Tags
Workshop Jazz 2004 (A), February 1963
b/w Mellow In Coli
(Written by Clarence Paul and Dave Hamilton)
Over the last few days on Motown Junkies, we’ve had a great run of new records from Mary Wells, Kim Weston, the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes; even if some of them weren’t exactly classics, those artists’ records are always interesting to listen to, and to write about (and hopefully, to read about too.) And now… now for eight jazz records in a row. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
No, I’m not that enthusiastic either, quite honestly. But the idea is to cover every Motown single, and these are Motown singles. Don’t touch that dial, we’ll be right back. In the meantime, here’s Dave Hamilton.
The Workshop Jazz Records label, launched abortively in the spring of 1962 with two flop singles, was never quite committed to by Motown as a vehicle for seven-inch success; hence the company shoving out no less than four Workshop Jazz singles at the end of February 1963, the last 45s ever released under that imprint.
No, Workshop Jazz was really an album label, and as such formed a tantalising carrot for Berry Gordy to dangle in front of the Motown studio musicians. Spend your days recording pop and R&B, and you’ll get the opportunity to do what you really want to do – cut your own jazz albums. We’ll pick up the tab. When? Oh, don’t worry, we’ll let you know as soon as there’s a studio slot available. Now, back to work – these Carolyn Crawford B-sides won’t record themselves!
Unusually, Motown did actually honour this promise for a number of the present and future studio musicians, though few of the core “Funk Brothers” were ultimately granted Workshop Jazz LPs. Hamilton, who played guitar and vibes (the latter instrument being highlighted here), was one of the lucky ones, along with pianist/keyboardist Johnny Griffith, trombonist George Bohannon, and saxophonist Beans Bowles (whose album remained unreleased). Hamilton’s LP Blue Vibrations (pictured left), a selection of vibraphone instrumentals in a blues/jazz style (do you see what they did there?), came out in January 1963, and both sides of this single were taken from it by way of a promotional effort.
Anyway, this is completely ridiculous. Opening with a pseudo-avant garde burst of concept jazz (glissando stabs of Hammond organ, drums pounded to approximate a freight train slowing down), this almost immediately settles into a steady 12-bar blues loop, the drums and organ chugging along in a downtempo groove, with nearly four solid minutes of Hamilton’s vibraphone doodling over the top of it.
He’s undoubtedly a proficient vibes player, but it’s ludicrously boring, and listening to this is like being trapped in a supermarket bathroom, your cries for help drowned out by their piped in-store muzak. Perhaps fans of light, noodling jazz might enjoy this. I didn’t. As such, it’s getting a bad mark, even though it’s actually more authentically “jazz” than most of the other Workshop Jazz sides that had materialised to date. Sorry, jazz aficionados – I find this tedious in the extreme.
Supposedly, this is the better of the two sides. I’m not looking forward to flipping this one over, I don’t mind admitting.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in Dave Hamilton? Click for more.)
 |
 |
| The Supremes “You Bring Back Memories” |
Dave Hamilton “Mellow In Coli” |
Motown Junkies 
🙂 We’ll hang in there with you through the snoozers, don’t worry. I didn’t know Hamilton recorded in his own right, but let’s acknowledge that his work on Marvin & Mary’s “Once Upon A Time,” coming in 1964, made a very good record. Hamilton’s friendly vibes on it are as memorable as Marvin and Mary’s smooth singing. It’s an endearing record, with a nice slow and mesmerizing fade down.
Nor, do I think any of us would begrudge Berry doing what needed to be done to placate Motown’s Funk Brothers with instrumental albums. One listen to Motown live albums of the sixties with our favorite stars and backed by too few if any at all of the Funk Brothers, reveal how absolutely essential these musicians were to the gutsy studio originals that are burned into our brains for keeps.
