Richie Rome comments on rap

[remicks]

*****

Here is an interesting Philadelphia International read focusing on cello player Larry Gold :


http://citypaper.net/articles/2003-08-07/cover.shtml


some excerpts :


Pick up a Billboard chart from 2003. Christina Aguilera's Stripped, Vivian Green's A Love Story, Kelly Clarkson's Thankful, Musiq's Juslisen, Justin Timberlake's Justified. Grab one from 2000. Boyz II Men's Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya, The Roots' Things Fall Apart, Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun, Common's Like Water for Chocolate, Jill Scott's Who Is Jill Scott?.

The 1970s? Every record from Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International catalog, its Thom Bell productions and MFSB players.

One man has been in the center -- as producer, composer, arranger, studio owner, player -- of Philadelphia's black music revolution, one stretching from roots in '60s soul to today's neo-soul. That man is Larry Gold: a white, Jewish, Curtis Institute prodigy from Frankford



Gold was the cellist in MFSB's string section, creating the lush background to the sophisticated soul sound of Gamble & Huff. His cello can be heard on every record from The Salsoul Orchestra, Vince Montana Jr.'s Philly-based unit that put the "la" in Latin disco. He started arranging -- for Teddy Pendergrass and McFadden & Whitehead at Sigma Sound Studios -- and never stopped.

"Back Stabbers' by the O'Jays is the first thing I remember being monumental," says Gold. "The moment when we became a force. I think we got that name -- Mother Father Sister Brother, whatever -- because we were a force, like a family. We sounded like a family. Also, we were that acronym: mother ****** son of a bitch."
:lol:

The man is too busy for reminiscing. One interview is cut short so he can run to Manhattan to arrange strings in a secret session for Janet Jackson. Bubba Sparxxx and Timbaland also needed strings that week. While Gold chats in The Studio's swank billiard room, Andre Harris is dropping tape with Glenn Lewis.



Here he is, putting strings on rap," says Richie Rome, a Gold collaborator from way back. "I don't get rap. There's no harmonization. No song. It's nothing but a pure unadulterated beat that drives you crazy. For Larry to put strings on it is like putting cologne on a goat. :P But Larry does a great job of it."

*****

[Disco Funk]

Great to see Richie Rome is still around nowadays to get a quote in a recent magazine article!

Not to defend the corporate singers that Gold has been putting strings on, but they aren't actually all rap artists (at least the names the article listed). I agree with the sentiment about enhancing rap today with live musicians. If this was 25 years ago, it wouldn't be so strange to put on some strings on a rap track, as they were played by live musicians.

MFSB started off as The Family, and released the North Bay single 'Family Affair' b/w 'Nation Time'. But their roots go even further back to The Delfonics 'La La Means I Love You' and Cliff Nobles 'The Horse'.

Disco Funk