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Dec 15 - Dec 22,2002 |
Motown's heart and soul revived
In new documentary The Funk Brothers are no longer Standing in the Shadows of Motown
By Angela Baldassarre
Originally Published: 2002-11-24
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Joe Hunter
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It's halfway through the Toronto International Film Festival, and this scribe's hands are sweaty as she nervously prepares for her most anticipated interview of the year. It's not talking to legendary divas Sophia Loren or Catherine Deneuve, nor to hunky Ralph Fiennes or Denzel Washington that's making her feel anxious, but meeting the members of the Funk Brothers, Motown's heart and soul.
If you're wondering whom I'm talking about, you're forgiven. Even though I began my career as a music journalist, I had no clue that these groundbreaking musicians were the creators behind more hits than The Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys put together. After watching Paul Justman's exceptional documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown, one almost gets angry at having been deprived of such invaluable knowledge.
"We were never credited," smiles percussionist Jack Ashford. "In those days the musicians were the last people acknowledged by the record companies, so unless you were a Motown insider, or a musician, you didn't know who we were."
And that's our loss. Even though everybody knew that instantly recognizable sound, no one outside of the closed shop that was Motown could put names to the instrumentalists. Who was that gutsy bass-player with the killer licks? Who shook that cool tambourine? Who's the funky cat whose fluid guitar lines begin the immortal "My Girl"? Few knew. Finally the secret is out, and the "Funks" are at last accorded their long-overdue respect.
The men who defined the Motown sound, and who are still with us, are drummers Uriel Jones and Richard "Pistol" Allen, guitarist Joe Messina, keyboardist Joe Hunter, bass player Bob Babbitt, guitarist Eddie Willis, and percussionist/vibe player Ashford. Those who have died are legendary bass player James Jamerson (the first Funk Brother to make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), keyboard players Earl Van Dyke and Johnny Griffin, drummer Benny Benjamin, and guitarist Robert White.
I'm so excited to be sitting in a room with Ashford, Babbitt and Hunter, that I become schoolgirl giddy. But in no time these affable gentlemen put this silly woman at ease, entertaining her with priceless anecdotes and historical details, such as the creation of the Martha and the Vandellas hit "Heatwave."
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