The Salsoul Orchestra
The Salsoul Orchestra was a 1974 New York based American disco - Orchestra , which celebrated the end of the 1970s a number of successes at the height of the music style. Until its dissolution in 1982, it also accompanied numerous disco artists in the studio.
Career
The ensemble was founded in 1974 by the arranger, composer and musician Vincent Montana, Jr. founded. Before that he was a member of MFSB , an association of several studio musicians who initially accompanied numerous Philly soul musicians and later successfully released their own albums. Some musicians in this group followed Montana, Jr. to New York to play in the Salsoul Orchestra. The Big Band he began to combine elements from Philly Soul, Funk and classic disco music, as opposed to MFSB with additional Latin elements. For Salsoul Records , the orchestra recorded almost a dozen studio albums from 1975 to the early 1980s. In addition, the up to 50 musicians at times acted as studio accompaniment for countless artists of the record label.
The group celebrated great success straight away: The debut The Salsoul Orchestra placed 14th in the USA in 1975, and a number of songs also ranked high in the disco charts. Particularly successful were Salsoul Hustle and the cover version of an old Jimmy Dorsey hit, Tangerine , which also achieved good ratings in the pop and R&B hit lists. The follow-up LP Nice 'n' Naasty was able to roughly repeat the success. According to Allmusic , the “amusing” Christmas album Christmas Jollies indicated that the orchestra had a preference for the growing trend of disco novelty recordings. Subsequent works such as Cuchi-Cuchi (1977), with Charo as the lead singer, Up the Yellow Brick Road (1978) with musical songs and a second Christmas album ( Christmas Jollies II , 1981) consistently continued on this path. On the other hand, there are “more serious” albums like Magic Journey with big hits like Run Away , which was sung by Loleatta Holloway .
The Salsoul Orchestra disbanded in 1982. In early 1983, the single Ooh, I Love It (Love Break) was the ensemble's last hit in the American disco charts. In the 1990s, most of the studio works of the Salsoul Orchestra were re-released on CD, and various compilations followed. In 1997 Run Away was re-recorded by the project Nuyorican Soul and the singer India and this time reached number one on the disco charts.
Vincent Montana Jr. died on April 13, 2013.
Discography
Albums
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US | R&B | |||
1975 | Salsoul Orchestra |
US14 (45 weeks) US |
R&B20 (20 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 1975
|
1976 | Nice 'n' Naasty |
US61 (14 weeks) US |
R&B12 (11 weeks) R&B |
First published: October 1976
|
1977 | Christmas jollies |
US83 (6 weeks) US |
R&B38 (4 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 1976
|
Magic Journey |
US61 (20 weeks) US |
R&B51 (5 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 1977
|
|
Cuchi-Cuchi |
US100 (15 weeks) US |
- |
First published: November 1977
with Charo |
|
1978 | Up the Yellow Brick Road |
US117 (8 weeks) US |
R&B52 (3 weeks) R&B |
First published: March 1978
|
1982 | Christmas Jollies II |
US170 (5 weeks) US |
- |
First published: December 1981
|
More albums
- 1978: How Deep Is Your Love
- 1978: How High?
