playing son of a preacher man billy. chuckling whispers i wasnt finished. Sorry, dad. Sorry. congregation chuckling man he aint bad. Man 2 kid can really play son of a preacher man. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world. And lose his soul . dog barking so, archie, you said your pop was william sanders, right . William jeremiah sanders. What it says on my birth certificate. And my mom beatrice passed away six months ago. Just always told me he was a drunken bum. So, why the sudden interest . My kid came home the other day and asked me to help him with this. Reminded me of when i had the same project back in school. Now my sons asking about my dad. And you couldnt tell him anything. Just want to maybe find out something about him. You know, fill in the blanks. So youmom told you he was murdered . No, no. Old philly tribune had a blurb about a Billy Sanders killed in 1970, eight months before i was born. Tracked this down from the ident unit. Looks like you. Mug shot, huh . Guess ma was right. What was he arrested for . Disorderly conduct outside a bar. Just the one time. Ed for . Could happen to anybody. Paper said he was killed down on wharton street, 1500 block. Any idea what he was doing down there . See the calluses . Perfectly manicured nails. Your pop a musician . Dont know. Your mother ever mention anyone else, dads side of the family . Nothing. Thats why im here, detective. When you find anything. Sure. Um. Well let you know. sighs well, the dad was a reverend. Billy played the organ at his church. Only people interviewed were, uh, friends, family from the congregation. Whats a church boy doing hanging down on wharton street friday night . Think i know. Aint seen one of these for 30 years. You got to get out more, will. chuckles check out the bee in theiddle. Vip pass to the hive. Afterhours jazz spot back in the day, just a block from where billy was killed. He would have been a regular. Were you a card carrying member, too . snorts i wish. You had a jack of clubs, you werent some drunken bum, li mom said. You were stone cold one of the best musicians in town. Captioning sponsored by warner bros. Television let you out of your cave, boss . Anything to get out of these compstat reports. What you got . Jazz musician, 20 years old. Bluntforce trauma. No wallet on the body. Idd from a Disorderly Conduct pinch in 70. Wharton section of south philly. Heavy streetwalker traffic. Well, assigned thought it could have been the old flimflam. A trick gets lured in. Pimp cracks his skull, takes his cash. Murder weapon looks like a bottle. Found dark glass shattered near the victim. M. E. Assessed it matched the wound to his skull. Theres a state liquor store a block over from where he was killed. So was the hive, an underground club where billy played. Will was the afterhours guru back in the day. Could only go a couple times before i got drafted. Ran every friday, same night billy was killed. I heard of this ple. It was in the basement of some house, right . Yeah. Joint was hot, smelly, crowded. But the music. Man. What i would have given to have a jack of clubs. Long shot, but lets check out the bottle, see if we can track where it might have come from. What about next of kin . Reverend thomas sanders. Never mentioned his son played the clubs back in the day. You remember any of the musicians from that place, will . Not by name. Owner was a tough broad, the queen bee. Shed sit at the end of the bar, smoke like a chimney. Maybe shes still buzzing around, can tell us if billy was there the night he died. Talk to dad, too. See if any of this new info sparks a memory. garbled radio transmission got a kid here, wants to see detective rush. Im her partner. Ill talk to him. He asked for detective rush. Vera scotty. coughing belches ooh. Something i ate. The chili fries . groans good, though. Valens. Hey, ma. Uh, just. No reason. Just checking in. What, i cant check on my mom . Yeah, fine. Okay, yeah. Talk later. Bye. Ran the title. Real estate files show the queen bee was Geraldine Watkins back in 70. Still around . Yeah. Runs a soul food joint out of the same address today. Somebody here to see me . Oh, yeah. Hes right over. We played music for the lord. Billy played an organ the angels envied. Vera is that billys brother . Tom jr. Was going to be a preacher in the sanders tradition. My eldest was taken by the jungle, my youngest, by the streets. Both jungles, just different terrain. I served over there, as well. You got something on my sons murder . Vera were looking into it. Was there anyone at church had a problem with billy . On the contrary. When he died, they buried him like a king. His casket, his headstone, the flowers all courtesy of the congregation. Any chance we can get a list of the congregation members back then . Ill check and see. But why . Tom, you familiar with the hive . Afterhours jazz club back in the day . I dont associate with those kinds of people. Ever mention a girl named Beatrice Sloan . What are you implying about my son, detective . Nothing. Just trying to find out what happened. Well, when his brother died, it was rough on everyone. Me and billy drifted apart a bit. He in some kind of trouble . Drugs, money . No, no. Not that i knew of. I just think he may have started to question his faith. Know anyone he was hanging with outside the church before