The Funk Brothers

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The Funk Brothers was the name of a total of 13 session musicians from the US independent record company Motown Corporation , who took turns - depending on needs and availability - played along with most of the hits between 1959 and 1972 and formed the instrumental basis of the "Motown sound".

Beginnings

When the record label Tamla Records was founded on January 12, 1959 by Berry Gordy Jr. , he initially acted as a music producer himself . In August 1959 he acquired former photo studios on 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, in whose garage he had a small recording studio ( Motown Recording Studios (Detroit) ) set up initially with three-track technology and later with two eight-track tape recorders made by Michael McLean. This address was provided with the sign "Hitsville USA".

Gordy then systematically looked for producers, composers and musicians in order to make himself independent from external sources and to build his own personal consistency. For this purpose he looked around the blues and jazz scene of Detroit and recruited the best individualists from it. In 1959, Gordy was the first studio musician to sing Joseph E. "Joe" Hunter (piano), Earl Van Dyke (piano), Larry Veeder (guitar), James Jamerson (bass guitar), Hank Cosby (saxophone) and Eli Fountain (alto saxophone) win; Hunter was named the session musician's band leader. The session musician Joe Hunter (piano) and Benny Benjamin (Tomtom) formed the core of the instrumentation on the first Motown hit Money (That's What I Want) by Barrett Strong , taken in August 1959. Soon found the guitarist Robert White, Eddie Willis ( who died in 2018) and Joe Messina and drummer William "Benny Papa Zita" Benjamin. The rhythm section was later expanded to include drummers Richard "Pistol" Allen, Jack Ashford (tambourine) and Eddie "Bongo" Brown (percussion). Johnny Griffith (piano) joined Hunter in 1964, and van Dyke became the new band leader.

Most of the time, 13 musicians were on call in turns to record the music track in the small recording studio first. In the early stages, each session musician only received US $ 9.50 per recorded song; from 1964 onwards, everyone received the union minimum wage of US $ 52.50. To supplement their low wages, they continued to play in clubs in the area. However, they did not accompany the Motown artists on their tours; 16 other musicians performed this task under the direction of Choker Campbell or George Bohannon.

Fluctuations

The Funk Brothers in December 2006

The band was subject to greater fluctuations from now on, but these did not affect the sound quality. Arrangements were mostly put together by Paul Riser, Henry Cosby or James Carmichael, sometimes including violin parts. Three generation phases of the session band can be systematically divided, during which the core was retained. The first generation remained largely constant between 1959 and 1962, the second between 1963 and 1967, while the third remained essentially unchanged between 1968 and 1972.

When Norman Whitfield successfully added a psychedelic and a funky component to the sound in 1967 , guitarists Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin and Dennis Coffey were added, while Jamerson and Benjamin dropped out more and more because of alcohol and drug addiction. Benjamin died in 1969, and from 1967 Bob Babbitt increasingly took on the role of the unreliable Jamerson. The musical performance of the session band was particularly evident in the Marvin Gaye -LP What's Going On published on May 21, 1971 , where the session musicians are first mentioned by name on the album cover. Gordy had them listed - if at all - as Earl Van Dyke & The Soul Brothers because he didn't like the word "funk". The term Funk Brothers probably goes back to Benny Benjamin, who left the snake pit with his colleagues after work and shouted to them "You are all the Funk Brothers ".

Musical development to the "Motown sound"

The session musicians showed an amazing stylistic adaptability. Their instrumentation ranges from the prototype of the Motown sound, the million-seller Baby Love from the Supremes from 1964 to the complex sound of the overlong Papa Was a Rollin 'Stone from the Temptations from 1972. The Funk Brothers are session musicians on 22 top hits in the pop hit parade and 48 top hits from the rhythm & blues charts.

The Funk Brothers were with their instrumentation at the heart and backbone of the Motown sound . Typical for this was the rimshot technique of the drums with strongly syncopated beats, a dominant bass guitar, a saxophone part in the instrumental part and often tambourine-overloaded percussion. Sometimes the instrumental parts were accompanied by violins. Lyrically, the Motown sound included a treatise on topics related to love and partnership, which had to be completed in a maximum of three minutes. In terms of singing, the call and response style of gospel predominated, which is why groups were predominantly the performers. The Motown sound was the result of a few composers and music producers who attached importance to a pop-oriented rhythm and blues. The basic model for all later hits was Where Did Our Love Go , the Supremes' first hit from 1964. Most of the recording was done in the cramped Studio A of Motown headquarters in Detroit. The Motown sound was by no means homogeneous, but lived from individual differences that were expressed through the peculiarities of the performers.

End by moving

When Gordy moved the company to Los Angeles in June 1972, the Funk Brothers' days ended abruptly without causing any further ado. The musicians separated, Jamerson moved with them, but found the new environment not comfortable. Instead, Gordy recruited veteran session musicians from Los Angeles who had already played for Phil Spector . This included guitar virtuoso Tommy Tedesco , Carol Kaye (bass), keyboard specialist Larry Knechtel and Earl Palmer (drums), all loose members of The Wrecking Crew .

The names of the former Funk Brothers remained hidden from the public for a long time because they were neither mentioned on the record covers nor highlighted in the specialist press. Only Dennis Coffey achieved fame from 1971 through his guitar instrumental recordings. The session musicians only realized their value for Motown very late in around 1968. It was only with the film Standing in the Shadows of Motown , which was released in cinemas in the USA on May 11, 2002, that her artistic work became known to a larger audience. In it the original members of the Funk Brothers who were still alive played their own story.

Instrumentation and instruments

Keyboard player:

Guitarists:

Bass player:

Saxophonists:

  • Henry "Hank" Cosby (* May 12, 1928 - January 22, 2002): tenor saxophone
  • Andrew "Mike" Terry (born July 1, 1940, † October 30, 2008): baritone saxophone
  • Thomas "Beans" Bowles (* May 7, 1926, † January 29, 2000): baritone saxophone and flute

Drummer:

Percussionists:

  • Jack Ashford (* 1934): Bass, Marimbas, Tambourine, Wood block, Cabassa
  • Eddie "Bongo" Brown (born September 13, 1932, † December 28, 1984): Congas, Bongos

Web links

Commons : The Funk Brothers  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David A. Carson, Grit, Noise, and Revolution: The Birth of Detroit Rock and Roll , 2006, p. 92
  2. ↑ previously headed the Joe Hunter Band
  3. ^ Gerri Hershey, Nowhere to Run , 1985, p. 188
  4. ↑ Motown's Eddie Willis, one of last remaining Funk Brothers, dies at 82 in Detroit Fre Press
  5. ↑ who later became the backbone of the Motown beat was
  6. ↑ "Snake Pit" was the contemptuous nickname of the small recording studio
  7. ^ Arnold Shaw: Dictionary of American Pop / Rock. 1982, p. 244.
  8. ^ 5750 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 300