Jr. Walker’s Allstar Band Featured at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, 7/4

Jr. Walker's Allstar Band will be the featured performer in "A Motown 4th" produced by Cornelius Grant at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center on July 4.

"This will be the original Motown sound," said Grant, who was The Temptations' music director from 1964 to 1982 and also played guitar with early Motown groups including Mary Wells and Marvin Gaye. "We won't only have Junior Walker's Allstar Band. We expect some other performers to stop by, sign autographs and, possibly, perform."

The Jr. Walker Allstar Band will include bassist and vocalist Jimmy Hockaday, who played with the band under the late Junior Walker and co-wrote "Sax Attack" with him in 1979, and saxophonist Gerald Noel, a protége of Walker who owns some of his original instruments.

"Gerald Noel is a Junior Walker clone," Grant said.

Walker's band reached No. 1 on the R & B charts with "Shotgun" in 1965. Other blockbuster hits included "I'm a Road Runner" and "How Sweet It Is (to be Loved by You)."

"They'll be playing all of Junior Walker's hits," Grant said.

Claudette Robinson, a member of The Miracles from 1957 to 1972, Betty Kelly, who sang with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas from 1963 to 1968, and Maxi B, a member of Rick James' Mary Jane Girls, will be at the "A Motown 4th." Walker is attempting to bring additional Motown artists to the show.

"There are still a lot of Motown people in Los Angeles and I'm trying to get them to stop by and sign autographs," Grant said. "I want the Motown artists to support their own legacy. I've also asked a couple of artists to perform."

Grant, who also co-wrote with Roger Penzabene The Temptations' million seller "You're My Everything," will serve as Master of Ceremonies. The show has opening acts with jazz singers Sharon Cline and Rita Shelby and the Danish a cappella jazz vocalists group Touché­­.

"There's going to be a vast array of performers covering a broad spectrum of music," Grant said. "Rita Shelby and Sharon Cline are excellent vocalists. It's a Motown 4th with some jazz, too. They're both great American forms of music."

"A Motown 4th" will be held in the park across the courtyard from Morrison's Performing Arts Center at 4305 Degnan Boulevard, Suite 101, in Leimert Park.

Discount tickets for "A Motown 4th" are $10 and available at www.Goldstar.com. Tickets are also available for $20 at www.BarbaraMorrison.com or at the door. For more information, go to www.bmpac.org.

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