The Godfather is dead. Long live the Godfather. And live long James Brown will, through his unending string of bottom-edged rhythms, celebratory horn arrangements, and bass lines that jumped out of whatever sound box you had at the time. James Brown gave life to black music, and his music is the river which feeds the global genres of hip-hop, house, and techno.
His catalogue of yells, screams, moans and shouts were as important to his music as the lyrics, often more so. His range of music spanned the African-American pantheon of gospel, blues, jazz, soul/R & B. His blues had a swing of late 20th Century modernism. His whining and crying ballads were convincing. His party songs are staples of every DJ on the planet. Musically, James Brown is a food group.
James Brown gave the drummer some. He called forth Fred Wesley’s trombone and Maceo Parker’s saxophone. His hair went from processed slick to natural and back to straight again, and so many of us followed him, especially the Rev. Al Sharpton.
James Brown makes you move. His music was activist. No one can listen to James Brown music and sit still. He made “the splits” a trademark piece of every pop dancer’s repertoire. Associated Press writes, “His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others.” To say the least. No James Brown – no Soul Train dancers.
The 1968 black power anthem “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” was so fundamentally cathartic that it carried an entire generation to change its self-image. The background singers were moved to the foreground in the mix. It wasn’t James singing it to us. It was us singing it with him.
As a radio station owner, he set up two microphones in the control room, so that as the announcer moved back and forth, you could hear him move from right to left. I worked at Denver’s soul radio station in the late 70s. When the Godfather came to town (a small show at the Holiday Inn dome, I think), he set up giveaways of one ticket at a time, so you would have to buy another ticket for your friend. Coming from an era when black performers were routinely exploited, he seemed determined to watch his cash closely and get paid. He earned the title “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.”
Without James Brown, there would be no Tower of Power, no George Clinton, no Parliament, no Funkadelic, and therefore, no Prince, no Public Enemy, no Kirk Franklin. His musical progeny are legion. Just stop the party. Without James Brown there would be no soundtrack to every rap song you ever heard. Hip would not hop.
James Brown was in the 1986 inaugural class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame admissions, along with Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and others. His 1992 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a given. His Kennedy Center honors came in 2003. A seven-foot bronze statue stands on “James Brown Boulevard” in Augusta, Ga. “Papa” is in the NPR 100 (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1080113).
From the entry in Wikipedia: “At around the time of his legal troubles in the late 1980s, there happened to be a Supreme Court vacancy. Late-night talk-show host Arsenio Hall proposed nominating Brown, because ‘He's black, he's liberal... and he's familiar with the court system!’” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown)
Abandoned by his parents at age four to relatives and friends, he grew up in Augusta, Ga. He had done three and a half years in reform school by eighth grade, and spent time in the South Carolina system on weapons charges in the late 80s. He pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge in 2004.
He survived prostate cancer. The Godfather was married four times, and fathered six children, including James Jr., born just a few years ago.
James Brown’s life is the stuff of movies and theatrical productions, I hope. The full story could never have been produced while he was living, because he would have had to play himself and control the project. While he was living, no one else had the beat. Give it a few years, Hollywood. We need the memory of the Godfather to grow a little more distant.
Favorite James Brown songs:
It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World
I Got You (I Feel Good)
Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag
Licking Stick – Licking Stick
Cold Sweat
There Was A Time
Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud
Soul Power
The JBs - Doin’ it to Death
The JBs - Pass the Peas
The JBs - Gimme Some More
Give It Up or Turnit A Loose
The Payback
Papa Don’t Take No Mess
Living in America
Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto
James Brown, Soul Brother Number One, Mr. Dynamite, dead on Christmas morning 2006 at age 73.
His catalogue of yells, screams, moans and shouts were as important to his music as the lyrics, often more so. His range of music spanned the African-American pantheon of gospel, blues, jazz, soul/R & B. His blues had a swing of late 20th Century modernism. His whining and crying ballads were convincing. His party songs are staples of every DJ on the planet. Musically, James Brown is a food group.
James Brown gave the drummer some. He called forth Fred Wesley’s trombone and Maceo Parker’s saxophone. His hair went from processed slick to natural and back to straight again, and so many of us followed him, especially the Rev. Al Sharpton.
James Brown makes you move. His music was activist. No one can listen to James Brown music and sit still. He made “the splits” a trademark piece of every pop dancer’s repertoire. Associated Press writes, “His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others.” To say the least. No James Brown – no Soul Train dancers.
The 1968 black power anthem “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” was so fundamentally cathartic that it carried an entire generation to change its self-image. The background singers were moved to the foreground in the mix. It wasn’t James singing it to us. It was us singing it with him.
As a radio station owner, he set up two microphones in the control room, so that as the announcer moved back and forth, you could hear him move from right to left. I worked at Denver’s soul radio station in the late 70s. When the Godfather came to town (a small show at the Holiday Inn dome, I think), he set up giveaways of one ticket at a time, so you would have to buy another ticket for your friend. Coming from an era when black performers were routinely exploited, he seemed determined to watch his cash closely and get paid. He earned the title “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.”
Without James Brown, there would be no Tower of Power, no George Clinton, no Parliament, no Funkadelic, and therefore, no Prince, no Public Enemy, no Kirk Franklin. His musical progeny are legion. Just stop the party. Without James Brown there would be no soundtrack to every rap song you ever heard. Hip would not hop.
James Brown was in the 1986 inaugural class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame admissions, along with Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and others. His 1992 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a given. His Kennedy Center honors came in 2003. A seven-foot bronze statue stands on “James Brown Boulevard” in Augusta, Ga. “Papa” is in the NPR 100 (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1080113).
From the entry in Wikipedia: “At around the time of his legal troubles in the late 1980s, there happened to be a Supreme Court vacancy. Late-night talk-show host Arsenio Hall proposed nominating Brown, because ‘He's black, he's liberal... and he's familiar with the court system!’” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown)
Abandoned by his parents at age four to relatives and friends, he grew up in Augusta, Ga. He had done three and a half years in reform school by eighth grade, and spent time in the South Carolina system on weapons charges in the late 80s. He pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge in 2004.
He survived prostate cancer. The Godfather was married four times, and fathered six children, including James Jr., born just a few years ago.
James Brown’s life is the stuff of movies and theatrical productions, I hope. The full story could never have been produced while he was living, because he would have had to play himself and control the project. While he was living, no one else had the beat. Give it a few years, Hollywood. We need the memory of the Godfather to grow a little more distant.
Favorite James Brown songs:
It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World
I Got You (I Feel Good)
Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag
Licking Stick – Licking Stick
Cold Sweat
There Was A Time
Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud
Soul Power
The JBs - Doin’ it to Death
The JBs - Pass the Peas
The JBs - Gimme Some More
Give It Up or Turnit A Loose
The Payback
Papa Don’t Take No Mess
Living in America
Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto
James Brown, Soul Brother Number One, Mr. Dynamite, dead on Christmas morning 2006 at age 73.
1 comment:
Roger that Steve. Excellent post, I had to link it and comment on my own blog. As a drummer, I have to say that JB is indeed a food group
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