. . ~g 1or a broken doll the year us from developing into real artists, their hand on the exit , "while I had went on sta ge (1909). "Did you instead of being performing ob­ to go on dragging the play around ." y break your doll?" Mary jects." So now she would like - just ts to know. "It wasn't my doll speaking theoretically - something all," says the common-sense SHE HAS played Queen Victoria, litt le, but choice. : Hayes. "It was the photogra­ Helen Hayes Harriet Beecher Stowe, Amanda in "If some really superb Juliet 's. Every little girl had to pose ... no star p art s "The Glass Menagerie," Mrs. An­ came along I'd like to do the Nurse. I it." trobus in "The Skin of Our Teeth," l started out reading her role once 1e is a realist. When she talks Viola in "Twelfth Night". . . but, in a tour with Maurice Evans, but "authentic" an actress as she might oh, the parts she never got to play, 1t her long career it's largely have wished, not in the 1920s, he made me switch to Jul iet, which 1t the things that didn't satisfy because of the long-run system. was a bad mistake. Const ance in when she was playing deb parts, "I was in Denmark once, and that kept her from being as but in the 1930s and 1940s, when 'King John' is a great role. Queen t h e y wanted nle to meet Katherine in 'Henry VIII.;' the irging on N ational Charts • • 1am1 uts ut a u ""-'oun Cont inued from IH distinct keyboard rhythms to Miami ' timore and the smoky mainstay of ehind TK since he decided to in 1970, and to TK in 1972. The hit Freddie Scott and the Kinfo lk dur ­ ch out from distribution (Tone was his first release there, was fol­ ing their early-60s days at the Cast ­ ibutors) to recording. Stone, lowed by some obscurity and then aways and other local . nightspots, white-haired but still a jive- by "You're the Song I Always the sou lful balladeer is now just La­ r. has the roots. In the '40s ROCK Wanted to Sing" and "Sexy timore. But the voice and his key­ '50s he worked with companies Woman," both solid R&B numbers. board work are still R&B chartstop­ Deluxe, and R&B names like Meanwhile, Thomas keeps adding pers, "Let's Straighten 1t Out" :harms, Otis Williams and Roy h!s keyboards - and songs - to being the most recent. Latimore's ·n. Now at the top of the orga­ his colleagues' records, including blues roots seem deeper than most ion. Stone is still in daily "red-neck soul brothers" who lead works by Little Beaver, George Mc­ of the Miami crowd's and the re­ 1with what goes on musically. the n i n e -man Sunshine Band, crae and Betty Wright. sult, on his solo efforts, has been a ts Stone who came back from wrote, produced and arranged the narrower accept ance. But among sou l fans - and the disco audience g "Jaws," decided there was a Grammy-nominated George Mccrae • Bet ty Wright. The "Clean-Up there, and put together the Woman" (after her '62 hit, which that has gone for his "Keep the 1ight single, "Super Jaws," hit of last year, "Rock Your Baby ." led to four Cashbox awards and a Home Fires Burning" - he is has just eaten its way onto the The band is now back in town after Grammy nomination) had her first prominent . Some of bis better work >ard soul chart (No. 86 in its an English tour, riding the crest of hit when she was only 18, years appe ars on instrumental tracks of 1dweek.) "Get Down Tonight," the infec­ after she had first begun to record. records by Little Beaver, Gwen Mc­ tiously rhythmic and happy disco Wright's energy surplus yields an Crae and Betty Wright. ' THE bottom of the corporate hit that n1ade the crossover from intense, sexy voice and ·a soulful­ nid is the nest of talent that the soul to the pop charts. Casey strut stage act, and keeps her at the e Little Beaver (Willie Hale). aused critics and fans around and Finch had both kicked around head of TK's roster, nipping at the Hale has had his nickname since his iuntry - and overseas, partic­ the TK offices, answering phones heels of Aretha Franklin. The ad­ youthful, bucktoothed days. And , in Great Britain - to hail and sweeping up, for months before vice-to-the-ladies singles "Clean ­ he's been a blues-guitar stylist of ound of "funka nova," "Flori­ getting a chance to make mus ic. Up," "Babysitter," "Secretary" and local note for nearly as long. Since nk." or what old Atlantic hand One of the early results was a sin­ the recent "Shoorah! Shoorah! arriving in Miami with a B.B. King Wexler once called "swamp gle, "Queen of Clubs," that made and the disco favorite "Where Is tour when Beaver was 18, he's been :." 