James Brown: Give It Up, Turn It Loose

You had me at “Give it Up”.

 

james brown is simply the best!

it's no wonder those 1st-gen folks sampled those beats/sounds so much --- they were the best available tools!

also: james brown and morning coffee are a good pair-up --- thanks for the 'boost', doc!

 

What a singular, once-in-an-epoch talent that guy was. Wow. Seems like he had Frank-Zappa-level standards for who got to be in his bands, and you can hear it.

 

Just a note on the song: the original version of "Give It Up..." was released in 1969 but the later arrangement (the one featured in the video) was recorded and released in 1970. Both are great.

 

I almost waded into one of those 'how do I stop playing less notes and focus on pocket' threads to share what worked for me:

Play-along to 'The Big Payback' and see if you can get all the way through the song without adding any licks. It's hard. Once you learn to do it though ... butts will shake on the dancefloor at your gigs, and you'll get called more.

 

With a good drummer and a good rhythm guitarist I can happily play that groove for a long time (but yeah, it is tough to not succumb to the temptation of filling in some of that space ).

 

Where would we be without JB? He's a global treasure

 

I'm so glad I finally got to see him. It was his last tour.

 

I also loved "living in America" which seems to get overlooked.

 

I wish I still had the bootleg of a JB show where he fires a sax player after playing a solo that's a bit too jazz for James. Actual quote:

"Take that pointy lil' horn and get outta here!"

James also played some B3 in that show, and the rhythm section was smoking. The media I had was eight track cartridge.

 

He was turnt the f up in that scene. Blew this young man’s wig back. I believe ‘they’ call a guy like JB ‘fully actualized’.

Side note: my dad’s best friend (surrogate uncle) saw JB in an airport. So star struck that he yelled ‘James!’ across the terminal. JB turns and gives him his signature ‘Uhnnnh!’ grunt.

 

This has been my jam all week!

 

There was nothing like James Brown before him, and SO many wore out his records and soul, original R & B, and funk sprang from the massive tree that was his catalog in so many corners of the music business after him. It's always amazing to me that his bands were SO tight, you could calibrate a metronome by them, and yet they swung so hard. As seminal as Chuck Berry or Miles Davis.

 

One of my biggest regrets in life, is the occasion I was alone with James, and we were obstructed by a huge muddy puddle.

I knew it would make probably the best anecdote ever, if I gave The Godfather of Soul a piggyback over filthy water - but I just completely chickened out of doing it (and now you're stuck with this, as a story).

Anyway, later that evening, I was literally inches away from his feet when he was pulling off some of his signature dance moves.

There was never any danger of his shoes getting muddy - his feet just hovered above the ground.

 

“Give it up or turn it loose” is so good. The extended version on “In the jungle groove” is my favorite.