By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 01:33 pm:
| By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 01:33 pm: |
Dennis continues to inspire much conversation.......
| By Carl Dixon London (195.153.219.170 - 195.153.219.170) on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 01:46 pm: |
Dennis - have you used the plectrums I gave you, when you were over here?? Were you playing with one of them with The Velvelettes when the string broke? I have been meaning to ask you for a while. If, so, do I owe you any compensation? By the way the 'Scorpio' 12" was great. Thanks again.
| By Dennis Coffey (205.188.196.29 - 205.188.196.29) on Tuesday, July 09, 2002 - 10:03 pm: |
Hi Carl. I was saving them until I got home. I think I broke one of them practicing. I had my guitar worked on by my guitar tech here so I hope I won't break any more strings. Of course if things get too funky, you never know.
Dennis
| By J Smith (194.42.250.98 - 194.42.250.98) on Monday, July 15, 2002 - 11:40 am: |
Dennis,
Can you remember much about the session(S) you arranged (played on?) at Tera Shirma that resulted in Spyder Turner's "Stand By Me" MGM album. Why were the hits off that session not followed up by further recordings on Spyder ???
| By Lynn Bruce (64.233.239.172 - 64.233.239.172) on Monday, July 15, 2002 - 09:13 pm: |
Dennis,It was nice to sit in with you at the Clawson.Not exactly a full setof drum,s but I really enjoyed it.Your solos are something else,I almost forgot to play,I was so engrosed watching your left hand.
Lynn
| By Dennis Coffey (152.163.189.129 - 152.163.189.129) on Monday, July 15, 2002 - 09:31 pm: |
Hi J. Smith. I just remember doing the sessions. I think Mike Theodore was there and Clay MacMurry. Either one may remember why there were no follow up recordings. I really don't know why.
Dennis
| By Dennis Coffey (152.163.189.129 - 152.163.189.129) on Monday, July 15, 2002 - 09:34 pm: |
Hi Lynn. It was good talking to you and playing with you. Thanks for the compliment.
Dennis
| By Caleb (63.61.181.189 - 63.61.181.189) on Tuesday, July 16, 2002 - 02:22 am: |
Dennis,I'm trying to find out who's playing drums on a tune off of the Jackson 5 christmas album.The tune is "Up on the Housetop",the drum introduction is phenomenal.Did you play on the album and do you know who the drummer was?Maybe Harry W. can bring some input to this as well.
| By Dennis Coffey (152.163.189.129 - 152.163.189.129) on Tuesday, July 16, 2002 - 09:40 pm: |
Hey Caleb. I'm not sure who played on the album. When I worked at Mowest, I played with most of the west coast drummers used by Motown at the time. I remember that drummers, Ed Green and James Gadson both did a lot of sessions there during that period.
Dennis
| By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 03:35 pm: |
Dennis,
Although I've had your book for a couple of weeks now, I finally sat down to begin reading it yesterday. Dennis, the only time I put it down was to go out for dinner. I came home and finished it. What a great story. I highly recommend this fine book to everyone. By the way Dennis...It was me that John Merlino confronted that day in the studio. He didn't put three bullets in the ceiling, only one. At least that's all I heard as I began figuring out the different ways I was going to kill him.
Thanks for a great read Dennis. Best of luck with this book.
| By John Lester (213.1.132.130 - 213.1.132.130) on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 07:30 pm: |
Well Ralph...if you had come to London you would have got a signed copy from Dennis AND been able to have your picture taken with me and the lads
| By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 08:00 pm: |
Wish I could have John, wish I could have.
However, my book IS signed.
| By Dennis Coffey (152.163.189.129 - 152.163.189.129) on Thursday, July 18, 2002 - 09:38 pm: |
Hi Ralph. Thanks for the compliments on my book. You were the first person to give Mike and me a chance to learn how to be producers when you gave us the key to Tera Shirma Studios. Those were the days! I forgot it was you who had the bullet shot into the studio ceiling.
For those of you who have been asking, the book (Guitars, Bars, and Motown Super Stars) can be ordered by sending an email to: Beecoolbooks@aol.com or sending a check for $40 US to Bee Cool Publishing (BCP) Ltd.
