The J.B's

The J.B's - Pass The Peas (1987)
One of my most popular clips. Showing Maceo Parker (saxophone), Fred Wesley (Trombone) and more at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1987.

The "original" J.B.s
The J.B.s were formed in March 1970 after most of the members of Brown's previous band walked out on him over a pay dispute. (Brown's previous bands of the 50s and 60s had been known as The James Brown Band and The James Brown Orchestra.)

The J.B.s initial lineup included bassist William "Bootsy" Collins and his guitarist brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins, formerly of the obscure R&B outfit The Pacesetters; Bobby Byrd (guitar) and John "Jabo" Starks (drums), both holdovers from Brown's 60s band; three inexperienced horn players, Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells, Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison, and Robert McCollough; and conga player Johnny Griggs.

This version of the J.B.s played on some of Brown's most intense funk recordings, including "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine", "Super Bad", "Soul Power", "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" and the recording that provided the musical foundation for early Hip Hop, Give It Up (Or Turn It Lose).

They also accompanied Brown on a European tour (during which they recorded the long-delayed live album Love Power Peace), performed on the Sex Machine double LP, and released two instrumental singles, the much-sampled "The Grunt" and "These Are the J.B.s".

Other lineups
In December 1970 trombonist Fred Wesley rejoined James Brown's organization to lead the J.B.s. Other former Brown sidemen including Maceo Parker and St. Clair Pinckney eventually followed his lead, while the Collins brothers and most of the rest of the "original" J.B.s left Brown to join George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective. The J.B.s lineup shifted frequently thereafter until the group disbanded in 1976 following the departures of Wesley and Parker.

The JB Horns
During the 1980s and 90s Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley intermittently toured under the name The JB Horns, sometimes with other former Brown sidemen such as Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis in tow. The JB Horns recorded several albums for the Gramavision label which were later reissued by Rhino Records. They also recorded an album under this name with producer Richard Mazda called I Like It Like That. - Wikipedia

James Brown

James Brown -Ain't That A Groove
So much ahead of his time! The call and response with the backing singers/audience works well. He would construct music much like a painter.

He once said he could get a musicians to play what was in his head but they could not play it on there own. He would create a groove and then write/find lyrics to suit. You can imagine this song being written about it self.

Also check out the dance moves and his New Breed Boo-ga-loo. Great colour and sound from this live performance. Most artistes wouldn't touch LIVE with a bargepole! Too frightened of making a mistake.

James Brown

James Brown - Prisoner Of Love (1964)
Released in April 1963, recorded December 17, 1962 at Bell Sound Studios, New York. Released as a single on Sid Nathans King label K 5739 with Choo-choo (locomotion) on the flip. The song was written by Russ Columbo, Clarence Gaskill and Leon Robin, and had been popularised by Columbo in 1931 and made a No.1 hit by Perry Como in 1945.

James Brown revived "Prisoner of Love" in 1963. It was his first recording to enter the pop Top 20. The studio recording was arranged by Sammy Lowe. He performed the song live with his vocal group , The Famous Flames on the concert film The T.A.M.I.Show , and on a mid-sixties telecast of The Ed Sullivan Show. The Flames, however, were not used on the studio recording, having been replaced, in this instance, by a female chorus. Wikipedia

Osaka Monoaurail

Osaka Monoaurail - In The Middle
Stunningly good cover of Afred 'Pee-Wee' Ellis JB production. I have original for sale on my web site. This group backed Marva Whitney when she went to Japan. They have also gigged in UK.

Named after a railway in Japan/JB's album. If you can't have the real JB's then these guys will do!
Nakata Ryo (vocal, organ, percussions)Hiraishi Katsutoshi (MD, trombone, flute)Sakakibara Seiji (trumpet)Yamagata Kentaro (trumpet)Mukai Shimon(tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute)Hayami Dan (guitar)Ikeda Yuichi (guitar)Nakamura Dai (bass)Soki Kimura (drums)

In spring 2007, Osaka Monaurail will celebrate thier 15th anniversary. The wheels are very much still turning on the funk-i-est band that Japan has to offer.After 15 years the aim of the group still remains the same; that is to play just - plain - funk.Leader Nakata often says in interviews 'we've been working very hard for 15 years only to find a way to play funk music.'

