Hit records can give a singer or band a musical signature that isn't really what their music is all about. Take Don Ho, who's known worldwide as the guy who sings "Tiny Bubbles" even though the song has nothing to do with the music that made him a Hawaiian musical icon. Or Bobby McFerrin, whose entire repertoire is summed up for pop chart fans by "Don't Worry Be Happy." Dazz Band shows it’s
By John Berger
not just about ultrafunkBobby Harris, founder and leader of the Dazz Band, says his group had a similar experience.
The Dazz Band reached No. 5 on the Hot 100 with "Let It Whip," had a couple of smaller pop chart hits with "Joystick" and "Let It Blow," and contributed several other progressive funk numbers to the repertoire of dance club deejays and scratch-mixers in the early '80s. But, as he explained during a phone call from the Los Angeles offices of Major Label Records, the Dazz Band got together to play jazz and always enjoyed writing and singing love songs.
"I like writing love songs more so than the up-tempo funk stuff. Ladies love ballads (and) people love ballads, and (as a band) we were able to sing four- or five-part harmonies as well as play our horns, so we could put our horns down and become a singing group. As a matter of fact, if we go to Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis (or) Cleveland, we still better do about four or five ballads."
Where: At Gussie L'Amour's, 3251 N. Nimitz Hwy. The Dazz Band
When: 8:30 p.m. tomorrow through Monday
Tickets: $10 advance pass is good for all three nights; $13 at the door; must be 21
Call: 836-7883
The Dazz Band comes to town for a weekend three-nighter at Gussie L'Amour's. The group first coalesced in Cleveland in the mid-1970s. Harris and guitarist Mike Calhoun were fans of jazz and progressive horn bands and worked to create a "danceable jazz" sound -- "dazz," for short. The group, originally named Kinsman Dazz, was signed by 20th Century Records in 1976 and reached "bubbling under" status on the Billboard Hot 100 with the song "I Might as Well Forget About Loving You."
Although peaking at No. 104 on the charts might not seem like much, the song got the group an offer from Motown. They signed with the label in 1980 and became the Dazz Band. For a while it looked like Motown had made a mistake.
The first Dazz Band album didn't make the Billboard Pop Album chart at all. The next stalled at No. 154. That made a successful third album a do-or-die situation for the Dazz Band. "Let It Whip" saved the day -- and the deal with Motown. The Dazz Band would be known thereafter and forever more as an ultrafunk band.
Harris, who had once envisioned a career as a serious jazz artist, is philosophical about how he ended up in the ultrafunk hall of fame.
"'Let It Whip' is in the book, and I won a Grammy for it (for Best Performance by an R&B Vocal Duo or Group), so all that's wonderful, but it's nothing I thought would happen. Another part of me looks back at being an individual (jazz) player going to New York -- I know that I would have had my destiny totally in my hands, whereas I had all the other guys in the band, I had management, I had the record label (involved). The more you spread out your vision, the less chance you have of it happening."
Harris certainly doesn't consider himself to be an "oldies act." He is one of the principals at Major League Records, and the Dazz Band recorded for the label earlier this year. Harris is also helping keep the original ultrafunk sound happening with United We Funk, a collective that includes the Dazz Band as well as musicians from the GAP Band, the S.O.S. Band and Con Funk Shun.
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