The Funk Brothers at The Motown Vault [[and The Ronettes)

[mysterysinger]

The Motown Vault - not much on this website it seems but there's a list of The Funk Brothers for both Detroit and LA.

Wonder how many other Funks had tunes named after them? The mention of Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman brought to mind the B Side of "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes and a [[forgettable) little jazz ditty named after the pair.

Can't imagine anyone would have thought the girls were actually playing it but here's a thought - how many Funks played on it and could it be classed as a Funks instrumental lol?

https://themotownvault.weebly.com/fu...catalogue.html

[mysterysinger]

"Tedesco and Pitman"

[booty]

Link should read

https://themotownvault.weebly.com/fu...hers-catalogue

[mysterysinger]

Thanks Booty - hopefully the link above should work properly now.

[StuBass1]

There were dozens and dozens of terrific musicians who contributed greatly to Motown recordings during the Motown Detroit heyday and later here in Los Angeles. Most were not "Funk Brothers", a legal entity comprised of 13 core rhythm section members who virtually decided amongst themselves who earned that designation and were the go to musicians on most of the significant Detroit era recordings for over a decade. Those 13 members have been recognized by NARAS [[Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award) and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were also featured in the documentary Standing In The Shadows Of Motown... This musicians list has been floating around for several years and does recognize most of the outstanding instrumentalists who performed on Motown sessions, however, only 13 musicians are actually recognized officially as "Funk Brothers"

[mysterysinger]

Sounds fair enough StuBass1.

Wiki lists the 13 as:
Joe Hunter and Earl Van Dyke [[piano and organ);
Clarence Isabell [[double bass);
James Jamerson [[bass guitar and double bass);
Benny "Papa Zita" Benjamin and Richard "Pistol" Allen [[drums);
Paul Riser [[trombone);
Robert White, Eddie Willis, and Joe Messina [[guitar);
Jack Ashford [[tambourine, percussion, vibraphone, marimba);
Jack Brokensha [[vibraphone, marimba);
and Eddie "Bongo" Brown [[percussion).

No saxophonist there which might be surprising.

Presumably though, where folks replaced any of the above named on Motown backing, it would be wrong then to label the band as The Funk Brothers maybe?). There were also the titles of The Soul Brothers and The Motown Brass on record [[as in Earl Van Dyke and...).

All fantastic musicians of course.

[StuBass1]

As the individual who officially nominated the Funk Brothers for both their Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and sponsor for the Hollywood Walk of Fame honor, as well as being authorized by the surviving Funk Brothers [[and families of the deceased members) to serve as their official spokesperson, I had to deal with several issues revolving around people calling me insisting that this person or that person should have been recognized for these honors...some fairly prominent Motown musicians, and some family members of relatively innocuous musicians who may have played a few Motown sessions or toured with this or that Motown artists, and believed their family member should be recognized as Funk Brothers. First of all...The Funk Brothers is a legal entity representing the 13 actual members and/or the families of those deceased. As some people started coming out of the woodwork claiming Funk Brothers status and even calling the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, especially during the Hollywood Walk Of Fame ceremony that I was in charge of...I was warned by the Walk of Fame powers to be that if it continued or there was a problem limiting the honor to the 13 members submitted to the Chamber...they threatened that they would pull the plug on the entire event, one of the things giving me major headaches during the entire process. Ultimately, I had to inform several individuals that despite their monumental contributions to the Motown legacy...they were not a part of the legal Funk Brothers entity, nor were they featured as a Funk Brother in the documentary that told their story. As for recordings done at Motown featuring some of the Motown musicians, generally Earl VanDyke playing organ overdubs to existing Motown tracks, the name Soul Brothers [[rather than Funk Brothers which some of the guys used for their club gigs), due to the fact that Berry Gordy didn't like the term "Funk" at the time, since "Funk" was just coming into it's own as a separate sub-genre of pop music...Actually as relates to the list in your last post...neither Clarence Isabel nor Jack Brokensha, both significant contributors to Motown, were Funk Brothers, however, keyboardist Johnny Griffith, drummer Uriel Jones, and late era bassist Bob Babbitt were designated as Funk Brothers...Paul Riser, a legendary arranger who also spoke at our Funk Brothers Walk Of Fame ceremony was not an official Funk Brother either, although he worked quite closely with all the Motown musicians during his illustrious career...As for your observation that no saxophonist was recognized as a Funk Brother...that's because The Funk Brothers were a rhythm ensemble, although there were several great horn players who contributed immensely to the Motown Sound...

