Soul Excitement

Soul Excitement was a psychedelic funk band out of Newark , New Jersey. The band was originally formed by Clarence (Clay) Drayton, who was the leader and bass player, along with AC Drummer, guitarist, and Paul Cutner, drummer in the year 1968. During the summer of that year they took on a young tenor saxophone player, Roland Washington. The band concentrated primarily on performing songs of the current popular artists of that time with a deep, funky, driving spin on such songs as Stevie Wonder's, "I Was Made To Love Her", Parliament Funkadelics, "Good Old Funky Music" and "I Just Want to Testify", the Temptations, "Runaway Child". Their repertoire was an endless chain of funky songs. Clay on bass and Paul on drums would always put the band right in the pocket of the groove. AC Drummer would fill the rest with some of the funkiest guitar strokes accented by fuzz and wah-wah. The band enjoyed performing as regulars at such places as "The Cheetah" and "Trudy Heller's" in Manhattan. They were well loved wherever they performed. Soul Excitement also performed as backup band for Dee Dee Warwick, and Linda Jones two oustanding recording artists of that time. They performed on shows opposite the Delfonics, Unifics, Manhattans, Sam and Dave, Joe Tex and many other well known celebrities of that era. The band was later joined by Bernard "Captain Hook" Cutner as lead vocalist. His energy and dance moves created an atmosphere that totally captivated audiences. In the fall of 1968, the Soul Excitement appeared live, along with the "Grand Prix Machine" singing group, on Channel 13's "Soul", hosted by Ellis Haizlip. Haizlip later commented that until that time, no other performers had ever stirred the audience so much that they began dancing up and down the studio aisles. After Captain Hook left the band, Tamy Smith joined as lead vocalist and eventually Paul Settle came aboard on trumpet. Tamy Smith and Clay Drayton are the voices heard singing the lead vocals on "Stay Together". Tamy is also the lead singer on "Smile". The "Stay Together" and "Smile" 45RPM, unfortunately, was the only recording produced by Soul Excitement. The band dissolved sometime around January or February of 1970. Roland Washington - Saxophone (Soul Excitement Band) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.