“H2O Gate Blues”: DB Sound Studios – Silver Spring, MD

_{This piece updated in 2019 & 2020}

As you may have already gathered, Zero to 180 has a soft spot for music history related to Silver Spring, Maryland.  We now know, for instance, that Track Recorders (with help from its chief engineer, Bill McCullough) was an important recording facility in the 1970s, outside of New York and Los Angeles.  We also know that Adelphi Studios (founded by Gene Rosenthal), enjoys renown for its 1960s and 70s recordings of seminal rediscovered blues artists, such as Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Rev. Gary Davis, and Honeyboy Edwards (tapes that were, in fact, purchased last year by Oxford, Mississippi blues label, Fat Possum).

Downtown Silver Spring

Silver Spring (okay, nearby Edmonston) also manufactured affordable, quality KAPA guitars in the 1960s, thanks to Koob Veneman, and even inspired a song that would be left off Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album — and thus serve as a wedge issue that ultimately helped drive the band apart.

Zero to 180 now asks – does anyone in Silver Spring remember D&B Sound Studios?  Gil Scott-Heron and his musical partner Brian Jackson recorded their first three albums — 1974’s Winter in America, 1975’s From South Africa to South Carolina, and 1975’s The First Minute of a New Day — at D&B Sound.

“H2O Gate Blues” from Winter in America was recorded in 1973, either September 4th/5th or October 15th, according to Discogs.  It’s not clear.  But wait – this Timeline of the Watergate Scandal notes the resignation of Vice-President, Spiro Agnew (and former Maryland governor) on October 10th!   Listen for yourself, and you will know:

“H2O Gate Blues“

Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson

Be it thus resolved:  “H2O Gate Blues” was laid on tape the fifteenth day in the month of October, 1973.

ESPN panelist, visiting University of Maryland professor, and Washington Post columnist Kevin Blackistone would reference D&B Sound in the opening paragraph in a 2017 Post sports piece about Adam Jones that begins with a quote from Scott-Heron, who himself wrote about the experience of recording at D&B in his 2012 memoir, The Last Holiday:

Dan Henderson, who was still our manager, and his wife, Wilma, eventually moved into the house with me and Brian, too, and in the fall of 1973 we went into D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland, and began recording the album Winter in America.  D&B was small, but it had a comfortable feeling — and it had [Robert] Jose Williams as the engineer.  The main room was so small that when Brian and I did tunes together, one of us had to go out in the hallway where the water cooler was located.  I did vocals for “Song for Bobby Smith” and “A Very Precious Time” from there, and Brian played flute on “The Bottle” and “Your Daddy Loves You” right next to that cooler.  A lot of people wanted to know wanted to know who it was playing flute on “The Bottle,” because it wasn’t specifically credited on the Winter in America album.  It was Brian.  He also played flute on “Back Home.”  Those are all his arrangements.  By the time we did Winter in America, Brian had become a very good flute player.  He also played Fender Rhodes on that album.

The Daily Beast‘s Marcus Baram in 2014 would provide a wider context for the artistic vision behind Winter in America:

Gil and Brian’s next album, Winter in America, on Strata-East, was credited to both Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson.  It was originally planned as a concept album called Supernatural Corner, in reference to the haunted vibe of the house at One Logan Circle [in DC].  The record was intended to tell the story of an African American soldier coming home from Vietnam to an America that was indifferent to his experience and hostile to his race and who eventually loses his mind.  The narratives in the song were taken from the soldier’s therapy sessions in a psychiatric ward, Jackson later explained.  One of the original songs, “White Horse Nightmare,” is about the veteran’s heroin addiction. But the label [Arista] considered the album too morose, and Gil and Brian took out some of the songs, leaving “Rivers of My Fathers,” “Back Home,” “The Bottle,” and a few new pieces.

