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Standing
in the Shadows of Motown, 2002, 116 minutes, Rated PG
By Carla Robinson
Studio
musicians are known for holding it down while the vocalists they
back get all the credit. Although David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks
put the T in Temptations, it was guys like the late, great guitarist
Robert White who made the group's music so tempting. White is the
session player whose splendid opening to "My Girl" is the
reason people all over the world can name that tune in two or three
notes.
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With nicknames like Pistol, Chunk of Funk, Soupbone,
Papa Zita, Chank, and Bongo, the thirteen musicians who comprised
Motown's infamous Funk Brothers delivered the signature Motown sound
from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. But it wasn't until Marvin
Gaye's "What's Going On?" LP (1970) that any of these
musicians were actually credited on any Motown recording.
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Standing in the Shadows of Motown, a
documentary and performance film inspired by Allan Slutsky's
enlightening book on the life of one departed Funk Brother, bassist
James Jamerson (titled Standing
in the Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist
James Jamerson), is an attempt to give the
Funk Brothers the due they so richly deserve.
Narrated by Andre' Braugher and written by Ntozake
Shange and Walter Dallas, the film includes tributes to the Funk
Brothers; new renditions of Motown classics with the Funk Brothers
backing vocalists like Chaka Khan, Gerald Levert, Joan Osborne, Ben
Harper, and Meshell Ndegeocello; and dramatizations of Funk Brother
anecdotes. All these parts add up to a very entertaining whole, but
none compare to the segments during which the Funk Brothers sit and
recount their Motown experiences.
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Listening to their stories, two
prominent truths emerge: one, late Motown drummer Benny Benjamin
(a.k.a. Papa Zita, the man who gave the Funk Brothers their name)
didn't nickname Berry Gordy "The Fuehrer" for nothing and,
two, that Hitsville owes as much to the Funk Brothers' talent and
creativity as it does to Smokey Robinson's songwriting.
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Although their monetary compensation was
minimal, Motown held the Funk Brothers to long hours seven days a week
and a strict exclusive contract. At one point, Motown recruited Funk
Brother Johnny Griffith (who died right before the film opened) to spy
on his band mates and tell who was moonlighting. Griffith agreed, but
only for the $100 weekly payoff he was offered. It wasn't long before
Gordy realized that Griffith wasn't providing any real information and
ended the deal.
Ultimately, it is the Funk Brothers' unique brand of loyalty and
kinship that make Standing in the Shadows so intimate and worthwhile.
It is their reverence for the music they created together that makes
it so touching. Paul Riser, who produced some of Motown's biggest
hits, feels the band members have reason to be proud. "Arrangers
would come in and just have a general idea of our concept," he
says in the film. "And we'd leave them with the masters."
May the Funk Brothers be further recognized as the masters they are as
their names finally go down in Motown history.
M
May 2003
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