Sad News Mike Terry - SAX GOD by Rob Moss

The sad news that Mike (Andrew Alexander) Terry has passed on was posted up in the forums

A tribute from Rob Moss has been added to the updated article below.

The forum thread can be read here

http://www.soul-sour...showtopic=85454

Sad news indeed.

Mike Terry tribute

I first met Mike in 1993. I had spoken to him by phone at his home in New Jersey but visited him in Detroit, when he moved back the same year. From the outset, he was friendly, warm, kind and helpful. With his late wife Liz, we spent many hours reminiscing about the old days at Motown and all the other Detroit studios he had worked at. It was only later that I began to realise how extensive his session work actually was. He spoke about Philly sessions with Jimmy Bishop and Jesse James, flying to New York to record, Chicago recordings on a variety of mainly Chess/Checker label artists, his sessions as a top-flight arranger throughout the country, the Pied Piper production company and the scores of songs had written. As time went on it transpired that he had played on records like ‘Ain’t nothing but a house party’, ‘The horse’, ‘Here I go again’, ‘Mr. Big Shot’, ‘Girl across the street’ and scores of others. In his quietly spoken manner, he never ever had a bad word to say about anyone he had worked with or knew— a practice that was reciprocated by everyone I met who knew him or had worked with him. The mention of his name elicited happy memories and sincere compliments. And he was the most modest man I ever met. Considering the gargantuan contribution he made to music through the thousands of songs he played on, arranged, produced or wrote he was amazingly reticent and reserved to acknowledge his genius. The most he would ever say was ‘You like that tune huh?’ He never got angry if anyone or anything went against him choosing, instead, to treat such tribulations with resigned calmness. I once asked him how he felt about not being included in the Funk Brothers movie. “Oh I’m sure they’ve got their reasons.” was all he would say.

I was fortunate enough to spend several weeks with him in the summer, researching his autobiography, and saw him, quite recently, at Popcorn’s funeral (photo below). He had been very ill prior to this and had lost a lot of weight. The death of his wife in the summer had knocked his resolve but with the help of old friends Fred Bridges and Richard Knight, he became involved with the forthcoming Willie Jones album, which gave him a lot of satisfaction. Many other friends assisted his recovery and tried to keep him involved in everyday life. He will be sorely missed not only by the people and relatives who knew him, but also by the legions of fans around the world that continue to revere and enjoy his music.

note from the soul source team - sorry but all Robs non-current articles are now clipped due to a future book release - watch out for news of that!