Kenny Vance of Jay and the Americans Talks Doo-Wop, Urban Music and New Documentary | VIDEO
*This, in part, is the story of Jay and the Americans, but it is much more than that. It is about the history of street music.
Music is one of the only methods by which we mere mortals can truly time travel, traversing decades in the span it takes for a record to spin on its axis, extolling its harmonious offerings directly into the heart and soul of the listeners.
For many, doo-wop is the fork in the road at which rock & roll and rhythm & blues parted ways- a seldom explored phenomenon in modern media.
Heart & Soul: A Love Story
Recently, EURweb.com was invited to the Museum of New York in Harlem for a screening of “Heart & Soul: A Love Story.” a documentary produced by and featuring Kenny Vance, a founding member of Jay and the Americans.
The group which formed in Vance’s mother’s Brooklyn basement would go on to open for the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
However, it’s just not about Mr. Vance or the group. Not by a long shot.
“Things would be very still (on the radio). All of a sudden, a voice would come on the radio-Alan Freed (aka Mr. Rock & Roll),” said Vance as he explained how he became enamored by doo-wop. “He would only play the original record, wasn’t going to play Pat Boone,he was going to play Little Richard. He wasn’t going to play the McGuire Sisters singing ‘Sincerely’, he was going to play the Moonglows.”
“This stuff was so real, so spiritual,” Vance told EURweb.com. “He also had a show at the Brooklyn Paramount in Downtown Brooklyn, the first ever rock & roll show.”
The Soulful City Sounds
Though Kenny Vance, who went on to manage and produce Steely Dan later on, is the narrator and guide, the documentary features the first stars of this then mainstream genre of ghetto griots. These voices of yesteryear that were the soundtracks of the streets of New York long before the emergence of Hip-Hop music.
The film features testimony and footage from members of The Jive 5 (1957). The Cadillacs (1953), The Flamingos, The Heartbeats (1956), Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (1957), Little Anthony and the Imperials, and The Chantels (1957).
It was considered the quintessential sound of the inner city for decades, from the 1940s through the late 60s.
A significant portion of the film is dedicated to the memory of Frankie Lyman-perhaps the most recognizable individual from that era.
Doo-Wop: An Urban Artform
From the Kingsborough Projects and Fort Greene Projects in Brooklyn and far beyond, the beginnings of doo-wop music are unquestionably rooted in soul-a fact that is woven through the tapestry of the documentary. But Vance told EURweb.com that there were never any claims of cultural appropriation back then, nor since.
“Everybody was on the same page, everybody was totally inclusive. If you had the right vibe, you were good,” Vance explained. “You could go from Town Hill off Eastern Parkway and Bedford Avenue, and everything was always cool. It was a beautiful time. When we played, it showed the love and camaraderie that we had for each other. I could talk to you for a long time about it, and how it all happened. I think this is a story that needs to be told.”
Jay and the Americans were proud practitioners of the craft and Kenny Vance is determined to get the word out about this genre, his genre. It was, at it’s heart, an urban artform that changed the mainstream forever.
But “Heart & Soul” doesn’t simply speak of origins, but also of the influence the music had on the mainstream music scene, and how doo-wop would eventually catapult many of its practitioners to other things. Vance would go on to appear as an actor in 10 films, including six Woody Allen movies, as well as as a music producer in such films as “The Warriors,” “Eddie and the Cruisers,” “Animal House,” and many more.
“Heart & Soul: A Love Story” has been featured on PBS since 2024 and is currently on a national tour.
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