I thought this might be interesting to Motown fans who may have heard all the debates about whether any of the Motown hits were actually recorded in Hollywood and played by L.A. studio musicians and how early on these recordings were done. Here's a short article from Billboard magazine on November 16, 1964 found by a bassist in Switzerland-- you can click on the link to see the article as it actually looked in the magazine. It's on page 48.
http://books.google.ch/books?id=TgsE...pg=PA1&pg=PA48 <http://books.google.ch/books?id=TgsEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA48>
Nov. 16, 1964 Billboard Magazine, Page 48:
"MOTOWN OPENS COAST OFFICE
Hollywood: Detroit-based Motown Records has opened an office here to handle a.& r. and publishing activities. Marc Gordon and Hal Davis, two Los Angeles indie producers, have been signed to operate the branch.
Already signed to the label by Gordon and Davis are Brenda and Patrice Holloway, 17 and 12 years old respectively and a 17-year old Canadian singer Clive Clerk.
Besides uncovering New artists for Tamla-Motown, Gordon said he and Davis would record the label's other artists who would fly here for sessions. Already scheduled is an LP session with Little Stevie Wonder, whom Gordon has obtained a spot for in the forthcoming film "Muscle Beach Party."
Gordon said he would be looking for talent in other areas besides rock and roll. He further explained that he would represent Motown's two publishers Jobete (BMI) and Stein Vanstock (ASCAP). Both he and Davis would represent International Talent Management in procuring bookings for Motown artists in this region."
Notice Stevie Wonder being called by his original stage name then-Little Stevie Wonder. Boy, that was a long time ago.
Here are some of the L.A. studio musicians who played the L.A. Motown dates dates--
Hollywood Motown drummers included Jesse Sailes , Earl Palmer, Sharky Hall, Paul Humphrey, James Gadson, Ed Greene, Gene Pello, Hal Blaine, and a couple of others. Earl Palmer did the most Motown 1960s Hollywood dates, and the drummer from Detroit also flew out to record some.
Bass players were Arthur Wright (1st one for Motown), Carol Kaye, Rene Hall, others like Bob West, Red Callendar, Jimmy Bond, Lyle Ritz, Ray Pohlman, a total of 8-9 bass players they used in the 1960s (later on with the Jackson 5, Wilton Felder and Bob West played the same bass part on "ABC" hit)
Guitarists included Arthur Wright, Carol Kaye (first 2-3 motown dates, then bass after that), Bud Coleman, Rene Hall, Tommy Tedesco (he set the cash scale 2 tunes for $35 instead of 2 tunes for $25, they cut 2 tunes as fast as in a 1/2 hour) Don Peake, Billy Strange, Al Casey, Lou Morell, others.
Some may find it upsetting that Motown could have been recording hit records any place other than their famous studio in Detroit and that studio musicians from elsewhere played these sessions. But if you keep in mind how many hits Motown was cranking out in those days it's easy to see that that one studio couldn't have recorded them all, even going 24 hours a day and the Detroit musicians couldn't possibly have played that many dates. This is no way diminishes the well deserved reputations of the Detroit Motown session musicians. They did create that unique style themselves.