They had recorded the album in the beginning of September 1973 at Dan Henderson’s D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland.  The space was so small that there wasn’t enough room for both of them in the studio, so Gil would sing in the studio while Brian played flute in a hallway next to a water cooler.  The tight quarters only added to Gil’s discomfort, and he complained about how long the sessions were taking.  True to the ethos of the impromptu jams and poetry readings he’d soaked in as a teenager at jazz clubs in New York, he felt alive when he was performing and disliked the recording process.  Whereas some musicians love to tweak their songs and do multiple takes in the studio, Gil tried to get it done as quickly as possible.  Engineer Robert Hosea Williams, who had recorded Roberta Flack and funk guitarist Chuck Brown, recalls, “Gil was one of the hardest I’ve ever recorded.  He had to do everything at once.”  Not only would he resist multitrack recording, in which each section of the song is isolated and separately recorded, but “he never shut up,” says Williams.  “When he would sing a verse and then start talking, it was crazy to record.  We’d have to erase those things later.”  Sometimes they would leave the mistakes in there.  When drummer Bob Adams skipped a beat at the 1:40 mark of “The Bottle,” the band wanted to rerecord the track, but Gil said, “No, that’s okay.”

It is also worth pointing out that 1978’s The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron (on Clive Davis’s Arista label) kicks off with “H2O Gate Blues” – the only track on the album recorded at D&B – with the liner notes indicating that “the ‘H2O Gate Blues’ poem was originally composed in March 1973, and presented for the first time in concert at the [Berkeley] Jazz Festival in April of that year.”

Winter in America, by the way, is an album that can do fairly well at auction when all the stars are in alignment.

Bonus reading:

Richard Harrington‘s cover story of Gil Scott-Heron for the June 1975 edition of Unicorn Times.

This information is all very interesting to know, but none of it addresses the vexing question of where D&B Sound was originally located.  Zero to 180, after unsuccessful consultation with a number of Silver Spring veterans who were around in the 1970s, would seek out the assistance of a librarian – Jerry McCoy of the Silver Spring Historical Society – who knew exactly where to look:

DB Sound Studios –

listed just below DB Creighton Associates

Thanks to the Silver Spring Historical Society’s own copy of Polk’s Silver Spring, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Kensington, Takoma Park & Wheaton City Directory (1973 edition), we now know that D(&)B Sound Studios [Jose Williams & Jules Da[m]ian, proprietors] once stood at 8037 13th Street in Silver Spring, Maryland, just over the Maryland-DC line.  Directly across from DB Sound at 8040 13th Street (where Kennett intersects with 13th) stood this Quality Inn Motel (where a Days Inn now occupies the entire block).

Quality Inn Motel directly across from DB Sound

Kennett @ 13th St

I am a little surprised to discover that DB Sound would get name-checked by Billboard as early as the music trade journal’s November 21, 1971 edition:

At DB Sound in Silver Spring[s], Maryland, James Marshall and the Village Soul Choir were in for a session.  Willie Mason of Jay Walking Records also came in for a session.

Wait — I just noticed that the studio had been referenced a couple months earlier in Billboard‘s September 18th edition:

D.B. Sound Studios, Silver Spring, Md., had [the] Honey Cone[s] for Hot Wax Records with Greg Perry producing the Invictus artists, the Chairmen of the Board cutting their new LP [1972’s Bittersweet?].  Also in was the Masked Man (Harmon Bethea) cutting some material.

Additionally, Ryan Little‘s Washington City Paper article from the May 17, 2012 edition, “Soul Survivor:  The Lost Recordings and Magic Touch of Robert Hosea Williams,” links the name “DB Sound” to a 1974 Sarasota Tribune Herald piece that describes Williams as “the magician, a journeyman engineer who has had long experience and is part-owner of DB Studios in Silver Spring, right across the district line.”

The Former Silver Spring Motel on Georgia Ave. at 13th St.

steps from DB Sound

S I D E B A R

Ampersand or No Ampersand? 

D&B Sound vs. DB Sound

Examine the listing in the 1973 Polk’s City Directory above, or the “Redskins ’74” single below, and you will notice the lack of an ampersand ∴ thus, from this point forward, Zero to 180 will use DB Sound.