Formed in 1992 when Nakata was a university student, they were named after the 1975 funk classic, It's The JBs Monaurail by the J.B.'s. (misspelling intentional.) The band originally had more than 20 people including many horn players, as well as the rhythm section. Most of them were from the same jazz club at the college, and the first tune they rehearsed was I Got The Feeling, a James Brown 1968 funk classic. Soon the band shaped itself up into a 13 piece group. After a couple of school concerts, the first live show off college was at Bustle Hall, Osaka, in 1993.

The personnel at the time was: Nakata Ryo (vocal and keys), Matsunaga Hiroaki and Yamamoto Nobuki (trumpets), Terada Hiroichi (co-vocal and trombone), Hiraishi Katsutoshi (trombone), Nakamoto Goji (alto saxophone), Hibino Norihiko (tenor saxophone), Takegai Tomoki (baritone saxophone), Kikuchi Hiroshi and Ichinose Takayuki (guitars), Yatabe Teruyuki (bass), Suetsugu Toshimitu (percussion) and Igarashi Shuichi (drums).

Marva Whitney

Marva Whitney - Your Love Was Good For Me (1969)
My version has louder sound, but i've not uploaded. Born Marva Ann Manning on May 1, 1944 in Kansas City, Kansas, is an African American funk singer. She is considered by many funk enthusiasts to be one of the "rawest" and "brassiest" music divas.

Whitney's performing career started as early as three years old while touring with her family's gospel group, the Manning Gospel Singers. Singing with James Brown in the late 1960s, she was able to make a name for herself with powerful songs like "I'm Tired, I'm Tired, I'm Tired (Things Better Change Before Its Too Late)" and "If You Don't Work (You Can't Eat)." Her recording of "It's My Thing (You Can't Tell Me Who to Sock It To)" reached the R&B Top 20.

Her song "Unwind Yourself" has been sampled numerous times, most recognisably by DJ Mark the 45 King on his 1987 track "The 900 Number", DJ Chad Jackson on his 1990 hit single "Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked!)" (UK #3 in July 1990), and by DJ Kool in his 1996 hit "Let Me Clear My Throat" (UK #6 in March 1997).

Lyn Collins

Lyn Collins - Never Gonna Give You Up (1973)
My footage of this is a bit tired. Nicknamed the "Female Preacher," Lyn Collins was discovered in the early '70s along with her relatives Bootsy and Catfish Collins by James Brown, who was making the transition to the hardest funk phase of his career.

Lyn Collins was born June 12, 1948, in Abilene, TX, where she grew up; she began singing in her teens, waxing a tune called "Unlucky in Love" at age 14, and married a man who served both as her manager and as the local promoter for the James Brown Revue.

Collins sent Brown a demo tape and he responded by essentially putting her on standby in 1970, when Marva Whitney left the Revue. Former vocalist Vicki Anderson elected to rejoin, however, so Brown instead invited Collins to come to Georgia for a recording session in early 1971, which produced the single "Wheel of Life."

By the end of that year, Anderson was ready to leave again, and Collins officially joined the James Brown Revue. In 1972, Brown's People Records label released Collins' self-penned single "Think (About It)"; produced by Brown, it became her first and biggest hit, made her the most commercially successful female singer in Brown's camp, and was later sampled for the main vocal hook in the party rap classic "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock.

James Brown

James Brown - There Was A Time (1968)

Live at The Hollywood Palace, the show was introduced by Sammy Davis Jr. Great colour footage from the USA television show. The Hollywood Palace was an hour-long television variety show that was broadcast weekly (generally on Saturday nights) on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970.

Brown had been recording hits since 1959 but changes in Brown's style that started with "Cold Sweat" also established the musical foundation for Brown's later hits, such as "I Got the Feelin'" (1968) and "Mother Popcorn" (1969). By this time Brown's vocals frequently took the form of a kind of rhythmic declamation, not quite sung but not quite spoken, that only intermittently featured traces of pitch or melody. This would become a major influence on the techniques of rapping, which would come to maturity along with hip hop music in the coming decades.

In November 1967 James Brown purchased radio station WGYW in Knoxville, Tennessee for a reported $75,000, according to the January 20, 1968 Record World magazine. The call letters were changed to WJBE reflecting his initials. WJBE began on January 15, 1968 and broadcast a Rhythm & Blues format. The station slogan was "WJBE 1430 Raw Soul". At the time it was mentioned "Brown has also branched out into real estate and music publishing in recent months" - wikipedia