Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 2 July 2019
College music department resurrects long-lost funk music

By KRISTEN DE GROOT Marc Offenbach, a music
Associated Press industry veteran who now
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Back teaches at the university.
in the summer of 2005, His students developed a
Drexel University's Music In- marketing plan and a so-
dustry program got a very cial media strategy. Work-
curious phone call. ing with Vinyl Me, Please,
On the line was the owner which is a record subscrip-
of a storage facility in Phila- tion service, the students
delphia, wondering if the were able to produce the
school would be interested album on vinyl as well as
in thousands of music stu- digitally, lending a 1970s-
dio tapes, seemingly aban- era authenticity to the
doned in a unit for which no project. They pressed 5,000
rent had been collected in albums, which he said sold
a long time. out.
The man said the tapes all "The greatest lesson is that
had the same labels on the we are actually making a
side: Sigma Sound Studio. profit," he said. "Just loving
For aficionados of Phila- the band doesn't work. It's
delphia funk, that's a fa- a business."
mous name. In the 1960s So far, students and Seay
and 1970s, Sigma Sound In this May 8, 2019 photo shown is a reel from from a Nat Turner Rebellion recording session at the have listened to and digi-
helped create "The Sound Sigma Sound Studio, at Drexel University in Philadelphia. tized only about 10 percent
of Philadelphia" — the Associated Press of the music in the collec-
funky soul sound charac- tion.
terized by lush instrumental while getting together his after an 1831 slave revolt. Philly Groove Records. Res- "The students there are
arrangements often featur- 1974 "Young Americans" Fast forward eight years, ervoir's Faith Newman dis- probably not even aware
ing strings and horns. The album; tracks from Teddy and the band's unreleased covered more Nat Turner of the significance of what
studio churned out hits like Pendergrass, Sly Stone, album "Laugh to Keep From Rebellion tapes. The follow- they are doing," said Dave
The Trammps' "Disco Infer- Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight Crying" was released in ing year, Newman tracked Moore, a music historian
no" and The Three Degrees' and Stevie Wonder. As March on Drexel's student- down Jefferson on Face- and Philadelphia soul ex-
"When Will I See You Again." Seay and students slogged run MAD Dragon Records book and got his permis- pert who co-authored
Many Gamble and Huff hits through the collection, label — some 50 years af- sion to move forward with "There's That Beat! Guide
were recorded there, in- working to digitize it, there ter it was recorded. A New an album, Seay said. She to the Philly Sound" with
cluding The O'Jays' "Love was always the lingering York Times review calls it collaborated with Drexel to Jason Thornton. "But they
Train." possibility of discovering "a greeting across eras ... assemble it. should have our grateful
No one knew the specific unheard and unreleased vintage socially conscious, "I wanted to put something thanks for what they do in
items in the stash, but Drex- gems. Seay came upon tambourine-shaking funk." out commercially that was ensuring this music can be
el's music industry program just that in 2011, when he From 1969 to 1972, the Nat viable, and that's where preserved and enjoyed for
definitely wanted it, said pulled a tape named "Nat Turner Rebellion recorded the archives come in," said generations to come."q
Professor Toby Seay, proj- Turner Rebellion" off the for Philly Groove Records,
ect director of the univer- shelf. which released a few sin-
sity's audio archives. "The song was called gles, and opened for the
"The thought was if there 'Tribute to a Slave' and it chart-topping Delfonics.
are 7,000 tapes coming blew me away," he said The band, led by Joseph
from the Sigma collection, of the 1969 recording that Jefferson, broke up after
there's gotta be good stuff packed power, politics what Jefferson described
in there," he said. and Philly funk and soul. He to the Philadelphia Inquirer
Good stuff indeed. A reel filed it away and made a as a spat with band mem-
from David Bowie's record- note to keep an eye out for ber Bill Spratley, who he
ing sessions at the studio more of the band named said pulled a gun on him
during an argument over
money.
Afterward, Jefferson went
on to write a string of hits
for other bands, including
"One of a Kind (Love Affair)"
for the Spinners.
"There was not a thought
in my mind that this could
have happened," Jefferson
told the newspaper after
the Nat Turner album's re-
lease. "This is what I wanted.
Just the recognition for this."
At 75, he's the last surviving
member of the group. In this May 8, 2019 photo Marc Offenbach Assistant Teaching
In this May 8, 2019 photo shown is a reel from Stevie Wonder's It wasn't exactly simple get- Professor, Music Industry at Drexel University poses for a portrait
recording sessions at the Sigma Sound Studio, at Drexel Univer- ting the album together. with music studio tapes from the Sigma Sound Studio collection,
sity in Philadelphia. In 2012, Reservoir Media in Philadelphia.
Associated Press Management acquired Associated Press