baby," "Mr. & Mrs. Untrue,' "Too Hurt 

To Cry" and "Sweet Feeling. Her gold records 

"Stand By Your Man" and 'In the Ghetto" were 

both nominated for Grammy awards. By 1974 

Candi and Clarence were divorced and she 

moved on to Warner Brothers where she began 

the disco phase of her career with the dance hits 

"As Long As He Takes Care of Home" and "A 

Little Taste of Love." Over the remainder of the 

decade, she'd churn out dance classics such as 

"Young Hearts Run Free," "Run To Me," 

"Victim," "When You Wake Up Tomorrow" and 

others. 


Candi reached the height of her fame during this 

period. She toured internationally as an opening 

act for Teddy Pendergrass and Ray Charles. 

She made frequent television appearances on 

"American Bandstand," "Soul Train," "The 

Midnight Special" and other shows of the period. 

In June 1979 President Caner invited Candi, Joe 

Williams, Chuck Berry, Patti Laflelle and Andrae 

Crouch to inaugurate the first Black Music month 

celebration with a concert on the White House 

lawn. 

After exiting Warner Brothers in 1980, Candi cut 

a dance album Nite Lites for Sugar Hill Records 

which featured a slightly disco cover of Elvis 

Presley's "Suspicious Minds" which hit the Cash 

Box R&B chart at #92 in 1981. It fared better in 

Great Britain where it leveled off at #31. After a 

bout with alcoholism and abusive relationships, 

Candi became a born-again Christian in 1982. 

She and her husband drummer John Sussewell 

formed Beracah Ministries in Atlanta and 

eventually opened the Upon This Rock church 

there. 

Candi's initial gospel album Make Me An 

Instrument peaked at #7 on Billboard's gospel 

charts and won a Grammy nod. It includes two 

gorgeous country ballads Candi wrote called 

"Sin Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and "He's No 

Farther Than A Thought Away." She followed 

with traditional albums such as The Anointing in 

1985 and Love Lifted Me in 1988. Her Sing A 

Song album in 1987 and Stand Up and Be A 

Witness album in 1989 had contemporary 

gospel flair. 

Since 1986 Candi has hosted her own weekly 

musical variety show on the Trinity Broadcasting 

Network. It was originally called, "New 

Direction," but it's now called "Say Yes" and 

features interviews with newsmakers and 

entertainers, In 1991 Candi became the British 

dance rage as a bootleg of a song she recorded 

47 

in 1986 entitled "You Got The Love" was 

remixed. It became a Top Ten British hit and 

sold two million copies. 


Magazine 

In late 1994 Staton published her dramatic 

autobiography, This Is Mv Story, a book juicy 

enough to become a soap opera Candi's 1995 

album, It's Time, produced the $1 gospel single, 

"Mama, I Thought You'd Like To Know" while 

Warner Brothers released Candi's long out-ofprint 

1970s hits on Young Hearts Run Free: The 

Best Of Candi Staton. In spring 1997 a new 

remix of "You Got the Love" skyrocketed to #1 

on the British pop and club charts. 

Recently, CGI Records released an anthology of 

Candi's gospel hits, The Best of Candi Staton, 

from her three-year tenure with Intersound 

Records. 

DISCOGRAPHY 

SINGLES: 

Nashboro 

(with Jewel Gospel Trio) 

• Take My Hand Precious Lord/Many 

Little Angels in the Band (1953) 

• I Looked Down The Line/Somebody's 

Knocking At Your Door (1954) 

• Jesus Is Listening/The Gospel Ship 

(1955) 

• Praying Time/Sin Is To Blame (1957) 

• Too Late/Ease My Troublin'(1958) 

(as a solo artist) 

• Unity 

• You've Got The Upperhand/You've Got 

The Upperhand (1968) 

Minaret 

• Tic Judgement/XYZ (1968) 

Fame/Capitol-EMI 

• I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart 

(Than A Young One's Fool/Never In 

Public (1969) 

• I'm Just A Prisoner/Heart On A String 

(1970) 

• Sweet Feeling/Evidence (1970) 

• Evidence/Sweet Feeling (1970) 

• Stand By Your Man/How Can I Put Out 

The Flame? (1970) 

• He Called Me Baby/What Would 

Become Of Me (1970) 

• Mr. & Mrs. Untrue/Too Hurt To Cry 

(1971) 


Atlantic 

• If You Can't Beat 'Em/Lonesomest 

Lonesome (1972) 

Fame/United Artists 

• In The Ghetto/Sin As Sin (1972) 

• Lovin' You Lovin' Me/I Guess You Don't 

Love Me (1972) 

• Do It In The Name Of Love/ Thanks I 

Get For Loving You (1973) 

• Something's Burning/It's Not Love (But 

It's Alright) (1973) 

• Love Chain/I'm Gonna Hold On To What 

I Got (1973) 

Warner Brothers 

• As Long As He Takes Care of Home/A 

Little Taste Of Love (1974) 

• Here I Am Again/Your Opening Night 

(1975) 

• Six Nights And A Day/We Can Work It 

Out (1975) 

• Young Hearts Run Free/l Know (1976) 

• Run To Me/What A Feeling (1976) 

• When You Want Love/Dreamer Of A 

Dream (1977) 

• Nights On Broadway/You Are (1977) 

• Listen To The Music/Music Speaks 

Louder Than Words (1977) 

• Victim/So Blue (1918) 

• Honest I Do Love You/I'm Gonna Make 

You Love Me (1978) 

• When You Wake Up Tomorrow/Rough 

Times (1979) 

• Chance/I Live (1979) 

• I Ain't Got No Where To Go/I Live 

(1979) 

• Looking Fr Love/It's Real (1980) 

• The Hunter Gets Captured By The 

Game/One More Try (1980) 

LA 

• Without You I Cry/Without You I Cry 

(1981) 

Sugar Hill 

• Count On Me/Hurry Sundown (1982) 

• Suspicious Minds/In The Still Of The 

Night (1982) 

Source 

• You (lot The Love/You Got The Love 

(1986) 

48 


Magazine 





month ($24.00/yr). 



ALBUMS: 

Fame 

• I'm Just A Prisoner (1970) 

• Stand By Your Man (1971) 

• Candi Staton (1972) 

Warner Brothers 

• Candi (1974) 

• Young Hearts Run Free (1976) 

• Music Speaks Louder Than Words 

(1977) 

• House Of Love (1978) 

• Chance (1979) 

• Candi Staton (1980) 

• Candi (1992 Japanese release)+ Young 

Hearts Run Free (1992 Japanese 

release)+ 

• Young Hearts Run Free: The Best of 

Candi Staton (1995)+ 

Sugar Hill 

• Nite Lites (1982)+ 

Stateside 

• Tell It Like It Is (1986) 

Beracah 

• Make Me An Instrument (1983) 

• The Anointing (1985) 

• Sing A Song (1987) 

• Love Lifted Me (1988) 

• Stand Up And Be A Witness (1989)+ 

• Standing On The Promises (1991)+ 

• I Give You Praise (1993)+ 

• It's Time (Intersound/1995)+ 

• Cover Me (CGI/1997)+ 

• The Best of Candi Staton (CG1/1998)+ 

(+) = available on compact disc . 

--Bill Carpenter 

http://www.capitalentertainment.com/ 


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