Aretha Franklin, Ronald Isley & Dennis Edwards - A Song For You

A lot of tributes have and will go on being given to Dennis Edwards, who died recently on February 1, 2018. I can trace my own life line along the lines and music of the Temptations and remember the dynamic energies transferring from one version of the Temptations to another when he became a member of the group.



During the 1960's Black music had firm vibrations hard to recall with each succeeding generation developing its own voice for the times it lived. Each was built upon the others before them until there are hundreds of years, and thousands of musicians, and singers who shaped the vortex of sound we reach into to sing, dance, and play instruments.



The other sadness many of us older musicians share is the vapid quality of too many up and coming musicians. For several strong reasons Dennis Edwards' death sinks deep into the bones of strong bodies with the sounds of old slaves, who'd fought hard to live long enough to see their grandchildren's lives, for a glimpse into deeper and better living for their people. Dennis Edwards' sound, his movements in the worlds he shaped with sound, and the music he was a part of that shaped attitudes, and shifted political persuasions against Black Americans will live in our memories the obvious way: via technological developments. What will become part of our bones will be the legacy of Dennis Edwards in connection with the collective he was instrumental in creating for the up and coming.



Now, in the realm of the Dead, his sound will change, but our recollections of his sound will be a record  of what he did fixed in time he no longer participates in.



Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Feb. 6, 2018