There is still a wonderful variety of sounds here, still casting about for a signature sound but certain things are clearly evolving. Brown has chosen to focus the band on Jazz and Jump Blues in their sound and approach. Most of the band solo space is the sax players. No question either that you can hear that Little Willie John has left an impression on James during the time he was opening for him. His phrasing, inflection and delivery have grown immensely. I'm really impressed with the whole package. The bottom line is that he a distinctly superior singer to the guy you heard on the first set and we all seemed to like THAT guy quite a bit!
The longer you listen you will hear the development of a 'sound' that carries across the different 'orientations' of the songs. JB is achieving an amazing synthesis of all those different earlier influences and has gotten his band "Ike Turner" tight. Extended instrumental breaks are regular and are dripping with Bill Dogget and Jimmy Forrest and the Johnny Otis 'show' influence is showing there as well. Quite simply, THIS IS SOME UTTERLY BRILLIANT SHIT!! One thing for damn sure, JB is given many modern major props as the Father of Funk and the Godfather of Soul but the undeniable genius is even more POTENT for me right here in these earlier recordings.
Footnotes: You guys are going to LOVE the disc 2 instrumental stuff like Devil's Den.
And to my old buddy Wouter I would point out that in the early 60's EVERYBODY, JB, Wes Montgomery, Ben Webster, Little Willie John, I mean almost everyone had strings and cheesy backup singers. I guess I have developed a 'filter' of sorts, but yes, I asked for it!
7 comments:
Oh man this looks real tasty, gonna get it ready for my trip to work. Thanks again KC!!!
i have this, it's absolutely GREAT indeed!
and KC: i must admit that the strings even enhance JB's "it's a man's world". but, to me, that is the exception to the rule... :-)
Oh my God....
I just have no words at how great this is. KC you were right on all fronts, so brilliant. The thing that pops into my mind is where the F did this music go? Music that has every angle to it... intelligence, excitement, emotion, soul.
I only maganed to listen to Disc 1, but one thing I noticed was how amazing the guitar tone was. On Suds in particular, he's just shreddin. Who was it?
I'm not kidding when I say that between the LWJ and these old JB sessions I haven't been this excited about music in a while. Imagine that it took recordings from over 50 years ago...
Thank you KC.
btw: did you know that james brown has done a tribute album to little willie john in 1968?
Thanks KC
Anything by JB is usually great - I have tons on CD but not as sequenced singles so this fills some gaps - And yes it's a great listen - Poppa C on my JB double CD Soul Pride - The Instrumentals it states Les Buie as the guitarist on Suds (1961) - Wasn't that modern for that tome !
Cheers
Thanks for the info Gus!!! I'm still jammin on this one. KC was right the instrumental stuff is a blast, and brilliant indeed. I think Brown was wise beyond his years and knew he needed to allow his band to stretch out. Of course when your band is THIS good, it's hardly a gamble.
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