The 4 Masters - Pretty One - Soul Direction
b/w - Hearsay
Licensed courtesy of Frank Bendinelli and released on Vinyl for the first time. Mastered from the original master tapes.
According to Frank Bendinelli there isn’t too much info on this elusive group as they were a
studio session group who did work for him and Leroy Lovett on occasion.
They consisted of:
Wilmer Wise - Trumpet
Bob Brown - Sax
Morgan Frisby - Baritone Sax
Joe Renzetti - Guitar
Stanley Gaines - Bass
Leon Huff - piano
Pete Cozzi – drums.
From memory Frank recalls Phil Hurtt took the lead vocals on “Pretty One” as a co-writer of
the tracks. Fred Andrew Smith took lead vocals on “Hearsay”. They also went under the
names of The Swinging Phillies (Deluxe Records), The Mohawks (Val-ue and Mutual Records)
and supposedly the Rockmasters as they were credited on a CD compilation, but not the
Romulus or One-derful outfits. There were various members of the band on each which
seemed to change often according to Frank.
Both “Pretty one” & “Hearsay” were recorded on February 27th, 1965 at Sound
Plus Studios in Philly. Frank Bendinelli and Leroy Lovett formed B&L Productions in 1962
after they met on Broad Street in Philadelphia PA. They soon formed Ben-Lee Publishing and
the Labels Benn-X and Sonata Records. Leroy a jazz pianist, arranger, and composer and
Frank a song writer and producer. They were involved in a string of releases with artists
such as Patti & The Emblems, The Inspirations and The Intruders to name a few.
