Tuesday, February 9, 2010

A Motown Medley

History is a crucial part of music. All of today’s music comes from a long history of development and sonic art. Last weekend we had the opportunity to work with the MTSU Record’s (www.mtsurecords.com) class to pay tribute to one of the great eras of modern music: Motown. The class is shooting a documentary of Detroit’s famed record company, and as a part of that documentary, we made a trip to Michigan to see the Motown museum and record a medley of Motown hits with some of Detroit’s top players.

Though we arrived late (a long story involving two flat tires, a tow truck, an assortment of state troopers, and an hour at the Walmart tire center), the majority of the group received a tour of the Motown museum by Musician’s Hall of Fame member and renowned Motown string arranger, Paul Riser.

The medley, a conglomeration of ten Motown hits juxtaposed by the class’ instructor, Dick Williams, was recorded at Studio A (www.studioarecording.com), one of the area’s best recording facilities and the studio where I used to work while living in Detroit. The musician’s were top-notch: Louis Resto, keyboardist for Eminem, 50 Cent, and others; Donnie Lyle, the musical director for R. Kelly; Dave McMurray, saxophonist for Kid Rock; Ray Burton, bass player for the Spinners; and Ron Otis, drummer for Earl Klugh. It was truly an honor to sit on the other side of the glass from such phenomenal musicians.

MTSU graduate student Adam Price is leading the project with help from cinematographer Dacosta Jenkins. It will feature vocal performances by Jason Lane, Christina Adams, and Charles Collins, all undergrad students in the class. The rest of the recording will take place in the college’s recording studios and engineered by students.

It is exciting to see the development of this medley and documentary and the hard work the students put into them. The end result will undoubtedly be a quality production. I’m proud to be a part of this documentary helping to preserve the history of the Motown story.

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