Uriel Jones Headstone Project

[Agentsmith]

just been browsing the article on here and the attached tags from detroit.....its a sad but all too familiar representation of the day and age we live in, that a person who has given so much during the course of their lives, so unselfishly, can be interred with no visible testimony to his/her worth. such is the case in hand of uriel jones.

now that tangible requisite is within reach and rightly & justly so,...our icons shouldn't be consigned to insignificance, when their work is done. here, is a man , quite without us realising for so many years, who has interpreted our musical soundtrack...his trademark now, instantly recognisable as we have come to read and learn.

some of us were fortunate to see and hear the man perform some five years ago now...for me, those occasions were in manchester....a more fitting epicentre for he and his colleagues to demonstrate their unique sound, there couldn't have been.

the funk brothers, were the exponents of the motown brand, that berry gordy could not do without. anyone with an ounce of common sense would understand what he meant by "its whats in the grooves that counts", for these guys gave his vision its originality.

uriel jones was a kindred spirit amongst his worldly wise brotherhood, the foundations of heaven are shakin' under the strain of his incessant beats...of that there is no doubt, but he must be looking down with some trepidation that the human race can mark his passing with a resigned air of inevitability, not even a query as to who's going to pick up the tab for a slab of marble with his name carved on it.

well, fortunately for this good earth, there are still some samaritans amongst us and the wrong is being put right, hopefully, others,...who doubtless are also our hero's, will recieve the same just recognition, eventually, the cemetary may become a focal point for pilgrims, much in the same way as detroit's historical motown museum.

lets ALWAYS remember exactly WHAT motown is about and who the people were behind THE SOUND,...we owe it to them.

Edited June 1, 2012 by AGENTSMITH

[Pete S]

What did these people do with their money though, thats what I often don't understand, employed for 40 odd years as a professional musician, recording and gigging, yet nothing to show for it. I don't just mean Uriel Jones, who I rate as THE greatest soul drummer ever. It's just a question that's all.

[Agentsmith]

i think we'd all agree on that one pete,.....but to all intents & purposes it appears from personal affirmations by various members and accounts from the now, numerous publications that all point to the same thing,...that berry gordy was more frugal about the distribution of what makes people wealthy, that we could possibly ever imagine. there is no more stark contrast to the success that he achieved, than how he squeezed every last drop of genius from the obvious talent he had at his disposal. the lucrative arm, as cody black illustrated, most definitely avoided the musicians, despite the fear that they would take their wares elsewhere.

this is where the biopic laid bare the brutal truth, that this organisation was literally running itself on a shoestring to get a hit. undoubtedly, gordy came out of it extremely wealthy, but at the expense and sadly, in some cases, the deprivation of the very people he relied on to create his sound and his fortune.

afterall, lets remember...these were still BLACK AFRO-AMERICANS....even the artists who made it, had a long hard struggle what with racial segregation and the likes...only when motown was accepted as a middle of the road concept, did the outside world, in essence, turn a blind eye to the colour issue, opting to embrace the "in sound",...but it was still pasting over the inherent cracks. meantime the musicians were even worse off, bottom of the breadline.

to everyone's detriment, the finishing line, that ray of hope, a paycheck for all the endeavour , came too late for all. i guess their greatest contentment was in the fact that alan slutsky stuck it out for 14 years to drag their story up by its bootlaces, culminating in a film, in recognition of their unselfish commitment to the cause, void of the remuneration they so richly deserved.

Edited June 1, 2012 by AGENTSMITH

[Guest Carl Dixon]

Donations here: https://www.indiegogo.com/urieljones

The questions is what royalties will his family receive say for example, on sync deals with movies featuring recordings he performed on? I was told in Detroit he had to resort to selling hot dogs at a stand he built himself,

for an income.

Edited June 1, 2012 by Carl Dixon

[Agentsmith]

Donations here: https://www.indiegogo.com/urieljones

The questions is what royalties will his family receive say for example, on sync deals with movies featuring recordings he performed on? I was told in Detroit he had to resort to selling hot dogs at a stand he built himself,

for an income.

i think you illustrate a point that is quite easy to overlook, that all we see isnt necessarily what we get. in the 60's big bucks to these menial employees ( what im stressing here is that although they were seen as important for their creativity, when it came to the monetary pecking order they were "just staff" ) was probably nickels and dimes in a sense. some of the guys as is documented, left this earthly life in the wake of drug dependancy, they couldn't see their way through to making enough money to make a living and provide properly for their kin...or booze and their almost destitute, tragic demise is, to us a travesty...all the time we've been hero worshipping them, it aint paying the bills...but worse, their paymaster wasnt doing anything to rectify their situation. its a symptom all too familiar today, working long hours for comparitively low wages and little prospect of alleviating the fragile position.

you know, the featured article intimates that there are any number of well known luminaries buried in the cemetary in unmarked graves, so its not an exageration to say that the relatives must be in such a poor financial circumstance, that it borders on humiliation that they cannot provide a lasting dignity for the deceased.

when you consider that of the genuine original members, only three survive ( i believe ) jack ashford, bob babbit & and joe messina, it must seem inconsequential to them to be recieving royalties in their latter years when the truth of the matter is, they were deprived of it for decades,...and even then will the royalties be enough to support their next of kin?, whose going to be responsible for brokering a deal and for how many years would a deal be payable for?. they couldn't make it in life and in death, for their loved one's, its still a struggle to get recognition and be heard.

