The Brill Building's name has been widely adopted as a shorthand term for a broad and influential stream of American popular music (strongly influenced by
Latin music,
traditional black gospel, and
rhythm and blues) which enjoyed great commercial success in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. Many significant American and international publishing companies, music agencies, and record labels were based in New York, and although these ventures were naturally spread across many locations, the Brill Building was regarded as probably the most prestigious address in New York for music business professionals. The term "Brill Building Sound" is somewhat inaccurate, however, since much of the music so categorized actually emanated from other locations — music historian Ken Emerson nominated buildings at 1650 Broadway and
1697 Broadway as other significant bases of activity in this field. By 1962, the Brill Building contained 165 music businesses. In the mid-1960s a musician could cut a demo, find a publisher and printer, promote the record and cut a deal with radio promoters without leaving the building. The creative culture of the independent music companies in the Brill Building and the nearby 1650 Broadway came to define the influential "Brill Building Sound" and the style of popular songwriting and recording created by its writers and producers.
Carole King described the atmosphere at the "Brill Building" publishing houses of the period: {{Quote The Brill Building approach—which can be extended to other publishers not based in the Brill Building—was one way that professionals in the music business took control of things in the time after rock and roll's first wave. In the Brill Building practice, there were no more unpredictable or rebellious singers; in fact, a specific singer in most cases could be easily replaced with another. These songs were written to order by pros who could custom fit the music and lyrics to the targeted teen audience. In a number of important ways, the Brill Building approach was a return to the way business had been done in the years before rock and roll, since it returned power to the publishers and record labels and made the performing artists themselves much less central to the music's production.
Writers Many of the best works in this diverse category were written by a loosely affiliated group of songwriter-producer teams—mostly duos—that enjoyed immense success and who collectively wrote some of the biggest hits of the period. Many in this group were close friends and/or (in the cases of Goffin-King, Mann-Weil and Greenwich-Barry •
Tony Orlando •
Hugo Peretti and
Luigi Creatore •
Doc Pomus and
Mort Shuman •
Tony Powers •
Beverly Ross •
Neil Sedaka and
Howard Greenfield •
Paul Simon as Jerry Landis •
Phil Spector •
Eddie Snyder •
Bobby Susser •
Steve Tyrell Other musicians who were headquartered in the Brill Building include: •
Bobby Darin •
The Drifters featuring
Ben E. King •
Connie Francis •
Lesley Gore •
Haras Fyre •
Darlene Love •
Liza Minnelli •
Donald Fagen and
Walter Becker •
Gene Pitney •
The Ronettes •
The Shangri-Las •
The Shirelles •
The Sweet Inspirations •
Doris Troy •
Frankie Valli &
The Four Seasons •
Dee Dee Warwick •
Dionne Warwick •
The Delicates Among the hundreds of hits written by this group are "
Maybe I Know" (Barry-Greenwich), "
Yakety Yak" (Leiber-Stoller), "
Save the Last Dance for Me" (Pomus-Shuman), "
The Look of Love" (Bacharach-David), "
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (Sedaka-Greenfield), "
Devil in Disguise" (Giant-Baum-Kaye), "
The Loco-Motion" (Goffin-King), "
Supernatural Thing" (
Haras Fyre-Gwen Guthrie), "
We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (Mann-Weil), "
River Deep, Mountain High" (Spector-Greenwich-Barry), "
Big Girls Don't Cry" (Gaudio-Crewe), and "
Working My Way Back to You" (Linzer-Randell).
Musicians The following is a partial list of studio musicians who contributed to the Brill Building sound: • Arrangers/Conductors:
Teacho Wiltshire,
Garry Sherman,
Alan Lorber,
Jimmy Wisner,
Artie Butler,
Claus Ogerman,
Stan Applebaum • Bass:
George Duvivier,
Milt Hinton,
Russ Savakus,
Bob Bushnell, Joe Macho Jr,
Al Lucas, Dick Romoff, James Tyrell,
Jimmy Lewis,
Lloyd Trotman,
Wendell Marshall,
Chuck Rainey • Guitar:
George Barnes,
Al Gorgoni, Carl Lynch,
Trade Martin,
Bucky Pizzarelli,
Everett Barksdale, Bill Suyker,
Vinnie Bell,
Al Caiola, Al Casamenti,
Art Ryerson,
Eric Gale, Ralph Casale, Charles Macey,
Hugh McCracken, Wally Richardson, Don Arnone, Charles McCracken, Allan Hanlon, Sal Ditroia,
Kenny Burrell,
Mundell Lowe,
Cornell Dupree,
Mickey Baker • Keyboards: Ernie Hayes,
Paul Griffin, Leroy Glover, Frank Owens, Allan H. Nurse,
Bernie Leighton, Artie Butler,
Stan Free • Drums:
Gary Chester,
Buddy Saltzman,
Sticks Evans,
Herbie Lovelle,
Panama Francis, Al Rogers,
Bobby Gregg, Sol Gubin,
Bernard Purdie • Saxophone:
Artie Kaplan, Frank Heywood Henry, Phil Bodner,
Jerome Richardson, Romeo Penque,
King Curtis,
Seldon Powell,
Sam "the Man" Taylor,
Buddy Lucas • Trombone:
Jimmy Cleveland, Frank Saracco,
Benny Powell,
Wayne Andre, Tony Studd, Micky Gravine,
Urbie Green,
Frank Rehak • Trumpet:
Jimmy Nottingham,
Ernie Royal,
Jimmy Maxwell,
Bernie Glow, Irwin "Marky" Markowitz, Jimmy Sedlar,
Dud Bascomb, Lammar Wright Jr, Burt Collins, Joe Shepley • Percussion: George Devens, Phil Kraus,
Bobby Rosengarden, Willie Rodriguez, Martin Grupp • Engineers: Brooks Arthur, Eddie Smith, Bruce Staple,
Phil Ramone, Gordy Clark, Mickey Crofford,
Tom Dowd, Bill MacMeekin, Ron Johnson.
Aldon Music (1650 Broadway) Many of these writers came to prominence while under contract to
Aldon Music, a publishing company founded in 1958 by industry veteran
Al Nevins, and aspiring music entrepreneur
Don Kirshner. Aldon was not initially located in the Brill Building, but rather, a block away at 1650 Broadway (at
51st Street). A number of Brill Building writers worked at 1650 Broadway, and the building continued to house record labels throughout the decades.
Toni Wine explains: == Businesses at 1619 Broadway (Brill Building) and 1650 Broadway ==