James Brown's Extended Musical Family

James Brown is arguably one of the most important musical artists of the 20th century who influenced not only his contemporaries in soul, R’n’B and the wider pop world, but whose music went on to play a vital role in the formation of hip hop, house, jungle, drum & bass and more, long after his creativity and commercial success had peaked. 

His late sixties/early seventies musical innovations were many and seismic, affecting popular music for decades afterwards: he shifted the rhythmic emphasis from the offbeat to ‘the one’ (the first beat of the bar), introduced jazz phrasing to R’n’B horn parts, turned each instrument in his band including his own voice into an instrument of percussion, used New Orleans second-line snare rhythms, and abandoned the traditional song structure in favour of looping vamps. In the process, and via a set of extremely talented musicians, Brown was able to create an entirely new form of music — funk. 

Aside from Brown’s musical vision and his sheer, stubborn self-belief, two central factors of his success were the high quality of the musicians he used and the nature of his communication with them. Brown was virtually musically illiterate so used high calibre bandleaders like Alfred ‘Pee Wee’ Ellis and Fred Wesley to act as musical translators to create his musical vision. Longtime James Brown sax player Maceo Parker notes in his autobiography that Brown would grunt and vocalise parts for each instrument which his bandleaders would then turn into musical charts that the professional musicians of his band could follow and play. 

Just how much of the end product was down to Brown and how much down to his musicians and bandleaders is hard to quantify — no doubt Brown had a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve musically and was often extremely exacting about getting those results from his band — but speaking about his work with the JBs in the early 70s in his autobiography Wesley says: “I was the one who put the songs together in the studio… he [Brown] would simply do his vocals and take the credit for the whole thing.”

However the final results were achieved, throughout his career, James Brown produced and released many singles and albums with various members of his band and other vocalists, often appearing on the records too. His band the JBs were responsible for a huge swathe of genre-defining funk records, under several different guises, recording as Maceo & The Macks, Fred Wesley & The JBs, A.A.B.B. (‘Above Average Black Band’), and as backing band for vocalists Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson, Bobby Byrd, Sweet Charles and Hank Ballard. Various members later went on to work extensively with George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic organisation and musicians like Ellis, Wesley, Parker, drummer Clyde Stubblefield and bassist Bootsy Collins have since become legendary names in the world of popular music. 

The catalogue of music created by these musicians, both with Brown and without him, shaped the sound of black music in the 70s and beyond — the broken note bass lines, the chicken-scratch guitar, sharp percussive blasts of brass, and the use of clattering, syncopated New Orleans snare patterns pioneered by Brown and his musicians were all hugely influential, both in the seventies but also to a whole new generation through hip hop’s discovery of Brown’s music in the 80s, and then with the wholesale sampling of his beats and rhythms by house, rave, hardcore, jungle and drum & bass producers in the 90s. 

These albums from James Brown’s extended musical family, many produced by the Godfather but some entirely independent of him, tell a story of the consolidation of the funk music that Brown and his musicians first created in the late sixties, presenting many different flavours and variations on the funk template. Aside from charting the development of funk music, they also contain some of the foundational building blocks of genres that would rise years later. Oh, and they’re also packed full of utterly brilliant music, superbly played by some of the twentieth century’s most talented, hardworking and influential musicians.

Harold Heath

House Party

Fred Wesley
House Party cover

This self-produced and arranged 1980 set from trombonist Fred Wesley is a laid back funk and soul album from an artist that resolutely refused to get on the disco train, preferring to update the funk template via unhurried 4/4 beats and slick production. It’s accessible, light-hearted, tightly-played, mostly dance floor material, with Wesley on lead vocals as well as trombone. In 1980 digital technology was entering recording studios and this album does a good job of blending synths, drum machines and live instrumentation.

Stretchin’ Out in Bootsy’s Rubber Band

Bootsy’s Rubber Band
Stretchin’ Out in Bootsy’s Rubber Band cover

Bassist Bootsy Collins joined James Brown’s band in 1970 just in time to play on his classic ‘Sex Machine’ track and album. Leaving to join George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic collective, Bootsy launched himself as a solo artist with this 1976 album. Featuring fellow JB alumni Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, you get complex, playful, dense, semi-psychedelic soul ballads and party-friendly funk music, laced with all sorts of space-age synth wriggles courtesy of Bernie Worrell and of course liberal helpings of Bootsy Collin’s phat bass. 

Breakin' Bread

Fred Wesley & The New J.B.'s
Breakin' Bread cover

It’s an irony of the best funk music that its loose and relaxed feel is achieved through extreme precision in the playing. This 1974 James Brown produced set is eight tracks of pure, relentless funk, from a band flawlessly locked in, their intricate interweaving cross-rhythms all perfectly functioning together like a precision-tooled piece of musical engineering, all graced with Wesley’s trombone and vocals from the band. The slightly out-there jazz of ‘Step Child’ provides a suitably exuberant finish to an expertly executed funk project. 

