Calvin Arnold - Funky Way (Venture Recordings 1967-1969) (2024)

Soul/funk singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer from Georgia, USA.

Calvin Arnold’s first group was The Gardenias, back when he and some friends were just messing around as kids. Besides Calvin, the other members were John Marshall, with guys named Harold and Little Joe, of whom Calvin couldn’t remember their full names. The name was given to them by Buster Brown, who was a member of the Blue Dots, an Atlanta doo wop group which also featured Grover Mitchell. After they gigged around Atlanta for a while, they were approached by Johnny Terry, then a member of James Brown’s Famous Flames. Johnny took them up to Toccoa, Georgia and then up to Greenville South Carolina where they hooked up with Esquerita.

Esquerita was recording for Capitol Records at the time, and the Gardenias became his backup vocal group both in the studio and on the road. While the Gardenias were working with Esquerita, Calvin wrote a number of tunes which Esquerita recorded including “Baby, You Can Depend On Me”, “Why Did It Take You So Long”, “Crazy, Crazy Feeling”, and “Gettin’ Plenty Lovin’”. All of these appear on Esquerita’s 1959 album for Capitol (T 1186).

Tommy Brown took The Gardenias up to Detroit in 1962, where he was going to try and get them signed to Motown. Turns out Motown was more interested in Tommy’s wife, Liz Lands! While the guys were up in Detroit though, they managed to record a couple of songs that Calvin had been kicking around with the group since their earliest days together. Tommy was able to place the songs with the Atlanta based Fairlane label, which had some distribution with King Records, whom Tommy also had ties with at the time. On the 45, both songs are credited to Tommy Brown and Calvin Arnold, but Calvin apparently wrote both songs before he even knew Tommy.

While I had always assumed that the Gardenias 45 was recorded in Atlanta, it turns out to have been recorded in Detroit, though in which studio still remains a mystery. However, this new bit of information could explain how “What’s the Matter With Me” wound up also being recorded by Othea George on the Soul label out of Detroit. Funny thing there is that Othea’s 45 lists Mike Terry as the songwriter. Terry, of course, was an extremely talented songwriter and arranger, and his baritone sax is prominent on so many great Detroit soul recordings. But in this case, at least, it seems that Mr. Terry was overly-generous with taking credit for Calvin Arnold’s work.

By 1963, the group had returned to Atlanta where they were playing a variety of gigs ranging from a Washington High School talent show (March 26) to the Royal Peacock opening for Hank Ballard & the Midnighters (April 2). Calvin mentioned that they quit using the name The Gardenias after learning about the Detroit group using the same name, though it seems that they did continue using the name themselves, even if just for a short period of time.