A question about Gamble and Huff Productions

Listening to some O-jay's (Darling, Darling Baby, Message In Our Music, Backstabbers etc..) The live orchestrations gave G & H music a lot of life and class. R&B of the 1970s was lush with soul and life that has yet to be again duplicated. Pretty much anyone who worked with G and H got music with full dimensions. Everyone from The O'Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, The Spinners and Barry White came to life with G&H's very excellent orchestrations. A question about it, Did Gamble and Huff orchestrations happen as the same time with the singers as they were recording or did they record the orchestration and then the singers sang over it? Another questions, how big was the studio G and H worked in. Was the orchestra separate from the singers or did they divide them?

Get the book A House on Fire: the Rise & Fall of Philly Soul by John Jackson:

Here's an excerpt

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZS9dzY9PvfIC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=gamble+and+huff+recording+live&source=bl&ots=Si3-REbNK4&sig=9HyvvNkwNo3MslbicqW28l3blZY&hl=en&ei=srWxTIeUDYa0lQfxzqnlDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=gamble%20and%20huff%20recording%20live&f=false

So sounds like answer is no (to 100% live recording). Which makes sense, because it would be enormously expensive and difficult to record an entire live orchestra at the same time as a rhythm section and vocalists.

I missed the 40th anniversary tribute and interview with them on the mall in Washington DC with guests Harold Melvin's Bluenotes (not sure who is in this group these days) and the Soul Survivors.

The publicist just e-mailed me that

Mr. Huff is about to release his first solo album in 30 yrs -- 15 yrs in the making!

The iconic *PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL RECORDS* blue
> neon sign that adorns the historic “Sound of Philadelphia” building at 309
> S. Broad Street will be permanently removed Wednesday, Oct. 15, in final
> preparations for the building’s demolition. The sign symbolizes the end of
> a legendary record label, and an era whose music continues to resonate
> deeply with “people all over the world.”
>
>
>
> The sign’s removal is in conjunction with the
> closing of Philadelphia International Records and the sale of the building
> - owned since 1970 by pioneering songwriting partners Kenny Gamble, Leon
> Huff and Thom Bell – this week to Dranoff Properties. The building, ravaged
> by a 2010 arson fire from which it never recovered, is scheduled to be
> demolished in 2015, when ground will be broken at that site on the 47-story
> SLS International hotel and luxury condominium.
>
>
>
> The PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL RECORDS sign will be
> immediately removed from the site and placed into safe storage with other
> artifacts and memorabilia from the famous recording studios and offices for
> future museum consideration, according to *Chuck Gamble*, executive vice
> president of Philadelphia International Records and Gamble-Huff Music.
>

bummer