Does anyone know what instrument(s) James Brown can play?

He's a great dancer, performer and bandleader with a unique vocal style. I would say he's a good producer and arranger. Can he play anything or does he just have an ear for what he likes and then finds the best musicians he can find to play it?

Sorry, finger slipped. Wrong forum...

Alasseon said:

"Good producer and arranger"??!!
"Great Dancer, performer and bandleader with unique vocal style"???!!!

Al,...I dont think you realize what a true musical TITAN, James Brown truly is.

James Brown is the single MOST influential figure that there has ever been in American music.
EVER.

There is hardly an musical artist in the past 45+ years that has not borrowed something from his musical, performance and bussiness models.
Never mind that,.. he CREATED his own genre of music,...Funk.
Anytime you hear a funky beat,..thats JAMES. There was no such thing as a funky beat before James Brown. It didnt exist.

Youve inspired me to create a seperate post about just what it is that James Brown has done,..and the TOTAL influence he still has over music to this very day,..across ALL genres of music,..without people realizing it.
The man is a national treasure,..but is treated and perceived as a caricature.
Making people forget what hes given to the world.


Oh,..yeah,... and about your question..
James is a multi-instrumentalist.
He plays piano, organ, drums, bass and guitar.
If you look throughout his catalog youll find him playing one instrument or another.
[Edited 3/24/06 12:52pm]
[Edited 3/24/06 13:04pm]

I've seen him play the piano.

JB can bang out a tune on piano or organ and bark out an arrangement, but he can't write music without a near-psychic interpretive assistant like Fred, Maceo or PeeWee.


Suggested reading

Fred Wesley - HIT ME FRED Recollectons of A Sideman

http://www.amazon.com/gp/...oding=UTF8
[Edited 3/24/06 13:13pm]

Thanks, guys.

Here's what I was leading up to.

James Brown is unbelievable. He is a music legend, so much so that when Miles Davis AND Stevie Wonder claim him as an influence, you gotta step back and say "Whuttt?".

Unfortunately, unless you listen to hiphop or Prince ( ), you really can't hear James Brown on the radio. James isn't releasing any new records.

Before Prince got to play with his musical gods, George Clinton, Maceo and Larry, I had no idea of Funk before Prince.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm deprived.

But I'm trying to go back to the Old School and learn sumpthin about Those Who Came Before and see how innovative they were.

In James Brown's case, I don't think he is as talented as Stevie on the keys and he can't play the guitar like Jimi, he can't even sing like Luthor. But damn. I just saw two of his performances from the Tami show and from some other venue in his prime.

I can see why Michael Jackson idolized him. I can see why Prince even as far back as the Syracuse concert wants to BE him.

James Brown should be receiving a royalty check from everyone and their mother who has made a record after 1965 or so.

The question is...where does it come from? How does he direct his band? 'cause those boys are *tight* How does he compose these songs? 'cause r-n-b can be divided into Before James and After James.

Lol, too many questions, I know. It's just that the most knowledgeable people about the music I love are here on the Org.

To my knowledge (which is fairly extensive having heard most of JB's classic '60s and '70s material in-depth for years, the Brother Brown can't really play any instrument very well. He has mainly dabbled in the funky organ, and you can tell when the Godfather is at the keys as the sounds emanated thereof are mostly full of mistakes (You can also tell this when James says 'Scuse me while I play my funky organ' ...). I believe it was Fred Wesley (or maybe 'Pee Wee' Ellis), both music directors of the classic JB bands that were particularly determined to manuevre the brother away from the organ because he sounded so bad. James thought he sounded like Jimmy Smith, but this view was not widely shared ...

Of course JB still rules and most of his classic songs were created by him in rehearsals or studio doing vocalisations of the sounds and rhythms he heard in his head. These were then 'decyphered' by the likes of 'Pee Wee' and Fred Wesley and developed/ arranged into the songs we know and love.

This odd method certainly served the man well. And I certainly agree that James Brown is probably the single most influential music artist alive. Without JB, no funk (good gawd!), no disco (oh, well), no hip hop (a mixed blessing that one imo). His influence on the development of jazz fusion, roots reggae and Afrobeat is also considerable. Truly a titan.

I just can't understand why the man seemed to loose musical confidence in the late '70s and lost direction/inspiration and production control of his music. From early '60s to mid'70s he was evolving all the time, then around '76-ish, he just sorta stopped and started becoming the semi-parody of himself he is now. Was he tired? I know drugs were in the mix then, but only JB really knows.

There should have been another way. James Brown could and should have been making relevant, interesting and funky records in the '80, '90s and today. But such is funk ...

Now this is a great thread. Love the love for JB! All of it is warranted by the way..

Miles said:

What happened is JB was incapable of treating essential personnel with dignity and respect. It's patently ridiculous to subject a "grown-ass man" to fines and menial punishment as well as hogging all their credits for himself. Fred Wesley, Bootsy and Maceo left his employment to further their own careers and expand their musical horizons and all have acknowledged Brown's vitality but also forswore to never work with him again (yes, they've said the same thing about George Clinton though for different reasons).

James Brown is what he is, but he's at his best when he has those top-notch musicians in his employ.

Also,let's face it, JB didn't really change with the times which is why we had to have that Pee-Funk!
[Edited 3/24/06 13:59pm]

PFunkjazz said:

100% truth.

Alasseon said:

If you can find some Louie Jordan (40/1950's) do so, He was one of James idols.

According to one of James Brown's backing vocalists, she said "If Mr. Brown hears one of the musicians playing the wrong chord or playing the wrong beat, he will take the instrument away from them and show them the right way to play it".

Superbad indeed.

Miles said:

well I'd dispute that James is "bad" on the organ. His playing on Lowdown Popcorn and spinning wheel off Sex Machine sound pretty good to me. I also know that James played the drums on some of his earlier proto-funk material like Night Train, and he sounds reasonably competant on the skins. As to his ability on any other instruments I'm not sure. Someone mentioned he can play guitar and bass but I'd like to know what they base that off of.

sexyfunkystrange said:

James Brown might be the greatest American we've ever produced. In terms of what he has contributed to this country, maybe Lincoln alone could hang with Soul Brother Number 1.

As much as Prince has ripped my reality to shreds, over and over again, Prince has got nothing on James Brown, something I am sure he freely admits, if only to himself.

James Brown invented funk. He helped invent what we call soul music. He pretty much invented hip-hop. There are folks that will tell you there are four elements of hip-hop. Bullshit...there's really only one: James Brown. That's how come you know hip-hop is dead and has been dead for years - 'cause you cannot feel James up in any of that shit now.

They do James like they did Rick James - a freak, a punchline, but never as genius. These goddman people in the media couldn't find the funk if a billion dollars was in it for them plus Halle Berry's pussy. Fuckin' assholes.

darkstranger521 said:

TALK!!!

darkstranger521 said:[quote]

sexyfunkystrange said:

I can't argue with that. Great points.

BlaqueKnight said:

That ALWAYS plays a role and the fact that he is a STRONG willed brother also. America never likes a brother who actually thinks for himself.

James Brown is the singular recording artist in American history, imo.

Graycap23 said:

Again....TALK!!!!