Taking their cue and musical direction more from Motown than the British Invasion, The Detroit Soul were part of a very vibrant music scene in New Britain, Connecticut. Their first single, ‘All Of My Life,’ is a very highly regarded record that still commands collector interest, especially among Northern Soul enthusiasts. Bassist Bart Mazzarella contacted us after seeing our stories on Doc Cavalier, Uranus & The Five Moons and Synchron Studios, and provided more information on his popular '60's band.
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| Sal Linaras (Front). L-R: (A guy from the publicity department filling in for Ronnie Carrubba), Angelo Mariani, Bart Mazzarella, Peter Villano, Joey Verillo and Richard 'Skip' Blankenberg. |
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An Interview With Bart Mazzarella
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Bart Mazzarella (BM): My dad, who passed away when I was four, was a professional alto sax player. I inherited his Selmer Paris sax and learned how to play when I was in fourth grade. My mom traded the sax for a guitar when I was 12 and I took lessons from Rainy Rivers.
60s: Was The Detroit Soul your first band?
BM: I played in a band called The Hi-Tones at the age of 13 along with future Detroit Soul members Skip Blankenberg and Joey Verillo. We were together for about two years—1962 and 1963—and played churches, gymnasiums and even a wedding at a restaurant. We once played a sock hop for WDRC deejay Dick Robinson.
60s: Where was when The Detroit Soul formed?
BM: If my memory serves me correctly it was Pete Villano who started Detroit Soul around 1965. It was made up of guys from Pulaski High and New Britain High schools. We also had a number of different vocalists, both male and female.
The leader, Peter Villano, was a monster on the Hammond B-3. Ronnie Carrubba was one of the best drummers around. Joey Verillo played Tenor and Alto sax like an old veteran. Skip Blankenberg and Tony Deautch were adept trumpet players, and later Angelo Mariani replaced Tony on trumpet. I played electric bass and our vocalist was Sal Linaras, who lived in South Windsor. Before Sal we featured three singers in a Soul Review called The Connoisseurs.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
BM: We were heavily influenced by the Detroit sound out of Motown. We played Funky and tight. Some of the groups that influenced us included The Temptations, James Brown, Otis Redding, Booker T and the MG’s, and Jr. Walker and The All Stars.
60s: What was the New Britain music scene like in the '60s?
BM: There were a lot of bands in that era, especially after the British Invasion. We didn’t pay a lot of attention to most of them since we felt that few of them measured up to us. There were a couple of other funk/soul bands in the area who were impressive, but we considered Detroit Soul the best!
60s: Where did the band typically play?
BM: We played at churches, schools, armories, some clubs, amusement parks and, later, larger venues like Bushnell Memorial Auditorium. I don’t remember the local teen clubs in our area. There was one in Bristol and one in East Hartford or Manchester that I recall. We played a few of them but usually when we played clubs they were adult clubs.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
BM: Detroit Soul ventured as far north as Lake George, New York and Killington, Vermont. We also traveled to places like Revere Beach near Boston, Nantucket Island, Newport, Rhode Island and White Plains, New York.
60s: Did The Detroit Soul participate in any battle of the bands?
BM: I recall winning a battle of the bands in our hometown of New Britain at the armory. We beat Al Anderson and The Wildweeds. It may not have been a fair fight since we had our crowd in the house. We played in a couple of other battles but I don’t recollect how we fared.
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| At the New Britain Armory with Gracie Raines, 1966 |
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| At the New Britain Armory with The Connoisseurs (featuring Ronnie Maya), 1966 |
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60s: Did The Detroit Soul participate in any battle of the bands?
BM: I recall winning a battle of the bands in our hometown of New Britain at the armory. We beat Al Anderson and The Wildweeds. It may not have been a fair fight since we had our crowd in the house. We played in a couple of other battles but I don’t recollect how we fared.
60s: What other local groups of the era do you especially recall?
BM: The Saturday Nights were popular. (I also remember) Little Bobby and The Soul Rockers, The Supremes (not the girl group), The Paramounts, The Wanderers, The Great Train Robbery and The Shags among many others whose names escape me.
60s: How popular locally did The Detroit Soul become?
BM: Very popular! We were stars in our high schools and in our town, especially after the release of ‘All Of My Life’! We always had a loyal following but it intensified after our appearance at The Bushnell in 1967. After opening for The Strawberry Alarm Clock (‘Incense and Peppermint’); we were mobbed by fans for autographs by the stage door. We always drew large crowds wherever we played and were constantly told that we were the best band in the area.
60s: Did The Detroit Soul have a manager?
BM: We had a manager who hooked up with us just before we recorded at Synchron. His name was Ron Romano who owned a pizza house in Southington where we first heard ‘All Of My Life’ on his jukebox. He booked us in several venues after our radio play and joined us on the road on special occasions. He actually passed up an offer from Capitol Records that would have ousted him from managing. We learned about the dirty deal six months after the fact, and we fired him!