LikeLike
Oh, absolutely – lest there be any confusion among future visitors, the shoeings I give to some of these Workshop Jazz outings by the Motown studio musicians are in no way meant as a slight on the amazing music they created, in relative obscurity, doing their regular “day job” sessions. If Blue Vibrations was the price Motown paid for getting Dave Hamilton to do guitar and vibes on a hundred brilliant Motown R&B/pop tracks, then it was worth every tedious muso minute.
LikeLike
Thanks for the warning. I’m moving on to “Jack” and “Nikiter.”
LikeLike
It would be interesting to find out what sort of reviews Workshop Jazz releases got in specialist jazz magazines.
LikeLike
I was just wondering about that, actually. The only reference I’ve ever seen from a non-Motown POV (though still not a jazz one) describes the albums as “required listening for serious jazz fans”. I’d imagine that within the fields of smooth jazz and bossa nova, the two genres represented by the various Workshop Jazz singles, this stuff might be respected, without necessarily pulling up any trees – but on LP, not on seven inch, which even I know is not a good format for jazz.
It would be really good if some proper jazz fans found this blog and gave their own, more informed opinions. In their absence, I have to judge these WJ records in the context of other Motown singles and my own tastes, which rarely stretch to either smooth jazz or bossa nova. So… This one I find boring, Johnny Griffith struggles for identity, George Bohan(n)on and his jazz trombone patently ridiculous, Paula Greer’s next A-side dull (and the B-side almost excruciatingly poor.
LikeLike
I’d have been shocked to see reviews of Workshop Jazz albums in any Jazz magazines or Jazz newspapers. I was a Motown fanatic by 1962 (buying everything I could find on ALL of its labels). I looked through literally millions of records from 1962-1972, mostly in Chicago, but also on monthly Saturday trips to Detroit, as well as several summer trips across Canada and USA. The only Workshop Jazz albums I ever saw were a couple of Paula Greer’s. I never saw one sitting in a record shop for sale, nor did I find one even in cut-out bins or in thrift shops.
I never saw a reference in a jazz journal to a Workshop Jazz album. I did see a reference to Motown Record Corp. founding its Jazz label, “Workshop” in the trades (but they list everything anyone reports to them).
I was both a Jazz fan and a Motown fan in 1962-64. Workshop Jazz was doing NOTHING in the way of sales or radioplay outside Detroit. I’m not sure if they did anything inside Detroit. I’ll leave that to be answered by some old-time Detroiters.
LikeLike
Which goes to show Motown were meddling in a world very different from their “home turf” with the whole project – shades of taking on white rock and FM radio at the end of the 60s and suddenly finding themselves competing directly with major labels’ funding and experience.
Naïve question: Was there such a thing as jazz radio in 1962?
LikeLike
Those albums would have been in Berry’s shop if it had still existed.
LikeLike
Yes, there were Jazz radio stations on FM radio in various US and Canadian cities in 1962. Other stations (AM and FM) had Jazz shows for 2-3 hours.
LikeLike
Interesting. I wonder if any of them ever played (or were even sent) any of this stuff?
LikeLike
Most of them (especially in Chicago) were playing soul-jazz or progressive jazz like Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Mcgriff, Richard “Groove” Holmes and Cannonball Adderley.
LikeLike
I liked this cut, and would give it a 5. I’m a Dave Hamilton and vibes fan. The Afro-Blues Quintet +1 is the best ever. I like that stuff as much as the best Temptations cut.
LikeLike
Also coming down the road in that time frame were the Latin jazz vibe sounds of Cal Tjader, followed shortly thereafter by the Latin salsa vibe sounds from the likes of the Joe Cuba Sextet, the New Swing sextet and others.
LikeLike
I would have been thrilled to find Dave’s Motown album “Blue Vibrations”. I’d even have paid full retail price for it (which I almost never did for almost any of my thousands of records). But, alas, I never saw it, even within Motown’s walls. The few that ever existed, probably ALL went to one of Detroit’s distributors, and sat there until they ALL got dumped to Woolworth, and then ended up going to Motown completists in Detroit in a 50¢ sale in late 1963.
LikeLike