Funky Music Machine

Maceo & All the King's Men
Funky Music Machine cover

This second solo album from saxophone player Maceo Parker and several JBs following their walk-out on the Godfather in 1970 features a quality collection of vocal and instrumental funk, jazz, blues and ballads with a broader musical palette and a sunnier disposition than Maceo’s work with Brown. Parker says in his autobiography that the Kingsmen were never successful because Brown paid DJs to not play the record and got promoters to take down posters for their gigs, which might explain why such an expertly played and arranged record with such a nice breadth of material isn’t better known.

Motherlode

James Brown
Motherlode cover

This compilation from 1988 rounds up some of James Brown/The JBs’ rarest funk tracks, much of them previously unavailable. All taken from the 69 - 73 period, there’s not a bad track on here, something that can’t be said about many actual James Brown albums. From the euphoric ‘She’s The One’ to the contrast between the jazzy, jubilant bridge and the antiseptic, rigid vamps of ‘I Got Ants…’ this is the JBs in absolute top form. Also includes the epic nine-minute version of ‘Drive Your Funky Soul’ and a host of other undiscovered funk classics.

You Can't Keep a Good Man Down

Hank Ballard
You Can't Keep a Good Man Down cover

Hank Ballard was an influential R’n’B artist in the 1950s, as well as the man who introduced James Brown to King Records who then went on to release his music. Brown repaid the favour in 1969 when he produced this album of funk and soul for Ballard. It’s essentially a James Brown and band album with Ballard delivering the vocals over a set of loose, slightly southern-flavoured funk and R’n’B tracks along with some retro-soul ballads, and is a great example of late sixties James Brown funk. 

Us

Maceo
Us cover

Maceo Parker’s solo effort from ’74 was produced by the Godfather with the JBs providing backing for the funk saxophonist-extraordinaire. It’s a mix of JB-style funk - it includes Maceo’s superior instrumental version of Brown’s ‘Soul Power’ and his big hit ‘Parrty’ - as well as more jazzy pieces. Parker says in his autobiography “I may have played all over it but I knew it was really just another James Brown album” but it still stands up well today, the range of material setting it apart from the more straight-up funk albums that Brown was also producing at the time.

Mother Popcorn: The Vicki Anderson Anthology

Vicki Anderson
Mother Popcorn: The Vicki Anderson Anthology cover

Vocalist Vicki Anderson did two stints with James Brown in the late sixties and early 70s, recorded a number of singles but never released an album, so this 2004 compilation is a great round-up of her funkiest moments. Backed by various incarnations of The JBs, the funk tracks are classic peak-period James Brown productions with the tough drum tracks, sharp, stark horns and taut guitar lines you’d expect. Also includes some earlier 60s R’n’B tracks and a simply gorgeous version of ‘Wide Awake In A Dream’.

The Lost Album

The JB's and Fred Wesley
The Lost Album cover

This aborted-at-the-time early seventies project from JBs bandleader and trombonist Fred Wesley was a chance for him to stretch out a little with some jazz tracks as well as the funk he was known for. Despite the credits, it was recorded with a set of crack New York jazz players rather than the JBs and delivers a great mix of JBs-style funk, big band jazz and introspective soul-jazz. It remained in the vaults, with parts of it finding their way onto B-sides or other James Brown related albums until it got the proper release it deserved in 1991. 

A Blow For Me, A Toot To You

Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns
A Blow For Me, A Toot To You cover

When Wesley and Parker defected from James Brown’s band to George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic camp, ‘A Blow For Me…’ was their first album. Across five lengthy (only one comes in sub six minutes) tracks Parker and Wesley served up a blend of terse, stripped back JBs funk and the dense, multi-layered Parliament/Funkadelic aesthetic. The album finishes on the elegant, orchestrated piece ‘Peace Fugue’ providing an introspective finish to an accomplished funk-jam album. 

Doing It to Death

The J.B.'s
Doing It to Death cover

This all-time classic from James Brown’s band The JBs, their third full-length outing, sees them at their leanest and most efficient, each musical part precisely placed in a churning funk mechanism. Includes ten effusive minutes of ‘Doing It To Death’, its celebratory tone due to the return of sax player Maceo from his All The Kings Men project. Aside from short interludes you only get four tracks but that’s because they’re all lengthy, elongated jams full of brassy soloing, showcasing that locked-in-one-chord loop funk that the JBs did so well. 

Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!

Bootsy’s Rubber Band
Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! cover

The follow up to his successful solo debut album sees Collins pursue a similar path with his unique fusion of cosmic R’n’B and sci-fi funk. Perhaps his best solo album, ‘Ah The Name…’ codified his particular, multi-faceted take on the Parliament / Funkadelic cosmic groove: playful, full of hooks, experimental and equally full of quality playing and cutting edge studio trickery.

