On Stage (Extra): Motown comes to Philly

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

The “Motown Sound” began in 1959 when Berry Gordy Jr. founded Tamla Records in Detroit, Michigan.

One year later, the record company was incorporated as the Motown Record Corporation with the name coming from “motor” and “town” — a reference to the city’s link to the auto manufacturing industry.

Over the years, the “Motown Sound” became one of the most important influences in the record industry.

With acts such as the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Four Tops, the Jackson Five and Marvin Gaye, Motown’s version of soul and rhythm-and-blues music created a crossover link that took the traditionally black R&B music to wider, more diverse audiences.

Now, there is a hit musical that is devoted to that sound and its development — “Motown the Musical.”

The popular show will visit Philadelphia for a two-week engagement from May 30-June 11 at the Academy of Music (Broad and Locust streets, Philadelphia, 215-731-3333, www.kimmelcenter.org), as part of the Kimmel Center‘s “Broadway Philadelphia” series.

Motown played a huge part in the racial integration of pop music as a conduit that brought inner city music to the suburbs and as an African American-owned record label which achieved crossover success.

The Motown sound became a major influence in all genres of American pop music. In the 1960s, Motown was in full stride.

The label, which was small in comparison to its West Coast and New York counterparts, placed 79 records in the Top Ten of the Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 record chart between 1960 and 1969.

Despite many ups and downs since then, the label is still alive and is now a subsidiary of Capitol Records.

Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, “Motown the Musical” is the true American dream story of Motown founder Berry Gordy’s journey from being a journeyman boxer to a top-level music mogul.

Chester Gregory plays the role of Berry Gordy, Jr. and David Kaverman performs in the key role of Smokey Robinson.

“We started in December with rehearsals in New York and then did a week of tech in Utica, New York,” said Kaverman, during a recent phone interview from a tour stop in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

“We’ve been on the road since January. We officially opened in L.A. Berry Gordy, Jr. and Smokey Robinson were in the audience so I was a little nervous. After the show, Smokey came backstage. He was complimentary and gave me a hug.”

Kaverman, a native of Lima, Ohio, is making his Equity and National Tour debuts with this tour, He is a graduate of Otterbein University and the Manhattan School of Music.

“I didn’t get a chance to see the show when it was on Broadway because I was working on a cruise ship at the time,” said Kaverman.

“After I got the role, I wanted to go watch it at the New York Performing arts Library at Lincoln Center but the director told me not to. He didn’t want me trying to copy what someone else had done. He wanted all of us to do our own thing while re-creating these legends.”

Featuring more than 40 classic hits such as “My Girl” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Motown the Musical” tells the story behind the hits as Ross, Robinson, Gordy and the whole Motown family fought against the odds to create the soundtrack of change in America. Motown broke down racial barriers and took listeners to a place where they all moved to the same beat.

“Motown music is now prevalent in everyone’s lives – TV shows, commercials, elevators – it’s everywhere,” said Kaverman. “So, I knew a lot of the music before I joined the cast.

“But, I didn’t know much about Smokey Robinson. I learned a lot about him as a musician – and as one of the major people in the Motown company.”

“Motown the Musical” is produced by Berry Gordy Jr. The arrangements and orchestrations are by Grammy and Tony Award nominee Ethan Popp (“Rock of Ages”) with co-orchestrations and additional arrangements by Tony Award nominee Bryan Crook(“Smash”) and dance arrangements by Zane Mark (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”).

“Motown really is American music,” said Kaverman. “It’s ingrained in our culture.”

Video link for “Motown the Musical” — https://youtu.be/QygMr7g1UBk.

Performances include are Tuesday through Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m.; Sunday evenings at 6:30 p.m.; and matinees Saturday at 2 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m. and June 8 at 1 p.m. Tickets range from $20-$132.

On the same night “Motown the Musical” starts its run in Philadelphia, a concert featuring a facet of today’s African-American music will take place at the World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com).

The concert features Miles Mosley, Cameron Graves and the rest of the members of West Coast Get Down. Mosley is a founding member and upright bass player for the acclaimed Los Angeles- based group, the West Coast Get Down (WCGD), a collaborative group of musicians born and raised in Los Angeles.

Apart, they are some of the most sought-after musicians in the world. Together, they are uninhibited innovators moving effortlessly through multiple genres of music.

They have added to their reputation by playing and recording with such as Kendrick Lamar, Lauryn Hill, Chaka Khan, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna and Korn.

West Coast Get Down’s major players are Miles Mosley (upright bass), Kamasi Washington (saxophone), Cameron Graves (piano), Ronald Bruner Jr. (drums), Stephen Bruner, a.k.a. Thundercat (bass), Ryan Porter (trombone), Brandon Coleman (keys), and Tony Austin (drums).

This winter, four members of that crew released solo albums of their own — most of them recorded in the same month-long stretch of communal recording sessions. The albums are Thundercat’s “Drunk,” Ronald Bruner Jr.’s “Triumph,” Cameron Graves’s “Planetary Prince” and Miles Mosley’s “Uprising.”

“We recorded 120 songs in one month,” said Graces, during a phone interview last week from a tour stop in Boston, Massachusetts.

“We did the whole thing at King Size Studio in the Echo Park section of L.A. It was organized by Miles Mobley. We had been playing at his club in Los Angeles.

“The session took place in December 2012 and the stuff is just coming out now. It took a long time to get labels interested in the music and convinced that it would be sellable. It also took time to get all the paperwork together.”

The members of WCGD have a long history together.

According to Mosley, “I was 14 when I met Tony, Kamasi, Cameron, Ronald and Stephen, we all grew up together. Kamasi and Cameron and I went to the same high school. We were really lucky to grow up in the ‘90s with Clinton as president and a lot of government funding going into music education programs.”

Graves said, “We all went to Hamilton High or Locke High in Los Angeles. I appreciate growing up in L.A. It’s pretty hardcore. But, it taught us how to be well-rounded people and how to speak through our instruments.”

At only 16-years-old, Graves, along with Washington and the Bruners, made his recorded debut with their collective group, the Young Jazz Giants. That band, which became the precursor to the WCGD, forged their telepathic interplay through years of weekly gigs at a local poetry hang called Doeboy’s Dozens, playing behind poets.
“I was 1996 or 1997 when we started playing at Doeboy’s Dozens in South Los Angeles,” said Graves. “That’s when we started getting into our groove.

“Then, we expanded to a 10-piece and started playing at Fifth Street Dick’s in Inglewood. In 2008, we did a weekly series – every Wednesday and Friday night – at the Piano Bar.

“That’s where we were able to work on songs and bond. And, we were able to get audience feedback. We spent so much time with those songs, we didn’t even need charts.

“We were learning from each other and creating that chemistry that we have today. The 10-piece collective has spread out but, at the same time, all of us are still together”
Video link for the West Coast Get Down –https://youtu.be/VkjZ1lRGtes.

The show at the World Café Live will get underway at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.