Story of Wheedle's Groove spans decades

This story is about Wheedle's Groove. It's decades old and a little complicated, but very inspiring. And if you like music, appreciate history, live in the Seattle area or seek a deeper understanding of the human condition, you should know it.

It begins on Feb. 25, 1970, with the Black on White Affair recording three hard-hitting funk tunes at Kearney Barton's Audio Recording studio in Belltown. Black on White Affair is an Afro-sporting, matching-suit-wearing quintet from Capitol Hill; Barton is a veteran recording engineer with master tapes by Northwest garage-rock pioneers the Sonics and the Kingsmen ("Louie, Louie"), plus a young Jimi Hendrix in his vault. Alongside Black on White Affair, bands such as Cookin' Bag, Broham, and Cold, Bold & Together (which featured a young Kenny G) pack dance clubs around the city. Local soul, funk and R&B plays on the radio nonstop, thanks to KYAC 1250 AM. Seattle is having its heyday of soul music. The outside world is oblivious.

Jump to Aug. 21, 2004. Light in the Attic Records has been operating for two years, reissuing vintage funk, punk and pop records out of a two-bedroom apartment in Fremont. Label chiefs Matt Sullivan and Josh Wright unearth a slew of old Seattle soul 45s from back in the day. The music — part of a lost musical history — demands a larger audience. It's reborn as "Wheedle's Groove," a compilation of 18 tracks by 12 old-school Seattle soul outfits, including the ones mentioned above. To celebrate the record release, members of these long-dormant groups, now in their 50s and 60s, come together for a concert at Chop Suey, just down the street from the old KYAC studio. The debut of Wheedle's Groove, the band, is an unforgettable night — part flashback, part renaissance. (The name was inspired by the Seattle Sonics' former mascot, the Wheedle, "the worst mascot in the history of mascots ever," according to Light in the Attic Records' Web site.)

Everyone involved agrees the momentum must be maintained. Over the next four years, Light in the Attic wrangles the Wheedle's Groove musicians — a rotating cast of a dozen or so, including jazz pianist Overton Berry, organist Ron Buford, gospel powerhouse Pat Wright, Black on White Affair drummer Robbie Hill, and Cold, Bold & Together percussionist Tony Gable — into Barton's U District Seattle studio.

Sept. 29, 2009: "Kearney Barton" is released worldwide on Light in the Attic. It's anachronism 2.0 — an update of 40-year-old soul recorded on antique reel-to-reel. The album funnels the energy of the Wheedle's Groove live sessions into eight new tracks and one revelatory cover: a knockout take on "Jesus Christ Pose," the Soundgarden hit from 1991, belted by Wright. "Kearney Barton" deepens Seattle's musical lineage, linking modern and vintage, black and white, rock and soul. About 100 members of Seattle's soul music community gather at Garfield High School to shoot a historic photograph (see it at seattletimes.com). By the end of the year, "Wheedle's Groove," a documentary directed by Jen Maas, producer of the local indie hit "Humpday," will enter the film festival circuit.

Today, the music has a life of its own. This is not the end of the story.

Group photo

In the group photo at Garfield: Michael Mitchell; David Stusser; Solomon Harris Jr.; Vanessa "Lady Vee" Miller; Kibibi Monie; Norm Bellas; George Griffin; Patrinell "Pat" Staten Wright; Rudy H. Caluza; Gordon Butler; Paul Anderson; KhalifYasin; Michael "Biggie" Lewis; John Lee Rodde; Anthony Atherton; Teresa "Tess" Thomas; Marlita "Cookie" Pauis; Bonnie C; Johnny Lewis; Joe Villa; Overton Berry; Clarence Acox; Kay Kuniyuki; Danny Welsh; Ural Thomas; Lisa Oliphant-Brown; Gary Hammon; Frank Brown; Robert Nesbitt; Gregory Lewis; Ken Drake; James Moody; Dan Bonow; John Sakura; Herbert Owens; Elmer Dixon; Gerald "Tugboat" Turner Jr.; Clarence "Bash" Robinson Jr.; ClevenTiceson; Curtis Hammond; Len Hammond; Blumeadars Mitchell Culpepper; Muhammad "Qadir" Tolson; Dwain Bickham; Terry Johnson; Cathy J. Ruse; Aaron Dixon; Tom Provo-Bensusen; Steven Banks; Deems Tsutakana; Kevin Thomas; William Espy; Matt Shaw; Scott King; Jerry Henderson; Mark Adams-Bensusen; George Horton; Jamar Jenkins; Dave Holden; John Stoudemire; Gloria Greenwood; Dennis Blackmon;

Reginald "Sonny" Brunson; Dr. Leonard Rhodes; Bernadette Bascom; Allenda Jenkins; Jared Jenkins; Robbie Hill; Ron Buford; Tony Gable; William Hill; Herman "HB" Brown.

Jonathan Zwickel: zwickelicious@gmail.com