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Ohio Players bring home the funk
KETTERING — We can’t know whether Dayton’s pioneering funk band the Ohio Players is any closer to attaining its long recommended place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But 40 years after its official founding, the Players have earned first-time entry in an institution a little closer to home.
Friday evening, Aug. 29, marks the group’s debut at the 4,300-seat Fraze Pavilion, where they’re headlining the Fourth Annual United Live Concert for Community that kicks off this year’s local United Way campaign.
“It’s like being a boy coming home a hero,” said longtime drummer James “Diamond” Williams, who joined the group in 1974, just before it exploded onto the national scene with three consecutive platinum-selling albums, and such chart-topping hit singles as “Roller Coaster” and “Fire.”
Williams is the current leader of the 10-man ensemble taking the Fraze stage this evening.
Other veteran members include Billy Beck (keyboards), Clarence Willis (guitar) and Robert Kuumba Jones (percussion). Rounding out the group is Odeen Mays and Ronald Nooks, both on keyboards, and Darwin Dortch on bass, along with a Chicago-based horn section that’s been performing with the band for a number of years.
While longtime frontman Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner is now recording and touring separately, co-founding members Clarence “Satch” Satchell and Ralph “Pee Wee Middlebrook died in 1995 and ’96, respectively.
The last time the Players performed in their hometown was in 2004 as part of a Juneteenth celebration at Island MetroPark. They played the Ohio State Fair later that same summer; and in 2006, they headlined a high-profile show at the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland. “It was Black History Month,” Williams recalled.
While the Ohio Players have never been a rock band, their contributions have inspired countless performers across musical genres. Such influence is a prime criteria for Hall of Fame inclusion.
“We like to think we’ve made an impact,” Williams said with understated modesty.
The group remains active as a touring band, continuing to perform everything live: “No samplers, no computers, or any of that gadgetry,” Williams said. “It’s a flash back to the old school.”
The sparseness of Dayton-area shows, however, sometimes leads locals to think the Ohio Players has disbanded.
“People ask me all the time: ‘Diamond, are you still playing?’ What band are you in?” Williams said.
What band, indeed.
“We’re still playing, and we’re doing fine,” he said.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Music - Popular
Comments
By Wordell
August 29, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this
The O/P had their “offices” (management) in the First National Bank Building in Dayton back “in the day”. I was the Manager of the underground parking garage at FNB. A better group of professionals could not be found! I took care of their ground transportation needs at the bank, they took care of me. I was invited to various functions they sponsored at the building, FNB, they never forgot those who helped/served their rise to the top. Good memory of their professionalism! I smile that they’re back!!!…music ain’t too bad too!!! (HA!).By null
October 17, 2008 7:29 PM | Link to this
Odeen Mays I lost contact with you. Please contact me at the above e-mail address: djenkinsbrooklyn@yahoo.com. Doris