Legendary Interviews
Hubert Laws
Internationally renowned flutist Hubert Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm-and-blues genres; moving effortlessly from one repertory to another. He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, with the orchestras of Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Cleveland, Amsterdam, Japan, Detroit and with the Stanford String Quartet. He has given annual performances at Carnegie Hall, and has performed sold out performances in the Hollywood Bowl with fellow flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and was a member of the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras. In addition, he has appeared at the Montreux, Playboy, and Kool Jazz festivals; he performed with the Modern Jazz Quartet at the Hollywood Bowl in 1982 and with the Detroit Symphony in 1994. His recordings have won three Grammy nominations.
Bobby Smith - Of The Spinners
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The Bobby Smith-led "I'll Be Around", their first top ten hit, was actually the B-side of their first Atlantic single, "How Could I Let You Get Away". Radio airplay for the B-side led Atlantic to flip the single over, with "I'll Be Around" hitting #3 and "How Could I Let You Get Away" reaching #77. "I'll Be Around" was also The Spinners' 1st million- selling hit single.[2]
The 1973 follow-up singles "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" (led by Smith), "One of a Kind (Love Affair)" (led by Wynne), and "Ghetto Child" (led by Wynne) cemented the group's reputation, as well as further that of Bell, a noted Philly soul producer.
Following their Atlantic successes, Motown also issued a "Best of the Spinners" LP which featured selections from their Motown/V.I.P. recordings. They also remixed and reissued the 1970 B-side "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" as a 1973 A-side. In the midst of their Atlantic hits, it crawled to number #91 US.
The group's 1974 follow-up album, Mighty Love, featured three Top 20 hits, "I'm Coming Home," "Love Don't Love Nobody," and the title track. Their biggest hit of the year, however, was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick, "Then Came You" (led by Smith and Warwick), which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming each act's first chart-topping 'Pop' hit. The song also reached the Top 3 of Billboard's R&B and Easy Listening charts.
The Spinners hit the Top 10 twice in the next two years with the Smith-led "They Just Can't Stop It the (Games People Play)" (Billboard #5) and the Wynne-led "The Rubberband Man" (Billboard #2). "Games People Play" featured guest vocalist Barbara Ingram (though producer Bell disputed this in a UK based interview, claiming Barbara's line was actually group member Henry Fambrough – his voice sped up[3]) and led to a nickname of "12:45" for bass singer Jackson, after his signature vocal line on the song.
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Wayne Henderson - Of The Jazz Crusaders
Wayne Henderson's trombone teamed up with Wilton Felder's tenor in the Jazz Crusaders to give the group its own trademark sound.
A fine soloist who later in his career chose to become an R & B producer instead, Henderson first played regularly with Felder, Joe Sample and Stix Hooper in Houston in the mid-'50s.
By the time they moved to Los Angeles and started recording in 1961 they were known as the Jazz Crusaders.
After many records for Pacific Jazz, the group in 1971 changed their name to the Crusaders.
With Henderson's decision to quit the band in 1975, the Crusaders lost a great deal of their originality.
In 1977, Henderson released 'Big Daddy's Place', which contained the much sought after 'I'm Saying Forever' and 'Daddy Bug'.
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