DB Sound Studios: 

No ampersand

_{[45 courtesy of Bill Hanke]}

Furthermore, Gregg Karukas, one of the early members of Tim Eyermann & East Coast Offering, enlightened Zero to 180 to the fact that Jules Damian is the principal figure who established Juldane Records.  The group’s debut and sophomore releases on Juldane were both recorded at DB — a memorable time, recalls Karukas:

I’ll never forget when we were tracking the record, we did three tracks, a couple of takes, and we were in the groove, we wanted to record some more songs and Jules said ‘wait a minute’ on the talk back.  After about five minutes we went in the control room and realized that he was splicing together tape (outtakes) from other used reels in the tape room, because he had only purchased one fresh reel of tape for our session…….and he was the producer/engineer/label.  I was furious…..well, more like:  really?

Damian’s partner, Robert Hosea Williams – of Red, Black & Green Productions – would later serve as the subject of a retrospective anthology that was compiled in 2012 by boutique reissue label, Numero Group. This CD release provided an opportunity for National Public Radio to take stock, as well, of Williams’ creative legacy:

Most people wouldn’t think of Washington, D.C., as one of R&B’s great cities.  Despite the fact that soul music greats Marvin Gaye and Roberta Flack grew up in D.C. neighborhoods, the city never had the equivalent of Detroit’s Berry Gordy and Motown, or Memphis’ Willie Mitchell and Hi Records.  But in the early 1970s, D.C. did have producer Robert Williams and his Red, Black and Green Productions.  A new compilation LP called Eccentric Soul:  A Red Black Green Production revisits Williams’ influence on the sound of R&B in D.C.

Billboard‘s Bob Kirsch declared 1975 to be a peak year for DB Sound in his “Studio Track” column for the journal’s August 30, 1975 edition:

“Studio Track“

Billboard

Aug. 30, 1975

At DB Sound Studios in Silver Spring, Md., the studio is in the midst of its best year yet. Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson & The Midnight Band were in recently laying tracks and vocals for their upcoming LP. Scott-Heron handled production and studio co-owner Jose Williams handled engineering. Country artist Rita Canard has been working with the other co-owner, Jules Damian. Damian has also been busy with producer Eddie Drennon on some Latin oriented mixes. Producer Clayton Roberts wrapped up an LP with Parker House recently. Other groups in the studio include Promise and the East Coast Connection. Hash-House has been in, produced by Fly Enterprises. Former George Benson organist, Hilton Felton, has been in working on an LP. Stanley Ivory has been busy with producer Max Kidd, while the Deacons are in with producer Cliff Dyson.

Thanks to the Bill Hanke Music Research Archives, Zero to 180 was able to scan DB Sound’s “studio specs” for three different years — 1975, 1978, and 1980 — information that was published annually in the October issue of Unicorn Times.

Unicorn Times

Oct. 1975

Unicorn Times

Oct. 1978

Unicorn Times

Oct. 1980

Note that for 1975 and 1978, R. Jose Williams is co-owner, as well as Creative Director and Chief Engineer, but that by 1980, Williams is no longer at DB Sound — presumably, to focus on his own Red, Black & Green Productions.  Numero Group’s liner notes for Eccentric Soul point to another recording facility in a much more suburban part of Silver Spring where Williams was likely spending his time during that period:

While not manning knobs and faders for Gil Scott-Heron, Hugh Masekela, Soul Searchers, Van McCoy, and a host of major label also-rans at Edgewood Studios, Washington, D.C.’s most opulent recording facility, producer Robert Hosea Williams worked off-hours at his own scrappy headquarters—the basement of his parents’ suburban Silver Spring[s] home on Octagon [Lane] (i.e., Colesville neighborhood). Out of those cramped quarters came the underground sounds collected here.  A Red Black & Green Production is the story of a well-connected engineer whose cabal of Beltway talent surreptitiously produced the finest black music coming out of D.C. during the midsection of the 1970s.  Though Red Black & Geen’s [Marcus] Garvey-colored flag flew behind the scenes, like a shadow government it changed D.C. recording culture and influenced the coming D.I.Y. movement.  