[marv2]

As the individual who officially nominated the Funk Brothers for both their Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and sponsor for the Hollywood Walk of Fame honor, as well as being authorized by the surviving Funk Brothers [[and families of the deceased members) to serve as their official spokesperson, I had to deal with several issues revolving around people calling me insisting that this person or that person should have been recognized for these honors...some fairly prominent Motown musicians, and some family members of relatively innocuous musicians who may have played a few Motown sessions or toured with this or that Motown artists, and believed their family member should be recognized as Funk Brothers. First of all...The Funk Brothers is a legal entity representing the 13 actual members and/or the families of those deceased. As some people started coming out of the woodwork claiming Funk Brothers status and even calling the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, especially during the Hollywood Walk Of Fame ceremony that I was in charge of...I was warned by the Walk of Fame powers to be that if it continued or there was a problem limiting the honor to the 13 members submitted to the Chamber...they threatened that they would pull the plug on the entire event, one of the things giving me major headaches during the entire process. Ultimately, I had to inform several individuals that despite their monumental contributions to the Motown legacy...they were not a part of the legal Funk Brothers entity, nor were they featured as a Funk Brother in the documentary that told their story. As for recordings done at Motown featuring some of the Motown musicians, generally Earl VanDyke playing organ overdubs to existing Motown tracks, the name Soul Brothers [[rather than Funk Brothers which some of the guys used for their club gigs), due to the fact that Berry Grody didn't like the term "Funk" at the time, since "Funk" was just coming into it's own as a separate sub-genre of pop music...Actually as relates to the list in your last post...neither Clarence Isabel nor Jack Brokensha, both significant contributors to Motown, were Funk Brothers, however, keyboardist Johnny Griffith, drummer Uriel Jones, and late era bassist Bob Babbitt were designated as Funk Brothers...Paul Riser, a legendary arranger who also spoke at our Funk Brothers Walk Of Fame ceremony was not an official Funk Brother either, although he worked quite closely with all the Motown musicians during his illustrious career...As for your observation that no saxophonist was recognized as a Funk Brother...that's because The Funk Brothers were a rhythm ensemble, although there were several great horn players who contributed immensely to the Motown Sound...

Great information Stu and thank you. I can imagine the headache all of this must have caused you. So this means that musicians such as Hamilton Bohannon, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, etc,etc were not actually "Funk Brothers"?

[StuBass1]

Of course the Motown musicians, including many Funk Brothers performed often outside the Motown umbrella to play sessions at other labels, including some Funk Brothers under exclusive contracts with Motown. The following is just one example of a project featuring several Funk Brothers along with Motown string Section leader Gordon Staples on the Ric-Tic label, going under the name of The San Remo Golden Strings...https://youtu.be/1RDckwXxL-c

[StuBass1]

Eddie "Bongo" Brown WAS included in the honors and is recognized as one of the 13 Funk Brothers Marv......

[StuBass1]

Obviously, unlike MFSB or Booker T and the MG's who were put out by their record companies as instrumental artists in their own right...Berry Gordy looked differently at his musicians and compartmentalized them as either studio musicians or touring musicians, yet didn't want them exposed to the public at large due to not wanting to break the ensemble up by them perhaps getting better offers and kept them under heavy wraps. Somewhat similar to The Wrecking Crew, although the Wrecking Crew consisted of many more musicians due to the sheer number of sessions happening on the West Coast and more varied musical styles of the artists...from Sinatra to the Mama and Papa's to the Fifth Dimension, to The Association, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, to the Monkees, etc and on and on...The West Coast Musicians also had a different type of relationship with the artists than did the Motown musicians. Bassist Joe Osborn actually discovered the Carpenters and guys like Larry Knechtel actually became a member of David Gates and Bread. Glen Campbell, a Wrecking Crew stalwart launched a solo career as did Leon Russell and Herb Alpert played sessions and then hired the Wrecking Crew members for his own A&M projects...Some of the Wrecking crew musicians became fairly wealthy due to the sheer number of sessions going on, unlike most of the Motown musicians. Earl and James had a few years of being well paid, but nothing like what was happening during the West Coast heyday...

[keith_hughes]

In answer to your original question mysterysinger [[tunes named after the Funk Brothers), there's this ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8_iS1xMU8

And I believe there may be a track in the Vaults titled "Grab It, Babbitt" - hope we'll hear it one day.

[StuBass1]

BTW...the list in the original post missed several musicians, particularly Los Angeles Motown musicians. As a bassist, the most notable include Bassists Carol Kaye, Scott Edwards, Eddie Watkins Jr and of course...Nate Watts...and also missing...good friend Sylvester Rivers and guitarists like Mitchell Holder, Michael Jackson session percussionist Paulinho da Costa . Many names missing from this list...

[marv2]

Eddie "Bongo" Brown WAS included in the honors and is recognized as one of the 13 Funk Brothers Marv......

That's cool. Hey thanks Stu.

[motownjohnny]

In answer to your original question mysterysinger [[tunes named after the Funk Brothers), there's this ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8_iS1xMU8

And I believe there may be a track in the Vaults titled "Grab It, Babbitt" - hope we'll hear it one day.

Am I correct in thinking that the harmonica, which is very prominent throughout this track, is played by Stevie Wonder, as a fitting tribute to his late friend and mentor "Papa Zita"?

[keith_hughes]

You're right Johnny. The logs list the three sessions for the track as by Earl Van Dyke, Earl and Stevie, and Stevie and Earl.

[motony]

Tedesco & Pittman were part of the Wrecking Crew. I do remember a promoter in Miami wanting the girls[[The Crystals) to bring along their instruments because he liked "Git It" the flip of Da Doo Ron Ron.LOL