Godfather Clock

Let's kick off the very merry month with a necessary tribute to a recently-departed god of The Groove.

Today's honored person left us at the age of 79 on May 1st, but the things he did and the foundation he laid will never, ever die.

In the mid-1960s, he altered the DNA of drums forever, at the direction of his boss who'd have been 85 the other day.

All those tunes that started the whole Funk revolution that endures to now? Brand New Bag? Cold Sweat? I Can't Stand It? James Brown might have conceived that sort of pocket, but it took today's man of the hour to play it.

There's only a handful of drummers where you could make the claim that they wrote The Bible of it. Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich and Shelley Manne from the Jazz old school; Kenny Clarke obviously. In rock you might say Ginger Baker, Neil Peart, and Bill Bruford maybe. 

Funk, of course, has its deities too. Zigaboo Modeliste from The Meters is a first-ballot choice. Idris Muhammad as well, who did so much to bring the rhythms of the New Orleans Second Line into Jazz and by extension, pop music. 

But if we are talking formatives -- who made something where there was nothing, as some folks claim is the living definition of The Funk -- no one surpasses today's guy.

If you had The Godfather himself in front of you right now, he would tell you in plain English that there will never be another backbone of the backbeat sturdier than John "Jab'o" Starks.

As I said he passed a few days ago, so to commemorate his life and work we have in the cloud today a full hour of the JB Orchestra, onstage with three drummers -- Jab'o is one -- at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1969. How this isn't officially available I do not know, but when do I ever?

James Brown

Newport Jazz Festival

Festival Field

Newport, Rhode Island

7.6.1969

01 Soul Pride

02 Popcorn

03 unknown instrumental medley

04 Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud

05 If I Ruled the World

06 Kansas City

07 Licking Stick

08 Try Me

09 There Was a Time

10 Give It Up or Turnit a Loose

11 It's A Man's World

12 Please, Please, Please

13 I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)

14 Mother Popcorn

15 Mother Popcorn (reprise)

Total time: 59:04

James Brown - vocals 

Maceo Parker - tenor and alto saxophones  

Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis - tenor and alto saxophones 

Fred Wesley - trombone 

St. Clair Pinckney - baritone saxophone

Richard "Kush" Griffith - trumpet

Joe Davis - trumpet

Jimmy Nolen - guitar

Alphonso "Country" Kellum - guitar 

Bobby Byrd - organ, stage announcer

Charles Sherrell - bass 

Clyde Stubblefield, John "Jab'o" Starks, Melvin Parker - drums

pre-FM capture, maybe just a master sbd reel

357 MB FLAC/May 2018 archive link

I hope I don't have to tell you exactly how insanely badass this full, unissued hour is. Just the closer -- an extended and furious Mother Popcorn -- oughta make that abundantly clear.

I shall return as soon as my injured foot allows me to stand at this desk for more than five minutes without excruciating pain, but for now go grab this hour of raw Funk power and remember that for every few Rudy Ghoulianis and that lot, we get 80 years of someone like Jab'o.--J.

10.26.1938 - 5.1.2018