On Saturday, June 2, 2007, the American Society of Music Arrangers and
Compsers hosted another of our landmark Master Class series at LA Valley
College with lessons and anecdotes from the legendary, Grammy Award-winner,
Paul Riser, the most prolific arranger from Motown's golden years.
From the movie, "Standing In The Shadows of Motown": "By the end of their
phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number
ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles
combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of
popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers." The arranger for
this phenomenal, unheralded group and the marvelous strings and horns that
accompanied them was Paul Riser, probably the most prolific arranger of hit
songs of all time.
As we all know, the "hit single" is one of the most elusive targets in music
and most people never have even one. Amazingly, Paul Riser has consistently
generated hit after hit for decades, with far too many to count. For the
baby-boom generation, Motown provided the soundtrack of their lives and one
of the chief architects was Paul Riser. The Motown Sound has influenced
music worldwide as much or more than Big Band or any other major genre of
music in the 20th century. Ask any Beatle or Rolling Stone you happen to
meet. Studies show that the Motown logo is as well-known around the world
as that of Coca-Cola and Paul Riser was one of the originators and chief
designers of the Motown Sound.
Among Riser's biggest hits as an arranger are, "My Girl" (The Temptations),
"Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" (The Temptations), for which he won a Grammy
Award, both versions of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" (Marvin
Gaye)(Gladys Knight & The Pips), "My Cherie Amour," (Stevie Wonder),
both versions of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Diana Ross) (Marvin Gaye &
Tammy Terrell), "If I Were Your Woman" (Gladys Knight & The Pips) and "Tears
of A Clown" (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles). He is also composer of "What
Becomes of The Brokenhearted" (Jimmy Ruffin). Away from Motown, his hits
include, "Never Too Much" (Luther Vandross), "Two Hearts" (Phil Collins) and
"I
Believe I Can Fly" (R. Kelly). His arrangements have graced recordings for
The Carpenters, Carly Simon, Quincy Jones, The Doobie Brothers, Tom Jones,
Natalie Cole, Pharoah Sanders, Kiki Dee, Johnny Mathis, Patti LaBelle,
Stephanie Mills, Anita Baker, Roberta Flack, Michael McDonald, Aretha
Franklin and a host of others. Paul Riser's work in film and television
include, "Mad About You," "Car Wash," "Bamboozled," "Space Jam," "Standing
In The Shadows Of Motown,"" Four Brothers," "Which Way Is Up" and "Mother,
Jugs and Speed."
Riser is enormously gifted, extraordinarily talented and a true hero of pop
music. Although he has worked quietly, outside of the public's eye, we don't
believe there's a person alive who hasn't been touched positively by the
music of Paul Riser. This Master Class featured eight landmark
arrangements, available on DVD, with both limited scores and the MP3s. Time
was devoted to his history, the history of his involvement in the pop
music scene, his take on artists, producers, arrangers, and musicians,
especially the Funk Brothers, including Benny Benjamin, Earl Van Dyke and
James Jamerson. Paul evaluated his method, how he approaches the work
and his process. He explained examples of his work, using scores and the
blackboard. He analyzed some of his most famous legendary works for
artists such as Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye,
the Four Tops and others. Paul discussed his compositions, such as,
"What Becomes of the Broken Hearted," how much he contributed to that song
and the hurdles he had to overcome to get it done; and discussed his take
on the current technology, his view on the future of commercial music, the
role of an arranger and how one gets a gig. Paul also described his
non-Motown works, such as R. Kelly's, "I Believe I Can Fly" and works for
Melissa Manchester, Phil Collins ("Two Hearts") and others. The Class
concluded with a Q & A Session.