'fhe blend, whatever you the English Top 10 late last year. the Love?" have 1nade it without a part of the Miam i soul scene, and , seems to be held together by Their English following has been the heavy orchestrat ion that comes was most recently hailed for the 'family affair" style of the kept interested by loping, goodtirne out of Philadelphia these days . guita r tr ack on Betty . Wright's i artists. While the produc­ numbers like "Blow Your Funky Wr ight is a star in her own right, "Clean-Up." B eave r has h ad ne soul of Motown and the Whistle" (which also made Ameri­ yet her voice provides background a regional hit, the sultry "Joey,'' I-rooted Memphis blues have can charts) and "Sound Your vocals for Timmy Thomas, Gwen and is now waiting for the disco­ way to the '70s Ph.iladelphia Funky Horn." Casey has written for Mccrae and Little Beaver . cum-Latin-funk sound of "Party I, with its super-strings and Betty Wright and Timmy Thomas, Down,'' released late last year, to • · urban. echoes, all three idi­ and his keyboards, as well as • George ~nd Gwen Mcc rae. If catch hold. It's not a likely pop­ ;eem to have slipped increas- Finch's percussion and bass lines, there were ever any doubts that a chart smash, but the veteran Bea­ into predictable, taking-no­ turn up on background tracks for Miami sound was gaining national ver's guitar licks are consistent es grooves. George and Gwen Mccrae, Betty ground, the two single hits by hus­ h i g h points on recordings by Wright and other locals. Timmy Thomas, Gwen McCrae, La­ Miami Sound has no such band-and-wife George and Gwen drowned them in million-selling timore and the rest. :ms yet. One afternoon last • Ti mmy Thomas. Some people at TK, Timmy Thomas, Steve records. George's "Rock Yo u r There are, of course, more art­ like to credit Thomas with at least Baby" (the Casey and Finch cre­ ists, of varying but generally com­ o, songwriter Clarence Reid co-founding the Miami Sound with I. W. Casey and Rick Finch ation) had barely Jost steam when mercial stature, involved in Miami's his haunting 1973 hit, "Why Can't Gwen's "Rockin' Chair" began sound: J ackie Moore, just signed to latter two of K.C.) talked We Live Together?" Thomas, who the reasons . Where the older climbing charts everywhere. The TK; the Cornelius Brothers and Sis­ is something of a one-man band story of the McCrae careers, which ter Rose of fame a few years back; >igger soul companies came ("Together" was recorded in 15 y to rely on the same group were nearly abandoned for more the new, all-worr.an group Fire; an­ minutes with organ and vocal prosaic livelihoods before George other group, Miami; Jimmy (Bo) ;sion men for their artists' tracks laid down by Thomas in one rounds and production, the broke out with his hit, is local leg­ Horne; and everybody's inspiration, take), has a music degree as well as end. Now, with both McCraes off Clarence Reid, are just a sampling. group keeps it spare and a masters in administrative studies, musicians who have become taping television appearances and ''It's a combination of all the tal­ and takes his songs seriously. He doing concerts, the two singers are ents," says Alaimo. "Not always, in their own right into the believes in the lyrics, which carry recorded by their company certified headliners in separate but often it just happens to work . 11ates. Jiving-in-harmony and peace-among­ acts. But their records still draw Everybody tries for each other. the-races themes, and · has made a great chunks of music from Lati­ "And with the talent - and the result, on most decent rec­ bit of n1usical history with a tour more, Thomas, Little Beaver and ,y Miami artists, is a kind of songs - they've GOT to be better of South Africa that propelled him most of the Miami group - and than somebody's rhythm section." super session." Consider the onto bolh black and white charts George still had time for a little pool: He's right. The Miami Sound there. Once a session man at $tax • vocal jamming with K.C. at a ' re­ often doesn't make it out of Miami. in Memphis, Thomas · backed the cent free concert on Key Biscayne. But when it does, it sails far <.C.and the Sunshine Band. Mar-Keys and Isaac Hayes in the and Finch, J;he two white, enough to make Miami a soulful '60s. He brought his gritty wail and e Laeimore. Formerly Benny La· word. ~

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