so long, JB

I will always remember Gerald Ford as the man who stole James Brown’s thunder. I know, I know – he was a president and all, but I really could have used a few more days of JB concert footage and anecdotes. Regardless, one thing that was somewhat glossed over in the coverage Brown did receive, and which I feel compelled to expand upon here, was his profound influence on musicians.

If you want to learn how to play funk, how to really feel a groove, playing along with old James Brown records is how you do it. Simple as that. A hundred years from now, those old tracks will still hit just as hard. Many times over the years, while discussing with a fellow musician a bass player or drummer who “just doesn’t get it,” the agreed upon solution is that he locks himself in a room with some old James Brown records and a bunch of [insert substance here].

Brown didn’t play an instrument (he played organ on a few tracks, but could only do so in a couple of keys and didn’t exactly blow anyone away) and often received credit for what was largely the work of his phenomenal bands, but they were bands he put together and lead, which is an undervalued art. So when I talk about old James Brown records, I’m also talking about Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Bootsy Collins, Catfish Collins, Jabo Starks, Clyde Stubblefield and countless others. There’s a reason many of his former sidemen went on to have successful solo careers, as was the case with those who played with Miles Davis.

When he first came on the scene, James Brown was more of an R&B balladeer, and a good one at that, but for me, when he started grunting (and the band started grooving) is where I get interested. His funk bands of the late sixties and seventies were unstoppable groove machines, churning out impeccably arranged masterpieces where the whole was always greater than the sum of the parts, most of which were only two or three repeated notes. You could transcribe the parts and they’d look simple, but it wasn’t the notes that mattered – it was the feel.

It could be argued that JB had the greatest ears of any (non-instrumentalist) bandleader in history. If he heard someone in the band play a wrong note or come in a split-second late (and he always caught these things), he would let them know by singing/saying “I got you now” (or something of the sort), which to the audience just sounded like part of the song, but to the offending musician meant that his pay was being docked $5 (which was a lot back then). He brought several drummers on the road with him (which was even more ridiculous then than it sounds now) so he could always have the best drummer for a specific song.

JB was widely recognized for treating his musicians horribly, which lead his entire band to quit on more than one occasion. Aside from the above-mentioned fines, he traveled in his own bus while forcing the rest of the (often huge) band to cram into another, and always made them stay at the cheapest hotel in town while he enjoyed far greater accommodations.

He was also fiercely competitive. When The Average White Band started selling records, he took personal offense at their name, misinterpreting the self-deprecation as statement that any white band could play funk. He released his next album under the name Above Average Black Band.

Despite all of this, he is still revered amongst musicians – even his stories of cruelty are good for a laugh.

During my second year at music school, my roommate Jeff, a phenomenal musician in his own right, began performing on a regular basis with a group of funk musicians, many of whom, are touring and recording all over the world today (guys like Adam Deitch and Eric Krasno). Not only could they all play the hell out of those old James Brown grooves, when practicing they would trade instruments and sound just as good. In short, they had all done their homework.

I’m sad I never got the chance to see James Brown perform, but now I will cherish his old records all the more. The teacher might have passed, but he left all his lessons.

Recommended listening:

1. Funky Good Time: The Anthology
2. Love Power Peace [LIVE]
3. Sex Machine [LIVE]