60s: What were the circumstances leading to recording for Synchron?
BM: WPOP’s Bob Paiva got together with our manager to prompt us to record in order to boost our career. We immediately went into practice to work on a song written by Peter Villano. Each wrote his own part and Sal Linaras actually didn’t finish the lyrics until the recording session. We recorded ‘All Of My Life’ and the B-side, ‘Mr. Hip’ in one session. We appeared in an issue of the national periodical, Cashbox, under the heading, “Bubbling under the Hot 100!” The band recorded their follow up ‘Does Your Mind Go Wild’ by Billy Durso, and B-side, ‘Love Without Meaning’ written by Pete Villano, but with Dave Calcinari on bass after I left the group.
Our sessions were held at Synchron Studios in Wallingford with Doc Cavalier. I recall that everyone was nervous and it led to arguments. But we put our differences aside when it came to crunch time. The instrumental track was laid down first with everyone playing together. Sal recorded his vocal separately. Later, a studio musician named Billy Durso added guitar to the track to add texture. It was our first experience in a professional studio and we were in awe of the equipment and the stress of actually making a record that could be played on the radio. The song was on Irv Jeffries’ MusicTown Record Label.
60s: What are your personal recollections of Doc Cavalier?
BM: Doc’s reputation preceded him and we were actually afraid of him. I think we were fearful of failing to impress him since we knew of the bands who previously had worked with Doc.
60s: Did The Detroit Soul write many original songs?
BM: Pete Villano did write other songs besides ‘All Of My Life’ but they didn’t get around to record them until after I left the band. Dave Calcinari also wrote some original songs which the group recorded at a later session in New London.
60s: Do any (other) ‘60’s Detroit Soul recordings exist? Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased tracks?
BM: If such recordings existed I would love to hear them! I have not heard of anyone who has any garage/basement recordings or of any recordings of our performances. There are probably some unreleased tracks that were recorded after I left the band. I remember that it sounded a lot like early Chicago or Blood, Sweat and Tears.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?
BM: We were scheduled to appear on Brad Davis’ TV show on WTIC TV-3 after our record became a local hit but we were scratched just days before it was to air for reasons I don’t recall. There’s a high probability that some home movie footage exists somewhere, but again, we haven’t had anyone approach us about it. It’d be priceless to see what we looked like back in those days.
60s: Why did you leave The Detroit Soul?
BM: I left the band in August 1967 to attend college in Boston and was replaced on bass by Dave Calcinari. The band stayed together for about a year before self-destructing from arguments over creative differences.
60s: Did you join or form any bands after The Detroit Soul?
BM: After college and settling into marriage I began to write profusely and put together an acoustic group with two friends, one of whom was Skip Blankenberg who had switched from trumpet to guitar. The other was John Stanizzi who went on to be named New England Poet of the Year. We recorded several songs in a professional studio but nothing ever came of that project nor did we ever seriously play for anyone but our friends. Later on, in the late ‘70s I managed a talented kickin’ horn band called Kangaroo, which included Skip Blankenberg, Dave Calcinari and, later, Joe Verillo.
60s: What keeps you busy today?
BM: Since 1968 I have had a successful career as a radio personality and spent eight years on WDRC AM & FM from 1975-1983 as Bob Marx. I spent over 14 years as the morning voice of the Space and Treasure Coast at WSCF FM, retiring from a daily morning show in December 2005. I work in Business Development for Christian FM and do a number of voice overs for clients around the country. I own an acoustic guitar and have played in church for our youth group as well as a few appearances at a Christian coffee house that I started known as His Way Café. But mostly the guitar comes out only occasionally, and I seldom write anymore.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Detroit Soul?
BM: I feel as though I have been blessed beyond my expectation by being a part of that whole experience. Sometimes I think I dreamed it all up. After seeing the Tom Hanks movie, That Thing You Do, I remarked that this movie eerily resembles my memories of The Detroit Soul. It was like reliving my band years.
The most remarkable thing about being a Detroit Soul member is the fans that have followed us even to the present. I have been contacted by deejays from Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. as well as Northern Soul aficionados from all over who want an original copy of the record (not for sale!). There has even been a copy sold on eBay for $320.00! Unbelievable!
I was part of a magical time (and part of) a convergence of talents who created something that lives on all these decades later. There is nothing that compares with the thrill of creating music with your friends and having people love it enough to keep it alive.
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| L-R: Ronnie Carrubba, Bart Mazzarella, Gracie Raines, Richard 'Skip' Blankenberg, Joey Verillo and Tony Deautch. |
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| At the New Britain, 1966 |
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