Stuff Biography
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In 1967, bass player Gordon Edwards, a New York session musician, formed a band he named the Encyclopedia Of Soul, drawing from like-minded musicians including Billy Cobham, Jimmy Johnson and David Sanborn. Frequent contact with one another and intersecting musical ideas led to the formation of Stuff. By 1975, the personnel had settled to Richard Tee (Richard Edward Tee, 24 November 1943, New York City, New York, USA, d. 21 July 1993, New York City, New York, USA; organ, electric and acoustic pianos), Eric Gale (b. 20 September 1938, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA, d. 25 May 1994, Baja California, Mexico) and Cornell Dupree (b. 19 December 1942, Fort Worth, Texas, USA; guitar), Edwards (bass), and Steve Gadd (b. Stephen K. Gadd, 4 September 1945, Rochester, New York, USA; drums), with Christopher Parker (percussion) as a frequent member. Like Edwards, all members were leading session musicians and individually and collectively, in various permutations, played on numerous recording sessions ranging through many aspects of contemporary pop, rock, soul and jazz. In 1976, Stuff attracted national attention when they backed Joe Cocker and John Belushi, singing ‘Feelin’ Alright’, on Saturday Night Live. In that same year, all but Parker were in Carla Bley’s band for Dinner Music. Among the many artists for whom they provided backing were George Benson, Ray Charles, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Dave Grusin, George Harrison, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, Spyro Gyra, Steely Dan, Grover Washington Jnr. , and Sadao Watanabe. Inevitably, in addition to backing others, they also played as a group in their own right and made some well-received albums in the second half of the 70s. Musically, the band drew inspiration from the musical forms favoured by those artists they had accompanied, and the result was a soulful mix that appealed to the jazz rock fusion and jazz funk audiences.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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