Robbk

Yes, Soul King was Ron's label. It had about 5 issues (all Detroit Soul previously unreleased on vinyl). I didn't ask him, but Ron was always a real stand-up guy; so I'm guessing they were "legal".

I only ever remember seeing the light orange issue, and am pretty sure I saw it in a used records bin before 1970 (maybe 1965?). So, my guess is that it is the 1962 pressing. But, I can't be sure. I was looking for records a LOT more during the early and mid '60s than after 1969, when I was in my last year of undergraduate university and in 1970, when I was in Graduate School (university). I'll be curious to find out if the dark orange is the 1970 pressing, or just a different 1st issue press run.

Very nice to hear things from "the horses mouth" (the guys that made the music). Keep 'em coming!

Thanks Steve, for that clarification. I had thought that Garrison Records was half-owned by Garris and half by one of the Scepter-Wand partners, or the Scepter Wand Firm, similar to Motown' Rich Records (half owned by Berry Gordy and the other half by Rev. James Hendrix (and was treated like a Motown subsidiary).

Many, if not most of those Manhattan addresses were skyscrapers with large suites with hundreds of post boxes (like 1619 and 1650 Broadway). Tiny, and other small, and even mid-sized record companies had post boxes in them, to have a prestigious Manhattan address. Many of them did not have an office in those Downtown buildings, as they never could have afforded the rental costs. Even having the same suite number only meant that they were only one of several hundred post boxes in a suite filled with post boxes, that looked like the outer area post box room in a large local, or regional post office. Those 3 subsidiary labels probably just had a single room, each, inside Calla's suite of offices (which may not even been located in Lower Manhattan). And they probably all used (borrowed) Calla's meeting room to hold their business meetings.

Garris was in charge of daily operations of both Wand, and his own, Garrison Records (a Wand subsidiary). So, he may have signed the deal before the decision was made as to whether or not it was going to be released on Wand or Garrison. But, I doubt that it was first slated for Garrison and later changed to Wand. It had previously sold very well in Chicagoland, so I think they intended it for Wand from the start, to give it the best chance (promotional push) all over USA, whereas Garrison had less ability to push records outside of The Northeast, and Great Lakes Area (despite both labels being distributed by Scepter-Wand's distributors all across the nation).

I got the Ivorys on the early label font/design in late 1966, so this post has the order correct, as I also remember the later Despenza issues' designs coming in 1968 or 69, and again at the beginning of the 1970s, after its Wand run, whose issue I didn't see sold or promoted, in Chicago record shops, but only found later in thrift stores or discount store record stock dump-offs.

This is all true. The Tangiers on Decca WERE the same group on Specialty, and same as The Jets on Aladdin, ? Marks on Swing Time, Turks on Cash (with Jesse Belvin added), and Bobby Day & Satellites on Class. They had Robert (Bobby Byrd (Day) and other L.A. resident singers in their group. They were MUCH older than the Baltimore group, with NO connection possible that I can imagine.

I don't recall coming across any tapes or acetates, or demo records of "Call Me" by Chris Clark while sifting through The Motown Vaults in the 1970s, or seeing any reference to that on any Motown Unreleased CDs, or lists of Motown Recordings. I certainly would have listened to it for possible inclusion in "From The Vaults". I also don't remember seeing it on the website with the list of all Motown recordings. Chris Montez had a hit with "Call Me" in 1965 in USA; while Petula Clark did in The UK. But that was a completely different, Pop song. Edward Hamilton's song is a long-time favourite of mine, I bought when it was out.

