Headline:
Ink Spot's harmonies exquisite as ever (See below for entire story) |
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| "Is that the Cleveland Ink Spots, the Chicago Ink Spots or the
Wyoming Ink Spots?" joked a colleague, upon hearing that the venerable black harmony
band is booked until September 23 into Copperfields, a cozy dining room on 100th Avenue
and 106th Street. It's a germaine question considering the long and complicated history of the band whose first hit was If I Didn't Care, back in 1936. The short answer: This is not a bunch of fly-by-night impostors, but the last sanctioned group of Ink Spots, the leader of whom has been performing under the name for 29 years. However, the long answer begins with the fact that all the original members are now deceased. Baritone ray Richardson began playing with the Ink Spots in 1960, after stints with New Jersey's Embers and a "short minute with the Drifters. He's the leader of the current Ink Spots and he knows the whole story behind the band. "When the first of the originals died (Orville Jones in 1944), the other three didn't get along. "He'd been holding the group together. "So they went to court and the judge decided that any one of the three could use the name. "So that's what they did and that's why you saw Ink Spots in several cities between 1954 and 1960. "I played with Charlie Fuqua, he;s the one that invented the Ink Spot vamp (a signature guitar introduction). "We played basically Canada, because we knew there wouldn't be other Ink Spots bands here." Fuqua died in 1971. By this time the originals outfits had folded. Even Fuqua's group was discovered that the emergence of rock'n'roll made it difficult to book a harmony group. But the band had five months of work lined up at the International Hotel in Winnipeg, and after a wildly successful run there, it decided to keep on playing. Indeed, the band returned there for four on five months, each of the next 17 years. They even bought second homes in Winnipeg and played border states and Canadian provinces when not in Manitoba. In 1987, the Inn's manager took a job in Hecla Island , a resort 120 kilometers north of Winnipeg, and that's where The Ink Spots have been ensconced for the past two summers. There's no big secret to their success, says Ray Richardson, whose colleagues include Jimmy Mills on lead, Ricky Day on organ and Doyle Jones on guitar for his show. (Drummer Al Williams and saxophonist George Kelly are added for bigger venues.) "it's basic harmony, like a regular quartet. However, the original Ink Spots had 55 major hits. "In that era, they were bigger than the Beatles. "They played for the Queen, were on postage stamps. "it was also the first band that had talking parts. It happened by accident. One day a band member forgot the melody and talked the lines. They told him to keep it in. "And then there was the vamp. It's intro to all the Ink Spots songs, although it's played in different keys." In addition, about 10 years ago Ray Richardson and his mellifluous cohorts began to mix in a lot of other material, from The Mills brother's hits to fabulous arrangements of tunes that originated with Bob Segner and Stevie Wonder. "With the Ink Spots, they get the chance to do all types of music: rock'n'roll, jazz, blues, country and western, spirituals." That sort of ability makes one wonder why the group's recording has been limited to five nostalgia albums released on Quality Records, with the last produced two years ago. "Well, right now, in the afternoons, we're rehearsing some stuff we want to put out, without putting our name on it. That way we can do up-to-date stuff that's not so laid back." But you'll likely recognize it as the work of the masters. Opening night, despite an equipment glitch, the Ink Spot's harmonies are
exquisite." |
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© 2001Ray Richardson's Ink Spots ™ and Exploreto.com. |
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