Motley, Frank and His Motley Crew

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Origin: Cheraw, South Carolina, USA - Toronto, Ontario, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Frank Motley, Jr. (December 30, 1923 – May 31, 1998) was an American R&B and jazz musician and bandleader who lived and worked in Canada for most of his career. His main instrument was the trumpet, on which he was known for playing two simultaneously. He also sang, and played trombone.

Born in Cheraw, South Carolina, Motley took trumpet lessons when young from Dizzy Gillespie, who was from the same town. He developed a technique of playing two trumpets at the same time, becoming known as "Dual Trumpet" and "Two Horn" Motley. He took a degree in mechanical engineering at South Carolina State College, before joining the military and performing in the Navy Band entertaining troops in the Pacific. After the end of the war he played in nightclubs in New York City before settling in Washington, D.C. and forming his own band in 1949.

He recorded extensively for Lillian Claiborne's DC Records from 1951, and many of his recordings were licensed to other labels including RCA Victor and Specialty. His band, the Motley Crew, included singer and keyboardist Curley Bridges, drummer Thomas E. ‘TNT’ Tribble, and vocalist Elsie "Angel Face" Kenley (1930–1991). From 1952, Motley and his band played mainly in Canada. He married and toured Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal.. The group was so well received that the base of operations was shifted to Toronto almost immediately. Nevertheless he also continued to perform and record in the US.

In the fall of 1958 Motley toured with a travelling USO show called "Swinging Along". No tour itinerary has been found, but the show visited military bases in Europe and also Lebanon, where U.S. troops were currently deployed.

Among his many records "Honkin' At Midnight" may very well be Motley's greatest track, but it's far from his only memorable tune. His biggest commercial success came in 1963, when his version of William Bell's song "Any Other Way", which he recorded with vocalist Jackie Shane for Cookin’, a small local label in Boston and then licenced to the important Sue label. Shane was a pioneer of transgender rights, born in a male body but unabashedly living her entire life as a woman at a time when to do so seemed unthinkable. The record met with some success in the United States and with huge success in Canada where it climbed to number 2 on the local Toronto pop chart. The first Motley LP, which was recorded in Montreal — and exclusively released in Canada in 1963, featuring vocals by Jackie Shane, Curly Bridges, Larry Ellis and Frank Motley himself – was a popular release that proved to be a very influential must-have platter for many budding Montreal musicians at the time.

He disbanded the Motley Crew in 1966 and formed a new band in Toronto, the Hitch-Hikers, at first with Shane and then with singer Earle "The Mighty Pope" Heedram. Following a parting of the ways with the group in 1970, Motley continued to gig with various line-ups, most notably as Frank Motley and the Bridge Crossing. During 1985, in declining health and with club work having dried up, Motley returned to the United States to be near his daughters in Durham, North Carolina. However he maintained his interest in music and continued to play in local dance bands.

Frank passed away in Durham on May 31, 1998 aged 74.