Ashford, Jack (18th May 1934-Present)

He is a percussionist and composer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who sometimes goes by the nickname Jashford.

When he was in his twenties he became a member of the Funk Brothers who were the studio band for Motown Records. During his time with them from the 1960s to the first years of the 1970s he performed on countless hit records, often as the tambourine player but also on various other percussive instruments.

Some of these hits include “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye, “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston, “Nowhere to Run” by Martha & The Vandellas, “Ooh Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, “War” by Edwin Starr and “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” by The Temptations along with many others.

His reputation preceded him to the point that countless other artists within and away from Motown clamoured after his performances on their recordings. Just a few of these acts include Johnny Bristol, Bobby Brown, The Dramatics, Yvonne Fair, Fantastic Four, Funkadelic, Kenny Gamble, The Isley Brothers, The Jackson Five, Michael Jackson, Eddie Kendricks, Chaka Khan, Aaron Neville, New Edition, The O’Jays, The Originals, The Osmonds, Ray Parker Jr., Parliament, Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Ruffin, Sam & Dave, Boz Scaggs, The Spinners, Dusty Springfield, Stargard, Donna Summer, Syreeta, Johnny Taylor, Tammi Terrell, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Undisputed Truth, Luther Vandross, Junior Walker, Mary Wells, The Whispers, Barry White, Deniece Williams, Lenny Williams, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder and many more.

He composed music for the soundtrack of 1978’s Blackjack.

The 1980s saw him stepping into the world of production where he worked on the music linked with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, familiarly known as P-funk but this was not anywhere as successful as his work in previous years.

As you can imagine, he has appeared on more album recordings than can be mentioned here but a small selection of them include his own Hotel Sheet along with Bittersweet by Lamont Dozier, Nature Planned It by The Four Tops, 20^th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection by The Funk Brothers, What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye, Crazy for You by Earl Klugh, Ultimate Collection by Gladys Knight & The Pips, That’s What Friends are For by Johnny Mathis, Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom by Rose Royce, Baby It’s Me by Diana Ross, David – The Unreleased Album by David Ruffin, Thunder in My Heart by Leo Sayer, Early Seger, Vol. 1 by Bob Seger, Best Of by Candi Staton, Sky’s the Limit by The Temptations, Roads of Life by Bobby Womack and the soundtracks of Animal House.

He appears on the documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown which discusses his work with the Funk Brothers. A further documentary has been made which concentrates on Jack and is entitled Mr. Tambourine Man. He has also published the book Motown: A View from the Bottom.

Recognised for his contribution to music he has several gold records to his name, won two Grammy Awards and been given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Recently he has been performing on an international tour with his own band of 13 musicians and singers where they perform previous Motown Hits with the original arrangements and sound.

Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb /Robin Gibb )
S CBS 6164B (UK 45)

Sources:

Ashford, Jack (18th May 1934-Present)

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