On Saturday night, October 25, 1986, 10 rhythm & blues and soul vocal harmony groups of the 1950s and ‘60s performed at the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All of the acts- the Silhouettes, Angels/Castelles, Blue Notes, Capris, Dreamlovers, Revels, Keystoners, Majors, Tymes and Brenda and the Tabulations- were formed in the greater Philadelphia area. Only 230 tickets were available for the show, priced at $40 each. Kae Williams, former disc jockey in the city, owner of Junior Records and producer of the Silhouettes’ “Get A Job”, served as the emcee. Williams (1921-1987) died just 14 months after this event.
In this 12-minute film shared by Seymour Simon, THE TURBANS perform three of their Herald recordings, “Sister Sookey”, “Let Me Show You Around My Heart”, and “When You Dance”, from 1955. Original lead singer Al Banks had died after suffering a heart attack in 1977. Bass singer Andrew “Chet” Jones (1934-1998), who wrote the group’s signature hit, “When You Dance”, re-organized the Turbans with his brother, Donald “Dino” Jones, singing baritone. Dino had first joined the group as a fill-in/substitute member in 1956. Tenor James “Tony” Jenkins (1934-2001) had first sung with Andrew Jones and Rick Lewis, later of the Silhouettes, in a non-recording group called the Parakeets. Jenkins initially served as the Turbans’ road manager, and sang tenor in the Gospel Tornadoes, who evolved into the Silhouettes, before joining the Air Force. He rejoined the Turbans in 1958 and was in and out of the lineup in the years that followed. Given the formidable task of replacing Al Banks, lead singer Bernard Whittington performed with the group through their final appearance in 2000. By that time, Dino had replaced his late brother, and original first tenor Matthew Platt had returned to the lineup.
While the backing band was obviously not particularly familiar with their recordings, the Turbans performed well- with original bass Jones in especially fine voice- and were well received by the audience. Reuploading, selling or distributing for any purpose is prohibited.