Record buyers accepted the “invitation” on a modest scale, giving the Dazz Band a couple of minor R&B chart entries before “Let It Whip,” from their third album, blew the doors off. Harris’ combo came to Motown’s attention in 1980, signing up and spending almost six months rehearsing their first album for the company, Invitation To Love, before hitting the 24-track Recording Connection studio in Cleveland to put the results on tape. “But to expand our audience, we started playing Top 40 songs and developed our live set into more of an entertaining show, as opposed to just musicians standing on a stage.” “We’d been playing an intricate jazz/fusion kind of music,” he said of his pre-Dazz days. Bobby Harris, the singer and saxman who led the Dazz Band, continued the tradition, gigging at Leo’s behind Lou Rawls in the 1970s, then forming the first group of musicians through which he gained experience, an audience and, eventually, chart success. SONGWRITERS: Reggie Andrews, Leon “Ndugu” ChanclerīACKSTORY: Leo’s Casino in Cleveland was a music venue with strong links to any number of top Motown artists who performed there during the 1960s. DAY & DATE: Number One on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart in the week ending Saturday, May 29, 1982.

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