Edited June 1, 2012 by AGENTSMITH

[lorchand]

i think you illustrate a point that is quite easy to overlook, that all we see isnt necessarily what we get. in the 60's big bucks to these menial employees ( what im stressing here is that although they were seen as important for their creativity, when it came to the monetary pecking order they were "just staff" ) was probably nickels and dimes in a sense. some of the guys as is documented, left this earthly life in the wake of drug dependancy, they couldn't see their way through to making enough money to make a living and provide properly for their kin...or booze and their almost destitute, tragic demise is, to us a travesty...all the time we've been hero worshipping them, it aint paying the bills...but worse, their paymaster wasnt doing anything to rectify their situation. its a symptom all too familiar today, working long hours for comparitively low wages and little prospect of alleviating the fragile position.

you know, the featured article intimates that there are any number of well known luminaries buried in the cemetary in unmarked graves, so its not an exageration to say that the relatives must be in such a poor financial circumstance, that it borders on humiliation that they cannot provide a lasting dignity for the deceased.

when you consider that of the genuine original members, only three survive ( i believe ) jack ashford, bob babbit & and joe messina, it must seem inconsequential to them to be recieving royalties in their latter years when the truth of the matter is, they were deprived of it for decades,...and even then will the royalties be enough to support their next of kin?, whose going to be responsible for brokering a deal and for how many years would a deal be payable for?. they couldn't make it in life and in death, for their loved one's, its still a struggle to get recognition and be heard.

Don't forget Eddie Willis (guitar).

Lorraine

[Agentsmith]

Don't forget Eddie Willis (guitar).

Lorraine

correct, wasnt sure if he was still around, but thats put that to bed. just echoing back to pete's response..its seems incomprehendible that the combined efforts of a group of people, should reveal a lifetime's work, the worth of which, is priceless and they've nothing to show for it...i dont know if they were living literally hand to mouth on a daily basis, or rather their families were but what they were taking home really couldn't have been up to much. whilst i know that these guys did have formal education in one capacity or the other, they turned up in detroit from different corners of the usa, looking for work with music in their blood and gordy happened to be in the right place at the right time. i guess bank accounts simply didnt enter the equasion or they'd never heard of them...putting money away for a rainy day was probably irrelevant, compared to just existing and they had the distraction of living the dream, whatever they kept in their pockets was digested, drunk or gambled away during their years on the road and in house.

its taken the realisation of folk who have no connection with them whatsoever, other than their mutual love of the music, to make sure they're not forgotten and in doing so, are giving the immediate relatives the opportunity to see closure on a sad set of circumstances.

[Guest Carl Dixon]

I would have liked Eddie on my session, but due to commitments it never worked out sadly. Bob Babbitt is extremely ill at present and those involved with the recordings we cherish, are slowly leaving us like Uriel did in 2009. I feel if the fans have a chance to contribute to their headstones, so be it. Whether their families can afford it or not, it's academic.

Edited June 2, 2012 by Carl Dixon

[Agentsmith]

I would have liked Eddie on my session, but due to commitments it never worked out sadly. Bob Babbitt is extremely ill at present and those involved with the recordings we cherish, are slowly leaving us like Urile did in 2009. I feel if the fans have a chance to contribute to their headstones, so be it. Whether their families can afford it or not, it's academic.

you're right carl, its so all about a lasting memorial, these people have given their everything in the belief that someone will listen and millions have down the decades. to us in the u.k., its never been moreso....motown has been the most powerful virtuoso in the orchestral diversity of northern soul.

[Guest Carl Dixon]

I agree. Plus, ironically, it becomes part of the story of this music. If you think about the new film(s) being made, and how that will play out to maybe new audiences...and the realisation that it is 2012 and not 1966, the longevity of the music, the memorabilia and trivia is priceless, if that makes sense.

I am seriously contemplating releasing a Spyder Turner track I cut in 2008 called 'Glory Fleeting' with Uriel on drums etc. A percentage of sales will go to ex service men who need help. The ones that make the poppies down here in Richmond, probably The Poppy Factory. I have a lyric in the song about poppies and the song in general has very powerful lyrics. If successful, it would be Uriel being heard on a new track never before released officially. However, there is a segment on my Detroit session promo on YouTube, but even though gone....we can still celebrate what Uriel and Spider Webb did together on the session.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Carl Dixon