The Universal Togetherness Band – I Want You - Soul Direction
B/W - Call For Love
Pre Order for Release Date – W/C 11th July 2022
Mastered for vinyl from the original master tapes.
These two tracks were recorded between 1979 and 1982 and after Andre began circulating cassette tapes of the band’s material (most of which were written by Andre) they were finally given the light of day by The Numero Group in 2014.
Soul Direction have been given permission to master these tracks for 7” vinyl from the original master tapes. The songs were recorded at Zenith db and Universal Audio in Chicago Illinois and under licence from Andre Gibson & The Numero Group and with the permission of Andre Gibson.
The Band:
Andre Gibson – Lead Vocals, Piano & Organ
Arnold Gibson – Drums,
Bass Paul Hanover – Piano, Harmonica & Backing Vocals
Fred Misher – Bass Guitar, Vocals
Leslie Misher – Lead Guitar
Louis Sanford – Percussions Dawn Brooks
Andre Gibson was born in 1956 in Chicago. His mother from Bessemer AL. was married to Robert Lee Gibson, a labourer at a steel foundry and a fellow southerner hailing from Ashland Mississippi. His first musical experience that would carve his love of music was at the age of six witnessing a performance from the great Jackie Wilson at the Regal Theatre. He would also be shaped by performances from The Temptations & Stevie Wonder to name but a few. Also having many musical artists sharing the same apartment block would leave Andre’s ears ringing from the sounds of Vandy Harris a jazz Saxophonist, but it was his high school maths teacher Artie “Duke” Payne that helped him mature his love of music. Artie was the reedman for Cadet records Odell Brown and the Organ-Izers. Andre then went on to form his own band for a spell, playing talent shows and by the late 60s had recruited his brother. They continued for a while and the family having moved to a larger home to allow for the evergrowing family. He moved to Chicago Vocational School joining the jazz and marching band of this more progressive music-based school. Andre then got more serious and outside of school formed another larger band named “Blue Flame”. The guy’s pooled money together to buy an organ and an amplifier, then later his brother Arnold helped out and later took over the bands managerial duties leaving Andre to graduate in 1973. A few additional members joined the band and they bounced around gigs for a time until Andre married his high school sweetheart Cynthia Tabb in 1977.
Andre then took a job at CBS Musical Instruments in the R&D dept. but also demonstrated the fine instruments at trade shows for the company. He then enrolled at Columbia College where he formed Universal Togetherness Band. They did a few sessions for Malcom Chisholm at Universal/Columbia as it was then around 1979 and with the addition of Dawn Brooks and Louis Stanford completed the band and they recorded the tracks “Ain’t Gonna Cry” & “Taken By Love”. They then went onto various club shows around Illinois and played on the bill with Jerry Butler, Ramsey Lewis and many others. UTB did pretty well in the area and featured on some TV dance shows but ultimately some band members (Notably Louis Stanford & Paul Hanover) left the band and others joined, but in the four years together, they had fun and recorded other tracks alongside the two featured on this release.
