Soul Music
Leon Huff cut his teeth in the recording studios as a session player in the 1950s before meeting Kenneth Gamble. The two became one of the most prolific and successful songwriting and record producing teams in the music industry. They not only created the Philly Sound, they set standards and...
Booker T. Jones grew up in Memphis and began recording as a session player while still in high school at the age of 17. While waiting for a session to begin, Booker and the other musicians in the studio began playing a song Booker wrote, which was later given a name when the engineer encouraged...
Larry Dunn played a key role in the success of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire! As the keyboardist for the group he added new sounds in the innovative era of electronic musical instruments. As Musical Director for the group he set high standards of creative and musical performances...
Chris Jasper is the funk and soul keyboardist, singer and composer who played a key role in the Isley Brothers sound. He later helped form Isley-Jasper-Isley, which, like the Isley Brothers era, resulted in several classic hit recordings. Chris has also enjoyed a long solo career which has...
Rocco Prestia grew up in Northern California where he began playing guitar as a teenager before joining the group Tower of Power just after the famous band was formed. It was during these early days when Rocco switched from guitar to bass, which provided a special groove as he mastered what many...
David Garibaldi is the innovative drummer for Tower of Power and a much respected clinician well known throughout the world. He joined the group in 1970 just as they signed Bill Graham on as their manager. Before long the group was recording and landed several hits on the charts. David’s skills...
Miriam Bienstock was one of three founders of Atlantic Records, which set the stage for over 60 years of recordings of primarily black artists. In the early years this was one of the only labels giving opportunities for the likes of Ruth Brown and Ray Charles to be heard! Miriam ran the office and...
Lamont Dozier was one of the most successful songwriters in popular music history. From 1962-1967 he teamed with Brian and Eddy Holland to write a string of impressive hit records for Motown Records, 25 of which hit number one on the Billboard Record Charts! Their list of hits includes “Baby Love...
Bobby Martin was one of the architects who developed the Philly Sound that provided a unique twist of soul and funk records of the 1960s and 70s. As a producer he worked with many top artists of the day and as an arranger he gave us the blend of blues and funk on “For the Love of Money” with the O’...
Wayne Jackson and his saxophone-playing friend, Andrew Love, formed the Memphis Horns, a group that played on countless recordings and on stage for over 40 years! Wayne, on trumpet, began playing professionally in the late 1950s and teamed with Andrew a few years later. Together they created a...