Writing and Arranging Funk and Soul with The Commotions

Canadian Soul-Funk collective, The Commotions, are an all original 12-piece Motown-to-Disco era band that has brought the exquisite grooves from the famed Motor City all the way across the border. Celebrating their first decade as a band, founder Brian Asselin created the collective after spending six years with legendary musical group, The Funk Brothers; the exceptional session musicians who performed on the vast majority of Motown recordings. Known at the time as Delbert & The Commotions, the group’s lead vocalist, Delbert Nelson, was also a Motown collaborator, leading The Funk Brothers on vocals in “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”, a multi-award winning documentary film about the world’s most recognizable record label. Today, the band features all professionally trained Jazz musicians, including three lead vocalists and a five-piece horn section.

Brian talked about their song Feel the Commotion. Download the lyrics to follow along.

We talked about:

• What makes a good soul song?
• Being mindful about the key signatures and ranges of vocalists and horn players
• Using Music Notation Software Sibelius to notate everything
• Bringing together melodic ideas from classic Motown and modern songs
• Being open to trying out different permutations of ideas when collaborating
• The importance of networking in the music business