The singles from early in Marvin Gaye's career are some of my very favourite recordings. Along with Smokey Robinson, he bridged the gap between the fifties and sixties, and pointed the way forward for Motown. Unlike many of the singers that became stars at the label, Gaye came to Motown an accomplished musician, originally as a session drummer, and having sung with the doo-wop group, the Moonglows. His charisma, and the fact that he could translate his rhythmic abilities to singing, soon put him in front of the band, where he remained for the rest of his great recording career.

The first song co-written by him to make the charts was 1962's "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", which might contain my choice for all-time best opening of a pop single (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmuDfPBTGDg). The string of r&b masterpieces that followed in the next few years included "Hitchhike", "Pride and Joy", "Can I Get a Witness", "You're a Wonderful One", "Baby Don't You Do It", "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar". They can all be heard on YouTube, but here are links to the last two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umuSuOlX1xg / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfpzePp5y8s. By the way, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" (linked above) features Gaye on piano and drums, and Martha and the Vandellas on backups.

It's no earth-shaker to say that Motown is the greatest pop and/or r&b record label. If you look at the list of artists they produced, and the number and variety of hit records they made, or more simply, if you listen to the quality of the writing, the arranging, the singing and the playing that these recordings contain, it's hard to find a candidate around which you could build an argument to the contrary. (I'll be writing about two that could be considered as challengers, Atlantic and Stax-Volt, in the days ahead.) No, the unbelievable success, both artistically and commercially, that the label achieved is a given; what has to be explored is how they did it and what the story can teach us.

A good place to start for anyone who wishes to do so is the film, Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002), which tells the story of the label from the perspective of the musicians. The central cast of whom were known as the Funk Brothers, accomplished jazz musicians playing in clubs around the Detroit area who were recruited by label founder Berry Gordy to form a session band which could record in a number of styles at a rapid rate, with a high level of quality and, perhaps most importantly, with the capability of making on-the-spot creative contributions to the songs. And the plan worked. Because of them, the interaction that is heard on the records is at a level much higher than that heard on any other pop or r&b recordings (right up to and including the present, to my ears). Their ability to process information and to play with rhythmic power as well as high degrees of sensitivity and subtlety came from their jazz backgrounds, where these qualities are expected.

A few days ago, I wrote that many of the best bands were racially integrated, which the Funk Brothers were as well, and proudly so. And yesterday, in writing about the Foundations, I mentioned that they were integrated in terms of both race and age. Motown could be considered as having gone even a further step, in a way, by integrating high-level jazz musicianship with equally excellent pop/r&b songwriting, singing and performing. The results sound like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz-UvQYAmbg.