he died . Im sorry. I dont. But may the weht of the lord be on their soul. Check out the specials. Winning numbers on the track today. Valens street lottery. Little numbers running with your soul food . Hey, sweeties. Anywhere youd like. Creamed chicken is to die for. Looks like a winner. Got to say, queen bee, step up from the hive. Honey, im an honest businesswoman. Call vice over, they going to agree . The hive aint been around since the 70s. Well, theres no statute of limitation on homicide. Homicide . Billy saers. Oh, sanders. Yeah. Sad, cause he was a nice kid. Had this on him. He here the night he died . Not that i remember. Were going to need the names of who might have been here that night. If any of them are still alive. All those musician cats wanted to be like miles. They came with a nasty habit. Any of those cats have a beef with billy . No. Church boy . Not at all. Seems like a tight fit for a jazz club. They didnt mind. I had to turn folks away. Shucks. Tons of musicians used to roll through here, but even i was shocked the night Billy Sanders appeared on my stage. playing lively jazz whoo where did you learn to beat like that, kid . Ooh cheering come on, now. Time to get paid. just my imagination plays uhuh, gentlemen. The bank of geraldine doesnt give money away. You drank more than you played. No. Not tonigh dont work like that. I say to myself youre such a lucky guy. Hey, miswatkins. Billy . Im gonna see you and your mom at church on sunday, right . To have a girl like her is truly a dream come true now, beat it. Out of all the fellas in the world hey, you all right, kid. She belongs to you your father know youre here, billy . No, and id appreciate if we kept it that way. But it was just my imagination sorry to hear about your brother, sweetie. Oh, i didnt order anything. It was just my imagination be careful, young man. Thanks for the drink. Miss. My mothers the only miss in my family. You can really play those drums. Play a lot more than that. Really . Yeah, learn by ear. Ifif i hear it, i can play it. coughs laughs so you can hold a beat, but you cant hold your liquor . Well, well, im a quick learner. Bartender one more coming up. Every night. Who was the girl . Beatrice something. Older, but wise to the fact that drummers keep the rhythm. Beatrice sloan . Thats it. Yeah, used to work for ronde brooks. Ronde brooks . Of ronde records . One and the same. But i always thought that beatrice was rondes girl. Ronde know about her and billy . You gotta ask him. Dont let the suit fool you, cause ronde came up in the streets, and you dont get tohat he had fool you, causeby getting chumped. Can i get you guys anything . Perrier . Im good. I own every single one of these on vinyl. No kidding. You know, ive got a Lifetime Achievement ceremony in my honor coming up. I could put aside a couple otickets. Thanks, but were tied up with Billy Sanders murder. Billy sanders . Yeah, i remember Billy Sanders. Session guy. You mustve been. When you heard he was steppin out with beatrice, guys, i dont i dont date my secretaries. Yeahnobody with money does that. To the clubs and let me know which musicians to look at. Billy was one of them. You and billy get along . Sure. Yeah, we got along. He had a very strict old man, though. You know, when billy wasnt churchin, he wanted to keep it quiet. So, why didnt you come forward, make a statement after he was killed . I didnt even hear aut it until a week later. Kid quit coming around. Whys that . Why do most of em . He fell to the bottle or the needle. The one thing i will say about billy, kid was all about the right place, the right time. funky instrumental plays whoa, whoa, hold it. music stops yo, whats that . You guys deaf . Answer me. Billy um. I was playing behind the beat. Sounded kinda fresh, you know. Buster damn it, kid ronde, iim sorry, man. I told him to stay on the beat. Stop, stop. What hes rollin with sounds good. Its your drunk ass thats always trippin us up, punchy. Hit the road. Beat it. Go sleep it off. You kiddin me, man. Looks like im kiddin . You, jump in. Somebody come play bass. Behind the beat, like him. And with an ear like mine, some things just stick out to you. So, who was the mess . That would be buster large. Soon after graduated to train wreck. You fire him . Eventually had to. After billy leapfrogged him, the fellas gave him ll. He crawled deeper into the bottle, junk. He blame billy for his troubles . Eh. Aint that what st addicts do . Excuse me, detectives. Here you go, mr. Brooks. So, buster follows billy home from t hive, bottle in hand. Cracks him over the head, takes him out. Most expensive bottle of booze buster ever bought in his life. But dont just listen to me. Listen to these happy progressive customers. I plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. With snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. The better i drive, the more i save. I wish our company had something this cool. Youre not filming this, are you . Aw camera shy. Snapshot from progressive. Testdrive snapshot before you switch. Visit progressive. Com today. Bet you wish all our vics were musicians. Freakin kid in a candy store. Jeffries no candy store i went to had the ojays on vinyl. Lot to choose from. You, uh, got any spinners . Philly souls over there, on wax. Buster, right . Session guy over at ronde records