The back story on Rock Steady
No doubt many of you are familiar with Criteria Recording Studios in Miami.
It was there that Aretha Franklin's classic album "Young Gifted & Black," was recorded
for Atlantic Records.
Jerry Wexler had assembled several of NY's finest musicians to accompany the Queen of Soul for these sessions.
Among them was guitarist Cornell Dupree and the dynamic rhythm combination of Bernard Purdie & Chuck Rainey.
Aretha was the piano player and Billy Preston played the Hammond B-3.
The musicians were assembled and sound checked by Gene Paul, who was the son of Les Paul, and served as Tom Dowd's
assistant engineer. Wexler & Dowd had yet to arrive, and to warm things up Aretha introduced some lyrics to the players and they
started to create the template for what was to become "Rock Steady." By the time the two Atlantic honchos arrived, the band had
created and recorded what today is known as the basic track for that classic.
After hearing the playback, Wexler thought of it as a demo that they were now going to cut as a master with his right hand man, Dowd at the board.
From my own experience I can honestly say that many times the first take or even the initial take to get recording levels of a song surpasses in spirit
the following attempts at creating the finished track. That was exactly the case with Rock Steady. After a number of tries It was decided that the track recorded
by the band & Aretha surpassed what the great producer & engineer could do to improve it..