That's not too bad. It was a bit muddier at the beginning (1st 12 seconds, or so), when Edward was speaking faster, and slurring his words a bit. So, I missed too many in the first few sentences to get much from that part. But the rest was understandable. It sounds like his memory for dates was mixed up. It sounded like he and his group (The Arabians?) were still in high school when they went to interview and try out at Motown, but were told they were too young, and to come back after they'd have graduated. So, they must have been about 16 or 17 years old. But, the year mentioned was 1966. Yet, Edward mentioned that they had had 3 records out before that interview. But the interview with Don Davis, who had been recording The O'Jays andThe Playboys/Fabulous Playboys was during Davis' and The Coleman's DaCo period, before the changeover to "Thelma Records". That must have been during 1961. So, Edward must have been born in 1944 or 1945. Then, he mentioned being interviewed by Harvey Fuqua (Maybe that was when Harvey owned Tri-Phi, in 1962 or 1963. THEN they visited Motown in '66? That sounds too late. I think they went to Motown in 1963 or 1964. Maybe his memory for the years was cloudy, or he was coming up with memories so fast that the listener can't tell which information he popped up with matched with which bits of information he'd given us before. At least we now know around which years he was born, which usually had just a question mark on his bios which I've seen. He'd be just about my age now, maybe one year older. Anyway, we'll be glad to hear the entire interview even at this quality. Thanks for your hard work. I always like to hear what happened in the 60s Detroit music scene, when I was a late teenager scrounging around in that City's thrift shops, and record shop bargain bins. I had little knowledge of what was going on inside the record companies, at that time. I've learned a lot since, but really enjoy filling in the gaps even this many years later, when many of us who were around, are now gone from this Earth.

This clip was a bit muddier, but still clear enough to understand. If most of it is that good, it is well worth dubbing into an MP4 for uploading to this forum.

The sound quality of that 5 seconds is fine. It was clear, and I understood every word without straining to hear (I'm 77 years old and have been begged, for the past 10 years, by my younger siblings to get a hearing aid. That sounds crisp and clear, considering you were on the opposite side of the room. Luckily, no one else was talking at the same time. Considering that no one else seemed to have been in the room, why were you so far from him? Was he ill with a communicable disease, at the time?

Great interview! Thanks very much for uploading it, and all the rest.

Thanks Graham, Did Al mention for which record company and which producer he recorded it, and in which studio? I assume it was recorded in New York. I'd like to hear it, and match it against Jackie's 1965, later, slow ballad version.

That's precisely why I stated that Kent's Wizard was a New York label as opposed to L.A.'s Wizard for whom Hal Davis recorded.

Al wrote "Am I The Man" for Jackie Wilson, which is one of my favourite songs by both Wilson and Kent (who recorded it for New York's Wizard Records (not to be confused with L.A.'s Wizard, for whom Hal Davis recorded). I thought I had ALL Kent's records, but don't remember him having a release of "Lonely Teardrops". Although I have "Dat's Why I Love You So" and "Am I The Man" on commercially issued records. He DID write in his book that "Lonely Teardrops" was the 3rd of the 3 songs he recorded before Jackie. So, apparently Billy Davis had Al sing the recorded demo for Jackie to use as a guide (unless somehow I've forgotten it is on the back of one of his records I have, or I somehow missed one of his releases).

Thanks Graham. Yet another great interview. I enjoyed it as much as all your others. Nice to hear things about 1960s Detroit right "from the horses mouth", instead of 3rd hand hearsay.

Hi Graham, thanks for providing the information on Don. I assume his talking about his time outside Detrroit, was mostly about when he and his Jazz combo, the Don Davis Trio, was touring The USA and Canada. I, too, look forward to hearing the interview.

Yes, Martha Jean was one of the biggest DJs in Detroit. But, I never knew she was ever a partner in Don Davis' Groovesville records. Wouldn't that have been a "conflict of interests", and illegal, by 1965, if she played their records on her radio show??? I do remember lots of DJs owning record labels. But that was mostly during the 1940s, '50s, and very early '60s, which I think was before the law went into effect (which, I believe was what brought it on). Furthermore, I don't remember Martha Jean Steinberg or Roger Brown being involved with Don Davis' and LeBaron Taylor's Solid Hitbound Productions and Revilot and Solid Hitbound Records. Maybe they just became junior partners in Davis' new Groovesville Records (turquoise label), whose ownership was not shared by Taylor, but only had its distribution handled by Solid Hitbound Productions; while both Revilot and Solid Hitbound Records were each 50% owned by Davis and Taylor. Or maybe they were just a stop-gap funding and connections source, and Davis broke off his partnership with them before partnering with Taylor? And LeBaron Taylor was still a popular Detroit DJ when those labels were operating. So, I guess it was no problem for Martha Jean to have been a minority owner in Groovesville. I guess the payola scandals of the 1950s installed such regularly-formatted rules about how radio station playlists are formed, and such scrutiny on their business income and payroll book records, that DJ record company part-owners had nothing to fear or hide. Now that I think about it, I could probably name more than 75 DJs who had part or full ownership in record companies between 1945 and 1970.