back when. Yeah. There was some other kid behind you on bass, Billy Sanders . You guys cops . Well, were not here to sell insurance. You still hittin the sauce, buster . Been clean 30 years. Its all good, but billy was killed in 1970. I got along with billy just fine. Really . Was that before or after he made you the laughingstock at the swamppit . Billy wanted that gig, he could have it. Ronde was a slave driver, anyway. Feel the same way when you were poutin outside the studio after you got canned . Looking for your job back . Look, yeah, i got. But realized that billy was just better than me. It was in his soul. And he knew what snded good. It was the third of september that day ill always remember. Hey, why dont you ever bring me no drink, beatrice . Why dont you ever pass one up . laughs hey, baby. Hey, baby. Theres a girl here in her sunday best. She says shes from your church. So, i was thinkin, um, maybe i could come by your place later. Um. Thatthats probably not a good idea. Look, come on, he catches me here, hell skin my hide, let alone bring you home. Whys he so against you bein here . Told you, its the way it is and its not what my brother wouldve done. Wherever he laid his hat was his home and when he died all he left us was alone. Hey. Hey. How do i look . You look great. Come on, dont be nervous. Relax. Ronde, this heres chandra, the one i was telling you about. Got those gospel pipes. Not now. Uh, but you said youd hear my friend sing. Cant you see im busy . Gotta get these sounds right. Yeah, well, you know, you aint never gonna get it right if you keep copying motown. What, what did you say . Your vocalists got no soul, no pain. Motowns got gospel. Screw motown, all right . This is philly. Then lets actually tap into the philly sound. Falsetto from the street corners we hear every day lets show that to the world. What you know bout makin records, huh . I know this mono stuff is junk. We need somethin fresh a fuller sound than motown has ever imagined, strings and horns, all on different tracks. What are we, the beatles . Why not . They stole it from us, lets steal it back. Okay, how bout this, kid . As soon as you can pay for it, well do it. Deal . So then youll listen to my friend . You crazy . She aint a front girl. She just a churchy with a fat ol ass. musicians laugh chandra. Wherever he laid his hat was his home. Thats the last i saw of him. But the thing is, he called it. Wasnt long before gamble huff took it to a whole new level. Who was his friend . Chandra somethin, thats all i know. Sit tight, buster. We may be back. Jeffries and philly soul was the next step from motown. Takes me back, man. Cruisin in the droptop, billy paul on the eight track. Never heard of him. Come on, man, how about the intruders . Delfonics . Nope. All right, you got to at least know love train. Yeah, song from the beer commercial. Youre an ass, man. Needle in a haystack with this bottle label. State liquor store had nothing like it in stock. So long ago, bottle might not even be manufactured anymore. They didnt recognize it from anything back then either. Hit up the liquor control board, see what i can find. This chandra girl chandra patterson. On the list we got from billys dad. How come choir girl never came forward after he was killed . Lil, you know this kid over here . Thats the same dude from yesterday. Uniforms picked him up on a d d, asked for you. Thanks. Hey. You ked for me . Uh, i did . Whats your name . Um. Whyd you ask for me . Downstairs, your names on that board thing. Try again. You came in yesterday. Give me your i. D. Sean thomason. Really . Thats a pretty good fake. What do you, uh, what do you do here . Homicide. Why . You got info on a case . Homicide . Well, thats cool. How long have you worked here . Whats with the personal questions . groans hes a dk. Put him downstairs, let him sleep it off. Lets go. Everything cool . Kid stinks. So, looks like chandras still at it in the church. Only now shes the choir director. Billy and tommy were like older brothers. Wed sneak out of church events, find motown or stax on the radio. Where were you the night billy was killed . Home with my parents. I didnt really go out much on the weekends. Only when you went with billy to rondes studio. You never told the police he worked at ronde records. Billys parents lost both sons eight months apart. I didnt want to add insult to injury. Well, mightve helped solve his murder. Billy changed from the boy i knew. He was drinking a lot. Started losing himself in the studio scene. But you wanted to be in that scene. Thout i was gonna be the next aretha, but ronde cod care less about gospel vocals. Well, the way we heard it, ronde stopped you at the gate. No. I got my chance to shine, and it was all because of billy. Where the heck is billy . Im here. Im here. I couldnt split organ practice early. Dad stayed the whole time. All right, were gonna need separate mics. Fresh from up here, fellas. Fresh from up here. And ladies. There you go. There you go. Follow my lead. Billy, what the hell . Dont worry, you can pay me when its a hit. Start us off. playing tremolo tempo up. Just a bit. Rhythm section. playing funky groove guitar. Strings. Horns. playing spirited, upbeat tune choir, come on now. What they do . Yeah smile in your face all the time, they want to take your place bbackstabbers