Alex Henderson

Diana Ross
Silk Electric

On March 26, 1983, Diana Ross celebrated her 39^th birthday. The Detroit-born R&B/pop superstar could have easily rested on her laurels and become complacent at that point in her career, having sold millions of records—first as the lead singer of the Supremes in the 1960s, then as a solo artist from 1970 on. But she was still open to trying new and different things, and her risk-taking spirit was alive and well on Ross. Released by RCA Records in 1983, this album was mostly produced by Gary Katz (best known for his work with Steely Dan) but also included some songs produced by Ray Parker, Jr. or Diana Ross herself.

Co-written by former Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald, the exuberant “That’s How You Start Over” recalls Ross’ disco-soul work with Ashford & Simpson on 1979’s million-selling The Boss. But most of this album is mindful of 1983’s musical climate, combining R&B and pop-rock elements on two songs Parker wrote and produced (“Love or Loneliness” and the single “Up Front”) as well as on “Girls” (which Ross produced), “You Do It,” the minor hit “Let’s Go Up” and the single “Pieces of Ice” (which reached #15 R&B, #17 dance and #31 pop in the United States). The pop-rock influence is also evident on “Love Will Make It Right,” which was written by Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen. This expanded edition of Ross offers seven bonus tracks, including three mixes of “Pieces of Ice,” three mixes of “Up Front” and a 7” single version of “Let’s Go Up.”

 “Pieces of Ice” was written by the prolific team of John Capek & Marc Jordan, whose songs have been recorded by Rod Stewart, the Manhattan Transfer, Isaac Hayes, Joe Cocker and others. During an August 2014 interview, the Prague-born Capek (who grew up in Australia but has lived in the U.S. for many years) recalled that back in 1983, he was disappointed that “Pieces of Ice” wasn’t a bigger hit. But these days, he views “Pieces of Ice” as a song that helped Capek and Jordan’s songwriting careers take off.

“When I heard Diana Ross take my arrangement of ‘Pieces of Ice’ and actually use it, that was a real compliment,” Capek recalls. “The funniest thing is that when ‘Pieces of Ice’ came out as a single and only reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100, Marc and I were really bummed out that it didn’t go higher. But now, 31 years later, I point to the fact that, ‘Well, I had a Top 40 hit with Diana Ross. What a great thing.’ And she performed ‘Pieces of Ice’ at a huge concert in Central Park in 1983. It was broadcast all over the world when she did our song. After that, for the next 30 years, Marc and I had tremendous success as songwriters.”

A long list of seasoned studio musicians are employed on Ross, including some members of the arena rock/pop-rock band Toto (David Paich on synthesizers, Steve Lukather on guitar and Jeff Porcaro on drums). And some of the participants have jazz credentials, including guitarists Larry Carlton and Eric Gale and electric bassist Jimmy Haslip (famous for the many years he spent with the Yellowjackets).     

Haslip played on all five of the songs that Katz produced for Ross.

Interviewed in August 2014, Haslip (who is now 62) noted that RCA incorrectly listed him as an electric guitarist on the original 1983 LP even though he played electric bass exclusively on Ross—and he remembered that Katz got him a lot of non-jazz work in the 1980s despite the fact that some people tried to stereotype him as strictly a jazz instrumentalist.

“I’ve always been eclectic,” Haslip stresses. “But you know how it is: you get in a band like the Yellowjackets, and you get sort of pigeonholed. At a certain point, I was pigeonholed as a fusion jazz bass player. But my roots were rock & roll and R&B—and I loved all the Motown and Stax music. I remember going to record shops in the 1960s and finding those 45s by Diana Ross & the Supremes. I was a big fan of their music, and when Diana came to the studio for one of the sessions with Gary Katz, I got to meet an iconic artist from the Motown era. And Gary was great to work with. My favorite track on that album was the one Donald Fagen wrote, ‘Love Will Make It Right.’”

Haslip continues: “The dates with Gary Katz were recorded in New York and Los Angeles. Diana didn’t come to the L.A. session, but she stopped by the New York session and hung out with us. I think she wanted to talk to Donald Fagen, and she was really thrilled to see him. I think she was a fan of Steely Dan.”

One of the people who provides background vocals on “Up Front” is Detroit native Arnell Carmichael, who was a member of Parker’s soul/funk band Raydio in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During an August 2014 interview, Carmichael recalled: “Diana Ross stayed around the corner from where I lived as a kid in Detroit. I knew her brothers and became friends with them and the whole nine yards. And I would have never thought I would have been singing background on one of her albums. I’ll never forget: one day, Ray Parker said, ‘I’m producing Diana Ross. I want you to sing some background for me on this Diana Ross project.’ I said ‘Hey, great. Am I going to get a chance to meet her?’ And Ray said, ‘No, we’re just going to do the background vocals.’ She wasn’t in the studio that day. At the time, I was doing so much background work for Ray. But how often in your lifetime do you get to say you sang on a Diana Ross record?”

Ross wasn’t one of her gold or platinum sellers, but it underscored her willingness to experiment—and 31 years later, Haslip still has fond memories of this album. “Diana Ross has had an incredible career,” Haslip asserts. “She’s iconic.”

—Alex Henderson, August 2014

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Salon.com, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, AlterNet, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Inside Magazine and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) also contributed several thousand CD reviews to the popular Allmusic.com website and The All Music Guide’s series of music reference books.