Dyke and the Blazers

Dyke and the Blazers was an American funk band led by Arlester Christian. The band was formed in 1965, and recorded up until Christian's death in 1971. Among their most successful records were the original version of "Funky Broadway" (1966) and "Let a Woman Be a Woman" (1969).

Dyke and the Blazers
Origin	Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Genres	R&B, funk
Years active	1965–1971
Labels	Artco, Original Sound
Associated acts	Carl LaRue and his Crew, The O'Jays, Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
Past members	Arlester "Dyke" Christian Alvester "Pig" Jacobs J.V. Hunt Bernard Williams Richard Cason Rodney Brown Alvin Battle Willie Earl Wardell "Baby Wayne" Peterson Otis Tolliver Ray Byrd Maurice "Little Mo" Jones

Career

Arlester Christian (June 13, 1943 – March 13, 1971), nicknamed "Dyke", was born (according to most sources) in Buffalo, New York.[1] He attended Burgard High School.[2] In 1960, he started playing bass in a Buffalo band, Carl LaRue and his Crew, who played local bars and clubs and released a single, "Please Don't Drive Me Away", on the KKC label in about 1963.[3][4] In 1964, LaRue was invited by Phoenix, Arizona disc jockey Eddie O'Jay to take his band to that city, to provide the backing for the vocal group that he managed there, The O'Jays. By 1965, however, the O'Jays and their manager had moved elsewhere, and LaRue's band fell apart. LaRue returned to Buffalo, but Christian and two other members of the band, guitarist Alvester "Pig" Jacobs and saxophonist J.V. Hunt, had no means of traveling and stayed in Phoenix.[3][1] They joined forces with an existing Phoenix group, The Three Blazers, who included tenor saxophonist Bernard Williams,[4] and, as "Dyke and the Blazers", added local musicians Rich Cason (organ) and Rodney Brown (drums).[5] Playing in local clubs, the group picked up on the rhythms, bass and organ innovations of James Brown's band, and through improvisation developed a riff-based song that became "Funky Broadway", the lyrics reflecting singer Dyke's memories of Broadway in Buffalo as well as Broadway Road in Phoenix.[3]

In summer 1966, the band were heard by Art Barrett, who became their manager and had them record the song at the Audio Recorders Studio in Phoenix. Barrett released the record on his own Artco label,[6] with Christian credited as its writer although other band members later claimed that they had contributed to the song. It became popular locally, and was reissued by Art Laboe's Original Sound label in Los Angeles.[3] The record steadily climbed the Billboard R&B chart early in 1967, reaching no. 17 in a 24-week stay on the chart, and also reached no. 65 on the pop chart.[7] The record was the first to use the word "funky" in its title, and for that reason was banned by some radio stations as offensive.[3] Its music was described by Rick James as "revolutionary", and Dyke developed a dance routine to go with it. The band added bass player Alvin Battle, freeing Dyke to concentrate on vocals, and toured widely on the back of its success. However, in the summer of 1967, the stresses of playing a series of engagements at the Apollo Theater in Harlem caused the band to split up, shortly before Wilson Pickett had a bigger hit with his own cover version of "Funky Broadway".[3] Pickett's recording reached no. 1 on the R&B chart and no. 8 on the pop chart.[8]

Dyke returned to Buffalo, and put together a new touring band, including Willie Earl (drums - previously a member of Carl LaRue's band), Wardell "Baby Wayne" Peterson (second drummer), Otis Tolliver (bass), Ray Byrd (keyboards), and Maurice "Little Mo" Jones (trumpet). However, the touring band gradually disintegrated in 1968 and 69.[3] After 1968, Christian made Dyke and the Blazers records with a variety of Los Angeles studio musicians later known as the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, which included drummer James Gadson, who also performed with Charles Wright and Bill Withers, guitarists Al McKay and Roland Bautista, who later became members of Earth, Wind & Fire, and bassists James Smith and Melvin Dunlap.[9] The resulting records, including "We Got More Soul" (no. 7 R&B, no. 35 pop) and "Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man" (no. 4 R&B, no. 36 pop), were among his biggest hits.[7] Most of the singles resulted from lengthy jam sessions that were edited down to fit the format of 45 rpm records.[1][10] Dyke and the Blazers continued to have less sizeable hits into 1970, with a style described by critic Richie Unterberger as "gut-bucket funk... with scratchy guitar riffs, greasy organ, hoarse vocals, and jazzy horns".[1]

