ARCTIC house drummer

[Guest Ole OKeh]

For those of you interested...

Just stopped at "Della Humphrey - Let's Wait Until Dark (Arctic)"

 

and spotted the very same cool drummer who's been responsible

for "hammering in" the great tune

The Ambassadors - Ain't Got The Love Of One Girl (On My Mind)

Does someone know the drummers name? Involveld in other ARTIC-Productions?

Man, i love his style (slightly shuffling and these "rolls", can't believe it...)  Vocals are great too - of course - in both ways.

KeepTellingFriends, Ole

[mikeysoul]

It could be Earl Young

The Ambassadors - Soul Summit LP does not cite him in the band, but has a picture of him as the drummer.

Wikipedia says:

"Earl Young (born June 2, 1940, Philadelphia) is a Philadelphia-based drummer who rose to prominence in the early 1970s as part of the Philly Soul sound. Young is best known as the founder and leader of The Trammps^[1] who had a hit record with "Disco Inferno". Young, along with Ronnie Baker and Norman Harris (the trio best known as Baker-Harris-Young), was the owner of the Golden Fleece record label.^[2]

Young is seen as the inventor of the disco style of rock drumming^[3] (in Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes's "The Love I Lost" from 1973), as he was the first to make extensive and distinctive use of the hi-hat cymbal throughout the playing time of an R & B recording. This led to DJs favoring his recordings because they could hear the cymbal quite easily in their headphones as they "cued up" records to be mixed.^[4]

Young featured prominently on many Philadelphia International Records (PIR) recordings before moving on to Salsoul Records as part of the house band for the label. He recorded extensively at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios as part of the group of musicians knows as MFSB. In a 2005 interview with Modern Drummer magazine, bassist Anthony Jackson was asked whether he recalled working with Young: "Yes, of course. That was back in the days when I was working with Gamble & Huff in Philadelphia. I didn't get to do too much with Earl because I was usually playing with Billy Paul's band, and Norman Farrington was on drums. But as I continued working for Gamble & Huff, I did a few sessions with Earl. My big Earl project was the O'Jays' 'For The Love Of Money.' I was astounded by his power. It may not come through on the records, but he is an ass-kicker. Listen to a classic Earl Young track like Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' 'If You Don't Know Me By Now.' There's no click track. Earl had the drummer's equivalent of perfect pitch. I only saw the term referred to once, and it's called 'infallible rhythm.' Nobody has absolutely perfect time, but you find people like Buddy Rich and Tony Williams who can play without the time drifting. I've also seen studio drumming great James Gadson demonstrate infallible rhythm. I've seen him overdub drums on a track without a click track, and it's just perfect. I haven't spoken to Earl Young since we cut that record, but I've never forgotten those sessions. Earl stands as one of the great drummers. I'll never forget the impact that he made.".^[5]"

[Garethx]

I'd say it's unlikely to be the same drummer. Most probably Earl Young on the Ambassadors but the Della Humphrey is a leased in Miami production.

[Guest Ole OKeh]

 Hi Mikey, thanks a lot for the "Earl Young" trail, i will follow that.

Hi Gareth: Thanks for your contribution! I'm sorry, i don't understand the "leased in Miami" thing. What does that mean?

Was it formerly released on a different label in Miami? If so - which one was that?

BTW: I think i spotted the same drummer on some Volcanos tunes ("A Lady's Man" on ARTIC) with completly different styles, but the WAY he's doing his job, it's the same classy way. Could be a ARTIC house drummer. The drum-tracks on Della Humphrey and Ambassadors mentioned above even sound like the same drumkit and microphone-positioning.

I might post that issue to a drummer-forum, to hear what the drumming-experts say...

Thanx a lot. Ole

[Tricky]

I was gonna say unlikely to be same drummer but then thought they might have brought her up to Philly for a couple of sides.I noticed on her next two releases 3 sides are Philly produced/arranged.

Tricky

[Garethx]

Her Arctic sides are a mixture of Philly and Miami productions. Listening to the track in question again I wonder if it's not from the first session (which yielded the first single Don't Make The Good Girls Go Bad) which is arranged by Clarence Reid but in Philadelphia as opposed to his usual Miami base.

Apparently Steve Alaimo was unwilling to record the song on Della for his group of labels, thinking it was too close to Betty Wright's recent "Girls Can't Do What The Boys Do", so Clarence Reid did the deal with Arctic and went to Philadelphia to record. Listening to Wait Until Dark again it is almost certainly the same drummer, so I take back my first post.

[Geeselad]

22 hours ago, garethx said:

I'd say it's unlikely to be the same drummer. Most probably Earl Young on the Ambassadors but the Della Humphrey is a leased in Miami production.

I was going to say the same, probably the most prolific drummer in philly

[Guest Ole OKeh]

Hey Mickey, you we're right. The drummer i was talking about is Earl Young!

It's a bit strange to see that Earl Young is not named in the credits box in the middle of the "SOUL SUMMIT" LP (while every one else got an entry),

https://www.discogs.com/de/Ambassadors-Soul-Summit/master/678022#images/5819507
but at least he got one picture on the sleeve.

It's the only drummer mentioned and a lot tracks from that album had the same drummer.

It took just two tunes from SOUL SUMMIT to identy the guy.

The way Earl Young treats the Hi-Hat at the intro of " I Really Love You" is (in my opinion) quite unique.

It's a basic strip-down of his style shown at "Ain't Got The Love Of One Girl".

He appears again on "The Ambassadors -- Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piHQO66xfFA&t=65

As well as on the UPTOWN release "The Ambassadors - I need someone"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JNM96qDVTI

I will check the ARTIC-catalogue to see if he's been appearing on other artists productions.

 

[Garethx]

Think we've been through this before but if I recall the Uptown Ambassadors were a different group from Cleveland.

[Ian Parker]

Interesting thread, . As a fellow percussionist,. I'm always happy to read up on this kind of story! 

 Earl Young, a guy who is responsible for a lot of tunage, he's also an innovator in drum recording techniques,  very prominent hi hats ('think ' the jokes on you' Kenny Gamble) , gating, compression etc,.mwe have a lot to thank him for, a fine drummer. 

   "If you don't know me by now" is a masterpiece in drumming terms,. So so difficult to nail a song at such a slow tempo,. RESPECT 

[Cover-up]

You'll probably dig this Honey & the Bees tune, too. Also cut by Winfield Parker as "Shake That Thing".

 

 

Edited October 4, 2016 by cover-up

[mikeysoul]

If not seen already, there are some great clips of The Ambassadors on the Hy Lyte show (1969) on YouTube I watched the other day. Including 'I really love you' & ' Can't take my eyes off you'. No band unfortunately, just them performing, but they certainly had some good moves. 

Not sure what the show is as it just seems to be them performing, with no audience or presenter. Promo maybe? There are lots of clips of other groups also Pat & the Blenders, The Ethics. Well worth a watch

[Guest Ole OKeh]

You can see Earl Young in action here. Good man. In Philly-grooves as well.

 

[Guest Ole OKeh]

I found another resource on Earl Young. He had been drumming on Cliff Nobles - The Horse / Love is allright as well. The credits in this video seem reliable to me.