Friday Feature: Standing in the Shadows of Motown

If I hadn't already made this clear in an earlier post, I'm a huge fan of documentaries, especially music documentaries.

One of my favorites is, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," telling the story of the session musicians who brought the classic Motown sound to life, the Funk Brothers.

From IMDB:

 "The film is an extremely moving account made exponentially more so by the deeply felt faithful renditions of some classic hits performed by contemporary young artists during the film. Never was the term 'unsung' more appropriate than it is for the Funk Brothers."

When I saw this film, it was newly (although not widely) released, but was mostly playing in art houses and the like. And, honestly, I had no idea what I was walking into, having gone with a friend. But in the two hours it took to watch the film, I had my eyes opened and my ears attuned to something I had been missing. 

I think everybody's heard of Motown - Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder and many more - but until you see this film you won't have a real understanding of what it took to create that sound, genre and era of modern popular music.

This film is worth your time. I've purchased it and given it away many times, I own the soundtrack, and I've made a whole lotta people sit down and watch it. Even if it's not your style, or you don't like any of the artists, enjoy it for the history lesson and education that it is. 

Enjoy!

Friday Feature: Steve Jordan

Another favorite drummer who is much, much more than that. Steve Jordan is an artist. He is a producer, musical director, composer, drummer....you get the picture. For a fairly complete look at his career and musical works, visit the Drummerworld site.

One of the things I admire most about Steve is that he's multi-faceted, and approaches music from a variety of angles. He never thinks about music - or performs, writes, etc. - from only one aspect. He seems to always consider what his contribution will do in terms of affecting the whole. He's thoughtful about his choice of sounds, grooves, fills and overall style to make sure that the music achieves the desired affect.

In short, he's a musician. He listens. Communicates with his band mates. Plays well with others. Again, you get the idea.

Two of my favorite Steve Jordan moments are his appearance in the documentary film, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," and his work with John Mayer and Pino Palladino. I just can't get over the "Try" album. It's one that I can listen to for many reasons and for many hours.

And as I've said about some other players, you won't do any harm to yourself by learning some of his techniques and tricks.

Happy drumming!