In the 1960s and ‘70s, Bud Ross carved out a role for himself at Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios, the legendary recording facility associated with the city’s soul movement. As a prolific songwriter and producer Ross, now 78, estimates he was involved in the recording of more than 200 songs at Sigma Sound, many of which were characterized by honeyed melodies, lush organ lines, and gritty drums. Ross holed himself up on the fifth floor of the building, while the influential production duo Gamble and Huff worked out of the floor below. Despite never scoring a hit under his own name—he eventually left music to focus on a business selling cars—the 7-inch vinyl releases Ross worked on now fetch big bucks on the U.K. northern soul circuit, making him something of an unseen cult figure.
Fifty years later, Ross’s music is now set to be introduced to a new generation thanks to With Bud Ross. It’s a hip-hop project unfolding in two stages. The first involves producer and engineer Steel Tipped Dove, who created new beats from the original stems (the isolated, individual instrument sounds recorded to tape) of Ross’s Sigma Sound sessions. Those beats will then be expanded into an album featuring rappers rhyming over them, with avant-garde MC milo being the first to record for the project.
This second life for Ross’s music came about thanks to a serendipitous meeting with Darko The Super, a 25-year-old experimental rapper who runs the U Dont Deserve This Beautiful Art label. (The venture is named after a piece of artwork former Das Racist member Kool AD created.) The two of them struck up a friendship that gradually evolved into a working relationship after Darko’s sister-in-law mentioned she was working as Ross’s accountant. She said that Ross might need someone to help him out with computer issues—keeping on top of emails, and bringing his music to digital distribution platforms. During the course of conversation, Darko learned that Ross still owned the reel-to-reel tapes from his Sigma Sound days.
“Bud’s the type of guy who has tons of paperwork, he just keeps everything,” says Darko, who’s based in Yardley, Pennsylvania. “When he gets pennies from ASCAP, he writes it in his checkbook. That’s the type of guy he is. So I wasn’t surprised he had all these original recordings.”
Speaking by phone from his home in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, Ross puts his own spin on the heritage of the tapes. “I’d keep them because I paid for them!” he says. “In those days, as a producer, you’d run a session and give each musician some money, hand them some cash. I’d paid for the tapes, so I took them home. I must have a quarter of a million dollars worth of music there—it’s a treasure chest of songs.”
After Seay digitized Ross’s music, Darko began piecing the songs together with the Mixcraft recording software. “I’d go through all these takes and recordings, and would find things like Bud talking to the singers and hyping them up about the song,” he recalls. “It was a case of cutting the parts and putting in some EQ and mastering it.”
Ultimately, With Bud Ross is part beat tape, part history lesson. Ross himself admits that he’s not exactly familiar with the styles and working habits of hip-hop artists—his current focus is writing a musical about the Philadelphia scene called The Decades—but he’s enthusiastic about With Bud Ross. He sees it as part of the process of getting his music heard by as many people possible. When asked if he’s open to other hip-hop artists sampling his music, he’s resolute. “Sure, that’s what it’s all about!” Ross says. “I wrote the songs, but what good is a song unless people are singing it and loving it? That’s the whole game.”
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