"Be Thankful For What You Got" a John Davis tune

[remicks]

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In the never ending quest to trace the roots of disco ..... and to connect the dots found therein ...I was excited to realize that William DeVaughn's classic "BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU GOT " was produced / arranged by John Davis. This came out in early 1974 so it pre-dates Marky's disco affirmation charts ....

BUT check out the disco players that appeared on this project: :D

William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got
Label: Roxbury Records
Catalog#: RLX 100
Format: LP
Country: US
Released: 1974
Genre: Electronic, Jazz
Style: Soul-Jazz, Disco
Credits: Producer - Frank Fioravanti , John Davis
Notes: Arranged and Conducted by John Davis.
Engineering and Mixing by Carl Paroulo.
Engineering and Mixing by Joe Tarsia on "Be Thankful For What You Got" only.

Special thanks to the following musicians:
Organ, Piano, Sax, Flute: John Davis
Clavinet and Piano: Jerry Cohen
Guitar: Pal Rakes, Bobbi Eli, and Norman Harris
Bass: Hugh McDonald, Rusty Jackman
Drums: Al Price, Earl Young
Percussion: Larry Washington
Vibes: Vince Montana
Strings and Horns: Don Renaldo
Background Vocals: Nadine Felder, Gwen Oliver

Smells like disco spirit to me !! :)

---- Was this John Davis and The Harris Machine's only shared project ??? :-? I wonder how it happened that this group came together for this album on such a small label ... (Roxbury).... .... and why was it the one and only one for William DeVaughn considering how successful it was ??? :-? :roll:

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[Disco Funk]

That certainly explains why A Touch Of Class' 'I'm In Heaven' has an identical arrangement to 'Be Thankful...', the Part 2's which contain drum/vibes capellas in their intros.

As for this being the only time John Davis and Norman Harris played together, I'm not sure. I thought there were two John Davis' in Philly. The one guy was the Monster Ochestra John Davis, and the other was a saxophonist for MFSB, and I thought he was black (a guy with glasses). Unless I looked at the photo credits incorrectly.

I don't know what happened to William DeVaughan after this track. I know he did a remake in the late 70's/early 80's.

As for all of these guys coming together on such a small label, you'd be surprised at how many Philly projects with such a lineup appeared on obscure labels. I think at this time they pretty much hung around Sigma Sound, so whoever wanted to cut a record used these guys.

Disco Funk