Carl Davis 1934 – 2012

By , August 12, 2012 11:32 am

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Carl Davis

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Clockwise from top left: Major Lance, Walter Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Billy Butler
Below: The Artistics

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Listen/Download Billy Butler – Right Track
Listen/Download Billy Butler – I’ll Bet You
Listen/Download Major Lance – Too Hot To Hold
Listen/Download Walter Jackson – Funny (Not Much)
Listen/Download Jackie Wilson – I Get the Sweetest Feeling
Listen/Download The Artistics – What Happened

Greetings all and welcome to another week here at the intersection of all things soulful.

It was near the end of last week that I heard that the great producer Carl Davis had passed away.

If you’re a fan and/or collector of classic Chicago soul, his is a name that looms large (and appears constantly at the bottom of 45 labels).

Davis was one of the first black A&R men and one of the most important producers involved in soul music during the 60s.

He produced countless classic sessions for the Okeh and Brunswick labels, both crucibles for the development of the Chicago “sound”.

While I would not classify myself as an expert on Chicago soul, I am without any shadow of a doubt a huge fan and devotee thereof.

Many of my favorite soul 45s came out of the Windy City, and Carl Davis was the producer on many of those.

Davis worked with a wide variety of performers, solo artists and groups, and his style was marked by the ability tomake records that were simultaneously lush and economical.

Few had Davis’s ability create records so full of life and dynamic range yet utterly uncluttered.

He could layer rhythm sections, horns, strings and vocals and still manage to have the various elements inhabit their own distinct spaces.

His productions were bright, exciting and sometimes even explosive.

Though Davis produced some of the biggest hit records to come out of Chicago, I’d like to feature a couple of lesser known killers as well.

Davis worked extensively with Major Lance and produced ‘Um Um Um Um Um’, but my fave Davis/Lance collab is ‘Too Hot To Hold’, which made it into the outer reaches of the R&B Top 40 in 1965. Check out the way the smoothness of the female backing vocals almost (but not quite) clash with the over-the-top-ness of the male voices, especially the ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’s.

Billy Butler has always been the connoiseur’s choice when it comes to Chitown soul singers. While never as successful as his older brother Jerry, he did manage to place four sides into the R&B Top 40 between 1965 and 1971.

‘Right Track’, from 1966 is rightly regarded as a soul anthem. It features a unstoppable arrangement that builds gradually, never overwhelming Butler’s vocals.

A year later, Butler would record one of the best versions of the oft covered George Clinton/Sidney Barnes/Theresa Lindsey classic ‘I’ll Bet You’. Whereas later versions (Funkadelic, Jackson 5) take the song at a slow, almost sinister tempo, Butler’s version moves along at a brisk pace, which made it a favorite on Northern Soul dance floors. The production is wonderful, but the recording of the drums especially is remarkable. Limited largely to the closed hi-hat and the snare (with occasional handclaps and congas) , Davis kept the drums high  in the mix, allowing them to drive the record without smothering the rest of the band.

It remains one of my favorite sides on Brunswick.

Davis also did a lot of work with balladeer Walter Jackson. Though he’s not as well remembered as many of his contemporaries, Jackson chocked up a significant number of R&B hits between 1964 and his untimely death in 1983.

I first heard ‘Funny (Not Much)’ some years ago on a comp, and promptly fell in love with it. I’m not surprised that the record – from 1966 – didn’t chart. The jazzy, supper club arrangement sounds about 10 years past its prime, but is undeniably beautiful. The arrangement is lush with strings, yet Davis lets the piano, guitar and vibes pop up into the mix just enough to lend the record an air of intimacy. Jackson’s voice is remarkable, yet just flawed enough to be interesting.

The best known record featured today is a longtime favorite, Jackie Wilson’s ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’. Grazing the R&B Top 10 (as well as the Pop Top 40) in the summer of 1968, ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is the biggest hit of the Davis productions on this list.

‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is two minutes and forty three seconds of absolute perfection. One of those soul records that is soulful yet almost pure pop, lush yet also danceable, and featuring one of Jackie Wilson’s finest vocals. ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is also an example of a perfectly produced side.

Davis brings in the vocals, strings, drums, backing vocals and horns, maintaining the perfect amount of space between them all, allowing Wilson’s voice to ride effortlessly atop the whole thing. The record is bright and open, without ever going over the top, restrained without ever making you think your missing something.

Like all of the finest records, the ultimate intersection of art and craft.

The final record I bring you is in many ways the most experimental, progressive 45 on this list.

The Artistics were around on the fringes of the Chicago scene, working as backing vocalists on Okeh sessions for Davis, eventually recording a handful of singles for the label.

They moved on to Brunswick in 1966 and hit the charts a few times over the next five years.

‘What Happened’ was released in 1967, and as I said when I first wrote about the record back in 2009, it is one of the finest examples of baroque, almost psychedelic touches working their way onto the soul palette. Davis (who produced with Eugene Record) brings in fuzz guitar, string quartet, organ and piano to lay down a foundation for the Artistics build their mighty harmonies on.

It never fails to amaze me that a record this good failed to chart.

Carl Davis went on to form the Dakar and Chi Sound labels, eventually working with – and making hits for – almost every major Chicago-based artist.

He was a master and he will be missed.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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