Sunday, April 02, 2006

Jack Ashford Motown View From The Bottom

Following on from the last post on Popcorn Wylie, another artist who migrated to the West Coast with Motown's demise in Detroit was Jack Ashford.

The respected member of the Funk Brothers wrote a book about his musical life which was published by Bank House Books in 2003 called "Motown: A View From The Bottom". You can still pick up copies off Amazon Books and it contains some fascinating photos as well as interesting chapters on Jack's life on the road with Marvin Gaye and also his visits to Europe.

Jack Ashford produced a killer album of Detroit meets the West Coast in the shape of his 1976 "Hotel Sheets" which has a lot of the artists featured on Popcorn Wylie's "Extrasensory Perception". My favourite is the exceptional driving piece of soul "I'll Fly To Your Open Arms" which I am sure will eventually have its day on the UK dance floors!

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