{"id":18648,"date":"2024-06-24T23:54:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T22:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=18648"},"modified":"2024-06-27T22:39:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T21:39:32","slug":"music-dr-strut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=18648","title":{"rendered":"MUSiC: Dr Strut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My entr\u00e9e<\/em> to the group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every now and again I get very passionate about an artist or group. One that I often think of very fondly, is the funky instrumental jazz fusion band, Dr Strut, out of L.A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My passion for this group is (so far at least) based solely on their 1979 eponymous debut, on Berry Gordy\u2019s Motown label. They were to be the star act on his newly launched Jazz Division of the famous label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know how or even on what format we had this album – was it a cassette, or vinyl? – but we had it. And I loved it. Still do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr Strut\u2026 but who\u2019s who?*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

* At the time of starting this post the only one I could confidently name was guitarist Tim Weston, at left, with specs. I\u2019ve subsequently discovered that the third in line, in the top row (or the fifth if you count them all as one row), also wearing glasses, is percussionist Everett Bryson. Is the guy to Tim Weston\u2019s lower left Claude Pepper? Hmmm\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it was due to looking into the provenance of the track \u2018Canadian Star\u2019 (more on that shortly) that I knew their guitarist was called Tim Weston, and that he had some sort of connection with Steely Dan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d also picked up that their drummer, Claude Pepper, would go on to run a successful L.A. based funk\u2019n\u2019soul covers type band, Jack Mack & The Heart Attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Dr Strut discography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having mentioned them a few times recently, I thought I\u2019d like to try and find out more about them. The first thing I dug up is the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Strut was formed in 1977. They were originally called “The Legendary Groovadelics” when Berry Gordy signed the band to Motown. Berry insisted on a name change and referred to them as “the flagship of the new jazz division”. The first two albums sold well (they placed high on the Billboard Jazz Charts). Most cuts were first or second takes with minimal overdubbing. The day before the band was to record the third album, Berry Gordy closed the jazz division of the label. Engineer Barney Perkins insisted that they record the album so they could shop it to American labels. Unfortunately, they found no takers. Due to the band’s popularity in Japan, Agharta\/Canyon agreed to release it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 which I found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further searching turned up the perhaps rather odd\/surprising fact that they were the backing band for Japanese singer, Miki Matsubara, on two of her albums, Cupid<\/em> (1981), and Myself<\/em> (1982).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The images above were culled from discogs.com. And aren\u2019t terrifically hi-res. But careful scrutiny of them and cross referencing with other Dr Strut album cover stuff (also off discogs.com) means I can now list the band members:<\/p>\n\n\n\n