Among the confusion and cacophony that is Christmas around the world, came news that made me pause and reflect on the man who meant soul to me, as well as most people in the world, James Brown.
To those of those who are my sons’ age or less, James Brown is probably best remembered as the crazy talking black guy who did the Rocky song "Living in America." To people their father’s age, the Baby Boomer, James Brown was soul music.
I read that there may be a debate as to whether it would be James Brown or Ray Charles or Sam Cooke who was the originator of soul music, but any modern variation, from funk to today’s rap stems its sound directly to James Brown.
My first initiation into the world of black music was the skinny pants leader of the Fabulous Flames who shook and shimmied on shows like “Shindig”. His hit, “This is a Man’s World” was probably the first song of feminism in modern rock and soul, though the line “…he wouldn’t be nothing without a little girl” probably rankled a few strident members of the distaff side. It wasn’t until the Army, when the sound of “I’m Black and I’m Proud” came roaring out of record players around the camp and barracks was where I realized the magnitude of the impact Brown had on the black population in its political movement. When the Rev. Dr. King was murdered in 1968, Mr. Brown was due to perform in Boston. Instead of canceling his show, he had it televised. Boston was spared the riots that took place in other cities. “Don’t just react in a way that’s going to destroy your community,” he urged.
Eventually, like all icons, Brown’s brand of funk and soul waned in its popularity. The personal and emotional upheavals, trouble with taxes and wives and jumping the shark with handshakes with the presidents and lawmakers who were the images of the people who young blacks distrusted and blamed for their fates all were contributors to the wane. Brown’s campaigns for education and loving one another didn’t ring true with the gangsta rap being promoted by the record labels and black artists them selves. And his difficulties with drugs and alcohol diluted the good messages he was trying to express.
But he never stopped the touring with the many backing bands he fronted. Fabulous Flames or The JB’s, whatever they were called were legendary for their extraordinary musicianship and tightness. If you admire well-coordinated teamwork like the Frazier/Reed Knicks or the Trailblazers of the mid 70’s then that’s what the bands led by James Brown were. Members like Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Bootsy Collins, Bobby Byrd, Pee Wee Ellis and legendary drummer Bernard Purdie all were members of the bands that made the sound that Brown is most famous for. These bands are renowned for their tightness, though Fred Wesley remembers, “it would have been impossible for James Brown to put his show together without the assistance of someone like Pee Wee [Ellis], who understood chord changes, time signatures, scales, notes, and basic music theory. Simple things like knowing the key would be a big problem for James . . . The whole James Brown Show depended on having someone with musical knowledge remember the show, the individual parts, and the individual songs, then relay these verbally or in print to the other musicians. Brown could not do it himself. He spoke in grunts, groans, and la-di-das, and he needed musicians to translate that language into music and actual songs in order to create an actual show.” None the less, it was that innate feeling, what people call soul, that Brown possessed and allowed him to create the genre he did. All the musical theory in the world can never replace the genius of inspiration.
Brown’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame brought his extensive discography and contribution to the younger generation of fans and his contribution to rap music if not in invention then in sampling alone. LL Cool J, Public Enemy, De La Soul and the Beastie Boys are among the more than 100 acts that have sampled Clyde Stubblefield’s drumming on “Funky Drummer” alone. In 1984 Mr. Brown collaborated with the influential rapper Afrika Bambaataa on the single “Unity.” Chuck D of the legendary Public Enemy emphasized, “James Brown was the funkiest! To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one has even come close.”
“James Brown literally changed music,” Mr. Al Sharpton said. “He made soul an international music genre. There would never have been a Michael Jackson or a Prince without James Brown. He used to tell me that Elvis and him were the only American originals.”
Elvis needed the black music to create his niche. James Brown was black music. He was his own inspiration. That Rock & Roll band in the sky is about to get a little tighter and a whole lot funkier. Pax vobiscum, James Brown.
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