Back to Class - Featuring Legends of Detroit Soul

**drewschultz88** · 08-01-2012, 05:15 PM

Hey everybody!

Sorry I've been out of touch, it's been a very crazy few months for me. I've taken the plunge to go back to school to finish my college degree [[only one year left!!), and will be taking leave from the road with the Tops and Temps. They've given me some of the most unbelievable opportunities, and the past five years that I've been working in various capacities with the Tops have been the best of my life thus far. It's going to be a huge change, but I'm hoping to hit the ground running.

I'd love to tell you guys about the record I've been working on all this time - it's a throwback soul album featuring a ton of the great musicians I've been working with, and will benefit the music programs of the Detroit Public Schools. Here are some videos on the record talking about the music, guests, and mission, plus a great little snippet of the Tops doing their thing:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67985DD4020D9905

The guest artist roster:

The Four Tops
Members of The Funk Brothers
Dennis Coffey
Ken Knox of Chairmen of the Board
Lenny Pickett of Saturday Night Live / Tower of Power
Melvin Davis
Spyder Turner
Rob Carter of Nature's Divine
Pat Lewis
James Jamerson, Jr.
Turhan [[Earl Van Dyke Jr.)
Joey Kingfish
McKinley Jackson
Chris Ams
Elise McCoy
Anna "Cartia" Carter
Kyle Allen
The Drew Schultz Funk Machine:
Jent LaPalm
Emilio Tostado
Dan Sieling
and more...

The record also has some of the amazing local cats in Detroit, especially Steve Adams, who co-produced the record and played tons of percussion. Steve is a student of Ed Wolfrum, and real passionate producer who insists on as little computer manipulating as possible, with limited compression so the songs have some real dynamic range. It was an honor to have it mastered by Kevin Reeves, who works on tons of the Hip-O select projects!

I'm a sucker for the real deal to hold and read, so the full record will be out as soon as the packaging and pressing of the physical product is ready to go and be shipped.

The first single will be "Crying in a Whisper," featuring The Four Tops and James Jamerson Jr, with horns arranged by McKinley Jackson. It should be up on itunes, amazon mp3, spotify, nokia, etc. Next Friday, August 10th.

Sorry for the absence, and sorry for the shameless plugging, but I hope you all enjoy the music!
-Drew

**MIKEW-UK** · 08-02-2012, 06:02 AM

Fascinating project and tremendous results. The cast is amazing. The video showcasing all the artists participating is really interesting, and the excerpts of the recordings are enough to convince listeners that the sounds are authentic, great hooks, vocals, arrangements and dynamics. And to top it all, anything arranged by McKinley Jackson is a must buy in my opinion. Great work Drew, all success to you.

**jaybs** · 08-03-2012, 05:02 AM

Drew you deserve credit, it is all sounding interesting and cool! I have been a fan of The Four Tops since I was 14, but in the last year so so I have given up on them which hurts! you seem to have come up with something that could give them Life again, I do Hope so and wish you every success.

**juicefree20** · 08-04-2012, 03:13 AM

Drew,

I'm glad to see that you've decided to further your education & am wishing you well with this project, which I hope will be the first of many more to come!

**juicefree20** · 08-04-2012, 03:18 AM

I must add that I like that opening groove on your video clip. I'm also glad to see any new music which will feature The Four Tops, Spyder Turner, Dennis Coffey, McKinley Jackson, Pat Lewis, Melvin Davis, Lenny Pickett, Jamerson Jr. & The Funk Brothers.

It's also good to see Rob Carter of Natures Devine. "I Just Can't Control Myself" was quite popular here back in the day.

We need more of our old school artists to do something like this.

**drewschultz88** · 08-06-2012, 05:47 PM

Mike, Jay, and Juice,
Thanks for such kind words!
I'm working on a little video to put the single up on youtube, I should have that up tonight.

Juice, Rob is such an amazing singer, and a really great guy to boot. When I first met him, we somehow got on the topic of video games, and Rob would talk nonstop trash about how he could give me a good whupping in Mario Kart... turns out it wasn't just talk. Rob is scary good at that game, and his daughter Anna who's also on the record is even better. I was ashamed to even say I played that game afterwards!!

Hopefully the project can get some publicity for all of these great musicians, and do some good in Detroit!

**drewschultz88** · 08-07-2012, 04:16 PM

Here's the video for the first single, "Crying in a Whisper" featuring The Four Tops and James Jamerson Jr! McKinley arranged the horns, and my group The Funk Machine from NYU is the band on the track. The single should be available online on Friday!