- Dale Warren
-
Dale Warren Birth name Dale Ossman Warren Born c. 1940
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.Died c. 1994 Genres R&B, soul, classical Occupations Arranger, songwriter, record producer Instruments Violin Years active 1961–1990s Labels Motown
Shrine
StaxAssociated acts Isaac Hayes
24-Carat BlackDale Ossman Warren (c.1940 - 1994) was an American musician, who was best known for his work as an arranger for Motown Records in the early 1960s, and later for the Stax label where he worked with Isaac Hayes among many others. He was also primarily responsible for writing, arranging and producing the influential 1973 funk concept album Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth by 24-Carat Black.
Life and career
He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was the nephew of Berry Gordy's second wife, Raynoma, often known as "Miss Ray". He was an accomplished conservatory-trained violinist, and in 1961 was recruited by his aunt to work as a strings arranger for Motown Records. There, he worked with The Supremes, among others, and also worked in the early 1960s as a freelance arranger with other Detroit record labels.[1][2] He arranged Bettye LaVette's "Let Me Down Easy", released on the Calla label in 1965.[3] Also in 1965, he began working in Washington DC as an arranger for Shrine Records, a company established by Raynoma Gordy and her then husband, songwriter Eddie Singleton.[2][4]
After the Shrine label folded in the late 1960s, Warren worked as an arranger at Stax Records, composing scores for such musicians as Billy Eckstine, Eddie Floyd, Isaac Hayes, the Bar-Kays, Albert King, and the Staple Singers.[5] He orchestrated Isaac Hayes' version of "Walk On By" on his classic 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul, and was also responsible for the arrangements on Hayes' follow-up albums, The Isaac Hayes Movement and ...To Be Continued the following year.[1][6] In 1972, Warren was featured as a composer and conductor at the Wattstax concert, leading the "Wattstax '72 Orchestra" and writing the extended instrumental piece that opened the event, "Salvation Symphony".[1][7]
Around this time, Warren met and took under his wing a young soul group from Cincinnati, Ohio, The Ditalians. He persuaded them to change their name to 24-Carat Black, and wrote and produced their only original recording, the late 1973 concept album Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth. The band's line-up was Larry Austin (bass); Tyrone Steels (percussion); Jerome Derrickson (saxophone); Ricky Foster (trumpet); James Talbert (electric piano); William Talbert (organ); and Princess Hearn, Kathleen Dent, and Valerie Malone (vocals).[8] The album spotlighted the hardships of life in the inner city, and is divided into eight "synopses" each of which focuses on a different aspect of poverty.[1][5][9] It received little attention at the time, but one later reviewer has commented:
"Recorded under Warren's micro-direction with a bunch of teenagers at a time when prog rock bands were the only ones conceiving such a magnum opus, the album struggled to find its place in the market. It was too challenging for an audience looking to escape to the good times of Philadelphia or drink from the joyous wellspring of Motown. Today it stands the test of time as a deep and musically astounding meditation on the black experience in the Seventies."[8]
Although Warren recorded other tracks with 24-Carat Black, they were unreleased for many years, and he left Stax in 1974, shortly before the company's financial collapse. The group's lead singer Princess Hearn married Warren.[10] He took responsibility for his only film score in 1974, for The Klansman, a movie starring Richard Burton, Lee Marvin and O.J. Simpson.[1]
Reportedly, Warren suffered from various personal problems, including alcoholism, that made him unreliable. He later worked as a classical musician and instrumentalist in Los Angeles, before moving to Atlanta, Georgia.[11] In the early 1990s he worked with a band called Rain On Monday, whose recordings went unreleased.[12] He suffered from financial as well as health problems, and is reported to have died in 1994.[6][11]
Legacy
Starting in the early 1990s, Warren's recordings - particularly Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth - became used as a source of breakbeats, by Eric B (on "In The Ghetto" in 1990), Dr. Dre (on "Nas Is Coming"), Jay Z (on "Can I Live Pt 2"), Digable Planets (on "Cool Like Dat"), Naughty by Nature (for "Poverty's Paradise"), and others.[1][6][13][14]
Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth was reissued on CD in 1995.[5] Recordings which Warren had made with 24-Carat Black in 1973-1974, largely comprising orchestrated versions of love songs he had reportedly written in the mid-1960s, were stored by keyboardist, engineer, and protoge' to Dale Warren, Bruce Thompson and were released on CD in 2009 under the title Gone: The Promises of Yesterday.[15][16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Biography by Bruce Eder at Allmusic.com
- ^ a b Dale Warren at SoulfulDetroit.com
- ^ Bettye Lavette website: biography
- ^ Andy Rix, Shrine - The Full and first issue story, SoulSource.co.uk
- ^ a b c "Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth" at FunkMySoul.gr
- ^ a b c 24-Carat Black at nerdtorious.com
- ^ Rob Bowman, Soulsville, U.S.A.: the story of Stax Records, p.269
- ^ a b 24-Carat Black at StraightNoChaser.co.uk
- ^ Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth at emusic.com
- ^ 24 Carat Black at Numero blog site
- ^ a b 24-Carat Black at Binkis Park blog
- ^ Atlanta Professional Musicians: Rob Alex
- ^ 24-Carat Black at hiphopisread.com
- ^ 24-Carat Black at MilkcrateBreaks
- ^ Gone: The Promises Of Yesterday at Aquarius Records
- ^ Gone: The Promises of Yesterday at Discogs.com
Categories:- American music arrangers
- Musicians from Detroit, Michigan
- Year of birth uncertain
- 1994 deaths
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