Quote of the Day (John Oates, on the Origin of ‘Philly Soul’)

“Philadelphia was the first major city north of the Mason-Dixon Line, and the first place that many African-Americans settled in. They brought their experience from the deep south, and it combined with the Anglo-Saxon, classical tradition from Europe that was already in the city. So that is how you come to get that sound, of these lush string accompaniments playing alongside an incredible rhythmic groove, which is the soul of the music.”—Singer-songwriter John Oates, quoted in Peter Aspden, “The Making of Philly Soul,” The Financial Times, Oct. 14-15, 2017

Peter Aspden’s interview with John Oates and musical partner Daryl Hall allows those two genre-benders to speak, articulately and passionately, about the whole arc of their careers, including, as here, their formative influences. But I wish the article could have explored in greater depth the producers and musicians who made such an indelible contribution to the music of the 1970s.

So, I’ll take up the task, in a list that is probably woefully incomplete: Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, Thom Bell, the Spinners, the Stylistics, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the O’Jays, Lou Rawls, Jerry Butler, Phyllis Hyman, Patti Labelle, and Billy Paul (whose “Me and Mrs. Jones” was covered by Hall and Oates in a barn-burner of a live performance in 2003).

(John Oates is pictured right with Daryl Hall, in this photo taken and pasted on Flicker by Gary Harris, Oct. 1, 2008.)