The Detroit Symphony Orchestra by Harris Laurie Lanzen; Ganson Paul;

Author:Harris, Laurie Lanzen; Ganson, Paul;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wayne State University Press

MOTOWN AND THE DSO

In the mid-1960s, amidst all the serious classical music-making in Detroit, several members of the orchestra, notably a group of string players led by assistant concertmaster Gordon Staples, were also moonlighting with a very special, very Detroit group of musicians: the Funk Brothers, the legendary Motown house band who created the inimitable “Motown Sound.”

Founded in 1959 by Berry Gordy Jr., Motown was the most successful independent record label of the twentieth century. Its musical roots were urban rhythm and blues, but Gordy wanted his music to appeal to all young people, and it became one of the most successful efforts in “crossover” music in history. With the slogan “the Sound of Young America,” Gordy launched the wildly successful careers of such stars as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, and many more.

One of the foundations of Motown’s success was the songwriting trio of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, who, along with Smokey Robinson, wrote most of the Motown hits. Then, in the small studio at their headquarters on Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Hitsville USA, the composers, the Funk Brothers, and the Motown singers would work on new recordings, often accompanied by a group of DSO musicians, far into the night.

On tracks like the Temptations’s hit “Don’t Look Back,” one can hear the string section complementing the work of the Funk Brothers, creating a sound that is clear, soulful, and swinging. The DSO musicians who played for Motown included violinists Staples, Alvin Score, Beatriz Budinzky, Felix Resnick, James Waring, Lillian Downs, Linda Snedden Smith, Richard Margitza, Virginia Halfmann, and Zinovi Bistritzky; violists Anne Mischakoff, David Ireland, Edouard Kesner, Meyer Shapiro, and Nathan Gordon; cellists Italo Babini, Edward Korkigian, Marcy Schweickhardt, and Thaddeus Markiewicz; and harpists Carole Crosby and Pat Terry. The group also made a record, “Strung Out,” for Motown, as Gordon Staples and the String Thing, in 1970.

Sources: http://www.discogs.com/Gordon-Staples-And-The-String-Thing-Strung-Out/release/561823; https://www.motownmuseum.org/story/motown/.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.