Repolishing Jobete's Jewels

REMAKES IN ROCK, JAZZ, R&B – PLUS GETTING TOGETHER FOR FUN

And still they come…

Contemporary remakes of songs from the Motown catalogue, that is, by singers and musicians – young and not-so-young – operating in a variety of music genres. Most of them have reached into the obvious corners of the store cupboard, so to speak, but not all. A song from the soundtrack of Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon is not necessarily one you’d expect to hear revived in 2020 – and no, it’s not “Rhythm Of The Night.”

      Naturally, the music of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder finds particular favour. Since the death of George Floyd, “What’s Going On” has entered (or re-entered) the repertoire of many a performer. Most have prudently avoided recording the song, to minimise comparisons with the unimpeachable original. But one well-known vocalist has put a version into circulation for the second time in 20 years.

      OK, OK, it’s time to name names, beginning with Michael McDonald. The former member of the Doobie Brothers included “What’s Going On” in his first album of Motown remakes released by, er, Motown Records in 2003. The set was popular at the time, reaching the Top 20 of the Billboard charts. This year, he revisited the song.

Ryan Shaw: “imagining” Marvin

      “It’s just live,” McDonald told Rolling Stone recently. “A couple of tracks are with local musicians in Santa Barbara I play with in the different local haunts there. I decided to pull them in for a little project.” He added, “It’s uncanny and somewhat amazing how great songs or poems relevant to a specific time frame in which they’re written only seem to grow in their profound resonance with the years. ‘What’s Going On’ is one of those.”

      Gaye’s signature song – very well, one of Gaye’s signature songs – was almost 20 years old when Olu O. Fann was born in Atlanta in 1989. These days, he’s known as half of the highly-rated southern hip hop duo EarthGang, but was inspired to cut “What’s Going On” as a solo effort in memory of his father, who died in 2018. “I was watching Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods for the fifth time,” Olu recalled for DJBooth. “The entire soundtrack was Marvin Gaye. Something told me to sing…I had been feeling so low with this anniversary approaching, and the way the world is spinning. What’s going on? What’s happening to our world? It seems the further we progress, the more we regress.”

      Other material associated with the Prince of Motown forms the basis of Ryan Shaw’s forthcoming album, Imagining Marvin. This was the name of a show which “soul revivalist” Shaw performed at New York’s Cutting Room club in May 2019, with a guest appearance by Valerie Simpson. He is known for his theatrical work – playing Stevie Wonder in the Broadway production of Motown The Musical and Michael Jackson in the London production of Thriller Live – but he’s also recorded three albums. The first of these, 2007’s This Is Ryan Shaw, featured an update of Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers’ “I Am Your Man,” written by Valerie Simpson and Nick Ashford.

      Imagining Marvin is due in November from Shaw’s own FORM (Fans Of Real Music) label. In addition to the Gaye songs, the album will include five originals; the first single is “Strong Men Can,” written by Shaw and Simpson, which will be available in a couple of weeks’ time.

SUPERTASTING STEVIE

Trombonist Adam Theis is the driving force behind the Bay Area’s Jazz Mafia, and he’s been involved with various bands playing under that umbrella over the years. One of them, Supertaster, attracted in 2009 the attention of Stevie Wonder, who joined the combo on stage at a small San Francisco club to play “All Day Sucker” and “Can’t Help It.” Theis’ various ensembles have featured Wonder material, so for the Jazz Mafia to tackle “You Haven’t Done Nothin’ ” this summer is no surprise (here’s the videoclip).

      Another jazzman, Chick Corea, revisits Stevie’s songbook next Friday (11) with the release of his new project, Plays. The second part of this two-album set opens with a fresh interpretation of “Pastime Paradise,” which the keyboardist has previously included in his concert repertoire. “I’m happy to say that Stevie Wonder and myself are really good friends,” said Corea, confessing to being inspired “by his message and his music.”

      (While the world awaits new music from Wonder, Detroit bassist Byron Miller has persuaded him to play harmonica on his own new track, “Real Love,” which can be heard here. Stevie shows up at around 2:50.)

      Meanwhile, that unlikely song from Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon is one of the tracks on Smile, the latest album by Bill Warfield and the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra. Like Adam Theis, Warfield is a composer, bandleader and horn player, but instead of tapping into Wonder’s catalogue, he’s opted for “First Time On A Ferris Wheel,” written by Harriet Schock and Misha Segal. The song was performed for the soundtrack album of this 1985 chopsocky movie by Smokey Robinson and Syreeta; on Smile, it’s fronted by jazz stylist Jane Stuart, who has sung in ensemble with Valerie Simpson and Patti Austin, among others.

EarthGang’s Olu: progress or regress?

      Still more Jobete jewels are being repolished. “It goes back to the purest point of why people started bands in the first place,” explained guitarist Jamie Davis recently. “A group of great musicians getting together to play for fun with no pressure.” Davis is having fun as a member of the Jaded Hearts Club, in the company of Graham Coxon (from Blur), Miles Kane (the Last Shadow Puppets), Matt Bellamy (Muse), Sean Payne (the Zutons) and Nic Cester (Jet).

      The Club’s album, You’ve Always Been Here, will be issued on October 2, and contains remakes of Marvin Gaye’s “This Love Starved Heart Of Mine (It’s Killing Me)” and the Four Tops’ “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” with Cester on vocals in both cases. Also included: versions of Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” and the Isley Brothers’ “Why When Love Is Gone.” Released earlier this week was the band’s treatment of “Love’s Gone Bad,” with vocals handled by Miles Kane, owing more to the 1967 version by the Underdogs than Chris Clark’s 1966 adventure.

Another version of “Reach Out I’ll Be There” has been doing the rounds this summer, as recorded by singer/songwriter/producer Jonathan Wilson. It’s hard to imagine an interpretation at – shall we say? – greater odds with the original, but you can decide for yourself via the latest West Grand playlist, linked below.

      Another cabal of musicians determined to have a good time is Paul Stanley’s R&B outfit Soul Station (yes, he of Kiss). “What’s being passed off now as R&B is usually a computer and a drum machine,” Stanley said not long ago. “For a while, I thought about that, and I had an opportunity a few years ago to put together something that was in essence Soul Station. We did a couple of private shows, and we all looked at each other and said, ‘Why aren’t we doing more of this?’ ”

      More of this includes Soul Station’s take on “Ooo Baby Baby,” which emerged (under lockdown) this past May. Stanley is currently putting the finishing touches to an album. “This band is 13 people strong, and everybody's played with Smokey and Stevie and the Temps and Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston, and we knock those songs out of the park.” The track listing hasn’t yet been revealed, but in concert, Soul Station has played “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” “Get Ready” and “The Tracks Of My Tears.” He told Rock Cellar magazine, “There’s a big weight on my shoulders because I’m singing songs by some legends, and if I can’t deliver them, I shouldn’t be doing them.”

      If only others were so honest…

Music notes: a cross-section of the Motown remakes cited above can be heard in the latest West Grand Blog playlist here, as well as a couple of others also released this summer: Teddy Swims’ take on “What’s Going On” and Shinehead’s version of Stevie Wonder’s “Never Had A Dream Come True.” And still they come…