It is also worth pointing out that the dimensions of DB’s main recording space (22’ x 45’) are comparable to Track Recorders (25’ x 40’) — the sound facility that enjoyed much prestige on account of its Neve studio console — just a few blocks up Georgia Avenue. And yet DB Sound was able to achieve an impressive legacy given its global reach (as you will see, below) while operating in the shadows, so to speak, within the DC-area recording scene.

Sadly, as Jerry McCoy notes, “this building has been demolished.”  Do any pictures of the studio exist, one cannot help but wonder.

Other Recordings Made at DB Sound:
45s & LPs

_{For streaming audio, click on song titles}

Peggy Weston

“The Sun” b/w “Mellow“

[1973]

Michael Lloyd

“I’ll Go On” b/w “Search for Youth“

[1973]

The Summits

“Let Me Love You Again” b/w “It Takes Two“

[1973]

Skip McHoney & the Casuals

“Your Funny Moods” b/w “Struggling Man“

[1973]

#113 on Billboard‘s Pop chart

March 16, 1974

^{[pg. 63]}

The 2nd Amendment Band

“Backtalk (Pts. 1 & 2)“

[1973]

Reissued 2006 in the UK

Included in World’s Rarest Funk 45s (Vol. 2)

Sons of Nature

“Ride the Vibe” b/w “Traveling Star“

[1974]

Past, Present & Future

“Too Many Fish” b/w “Love on the Line”

[1974]

Peggy Weston

“Love For The Child” b/w “Night Bird“

[1974]

Discogs contributor SoulShuffler says:

“B-side ‘Night Bird‘ is a Modern Soul gem“

The Summits

“Sleepwalking” b/w “I’ll Never Say No“

[1974]

Skip Mahoney & the Casuals

“Seems Like (The Love We Had Is Dead And Gone)” b/w “Town Called No-Where“

[1974]

Skip Mahoaney & the Casuals

Your Funny Moods

[1974]

LP reissued 2024 by Numero Group

Eddie Drennon & B.B.S. Unlimited

Collage

[1975]

“Let’s Do The Latin Hustle” – the album’s hit single – did well internationally. LP released in the US, UK, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Philippines, Japan & South Africa

Drennon served as Bo Diddley’s music director and electric violinist from 1966 until 1967.

audio link: “Let’s Do The Latin Hustle“

Album repackaged for the Phillipines market

LP also repackaged for the UK & German markets:

Dyson’s Faces

Dyson’s Faces

[1975]

audio link: “Nosey People“

The True Tones

Let’s Get It Together

[1975]

 audio link:  “Let Them Talk“

J.I. Henderson (Soul Country Man)

Give a Helping Hand

[1975]

audio link:  “Give A Helping Hand“

Promise

“I’m Not Ready for Love” b/w “I Wonder“

[1975]

According to the YouTube contributor who uploaded this song –

[University Heights, Maryland*]’s Promise hit a kid-soul pinnacle with “I’m Not Ready For Love.” Neither of Promise’s two 45s made much noise on the airwaves, but the group managed to open for James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and the Supremes before calling it quits later in the decade. This track comes off Numero Group‘s phenomenal Home Schooled: The ABCs of Kid Soul, which features a ton of great groups of kids singing soul music.

^{[*Source:  NPR profile of Robert Jose Williams]}

Promise

“Love on the Line” b/w “Open Up the Door“

[1975]

Phase II

“Phase II (pt. 1)” b/w “Phase II (pt. 2)”

[1975]

Willie Mason

“Same Mistake Twice” b/w “Chocolate City Boogie“

[1975]

Stanley Woodruff & The ‘US’ Trio

“What Took You So Long” b/w “Now Is Forever“

[1976]

Single distributed in the UK on Grapevine

Black Horizon

“Black Horizon (Pt. 1 & 2)”

[1976]

Note: 45 can earn three figures at auction

Stanley Woodruff And The ‘US’ Trio

“Shadows” b/w “Walk Softly“

[1976]

The Hills of Zion

featuring Claude Alston & Dacario Darden

“Standing On The Promises” b/w “Heaven Bound Train“

[197?]

