Rock Hall puts soul onstage

By John Benson

Got soul?

If so, you’ll surely enjoy the 10th annual Rock and Soul Festival taking place from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. This special event is geared around honoring the impact that the African American culture has had on rock ‘n’ roll music.

“It was started as a result of wanting to do a little bit more community outreach and wanting to help people understand the music has so many roots, including soul,” said Rock Hall Planning and Institutional Relations Vice President Jacklyn Chisholm. “Over the years it’s grown into one of our signature events. Martin Luther King Day is the largest and Rock and Soul is usually the second largest.

“So it’s just helping people understand the roots of the music and we try to make certain that we have an inductee perform in that particular festival.”

This year’s Rock and Soul Festival headliner is The Phyllies Intruders. This four-man vocal singing group is keeping alive the music from ‘60s and ‘70s Philly soul band The Intruders, which was produced by legendary Philadelphia International Records owners/producers and recent Rock Hall inductees Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff.

“It’s interesting because Gamble and Huff were the arbiters of Philly soul,” Chisholm said. “So there’s a connection between the inductees in March and this particular group of performers. In many cases we work together to make sure — and this is going to sound like a broken record — that we [spotlight] not only current music but the roots of music.

“There’s Philadelphia soul, Memphis and Detroit. There are so many places where the music comes from, and each year what we try to do in different departments of the Rock Hall is to celebrate that. So this year the community festivals department is celebrating the Philly sound and Rock and Soul.”

The Philadelphia sound is characterized by elements of funk and lush orchestrations that often include strings and horns. Bands of note include The Delfonics, The O’Jays and The Spinners. In many ways, this genre evolved into today’s smooth jazz and adult contemporary scene.

One of The Phyllies Intruders singers is Tony Strong, a multitalented vocalist with a four- octave range who was inspired by the late Samuel “Little Sonny” Brown, who helped form The Intruders.

“People still love the sound,” said Strong, calling from Philadelphia. “Their favorite songs are ‘I’ll Always Love My Momma’ and ‘Cowboys to Girls,’ which is like the national anthem of The Intruders. So we’re just carrying it on and we keep pushing the doo-wop sound.”

That’s exactly what the act will be doing when it performs at the Rock and Soul Festival, which over the past decade has featured some big-name acts. For example, Bill Pinkney of the Drifters headlined last year. Sadly, he passed away just days after his Rock Hall show.

It’s for this reason Rock Hall officials hope people come down to the Rock and Soul Festival to experience these special, often once-in-a-lifetime shows.

“The target audience is anyone who loves music,” Chisholm said. “What we’re trying to do is to get people to understand the roots of the music.”

XThe Rock and Soul Festival is free; however, patrons will have to pay admission to enter The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is located at One Key Plaza, Cleveland, Tickets are $22 adults ($18 for Greater Cleveland residents)/$17 seniors/$13 children (ages 9 to 12) and children under 8 are free. For more information, call (216) 781-ROCK or visit www.rockhall.com.