Earl Van Dyke

Earl Van Dyke (born July 8, 1930 in Detroit , Michigan , † September 18, 1992 ) was an American pianist and multi-instrumentalist who became known as the band leader of the Funk Brothers of the independent label Motown Records .

Career

First beginnings

Earl Van Dyke began his piano training in 1938 and completed it in 1944. He later studied at the Detroit Conservatory of Music. He not only played piano and organ, but also the Wurlitzer Electric Piano , the Fender Rhodes and Harpsichord . He eventually earned a Masters in Music in New York. Earl Van Dyke then worked in the Ford factory in Detroit. As a part-time job he played with Barry Harris , Tommy Flanagan , Roland Hanna and Hank Jones in the city's jazz clubs. In 1956 he joined the band of jazz guitarist Emmett Sleigh. During his time in the army, he fell ill with tuberculosis and then spent over two years in hospital. During a tour with Lloyd Price in 1959 he happened to meet bass guitarist James Jamerson in Rockville / New York, who was on tour with Jackie Wilson . Wilson recorded several successful records at the time, some of which were performed by Berry Gordy Jr. were written. Gordy had just founded his own record label Tamla Records on January 12, 1959 and was looking for studio musicians. But Van Dyke initially preferred to take part in jazz recordings with his Hammond organ (B3). This resulted in 4 tracks for Ike Quebec (recorded on February 5, 1962) and a dozen tracks for the Fred Jackson Sextet (February 5, 1962 and April 9, 1962), all of which were released on Blue Note Records .

Session musician with Motown Records

It was not until late 1962 that Van Dyke decided to work for Motown. His powerful and passionate playing (the so-called “gorilla piano”) quickly became an integral part of the Motown sound . He belonged to the Funk Brothers - an unofficial name for the studio musicians at Motown - under the direction of pianist Joe Hunter. He worked for Motown Records from the beginning in 1959, but left the record label in late 1963. In early 1964, Van Dyke took over from Hunter as the musical director of the Funk Brothers, which remained largely anonymous and were not even mentioned in the liner notes of the records until 1971 . He played an important role in mediating between producers, composers, arrangers and musicians. In addition, he mostly knew where the individual musicians in his band could be found when they were needed for recordings. He was involved in almost all of the Motown Group's major hits. His aggressive style (nickname "The Chunk of Funk") can be seen in hits like My Guy (April 1964; Mary Wells ), Ain't Too Proud To Beg (May 1966; Temptations ) or For Once In My Life (November 1968; Stevie Wonder , here Harpsichord) listen. He has worked on numerous big sellers such as Where Did Our Love Go (July 1964) or Baby Love (October 1964; Supremes ) or Reach Out I'll be There (September 1966; Four Tops ). Van Dyke was the musical director of the Funk Brothers for almost 10 years .

End at Motown Records

In June 1972 the Motown group moved from Detroit to Los Angeles . This also had artistic consequences, because band leader Van Dyke initially stayed in Detroit and the Funk Brothers broke up. Van Dyke became musical director of Freda Payne and then musician in the house band of the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, where he a. a. Sammy Davis junior , Vic Damone and Mel Tormé accompanied them on their guest appearances. Eventually he switched to school service and taught music at Osborne High School in Detroit.

At Berry Gordy's request, he came to Los Angeles in 1976 and accompanied the Four Tops with the Funk Brothers on their LP Catfish (October 1976), but went back to Detroit in 1981 and gradually withdrew from the music business. He died of prostate cancer in 1992. His Funk Brothers can be heard on 22 top hits in the pop hit parade and 48 top hits on the R&B charts and at least 300 million records.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bill Dahl, Motown: The Golden Years , 2001, p. 57
2. ^ Dennis Coffey, Guitars, Bars, and Motown Superstars , 2004, p. 71