Jazzie Cazzie - John Manship Auction

[soulfulsaint]

In his current auction-list John asks for further information on the obscure Indianapoiis soul-funk band, Jazzie Cazzie and the Eight Sounds.

Jazzie Cazzie were formerly a local Indiana soul group, The Diplomats who changed their name to Diplomatics to avoid confusion with the DC group of the same name.

They took the name form a famous basketball player of the early '60s the Chicago-born 'Jazzie Cazzie' Russell who was a star player at the University of Michigan where coincidentally he lived near Ollie McLaughlin's home, the base for Karen Records. He later joined the New York Nicks

One of Jazzie' Cazzie's former band members Rodney Stepp has written the following:

"My fondest memory of the Diplomats (we had to change our name to the Diplomatics for our LAMP release due to a group in the Washington DC area) is our love for music. We came together to win a talent show at School # 17 in Indianapolis, thus beginning our childhood dreams. The Diplomats began with Jerry "Boing-Boing" Miller (guitar, 14), Rodney Vorhis (bass, 14), Bobby Gayhart (drums, 11), and myself, Rodney Stepp (acoustic piano, 13). We went on to add two new members - Richard Gamble (sax, 14) and Robert Maurice Taylor (trumpet, 14). In 1969, Jerry Miller and Rodney Vorhis took advantage of an opportunity to play with The Spinners. Jerry returned after a brief 6 months. Miles "Butch" Loyd joined the band and collaborated with me to write "Hum-Bug," based around a dance from the time. Thanks in part to Herb Miller from LAMP Records, who believed in us and recorded this tune, "Hum-Bug" was an instant hit in Indianapolis. It was also the only song recorded by this group of band members (though we later reformed as Jazzie Cazzie and The Eight Sounds, and released one 45 on the Knaptown label). Throughout, we maintained a flavor similar to the Bar Kays. To this day, Jerry's guitar solo on "Hum-Bug" reminds me of Steve Cropper."

For more info see

https://www.stonesthrow.com/nowagain/artists/diplomatics.htm