Eddie Drennon & B.B.S. Unlimited

Would You Dance to My Music

[1977]

Also recorded at Philly’s Sigma Sound

LP issued on Casablanca and released in Canada, the UK, Brazil & France

audio link to the title track

E.L. James

The Face of Love

[1977]

Album also recorded at Track Recorders and Future View Recording

audio link: “The Face Of Love“

Tim Eyermann

Unity

[1977]

Discogs contributor Solid-Groove says:

“Very much under-rated LP with the beautiful “A Time Past“! Cool spiritual jazz tune with flute and Fender Rhodes.”

Tim Eyermann & East Coast Offering

Go-Rilla

[1978]

Musicians include Shannon Ford (drums) & Eddie Drennon (violin)

Trivia: Eyermann, as leader of the 18-piece Phi Mu Alpha Jazz Ensemble at Duquesne University, won first place at the seventh annual Intercollegiate Music Competition, as reported in Billboard‘s May 11, 1968 edition.

Hilton Felton

Family and Friends

[197?]

Musicians include Joe Hall and Andrew White III

LP reissued 2012 & 2023 in Japan

audio link: “Spreading Fever“

Hilton Felton

Listen Lord!!

[197?]

Hilton Felton

A Man For All Reasons

[1980]

LP reissued 2011 & 2012 in Japan

Sampler alert!  30-second drum break loop from “Be Bop Boogie“

Charanga 76

Manhattan Groove

[1983]

LP also released in Venezuela

B O N U S – H I S T O R Y

DB:

The Subsidiary Label

Check out these 45 releases on the db label (as in decibel) from years unknown:

These two db 45s indicate “Juldane Music BMI”:

D B – S O U N D –

HISTORY MYSTERY

L o s t   4 5?

On December 3, 2019, I received word from Bob Frantz — Zero to 180’s Mid South correspondent — of a fairly obscure 45 that just might possibly be connected to this story.

How curious to find only the song title identified on each side — not the name of the artist, who I can only conclude to be Anthony Dupuis, author of both tracks.  Wait a second:  Frantz assumes the artist name to be A Night and Two Days, which for some goofy reason (much smaller type size, not in boldface?) I presumed to be the name of the production team.  Furthermore, Frantz theorizes the name could be a sly reference to the group’s (possible) interracial makeup — i.e., one person of color plus two pale guys.

The A-side “All Together” is a rockin’ blues with a “garage soul” feel that features a nice set of chord changes in the bridge beginning around the 1:33 mark:

The B-side “Listen” is another shot of rockin’ blues, though with a funkier James Brown-influenced groove underpinning the song:

Compare the catalog number of this 45 – DB100 – with the other DB singles in the cluster immediately above (e.g., DB106):  Is it possible that “All Together” b/w “Listen” is the debut single release of DB Sound’s own subsidiary label?

In addition to being issued on the DB label, Frantz’s eagle eye alerted me to a date (7/19/71), as well as the name Jose (as in Robert Jose/Hosea Williams), etched in the deadwax.

Magnified view of the deadwax etching

Frantz even managed to track down Anthony Dupuis, who was able to clarify a few things about the group and these recordings over the phone:

Dupuis is the writer of those songs.  They were recorded at DB studio.  He doesn’t remember Jose though.  The make-up of the group was Tony on lead and vocals, his brother Frank on bass and a black drummer whose name he couldn’t remember.  So my theory is correct:  a black dude and two white dudes.  He said they were offered potential contracts with Capitol and Verve, but there were apparently some “up front” expenses the group couldn’t afford, so that fell through.  Anthony was 24 yrs old at that time.  He said ‘Listen’ was a civil rights awareness/protest statement.  He said he might have another copy or two somewhere packed away.

Mr. Dupuis was also gracious enough to respond to a few questions from Zero to 180:

Q: Do you have any photos of DB Sound?
A:  I only have slight memories of the studio.  We recorded for almost 8 hours….

