Thom Bell

2022, Tribute

Writer, Producer. Orchestrator. Arranger. Player, Singer. Conductor. Genius. Thom Bell wore all the hats. As one of the Mighty Three masterminds of the Philly Sound, Bell would apply his classical training and golden ear to take Soul music to a new level of sophistication and grace. As a songwriter in partnership with lyricist Linda Creed, he penned many of the most memorable songs of the 70s, from “Betcha By Golly Wow” to “You Are Everything.” He earned a Grammy for Best Producer of the Year in 1974 and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. We all strive for perfection in our work. But history will remember Thom Bell as one of the few who never settled for less.

Lamont Dozier

2022, Tribute

In the sandwich known as “Holland/Dozier/Holland,” Lamont Dozier was the meat in the middle. He started writing songs down on grocery bags at the kitchen table as a child and essentially never stopped. After dropping out of school at sixteen to pursue a singing career, Dozier was hired at twenty by Berry Gordy to write for Motown Records. In partnership with the Holland brothers, Brian and Eddie, Dozier would post more than 80 Top 40 hits over a nine-year span launching The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and many other Motown acts into superstardom. Though he always yearned to sing his own songs, Lamont Dozier can rest easy knowing that so do the rest of us.

Rocco Prestia

2020, Tribute

“He was a horrible guitar player.” So said Rocco Prestia’s closest friend and bandmate, Emilio Castillo. After a music teacher persuaded Prestia to switch to bass, he and Castillo would go on to form the jazz-funk juggernaut known as Tower of Power, and the rest is music history.

David Muse

2022, Tribute

If there is such a thing as a hardcore soft rock superstar, David Muse would be the prototype. Over the span of five decades, multi-instrumentalist Muse would leave his mark on three gold and two platinum albums, most prominently as a member of Firefall and The Marshall Tucker Band. As a saxman, flautist and keyboard player, Muse also carried on a successful solo career, performing and recording instrumental jazz, and was featured on more than 25 recordings. Until cancer took him from us in August 2022, in his own gentle way, David Muse was a force to be reckoned with.

Duffy Jackson

2021, Tribute

Duffy Jackson was the son of jazz double-bassist and band leader Chubby Jackson. As a child, he played drums, making appearances with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich before he finished high school. In 1971 he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked with Monty Alexander, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Lena Horne, Milt Jackson and Barney Kessel.

Charnett Moffett

2022, Tribute

What do Ellis, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Jordan, Arturo Sandoval, David Sanborn, Dianne Reeves, Harry Connick, Jr., Herbie Hancock, Kenny Kirkland, Kevin Eubanks, Anita Baker and Tony Williams have in common? One very uncommon bass player. In a lifetime that lasted just 54 years, Charnett Moffett laid the foundation for hundreds of the most important jazz recordings of all time. Renowned for the depth of his tone and the height of his creative imagination, Charnett Moffett might be remembered as the most heard player most people never heard of.

James Mtume

2022, Tribute

James Mtume was born into jazz royalty and grew up at the intersection of Rhythm and Blues. Philadelphia producer and percussionist James Mtume was the son of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and raised by his stepfather, pianist James Forman. After serving his apprenticeship under the likes of Miles Davis and McCoy Tyner, Mtume struck under his own name with a series of successful jazz-funk and R&B records in the 70s.