Dennis Coffey
American guitaristWikipedia
52
MENTIONS
8
EPISODES
8
PODCASTS
Search complete. 52 mentions across 8 episodes found for "Dennis Coffey".
Oct 16, 2026
Dennis EdwardsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Needed something to ease my troubled mind.
ChristopherHOST
Dennis Coffey played guitar on the recording, and it was his first Motown recording date.
ChristopherHOST
He used a wah-wah pedal, giving the guitar that sharp vocal quality.
ChristopherHOST
Wah-wah was commonly used in rock music, but unusual in R&B at the time, and that sound expanded what a Motown record could feel like.
ChristopherHOST
The rhythm keeps moving forward, the vocals trade lines, and the instruments keep adding pressure.
ChristopherHOST
The guitar and production give the song that sense of motion as if the music is trying to keep up with the world it describes.
ChristopherHOST
Dennis Coffey later described using echo effects on the record.
ChristopherHOST
The texture adds that feeling that the song is bouncing from one thought to the next.
DonnieHOST
Uh, before that was Lee Moses, Bad Girl, 1967, Atlanta, GA.
DonnieHOST
Before that was Dennis Coffey and the Detroit guitar band Scorpio, 1971.
DonnieHOST
And we kicked it off with Jack Wilkins, Canzona, who you're gonna hear again in a few minutes.
DonnieHOST
If you're just joining us, we're running through some tracks until about 9:30, until we get to a Stones Throw Records tribute.
JD RyznarHOST
Ray Parker Jr. David T. Walker.
JD RyznarHOST
Dennis Coffey.
JD RyznarHOST
Dennis Coffey.
Hunter StairHOST
Oh, boy.
Hunter StairHOST
Black Belt
Arturo AndradeHOST
The first one is the major hit, hitting the top 10 of the Billboard chart and being a true hip hop classic in that it contains a cornucopia of samples.
Arturo AndradeHOST
The basic beat from 1970s funk group Ballin' Jack, and the breakdown samples coming from Dennis Coffey and The Detroit Band, and, of all people, Bette Midler.
Arturo AndradeHOST
Principal's Office was a lesser hit, going to just number 33 on the pop chart, but it's notable for its low-down, funky-ass, piano-driven beat and goofy high school delinquent lyrics.
Arturo AndradeHOST
Next, The Sundays with Here's Where the Story Ends from 1990 and Summertime from 1997.
Carl CraigSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
One of the hottest records was Sun Goddess by Ramsey Lewis and Earth on the Fire.
Carl CraigSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Growing up at a time when there was Detroit disco acts that were coming through, Dennis Coffey making these fine disco records, CJ and Cole and stuff.
Carl CraigSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
But as well as really bad stuff like Disco Duck.
Carl CraigSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Also, there was, you know, post-punk and new wave stuff.
Jay NegronHOST
the peach boys new york city peach boys dance sister All right.
Jay NegronHOST
Here is Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band.
Jay NegronHOST
This is a remix from Mix to the Max CD.
Jay NegronHOST
It's John Morales on the mix.
Mark DamonGUEST
Getting the basic education of music, and went to college at the University of New Hampshire, and which had a great program there.
Mark DamonGUEST
There was a guy named David Seiler who was running the, uh, the jazz program, and he had this connection with a wonderful artist named Clark Terry, legendary jazz artist.
Mark DamonGUEST
He was kind of a honorary professor, and he would bring all his friends from the Count Basie band, from Ellington, from all, all these jazz legends would come play with the big band.
Mark DamonGUEST
So throughout that, I got to play with people like, you know, Joe Williams, Bob Minster, so many, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Bobby Brookmeyer, all these jazz legends.
Mark DamonGUEST
It was a ska band from the '80s that I replaced their trombone player and started doing the national touring with them.
Mark DamonGUEST
[upbeat music] We toured all the US and Canada, and it was, okay, this is a real job.
Mark DamonGUEST
And then some, another artist I played with, uh, who really taught me a lot was this guy named Mighty Sam McClain.
Mark DamonGUEST
He was an older soul gospel guy from Louisiana.
Bernhard SchmitzHOST
But given the quality of the rhythm section on these records, it is likely that at least some of the Funk Brothers were involved.
Bernhard SchmitzHOST
One musician we know was there is guitarist Dennis Coffey.
Bernhard SchmitzHOST
In 1966 Coffey was still an independent session gun, years away from his trademark wah-wah guitar work and his 1971 solo hit Scorpio.
Bernhard SchmitzHOST
In his autobiography Coffey recalled cutting the rhythm tracks for Open the Door to Your Heart live in the room late at night, where you had to nail the groove in two or three takes with no room for error.