- 1979: Street Sense
- 1982: Heat It Up
- 2005: Swingin 'with Santa (release: May 10th)
- 2005: Salsoul (release: August 23)
Compilations
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US | R&B | |||
1978 | Greatest Disco Hits - Music for Non-Stop Dancing |
US97 (13 weeks) US |
- |
First published: September 1978
|
More compilations
|
|
Singles
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | [↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK | US | R&B | Dance | ||||
1975 | Salsoul Hustle Salsoul Orchestra |
- |
US76 (6 weeks) US |
R&B44 (9 weeks) R&B |
Dance4 (16 weeks) Dance |
First published: August 1975
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
|
Salsoul Rainbow Salsoul Orchestra |
- | - | -[Dance: ↑] |
First published: November 1975
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
|||
Chicago Bus Stop (Ooh, I Love It) Salsoul Orchestra |
- | - | -[Dance: ↑] |
First published: November 1975
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
|||
1976 | You're Just the Right Size Salsoul Orchestra |
- |
US88 (5 weeks) US |
R&B76 (5 weeks) R&B[Dance: ↑] |
First published: May 1976
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
||
Tangerine Salsoul Orchestra |
- |
US18 (13 weeks) US |
R&B36 (11 weeks) R&B |
Dance6 (8 weeks) Dance |
First published: January 1976
Authors: Johnny Mercer , Victor Schertzinger Original: Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra , 1942 |
||
Nice 'n' Naasty Nice 'n' Naasty |
- |
US30 (14 weeks) US |
R&B20 (14 weeks) R&B |
Dance3 (14 weeks) Dance |
First published: August 1976
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
||
Salsoul 3001 Nice 'n' Naasty |
- | - | -[Dance: ↑] |
First published: 1976
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
|||
Don't Beat Around the Bush Nice 'n' Naasty |
- | - | -[Dance: ↑] |
First published: 1976
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
|||
Good for the Soul Nice 'n' Naasty |
- | - | -[Dance: ↑] |
First published: 1976
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
|||
1977 | Ritzy Mambo Nice 'n' Naasty |
- |
US99 (1 week) US |
- | - |
First published: February 1977
Author: Vincent Montana Jr. |
|
Magic Bird of Fire Magic Journey |
- | - | - |
Dance3 (20 weeks) Dance |
First published: 1977
disco adaptation of Stravinsky's Der Feuervogel Authors: Igor Stravinsky , Vincent Montana Jr. |
||
Getaway Magic Journey |
- | - |
R&B33 (11 weeks) R&B[Dance: ↑] |
First published: June 1977
Authors: Bernard Taylor, Peter Corbelenky Original: Earth, Wind and Fire , 1976 |
|||
Run Away Magic Journey |
- | - |
R&B84 (6 weeks) R&B[Dance: ↑] |
First release: October 1977
feat. Loleatta Holloway Authors: Janice Gugliuzza, Ronnie James, Vincent Montana Jr. |
|||
1978 | Dance a Little Bit Closer Cuchi-Cuchi |
UK44 (4 weeks) UK |
- | - |
Dance18 (13 weeks) Dance |
||
West Side Encounter - West Side Story (Medley) Up the Yellow Brick Road |
- | - |
R&B68 (5 weeks) R&B |
Dance13 (11 weeks) Dance |
First published: April 1978
disc version of the song from the musical West Side Story Authors: Leonard Bernstein , Stephen Sondheim |
||
Ease On Down the Road Up the Yellow Brick Road |
- | - | -[Dance: ↑] | ||||
Fiddler on the Roof (Medley) Up the Yellow Brick Road |
- | - | -[Dance: ↑] |
First published: 1978
The Fiddler on the Roof from the musical Anatevka Author: Jerry Bock Original: Zero Mostel , Maria Karnilova, Beatrice Arthur , Michael Granger, Leonard Frey and Paul Lipson, 1964 |
|||
1979 | Street Sense / 212 North 12th Street Sense |
- | - | - |
Dance40 (11 weeks) Dance |
First publication: 1979
Authors: Thor Baldursson, Tom Moulton |
|
How high? How high? |
- | - |
R&B66 (7 weeks) R&B |
Dance21 (19 weeks) Dance |
First release: October 1979
feat. Cognac authors: Colin Jennings, Steve O'Donnell |
||
1982 | Take Some Time Out (For Love) Heat It Up |
- | - |
R&B52 (12 weeks) R&B |
Dance46 (9 weeks) Dance |
||
Seconds Heat It Up |
- | - | - |
Dance22 (11 weeks) Dance |
|||
1983 | Ooh, I Love It (Love Break) |
UK83 (2 weeks) UK |
- | - |
Dance19 (10 weeks) Dance |
First published: February 1983
Author: Vincent Montana, Jr. |
More singles
|
|
swell
- ↑ Biography + Discography, Discogs.com
- ↑ Article on the orchestra at Allmusic
- ↑ Chart information, Allmusic
- ↑ Status report , official Facebook page, accessed on April 15, 2013
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: Singles UK US1 US2
- ↑ a b The Billboard album by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
- ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
- ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0898201864 .
Web links
- Official website of Vincent Montana, Jr .; Philly Sound Works
- The Salsoul Orchestra at Allmusic (English)
- The Salsoul Orchestra at Discogs (English)