The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

Famed for their oft-sampled 1970 classic "Express Yourself," Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm was among the pivotal forces behind soul music's metamorphosis into funk. Wright was born in Clarksdale, MS, in 1940; his family relocated to Los Angeles a dozen years later, and there he began performing with a number of local doo wop groups, eventually becoming a protégé of singer Jesse Belvin. After learning to play guitar, Wright formed a band dubbed the Wright Sounds with bassist Melvin Dunlap, saxophonist Big John Rayford, and drummer James Gadson; in time, the lin...