It was a totally different situation at Motown, however, where sessions were a lot more structured, and the same group of musicians would frequently play together. “They liked my sound and either me or Hank Cosby (tenor) would play the solo. Many times I would play with the rest of the horns too - Herbie Williams and those guys. James Jamerson was very special to me. I was the youngest of the Funk Brothers and he looked after me. Because I played in the low range and he played bass we had a special relationship. I wasn’t into jazz like all the other cats, so I didn’t go to play with them after sessions in those clubs in Detroit like the Chit Chat Lounge.”

Terry vividly remembers Holland – Dozier – Holland sessions as being particularly enjoyable. “Those guys would get everybody in the mood by supplying some food, maybe a bit of hooch or whatever else the guys wanted, and then when we began, it was like a party going on down in that pit.

They were good times, and I did the solos on almost all of their things.”

Ironically, when he returned to the Hitsville building (now a museum) in 1993, for the first time since his 1966 departure, he was asked to pay an admission fee!

music: "Something About You" - The Four Tops (Motown 1084a)

Continued