Death of Arlester Christian

Christian was preparing for a tour of England and for recording with Barry White when he was fatally shot on a Phoenix street, on March 13, 1971, at the age of 27. According to reports at the time, the killing may have been related to drug dealing,[11] although a coroner's report showed no alcohol or narcotics in his system. However on April 22, 1971 Jet Magazine quoted Phoenix detective Eloy Ysasi as saying, "Dyke was a drug addict and had so many tracks on his arms you couldn't believe it."[12] The shooting, by Clarence Daniels, was considered self-defense.[3][13] Christian's body was returned to Buffalo for burial.[14]

Legacy

Dyke and the Blazers were inducted to the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame.[5]

The song "Let a Woman Be a Woman" has been sampled by the hip-hop performer Tupac Shakur for his song "If my Homie Calls", and the band Stetsasonic for their song "Sally", and English indie rockers The Heavy for their own "How You Like Me Now?". "Let a Woman Be a Woman" was also featured in the film Friends with Benefits. The musician Prince refers to "Let a Woman Be a Woman" in his song "Gett Off".

According to the notes accompanying a recent DVD release of Mad Monster Party?, they allegedly recorded "The Mummy", voicing the animated skeletal rock band Little Tibia and the Fibias, although the song in the film does not sound much like any Dyke and the Blazers recordings and no credits exist to confirm this assumption.[15]

Compilations of Dyke and The Blazers recordings have been issued on CD by Kent Records and Ace Records.[10]

Discography

Chart singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions
		US Pop[16]	US R&B[17]
1967	"Funky Broadway - Part 1"	65	17
	"So Sharp"	130	41
1968	"Funky Walk Part 1 (East)"	67	22
1969	"We Got More Soul"	35	7
	"Let a Woman Be a Woman"	36	4
1970	"Uhh"	118	20
	"You Are My Sunshine"	121	30
	"Runaway People"	119	32

Albums

• Funky Broadway (1966)
• Dyke & The Blazers Greatest Hits (1968 compilation)
• So Sharp (1983 compilation)
• The Funky Broadway (1999 compilation)
• We Got More Soul (2007 compilation)

Further reading

• Segalstad, Eric (2008). The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll. Samadhi Creations. ISBN 978-0-615-18964-2.
• Vincent, Rickey (1996). Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-13499-1.

References

1. Richie Unterberger. "Dyke & the Blazers". AllMusic.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-16. Retrieved 2013-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Elmer Ploetz, Buffalo's Soul Men, The Buffalo News, August 11, 1991". Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
4. "dyke".
5. "AMEHOF - DYKE AND THE BLAZERS".
6. Label shot of Artco release
7. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995. Record Research. p. 126.
8. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995. Record Research. p. 349.
9. Interview with James Gadson in Jim Payne, The Great Drummers of R&B Funk & Soul, Mel Bay Publications, 2006, p.127
10. "Dyke And The Blazers, review by Alec Palao at Ace Records". Archived from the original on 2011-10-15. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
11. "Jet". Johnson Publishing Company. 22 April 1971.
12. Higgins, Chester (22 Apr 1971). "WHAT's AHEAD FOR BLACKS IN MUSIC?". Jet Magazine. 40 (4): 62. ISSN 0021-5996 ISSN 0021-5996 Check |issn= value (help).
13. Simmonds, Jeremy (2012). The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613744789.
14. "Arlester "Dyke" Christian (1943 - 1971) - Find A Grave Memorial".
15. Scott Thill (1 October 2008). "October Rocks: Who is Little Tibia and the Fibias?". WIRED.
16. Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 178. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
17. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995. Record Research. p. 105.