Dyke & the Blazers

Dyke and the Blazers
Origin	Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Genres	R&B, funk
Years active	1965–1971
Labels	Artco, Original Sound
Associated acts	Carl LaRue and his Crew, The O'Jays, Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
Past members	Arlester "Dyke" Christian Alvester "Pig" Jacobs J.V. Hunt Bernard Williams Richard Cason Rodney Brown Alvin Battle Willie Earl Wardell "Baby Wayne" Peterson Otis Tolliver Ray Byrd Maurice "Little Mo" Jones

Dyke and the Blazers was an American funk band led by Arlester Christian (June 13, 1943–March 13, 1971). The band was formed in 1965 and recorded until 1971, when Christian died. Among their most successful records were the original version of "Funky Broadway" (1966) and "Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man" (1969).

Arlester Christian, nicknamed "Dyke", was born (according to most sources) in Buffalo, New York. He attended Burgard High School. In 1960, he started playing bass in a Buffalo band, Carl LaRue and his Crew, who played local bars and clubs and released a single, "Please Don't Drive Me Away", on the KKC label in about 1963. In 1964, LaRue was invited by Phoenix, Arizona disc jockey Eddie O'Jay to take his band to that city, to provide the backing for the vocal group that he managed there, The O'Jays. By 1965, however, the O'Jays and their manager had moved elsewhere, and LaRue's band fell apart. LaRue returned to Buffalo, but Christian and two other members of the band, guitarist Alvester "Pig" Jacobs and saxophonist J.V. Hunt, had no means of traveling and stayed in Phoenix. They joined forces with an existing Phoenix group, The Three Blazers, who included tenor saxophonist Bernard Williams, and, as "Dyke and the Blazers", added local musicians Rich Cason (organ) and Rodney Brown (drums). Playing in local clubs, the group picked up on the rhythms, bass and organ innovations of James Brown's band, and through improvisation developed a riff-based song that became "Funky Broadway", the lyrics reflecting singer Dyke's memories of Broadway in Buffalo as well as Broadway Street in Phoenix.

In summer 1966, the band were heard by Art Barrett, who became their manager and had them record the song at the Audio Recorders Studio in Phoenix. Barrett released the record on his own Artco label, with Christian credited as its writer although other band members later claimed that they had contributed to the song. It became popular locally, and was reissued by Art Laboe's Original Sound label in Los Angeles. The record steadily climbed the Billboard R&B chart early in 1967, reaching no. 17 in a 24-week stay on the chart, and also reached no. 65 on the pop chart. The record was the first to use the word "funky" in its title, and for that reason was banned by some radio stations as offensive. Its music was described by Rick James as "revolutionary", and Dyke developed a dance routine to go with it. The band added bass player Alvin Battle, freeing Dyke to concentrate on vocals, and toured widely on the back of its success. However, in the summer of 1967, the stresses of playing a series of engagements at the Apollo Theater in Harlem caused the band to split up, shortly before Wilson Pickett had a bigger hit with his own cover version of "Funky Broadway". Pickett's recording reached no. 1 on the R&B chart and no. 8 on the pop chart.

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