If you followed the soul scene in the ’70s and early ’80s,
\nyou’re aware that the duo of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were to
\ntheir scene what the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland were to Motown
\nin the ’60s. Working with such groups as The O’Jays, Teddy
\nPendergrass and others, the songwriting team of Gamble and Huff
\nseemed to be unstoppable. Only when the freight train seemed to
\nslow down a bit did Huff dare to take the step of trying his hand
\nat a solo album – meaning without the help of Gamble or the
\narrangers who had helped to shape hits for Philadelphia
\nInternational.<\/p>\n
That disc,
\nHere To Create Music<\/i>, was not the success that one might
\nhave expected, but it has turned into not only a cult hit, but also
\na highly prized collectible. Now, for the first time, the album has
\nbeen released on CD, presenting a side to the hit-making machine of
\nPhiladelphia International that you might not have expected.<\/p>\n
With rare exception, the music on this disc is mostly
\ninstrumental; any vocals used (as on “Your Body Won’t Move, If You
\nCan’t Feel The Groove” or “I Ain’t Jivin’, I’m Jammin'”) are
\nsecondary to the keyboard work from Huff and the grooves that he
\nstrives to lay down in each track.<\/p>\n
If the r&b and soul community would forgive me, one could
\nalmost see
\nHere To Create Music<\/i> as the birth of smooth jazz. The focus
\nof the music is on the groove; the spotlight shines brighter on
\nHuff’s keyboard work. There is not a concentrated effort to create
\nmusic that easily fits into the sound that made Philadelphia
\nInternational so famous in the ’70s – and that could be the reason
\nwhy this album didn’t sell that well in 1980. Quite possibly, the
\nrecord-buying public wasn’t ready for this new innovation.<\/p>\n
And while it takes some time to get into this disc (it can’t
\ntake too much, since the album clocks in at just over 35 minutes
\nfor eight songs),
\nHere To Create Music<\/i> turns out to be a pleasant surprise.
\nTracks like “No Greater Love” (featuring the harmonica work of
\nStevie Wonder), “Tasty” and the ballad-like “This One’s For Us” all
\nshow not only Huff’s talents on the keyboard, but his ability to
\nwrite a song that moves both the heart and the mind.<\/p>\n
Like I suggested before, sometimes the vocals tend to get in the
\nway of the grooves. The all-star cast on “Your Body Won’t Move, If
\nYou Can’t Feel The Groove” (featuring Eddie Levert and Walter
\nWilliams of The O’Jays, Pendergrass, The Jones Girls and Gene
\nMcFadden & John Whitehead) almost creates the illusion that
\nsome killer vocal is about to be laid down by Huff – and, sadly,
\nthat never happens. It almost would have been better to have let
\nthe melody run where it chose, and have let it lead the listener to
\nits own unique place. The same goes for “Tight Money” – but at
\nleast with “I Ain’t Jivin’, I’m Jammin'”, the vocals don’t come in
\nuntil near the end.<\/p>\n
\nHere To Create Music<\/i> seemingly continues to plow its own
\npath, especially with the album closer “Latin Spirit,” featuring a
\ngroove I haven’t heard since the glory days of War. It’s sad that
\nthe album ends at this point, ’cause that’s when I was really
\nstarting to get into the grooves that Huff was spinning; another 15
\nminutes’ worth would have been all I’d have asked for.<\/p>\n
Huff’s only solo venture remains a watermark album to this day,
\neven if many people haven’t had the blessing to have heard it. Now
\nthat it’s on CD,
\nHere To Create Music<\/i> is readily available for everyone to
\ndiscover – and if you choose not to, that’s your loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7565],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39370","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-leon-huff","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39370"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}