Sigma's long-time general manager, Harry Chipetz, managed the business operations and worked hand-in-hand with Tarsia in developing a staff that numbered close to 50 at its peak. By the late 1970s, Sigma was operating 10 music rooms on a 24-7 schedule. Their success attracted many artists and producers from various music genres across the US, as well as Europe and Japan. Both featured large productions with strings and horns creating what became known as the 'Philadelphia Sound'. 2.1 Special Collections Research Centerįrom the beginning, Sigma Sound was strongly associated with Philadelphia soul and, in the 1970s, the sound of Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records (its driving rhythm a precursor to disco music), as well as the classic, sophisticated productions of Thom Bell.They pressed 5,000 albums, which he said sold out. Working with Vinyl Me, Please, which is a record subscription service, the students were able to produce the album on vinyl as well as digitally, lending a 1970s-era authenticity to the project. His students developed a marketing plan and a social media strategy. 'I wanted to put something out commercially that was viable, and that's where the archives come in,' said Marc Offenbach, a music industry veteran who now teaches at the university. She collaborated with Drexel to assemble it. The following year, Newman tracked down Jefferson on Facebook and got his permission to move forward with an album, Seay said. Reservoir's Faith Newman discovered more Nat Turner Rebellion tapes. In 2012, Reservoir Media Management acquired Philly Groove Records. It wasn't exactly simple getting the album together. Just the recognition for this.' At 75, he's the last surviving member of the group. 'There was not a thought in my mind that this could have happened,' Jefferson told the newspaper after the Nat Turner album's release. The band, led by Joseph Jefferson, broke up after what Jefferson described to the Philadelphia Inquirer as a spat with band member Bill Spratley, who he said pulled a gun on him during an argument over money.Īfterward, Jefferson went on to write a string of hits for other bands, including 'One of a Kind (Love Affair)' for the Spinners. vintage socially conscious, tambourine-shaking funk.'įrom 1969 to 1972, the Nat Turner Rebellion recorded for Philly Groove Records, which released a few singles, and opened for the chart-topping Delfonics. A New York Times review calls it 'a greeting across eras. He filed it away and made a note to keep an eye out for more of the band named after an 1831 slave revolt.įast forward eight years, and the band's unreleased album 'Laugh to Keep From Crying' was released in March on Drexel's student-run MAD Dragon Records label - some 50 years after it was recorded. 'The song was called 'Tribute to a Slave' and it blew me away,' he said of the 1969 recording that packed power, politics and Philly funk and soul. Seay came upon just that in 2011, when he pulled a tape named 'Nat Turner Rebellion' off the shelf. As Seay and students slogged through the collection, working to digitize it, there was always the lingering possibility of discovering unheard and unreleased gems. A reel from David Bowie's recording sessions at the studio while getting together his 1974 'Young Americans' album tracks from Teddy Pendergrass, Sly Stone, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. 'The thought was if there are 7,000 tapes coming from the Sigma collection, there's gotta be good stuff in there,' he said. No one knew the specific items in the stash, but Drexel's music industry program definitely wanted it, said Professor Toby Seay, project director of the university's audio archives. The studio churned out hits like The Trammps' 'Disco Inferno' and The Three Degrees' 'When Will I See You Again.' Many Gamble and Huff hits were recorded there, including The O'Jays' 'Love Train.' In the 1960s and 1970s, Sigma Sound helped create 'The Sound of Philadelphia' - the funky soul sound characterized by lush instrumental arrangements often featuring strings and horns. The man said the tapes all had the same labels on the side: Sigma Sound Studio.įor aficionados of Philadelphia funk, that's a famous name. On the line was the owner of a storage facility in Philadelphia, wondering if the school would be interested in thousands of music studio tapes, seemingly abandoned in a unit for which no rent had been collected in a long time. PHILADELPHIA - Back in the summer of 2005, Drexel University's Music Industry program got a very curious phone call.

Sigma sound studio philadelphia