587A Kingston Road
London SW20 8SA
Please make checks payable to Bee Cool Ltd.
Thanks
Dennis
| By soulboy (213.105.242.198 - 213.105.242.198) on Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 06:04 pm: |
Hi Dennis
Looking through your book at list of songs you played on, i'd say you understated the amount of songs you played on.In particular two hits by the supremes (without diana ross)
Firstly "up the ladder to the roof" features a wah-wah guitar figure,along with a distortion type of sound that was characteristic of you on "cloud nine"
secondly "stoned love" that distortion sound again.
Did any of the other guy's use distortion/wah- wah or was this your 'trademark sound'?
| By Dennis Coffey (152.163.207.82 - 152.163.207.82) on Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 10:12 pm: |
Hi Soulboy. I was the Wah Wah Pedal, distortion box and special effects guy at Motown and other paying customers. (Wah Wah pedal, fuzz tone and distortion, Condor Unit, Echoplex, Electric Sitar, Phaser, Tonebender, etc. You name it, I had one. Later on Wah Wah Watson did Papa Was a Rolling Stone when I was on the Road promoting Scorpio (About 7 years ago, Wah Wah sent me a brand new pedal from LA and thanked me for showing him how to play one). I also played other guitar parts as needed. I called my discography in the book a Selected Discography because it is only about 35% of my work. The records listed were just the ones I could remember because of some session incident or special guitar effect or my own albums. I have been doing sessions since I was 15 so I know I have forgotten many. I would have to hear the records to see if I played on them. I used to collect all of the records I played on but I got so busy, I couldn't keep up so I stopped. Here in Detroit and LA, I was doing about 18 sessions a week when things got busy, which came out to about 50 songs per week.
Dennis
| By soulboy (213.105.242.198 - 213.105.242.198) on Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 10:45 pm: |
Dennis
I fully understand.Sometimes our quest for detail on this forum is a little unrealistic.Especially when you consider that we are talking about events that occured 30-40years ago.
| By Phil Reeves (195.93.33.171 - 195.93.33.171) on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 04:43 pm: |
Dennis
Great book!.
Nice to see Charles Kipps mentioned...i'm a Van McCoy fan...please pass on my appreciation of
the great songs Charles wrote/co-wrote etc especially on David Ruffin.
Phil
| By Dennis Coffey (152.163.201.52 - 152.163.201.52) on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 01:13 am: |
Hi Soulboy. I appreciate your interest. If I hear a record I can usually tell. I'm just amazed at how many things you folks know about the music! I think it's great and will always try and respond the best way I can.
Dennis
| By Dennis Coffey (152.163.201.52 - 152.163.201.52) on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 01:20 am: |
Hi Phil. Thanks for the compliments about my book. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Charles has been a friend of mine for many years. I also did some sessions for him and Van McCoy. I talk to Charles about once a month. He works for Bill Cosby in New York and is doing very well.
Dennis
| By john lester (213.1.132.55 - 213.1.132.55) on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 09:23 am: |
Dennis..
I wrote a message about Shorty Long's Here Comes The Judge but I can't see it.
Did you play on that song....if so, can you tell me (in layman's terms please) the part you played?
Judge Shorty on that song didn't sound to me like Shorty Long...was it?
| By Dennis Coffey (64.12.97.11 - 64.12.97.11) on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 01:04 pm: |
Hey John. I played on Here Comes the Judge but I would have to listen to the record to see what part it was. I don't have a copy of it. I remember seeing Shorty in the studio at Hitsville when we recorded his records and remember when he passed away in a tragic boating accident.
Dennis
| By thecount (64.152.154.153 - 64.152.154.153) on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 06:32 pm: |
Dennis,I'll bet you can play the hell out of the surf sound instrumentals,as you also were a big part of the insturmentals,and a insturmentalist yourself.Come on Dennis,lets hear "MISERLOU" WOW,listin to that Reverb. Steve "The Count"
| By Dennis Coffey (205.188.209.48 - 205.188.209.48) on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 09:36 pm: |
Hey Steve, all it takes is a lot of reverb and manual tremelo and the surfs up.
Dennis