The New School Studio Orchestra (NSSO) and the Motor City Groove Ensemble are presenting “A Motown Spectacular!” featuring music by several legends from the historic record label.
The event takes place May 1 at the school’s John L. Tishman Auditorium in New York City, where Keller Coker will conduct the musical special with students from the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Mannes School of Music. Presented by the
College of Performing Arts at The New School, the event is free for registrants on the school’s website. For those who are not in the city or can’t attend in person, a livestream will be available online for free. The performance starts at 7:30 p.m.The Motor City Ensemble will recreate
the sounds of the Motown (short for Motor Town, which, at the time, was home to American automakers, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler) era, which exploded during the 1960s and early 1970s, from Detroit, where the label’s founder, Berry Gordy, brought the Motown sound to life, starting an important era in Black music.The musicians will be playing music from the Temptations, The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, and more.
The record label celebrated its 67th anniversary last month. Gordy started Motown on April 14, 1959, at the Hitsville USA recording studio, where the artists recorded. At the label’s peak, they had a hit ratio of almost 75%, when most labels were around 10%. By the end of the 1960s, Motown was the largest Black-owned enterprise in the United States, grossing $20 million annually by 1966 (equivalent to over $190 million today).
The label was also home to Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Lionel Richie, The Commodores, Rick James, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Kem
, Vince Staples, and many more. Motown was also home to successful songwriters who shaped the label’s sound, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Ashford and Simpson, and Norman Whitfield, to name a few.RELATED CONTENT: Elevate Your Excellence: Exalting The Renaissance Of Harlem’s Favored Rose, Teyana Taylor