BennyS I D E M E N Benjamin Áíían “Dr.Licks” Siutsky

a y 27, 1964: i t ’ s a W e d n e s d a y a f t e r - into the storage room in the back and come out with noon at Motowris converted garage an old snare with a busted head, some drumsticks studio on 2648 W est Grand B oule­ with no tips, and a high hat with some cracked cym­ vard in Detroit. Cutting tracks for the bals. He’d just turn the snare over to the other side, MTemptations is producer Norman Whitfield - turn the sticks around to the fat end and he’d count it young, ambitious, confident - a protégé o f company off - ‘One, two, three, lets go/’ And he’d play the hell head Berry Gordy. But Whitfield is nothing without out of that half-assed setup and make a hit.” a hit, and he badly needs one. Looking for an unde­ Supporting Askey’s claim is Benny’s legacy of niable intro, he focuses his attention on the far cor­ recorded masterpieces: the youthful innocence ner of the room, where master drummer William and spirit of “Shop Around” and “Too Many Fish in “Benny” Benjamin is poised behind an acoustic baf­ the Sea.” The simplicity and elegance of “My Girl” fle waiting for the count-off. and “Ooo Baby Baby.” His trademark power and Whitfield ends up with much more than he bar­ insistent drive on “Going to a Go-Go,” “You Can’t gained for. Benny kicks off “G irl (W hy You W anna Hurry Love,” “Bernadette,” “I Can’t Help M yself” Make Me Blue)” with a fill that’s nothing short of and “Get Ready.” Benjamin’s combination of musical arson. Machine-gun-precise eighth-note finesse and fire places him in the rarefied company triplets travel around the snare and tom-toms like of Hal Blaine, Earl Palmer, A 1 Jackson Jr. and other napalm. The entire band catches fire. world-class drummers of his era. It was the groove of a lifetime for As celebrated as his playing and Whitfield. Yet this display of musical eccentric antics is the origin of his virtuosity was just another day at the nickname, Papa Zita. Bandleader and office for Benny. He was the creator of keyboardist Earl Van Dyke once ex­ the renowned Motown drumbeat and plained, “Benny was bom in Alabama was hands down the most beloved [in 1925], but he tried to buffalo every­ musician within the chart-busting one into believing that he was from Hitsville U.S.A. studio band known as Bimini in the Bahamas. He talked that the Funk Brothers. island shit all the time.” Having worked on Berry Gordy’s earliest produc­ Motown’s recording schedule became a runaway tions in 19*58, Benjamin continued through Motown’s freight train, with sessions around the clock. Neither mid-Sixties Detroit-era glory years. His deft brush- equipment breakdowns, personnel changes, nor even work, Latin-influenced beats and explosive drum fills the Detroit race riots of July 1967 could interrupt the are heard on thousands of sessions that define the flow of hits. But the production line ground to an Motown Sound. With a big-band and jazz background abmpt halt on April 20,1969, the day Benjamin’s hero­ honed in the fertile Detroit club scene of the Fifties, in addiction finally caught up with him and ended his Benny swung much harder than the R&B and blues life. After Benny had supplied Motown’s heartbeat for drummers who rode other record labels’ hits. The so long, no one could muster the heart toplay that day. effortlessness of his playing made Motown’s grooves Stevie Wonder, one of Benny’s drum students, irresistible, and Benny’s time was impeccable. couldn’t make it through the song he sang at the But the same couldn’t be said for his promptness. funeral. Benny’s soul mate, Motown bassist and Rock His drug- and alcohol-plagued lifestyle drove Motown and Roll Hall of Fame member James Jamerson, went producers and executives to distraction. Yet according into a deep monthlong depression. Other Motown to Motown arranger Gil Askey, Benny’s erratic behav­ drummers like Uriel Jones and Richard “Pistol” Allen, ior never affected the music out on the floor. “Benny whom Benny trained, picked up where Benny left off. would show up at the studio sometimes looking like But as Earl Van Dyke pointed out, “That innocent, he’d slept in a coal bin,” says Askey. “Sometimes he family-atmosphere type of thing disappeared after might have even snuck into the building the night Benny died. It became ¿11 business after that. You just before and pawned the studio drum set So he’d just go couldn’t replace a guy like Benny Benjamin.” p