Funk Brother - Dennis Coffey
Since, I decided to take my guitar seriously, a couple of months ago, I have been listening to all the music that has been a major part of my life.
There are all the obvious guitar legends from blues, soul and funk who stood out front and got all the plaudits, and then there are those studio artists who were so important to the music, who were not in the forefront, they were just credited on the album covers in small print.
One of the most influential musicians in my life, has to be Dennis Coffey. Guitar: Dennis Coffey, was a credit I came across on a lot of my albums.
When I was around 11 years old, my father bought a stack of second hand soul albums, from a guy in Stanley Meat Market, where he worked, back in Liverpool.
He brought them home and gave them to me and I took them upstairs in my bedroom and spun that vinyl on an old Dansette record player.
I was hooked. Especially, on a group called The Temptations. I bought all their albums, Cloud Nine, Puzzle People, Psychedelic Shack, the list goes on, but that will do to be going on with.
Around 1968, a producer called Norman Whitfield wanted to bring in a new sound when producing the Temptations albums, and from the session musicians at Motown, The Funk Brothers, Whitfield heard Dennis Coffey with his “Wah Wah” pedal, that was the sound he wanted.
If you listen to those three albums mentioned above, in particular, you can hear Dennis Coffey’s influence on the Motown sound.
Only those who lived through the sixties, will now the feeling of change at that time, the Civil Rights movement and the struggles against prejudice, racism and injustice.
The music of the time was a big part of that, Norman Whitfield in particular, was a very political influence, listen to Slave, Message from a Black Man, Don’t Let the Joneses Get You Down, Cloud Nine, War, these are all social statements, that influenced a generation; they said something to me, made me think about those issues.
Dennis, also played on many other classic soul hits (as he was not solely contracted to Motown) these are a few that are in my all time favourites list:
“Who’s Making Love” Johnny Taylor, Hang on in There Baby” Johnny Bristol, “Give Me Just a Little More Time” Chairman of the Board, “In the Rain” The Dramatics, “Still Waters Run Deep” The Four Tops, “Don’t Knock My Love” Wilson Pickett, “If I was Your Woman” Gladys Knight, Dennis, also played that Sitar on “Band of Gold” by Freda Payne. The list is endless.
Many rap artists were not slow to sample Dennis’s solo projects either check out this list:
People who have sampled Dennis Coffey tracks
Here is a Youtube video of Dennis playing a jazz improvisation of “Just My Imagination”
Dennis, has a wonderful website where you can check out his discography:
You can also see Dennis Coffey on a site called freep.com. Freep.com has a dedicated video library of clips about Motown and clip 18 “Hot Licks” is Dennis Coffey talking about the sessions.
Here is an interview with Dennis
Dennis Coffey, thank you for your influence on the music I love. A true, guitar great.
