The Salsoul Orchestra was the backing band of session musicians for many acts on the New York City label Salsoul Records and, under its own name, recorded several hit singles and albums between 1975 and 1982.
History
The orchestra was formed in 1974 and was disbanded in 1982. Their music featured elements of
Philadelphia soul
Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...
,
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
,
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and
disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
. The Salsoul Orchestra included up to 50 members and was created and masterminded for Salsoul Records by Philadelphia musician Vincent Montana, Jr. Montana wrote, arranged, conducted, produced and played on all of the orchestra's tracks until 1978, including a gold-selling Christmas album.
The Salsoul Orchestra initially consisted of many of the original members of
Philadelphia International
Philadelphia International Records was an American record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1971 by songwriting and production duo Gamble and Huff, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, along with their longtime collaborator ...
's
MFSB
MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom ...
, who had moved to Salsoul as the result of a disagreement with producers
Kenny Gamble
Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as P ...
and
Leon Huff
Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as P ...
over finances. Other members began performing as the Ritchie Family and as
John Davis and the Monster Orchestra
John Davis and the Monster Orchestra were an American disco band, noted for their lead member (John "the Monster" Davis), who lent his name to the band as well as producing all of their output.
History
The ensemble released its first album, ...
. Many large disco orchestras became popular at around the same time, including Philly's MFSB. Some may say that there were many similarities between the Salsoul Orchestra and MFSB, with whom Vincent Montana also worked. However, the Salsoul Orchestra was more of a string-based sound while MFSB was a bit more
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
in nature with five saxophones, which to Montana never sounded quite right and which he omitted from Salsoul's lineup with the exception of the baritone sax. The orchestra's biggest chart singles were 1976's reworked version of the standard "
Tangerine
The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...
" (pop #18, R&B #36) and "Nice 'N' Naasty" (R&B #20, pop #30) later in the same year.
When Montana left Salsoul, the orchestra recorded a final album at
Sigma Sound Studios
Sigma Sound Studios was an American independent recording studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1968 by recording engineer Joseph Tarsia. Located at 212 North 12th Street in Philadelphia, Sigma Sound is closely associated with Philade ...
in Philadelphia mainly with producer Bunny Sigler. The orchestra's last three albums were recorded in New York City with local session players and producers, including Patrick Adams and Tom Moulton.
The orchestra's track "Love Break (Ooh I Love It)" has been sampled in rap songs such as
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
's " Vogue" used samples of the track, the inclusion of which was later the subject of a lawsuit that ended in Madonna's favor.
From December 24, 1977, to 1986, the song "Salsoul 3001" (whose intro sequence is based on
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
' "
Also sprach Zarathustra
, Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by German composer Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's 1883–1885 philosophical work of the same name.What? Where? When?''
The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...
The Wrecking Crew (music)
The Wrecking Crew, also known as the Clique and the First Call Gang, was a loose collective of American session musicians based in Los Angeles who played on many studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The ...