BeatTips MusicStudy: James Brown & The JBs – “I Don’t Want Nobody”
Rolling, Rumbling, Muddy Bass; Brassy Brass; Home Cooked Drums; and of Course, the Vocal Styles of Soul Brother #1
| By AMIR SAID (SA’ID) |
*In the discussion of music, numerous names are tossed around. Sure, their are many recording artists who are worthy of some level of research. But then there are those names that are worthy of intense MusicStudy. These are the Marquee Names…*
In 1969, America was trampling fast into a new era. Just one year after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy; and one year after the 1968 Summer Olympics “Black Power Salute” of black American track stars, Tommie Smith and John Carlos. 1969: the social turbulence of the 1960s was coming to a close.
Such broad-based social turbulence triggered a new awakening in the African American (Black) music tradition, when in 1965, James Brown introduced a new form of soul music he dubbed “funk.” By 1969, James Brown had perfected his funk sound, which included tightly wound rhythms, percussive and “brassy” horn arrangements, and unmistakable grooves that rocked steady on the down beat. And seemingly always key to James Brown’s funk sound was his straight-forward social commentary.
The music and video below is presented here for the purpose of scholarship.