If so, that situation must have occurred when Davis was finished with his working partnership agreement and distribution deal for his new Groovesville Records (2nd incarnation), with Ed Wingate and Golden World/Ric Tic Records, and before he started his new partnership with LeBaron Taylor, in Solid Hitbound Productions, his revived (3rd incarnation of Groovesville Records, and partnership in Revilot and Solid Hitbound Records. Sonny Sanders was the arranger, Ronnie Abner was a songwriter on Whirlpool (both co-workers and former partners); and Mancha was also a former Davis affiliate (having recorded for his Golden World-distributed (white Groovesville). Groovesville and Mah's Music shared the publishing. Based on what Davis said in his interview, I'm guessing that this may have been Davis' partner, Roger Brown, going to Mike Hanks to make a pressing/distribution deal, because Davis was short of cash, being in between operating his own labels, and they wanted to get both the Mancha and Jimmy Gilford records out quickly. I'm guessing that Roger Brown was the all-Pro defensive tackle 7-year 1960s player for The Detroit Lions NFL US football team, joining Rosie Grier(NY Giants/L.A. Rams) & Roosevelt Brown(NY Giants), Jim Brown(Cleveland Browns), and the 4 L.A. Rams who also were partners in Soul Music record labels.

All of them were D-Town artists at that time. And NONE were used by Davis' Groovesville Productions around that time, although Tom Storm and his Peps were some of Davis' favourites and most used BG groups when they worked for him when he had managed and co-owned Thelma Records. So, THAT tells me that this Don Davis production wasn't a totally, Don Davis Production run totally inside HIS Groovesville shop, recorded at United Sound, and just leased to Mike Hanks' Wheelsville USA. It was likely Don Davis working inside D-Town/Wheelsville, probably as a joint-venture, with Hanks having at least a little active part, and the recording possibly done in The Pig Pen. So, the BG group likely was formed using D-Town/Wheelsville singing artists. The grouping of singers used in the Cody Black session is as good a guess as any to have been used on this one.

Thanks for clearing that up for good. I had heard that The Professionals had only recorded one song, so the Steve Mancha cut was thrown onto its flip. But that it was confirmed at that time. I also never heard the confirmation that Mancha had never been a member of The Professionals. There was a back-up group Don Davis used on this version of "Did My Baby Call". It doesn't seem to be the same take of the back-up track used on the Wheelsville USA track. Does anyone here know who Davis used as back-up singers on the two recordings? I assume they were the same exact collection of singers on both, during the same recording session. I heard one or two females and at least 2 male voices, if not 3. I wonder if Melvin Davis was one of them, as he and Steve Mancha were his right-hand-men at mid '60s Groovesville. And Davis used The Holidays a few times.

I always wondered if Steve Mancha was one of 2 lead singers for The Professionals. They both were artist/groups in the Don Davis stable, and that group wasn't together very long at all. I think I do remember seeing a venue poster for an appearance in Detroit, however. So, I assume they weren't just a studio group for Davis to release 2 different records on Mancha at the same time.

Thanks for the link. It was interesting to hear him talk about his whole career. I would have liked them to play a couple Five Jets songs, and a couple of CP's Big Top cuts, as well as his Exit cuts and also "Green Grow The Lilacs. But, at least they played my favourite version of "Suspicion".

I look forward to hearing what he said.