Don’t forget the motor city

Revisiting the album output of Detroit’s great singles label.

Jim Irvin

ELEMENTAL, A boutique reissues label founded in Barcelona in 2012, mostly focusing on jazz, with numerous Blue Note reissues plus an excellent series of Brazilian albums (Jorge Ben, Caetano Veloso, Marcus Valle etc), is now, following a successful experiment for Record Store Day 2022, turning to the album output of Motown, lining up 29 titles into 2025. Of course, a lot of Motown players had jazz backgrounds – Earl Van Dyke had an LP on Blue Note, Benny Benjamin drummed in big bands, Joe Messina played with Charlie Parker and Stan Getz, James Jamerson played double bass in small groups. Motown offered sanctuary, and cash, just as jazz’s mainstream appeal was fading, requiring a skilled player’s ability to manage groove, swing and dynamics, cradle a vocal or spotlight a hook.…

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MOJO (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2024

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