Bobby Byrd Got Soul: The Best of Bobby Byrd

Bobby Byrd
Bobby Byrd Got Soul: The Best of Bobby Byrd cover

His gravelly voice instantly recognisable from the vocal back and forth on Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’, organist and vocalist Bobby Byrd recorded a clutch of hard-rocking spartan R’n’B and funk, made from shuffling funky drums high in the mix, spindly guitar lines and sharp brass blasts, epitomised by his biggest record ‘I Know You Got Soul’. Aside from a live compilation in 1970, Byrd never released a studio album so the music lover has a number of compilations to choose from. This mid 90s collection pulls together all his single releases and provides a good record of a small but high energy catalogue.

Home In The Country

Pee Wee Ellis
Home In The Country cover

‘Home In The Country’ is saxophonist, songwriter and arranger Alfred ‘Pee Wee’ Ellis’ 1977 solo debut album, an under-rated collection of mid-seventies funky-jazz and jazz-funk. There’s some disco influence in the plush orchestration but it’s still a very funky record with a detailed, intricate production, plenty of percussive excitement and in-the-pocket rhythm tracks. It’s a clear progression from the JBs sound - the arrangements are richer and there’s more jazz soloing - towards a more jazz-funk aesthetic and overall deserves to be better known.

Say Blow By Blow Backwards

Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns
Say Blow By Blow Backwards cover

The six-track 1979 follow up to Wesley and Parker’s debut Horny Horns album is another set of stretched out Parliament/Funkadelic and JBs hybrid funk jams from the former James Brown horn section. It’s bold — the opening horns on final track ‘Circular Motions’ could have soundtracked a film while the synth work make it sound like an update of Maceo’s futurist ‘Cross The Tracks’ — the tracks are made of long vamps to allow the musicians to freely solo and there’s a nice variety in the different flavours of funk. Top-level late seventies funk music. 

Hustle With Speed

The J.B.'s
Hustle With Speed cover

The last great album from the JBs updated their sparse, lean funk aesthetic that had reached its apex on James Brown’s ’73 ‘The Payback’ album with the addition of clavinet and Moog as well as some proto-disco 4/4 rhythms too, creating a richer, denser sound than their previous outings. Seven tracks of sophisticated, unrelenting instrumental funk by some of the best to ever do it, full of characteristic JBs clarion-call horns, skeletal guitar lines and relentlessly funky basslines, all precisely arranged for maximum dance floor impact.

For Sweet People from Sweet Charles

Sweet Charles
For Sweet People from Sweet Charles cover

The only album from JBs multi-instrumentalist and singer “Sweet” Charles Sherrell, this superior collection blends a sweet, romantic vision of soul with some seriously funk-filled backing tracks. The JBs, mostly arranged here by their trombonist Fred Wesley, are in perfectly-synced form as demonstrated on a superbly percussive take on Sam and Dave’s ‘Soul Man’. Band leader Wesley does a stellar job of rearranging old R’n’B songs like ‘Chris Kenner’s ‘I Like It Like That’ and album highlight ‘Yes It’s You’, essentially completely rewriting and arranging them into entirely new productions.

In the Jungle Groove

James Brown
In the Jungle Groove cover

London’s ‘rare groove’ club scene of the mid-80s was extremely keen on the work of the larger James Brown family, to the point where illegal vinyl bootlegs of tracks like Maceo Parker’s ‘Cross The Tracks’ were selling thousands. Hence this 1986 compilation from Polydor collecting some prime funk rarities from 69 - 71 which demonstrate the power of the JBs at their best. And among some of the finest funk music ever recorded, you can hear over the course of its nine minutes the world’s most famous drum beat, ‘The Funky Drummer’ actually morph into existence before your very ears. 

James Brown's Funky People

Various Artists, James Brown
James Brown's Funky People cover

1986 compilation which brings together some of the very best James Brown related releases from his label People Records and serves as an extremely competent primer to this particularly fertile period in Brown’s career. Featuring early 1970s funk classics from Fred Wesley and the JBs, Fred & the New JBs, Lynn Collins, Maceo & the Macks (all of which were simply various permutations of James Brown’s band) it’s non stop genre-defining classics from start to finish. Most of these records weren’t big hits on release but many of them have since become hugely influential in hip hop, house, techno, jungle, drum and bass and other electronic music genres.

Think (About It)

Lyn Collins
Think (About It) cover

The debut album from fiery vocalist Lyn Collins, produced by James Brown, contained her biggest hit ‘Think (About It)’, which has been sampled on literally 1000s of hip hop, house, hardcore, jungle and drum and bass records. The album is a mix of mid-tempo R’n’B and funky numbers, all delivered in that unmistakable powerhouse voice, along with a couple of ballads where Collins really gets a chance to shine. Although it’s the JBs supplying the music, with plenty of church organ, upfront brass and Collins’ gospel-influenced singing style, there’s something of a southern soul feel to much of the album.