As a music lover and collector born and raised in Virginia Beach, I’ve had a long standing passion for the rich local music history that the Southeast Virginia area has created. Many people from outside hear of the area and think about the 1990’s-2000’s: Teddy Riley and Future Recording Studios, Wreckx-N-Effect shooting the “Rump Shaker” video in Virginia Beach, Timbaland, Missy Elliot, The Clipse, The Neptunes, Bink!, Nottz, and many others. They have all been incredible contributors to the music world, but underlying that are prior decades and generations that helped to lay a foundation. People like Lenis Guess and his label and studio on 35th Street in Norfolk, Noah Biggs and his Norfolk-based Shiptown label, Frank Guida and his incubation of The Norfolk Sound through the many artists on his labels like Legrand and SPQR, Warren Miller and his labels and recording studios like Studio Center in Norfolk where many artists got their first chance to record music, and Mastersound Studio in Virginia Beach run by Rob Ulsh who is still engineering both local and major industry releases to this day. The list and contributions go on and on. We say here that there’s “something in the water”. There are a lot of thoughts out there as to why that is: perhaps being in the Mid-Atlantic area provides a center point between the North and South for a cultural and musical melting pot; maybe that melting pot is driven by the constant rotation of people in and out of the area due to Norfolk housing the largest Navy base in the world; or maybe it really just is “in the water”. Regardless, there is an undeniable rich musical culture and history here in Southeast Virginia.
Southeast Virginia is comprised primarily of seven cities that are collectively known by their official name of Hampton Roads, but commonly referred to as “The 757”. Those cities are Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, and Newport News. Like many areas in that time, there were quite a few local 45’s recorded and released by amateur musicians looking to produce an artifact for fans, to sell at live shows, or in hopes of getting it to radio and breaking out nationally. But full-length albums from the area are not nearly as common. Nonetheless, there are some truly great ones, and this list highlights five of my favorite LPs from five cities in The 757.
Virginia Beach
Mason – ‘Harbour’
Mason was a local psych rock band who released their debut album ‘Harbour’ in 1971 on the small local label Eleventh Hour which was run out of a townhouse near the Lynnhaven area of Virginia Beach. While the album checks all the requisite psych rock boxes, it also checks a box you wouldn’t expect – a breaking jam. “Electric Sox and All” has all of the hallmarks of a track to put a floor routine to: a conga intro that gives way to a monstrous horn calling, crescendoing to an all out breakbeat. The album caught a bit of traction after its initial release, having been repressed a few times in 1971-1972. You can spot the original for having a paste on front and back cover.
Norfolk
Jade – ‘In Pursuit’
Deeper collectors may know this one. Of all of the full-length funk and soul albums released in Virginia in the 1960’s and 1970’s, I’d argue that Jade’s ‘In Pursuit’ album released in 1975 on the Norfolk-based Pesante Records label is probably THE best as a complete project. Around the time the label was starting up, the newest crown jewel of the city had just been built – the entertainment and sports arena, the Norfolk Scope. The city was tall with pride and Peasante capitalized on that by adopting a rendering of the Scope as its label logo. While the label released over a half-dozen 45’s, they only released this one LP. There seems to be a good bit of mystery surrounding the band, particularly with questions of whether or not this was anything more than a studio project, but I can confirm through first hand memorabilia that the core group was indeed a real, traveling band. It’s impossible to pick one song off the album, so I recommend giving it a full spin.
Hampton
Peace, Justice & Equality – ‘At The Disco’
Danny Goldstone began singing on Hampton street corners in the 1960’s. His first releases were a pair of 45s with his group The Deceptions in the early 1970’s. A couple of those tracks would reappear later as alternate versions of songs on the first Peace, Justice & Equality (PJ&E) album ‘It’s Time’ in 1976 (note: the album was recorded at Lenis Guess’ studio in Norfolk). Two years later, 1978 saw the release of the second PJ&E album “At The Disco”. I always wondered why this album was so hard to find compared to ‘It’s Time’. I had a chance to sit with Danny at his house in June 2021 and ask him. Come to find out, after the Frankie Crocker payola fiasco in 1976 it became harder to get access to on-air radio play in the “old school way”. When the album ultimately didn’t end up getting the traction Danny had hoped for, he decided to toss out many of the copies in the local landfill. A shame for an album of this funk and soul caliber.
Newport News
Denbiegh High School Jazz Ensemble – ‘1977-78′
There’s something special to me about high school band records. They have both an endearing innocence and a certain mystique. Throw in one locally from Virginia and featuring one of the legendary Wooten brothers, and you’ve got the makings of something good. The Wootens moved often as an Air Force family, finally settling in Warwick Lawns in Newport News in 1972. A few years later the keyboardist of the family, Joseph Wooten (older brother of bassist Victor Wooten) found himself at Denbiegh High School. The high school cut a couple records in the late 1970’s, with the one from 1977-1978 featuring Joseph in his Junior year. While the symphonic band side doesn’t offer much, the jazz ensemble b-side has a fantastic cover of “This Masquerade” on it. The song features Joseph both singing and playing keys and would have fit right in on your favorite Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson album. As is with many of these lower budget school records, the live in-school recording quality isn’t great. The packaging meets the same sub-par quality standard, complete with a generic stock art front cover and a blank yellow back cover. But the musicality is what matters the most, and it nails the mark.
Van Jones and his musical partner Erwin Epps have been friends since their childhood growing up in Suffolk. They decided to record their first 45 in Norfolk in the mid-1970’s upon graduating from Norfolk State College (note: they were one of the many artists who recorded their first record at Warren Miller’s Studio Center). Van was always the guy with the voice and writing, and Erwin the guy with the instrumentation. But both with a keen vision on how songs felt. They recorded several 45’s during the mid-late 1970’s before releasing their sole album in 1981, ’Time Has Made Me New’. Featuring several songs from their 45 catalogue, the album plays to the formula that Van and Erwin mastered, soul on one side and funk on the other. A perfect mix of both. This is another album that’s hard to pick a favorite on, but the upbeat disco groove with a falsetto vocal “Let’s Go This Go” is hard to beat. Van is still around. I was playing this record at home just a few weeks ago and reached out to Van to check in. We plan to catch up soon. A great guy.
