After The Dance (Smooth Soul Survivors)

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    "After The Dance"

    [Song Written by Marvin Gaye]

    Marvin Gaye is the master of the Smooth Soul Survivor and although his 1976 single ‘After The Dance' enjoyed (by his own heady standards) only modest success, it was hugely influential in shaping the urban contemporary and quiet storm vibes that would grace R & B for the following thirty years.  Written by Gaye and his co-producer Leon Ware it was the second single to be lifted from the ‘I Want You' album and tells the story of a moment when (presumably Gaye) notices a woman on the Soul Train show and convinces her to get together with him later to share a dance.  As the entire album was in fact dedicated to Gaye' lover Janis Hunter the autobiographical connotations are obvious and the sensuous groove that he effortlessly creates is enhanced by his own playing of both synthesizer and piano.

    "After The Dance"

    [Song Written by Marvin Gaye]

    Marvin Gaye is the master of the Smooth Soul Survivor and although his 1976 single ‘After The Dance' enjoyed (by his own heady standards) only modest success, it was hugely influential in shaping the urban contemporary and quiet storm vibes that would grace R & B for the following thirty years.  Written by Gaye and his co-producer Leon Ware it was the second single to be lifted from the ‘I Want You' album and tells the story of a moment when (presumably Gaye) notices a woman on the Soul Train show and convinces her to get together with him later to share a dance.  As the entire album was in fact dedicated to Gaye' lover Janis Hunter the autobiographical connotations are obvious and the sensuous groove that he effortlessly creates is enhanced by his own playing of both synthesizer and piano.

    As glowing and as well chronicled as Gaye's career was it was also dogged by a painful private life.  His relationship with Hunter, who was aged seventeen when they met, put paid to his first marriage to Berry Gordy, Jr.'s sister Anna who, ironically, was seventeen years his senior.  He married Hunter in 1977 but after only a year this marriage also failed.  Professionally and emotionally Gaye was entering a difficult period of his life and despite some high profile liaisons he was also by that time being haunted by health problems, depression and a growing reliance on drugs.  In 1984, in an apparent attempt at a fresh start, he chose to move back into the home of his parents but it proved not to be the solution he sought.  On April 1 1984, one day before his 45th birthday and in the aftermath of a heated argument, his father shot him dead.  His memorial is his music and ‘After The Dance' is a considerable part of that.

    Hall and Oates famously included the song on their wonderful 2004 collection ‘Our Kind Of Soul' and Michael McDonald (through his own infatuation with Motown) made it part of ‘Motown Two' from the same year.  Elsewhere, during her ‘Girlie Show' concert in 1993, none other than Madonna used the opening lines of ‘After The Dance' while performing ‘Everybody' and the tune was also sampled by De La Soul for the track ‘With Me' which appears on the 2000 release ‘Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump'.  Another sample, this time by rapper Nas, for the cut ‘Play On Playa', can be found on his 2006 album ‘Hip Hop Is Dead' and Cassendre McKinley gives ‘After The Dance' a totally different make-over on the 2004 CD ‘Baring The Soul - The Music Of Marvin Gaye'.

    However, not surprisingly the world of smooth jazz has enjoyed an enduring love affair with Gaye's music and although a version by saxophonist David Mann can be found on the 2004 CD ‘Marvin, Teddy and Luther - A Smooth Urban Jazz Love' the red thread that links the sophisticated smooth soul of the seventies to contemporary urban jazz has never been better exemplified than with the adaptation by smooth jazz super-group FourPlay.  It appears on the bands self titled 1991 release and, embellished as it is by wondrous guest vocals from El DeBarge, serves to connect a whole new audience to this sumptuously sexy song.  Time has done nothing to dim the luster of this truly outstanding track which, much like the original, is a genuine Smooth Soul Survivor.