Q: Did your group play live in the DC area and if so, what clubs did you play?
A: We played at Fort Meade Teen club and a few other small venues

Q: Did your 45 get any radio play and if so, which stations?
A: We did get airtime, the A side was played in New York and in Baltimore, WCAO I think, and the west coast liked side B.  I am not certain of the radio station there.

Q: How did you learn about DB Sound, and what was its reputation?
A: My brother found the DB Sound studio and took care of that end.  I am not sure about how he found it.  I’d send you to him for that, but I am not sure he is alive.

Q: What is it memorable recording at DB Sound?
A: My memory was of working so long and hard and still not feeling good about the songs, “A side” ending.

Q: Was the neighborhood around DB Sound considered “safe”?
A: Silver Spring was a very clean and safe place at that time.

Q: How were race relations in Silver Spring at the time?
A: I believe the race problem was not much of an issue at the time.  We named our group with the idea that we were not racists and hoping to use that to get into more locations for gigs.

Lillian Claiborne:

In Memoriam

Hearty round of thanks to Jeff Krulik for forwarding this tribute to pioneering entrepreneur, Lillian Claiborne (DC Records co-founder), who was historically connected to DB Sound:

“Lillian Claiborne:

Her Art Is Lost To Us“

John B. Earnshaw

Unicorn Times

May 1975

Lillian Claiborne, an enterprising producer to Washington recording talent over the past 25 years, died in early April at the age of 78.

Although Lillian involved a great deal of her time with Black artists (individual and group musicians and instrumentalists alike), she herself was White: the beauty of it all was the fact that Lillian refused to bow to color line when that practice was fashionable.

Her foremost protege was the novelty vocalist Harmon “Maskman” Bethea, who first recorded for Lillian in the 1950’s. The last session she presided over (in wheelchair, accompanied by two attending nurses) was one for “Maskmen,” done at the D.B. Sound Studios in Silver Spring.

“The one [“Prices and Crisis“] was Harmon’s latest in a long series of regional hits [some with his old group, the Agents, and some like the recent sides done as ‘Maskman’] with which Lillian was associated,” recalls Sonny Damian of D.B. Sound. For musicians, A&R men, and recording men alike, says Sonny, “she was a hell of a woman.”

Here’s why: Not only was Lillian a pioneer (much like the White, female founder of the Stax label in Memphis) in helping Black talent pool their resources additionally, she introduced the 1st Negro group with a strong beat (the Heartbreakers) to RCA Victor’s once-mild realm. Then, of course, came the vigorous encouragement she gave to the growth of our area C&W market. In this regard, think about her inclusion of Jimmy Dean and Roy Clark as sidemen on some long ago (18 years or more) sessions.

With the large amount of money she poured into the “biz” over a 25-plus year period, she kept many struggling studios alive.

In the D.C. scene, Lillian was associated with a phenomenally broad range of musical styles which were grouped around three labels. On D.C., spirituals and sacred; on Loop, general range (pop, novelty, etc.); on Gamma, rhythm ‘n’ blues.

Who were her contacts? Name some names known to those in the trade — Randy Woods of Ranwood Records, Jerry “Swamp Dogg” Williams — a young blues artist with a dedicated, but mounting following. Art Talmadge of Musicor, not to mention other personalities from such labels as Dot, Pickwick, and Gotham. Locally, such fine blowers and wailers as Billy Clark and Joe Bradley will long retain fond memories of the once-renowned Cap-tans, one of the unsung names of R ‘n’ B. Likewise, Cliff Holland (radio station WOOK) and Roadhouse Oldies‘ proprietor Les Moskowitz, share grief for the departure of their old friend.

If some of these people aren’t familiar to the D.C. “scene,” it wasn’t Lillian’s fault. As a charter member in the Mid-Atlantic chapters of both BMI and ASCAP, she did her best to build a base for quality popular music in Washington. Although much of the material (particularly in the 1950’s) that Lillian Claiborne produced didn’t sell in vast quantity, the real value of her work was hardly lost to the music business—therein lines the backbone of the art.

And the backbone has lost a link with the passing of Lillian Claiborne.