Dennis Coffey is the man. He introduced the wah-wah to Motown during a Norman Whitfield (R.I.P.)-helmed session for the Tempts' "Cloud Nine" and played on a gazillion sessions for the Sound of Young America, as well as recordings for Holland-Dozier-Holland's Invictus and Hot Wax labels etc. He introduced the world to the "guitar band" concept - nine parts overdubbed in different octaves like horn charts - thus supplying the distinctive wall of electrified strings heard in b-boy classics like "Scorpio," "Son of Scorpio," "Getting It On" etc. He had the experimental vision to record vocals through his wah-wah pedal for "Theme from Black Belt Jones." He's been prominently sampled on a ton of rap classics like this ditty. He's even produced some disco and Loft classics like this one for C.J. and Co., and his own "Wings of Fire." And he still gets down in tha club (Tuesdays once I month, I believe) at Baker's in Detroit.
Hanging with Dennis in Barcelona at this year's RBMA was a real treat. As you'd prolly expect he's got stories for days - many of which he's already shared with the world in his autobiography, Guitars, Bars, and Motown Susperstars, though more than a few good ones didn't make the cut (i.e. using MC5's amps when he opened for them; crime-stopping with Lyman Saturday Night Special Woodard etc.). And on a personal level it's always a trip to be playing a record at a gig (in this case "Love Theme from Black Belt Jones" - which doesn't get the props it deserves - last week at Sifo) and you can raise your glass to toast the gentleman who made it because he's sitting across the room from you.
I was gonna post the aforementioned "criminally slept-on" (as folks are wont to say) "Love Theme" in tribute. But I'll let someone officially license that so Dennis can make some extra pocket $ for guitar strings. Instead here's an extended version of another classic Temptations session on which Mr. Coffey contributed his patented fuzz, wah-wah, and distortion, the six-minute take of "Psychedelic Shack" that I never realized existed until last week.
1 comments:
Jesus christ
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