James Brown - Make It Funky Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4

(1971)

When you hear this you immediately think of hip-hop from the late 80s/early 90s. That's how ubiquitous James Brown samples were then. This tune was famously sampled by Ice-T and Marley Marl along with literally hundreds of others.

Anyway who cares right because this tune is better than anything it was sampled in. I can't stand how the only way to discuss legendary artists is through who they influenced. 

This is another jam that was only ever released on one of those three great James Brown Polydor comps from 1996: Make It Funky (The Big Payback: 1971-1975).

I don't recall anything much about the way JB approached his music in this peak period but I assume it's similar to the way Miles Davis and Can operated. Doing long jams then editing them later. Parts 1, 2 and 3 of Make It Funky were all edited down to singles. Parts 3 & 4 were included on the classic double LP Get On The Good Foot (1972). I gather this raw twelve minute jam is where all the material for the Make It Funky releases comes from. However I don't think he was so much into the splicing or overdubs in the way Teo Macero and Holger Czukay were, I may be wrong... 

The exalted musicianship makes me smile and laugh out loud at the sheer ease of their audacity. In particular the bit where everything turns on a dime at 1:48 and Fred Thomas's world famous bass line drops. Glorious.

It makes me think these jams are somewhat composed if not completely...

 

James Brown begins a list of soul food at 2:49.

Fred Wesley barges in with his trombone at 8:33 for a bit of dick joke banter. They continue with Brown getting Wesley to imitate what he's doing vocally on his trombone which is just brilliant. All the while Jabo Starks and Fred Thomas are holding down a mother of a fucking groove, that is a stone cold hard funk rhythm like no other. 

At 11:16 Brown yells out to guitarist Robert Coleman to give him a bit of BB King and he proceeds to lay down some blues licks.  

Down and dirty and base this all is.

The JBs line-up for this session on July 13, 1971, Rodel Studios, Washington, D.C. was

Organ, Arrangement - James Brown

Alto Saxophone, Vocals - Jimmy Parker

Bass, Vocals - Fred Thomas
Drums, Vocals - Jabo Starks
Guitar, Vocals - Cheese Martin

Guitar, Vocals - Robert Coleman
Tenor Saxophone, Vocals – St Claire Pickney
Trombone, Vocals - Fred Wesley
Trumpet, Vocals - Jasaan Sanford

Trumpet, Vocals - Russel Crimes
Vocals - Bobby Byrd 

Vocals - Danny Ray 

Vocals - Martha Harvin  

Vocals - Vicki Anderson 

*So we've got the aforementioned Robert Lee Coleman on guitar here. He was a fellow Georgian who put in a good couple of seasons for The JBs in 1970 and & 1971. He'd previously done a six year stint with Percy Sledge. He played on and possibly co-wrote Hot Pants (1971) and played on Think (About It) (1972) by Lyn Collins...er that makes you a legend.