Praise the Lord -

and Pass the Funk !

Well, Christmas brought me a fistful of my favorite presents - Amazon gift certificates ! So the challenge was now on - assemble the perfect list of purchases, making maximum use of EVERY musical penny. Most of my January was consumed with this new obsession. The nice thing about a large gift certificate sum is that it affords the opportunity to buy 'big ticket' items like boxed sets, or to spend a bit more on a 'luxury' item like an out of print CD that I might regularly pass on. I have also learned that by using the Amazon resellers that sell discounted new or used product you can double the value or your purchases - Hallelujah !



GOSPEL

Much of my musical collection in addition to just being things I like to listen to are part of my ongoing interest in the history and evolution of music and tracing specific genres through to their roots. So a few months back I had written down 'Gospel' in one of my notebooks. While I had always been aware of Gospel in popular music from Little Richard, to Sam Cooke, to Aretha Franklin and many others, and knew the biggest names such as Mahalia Jackson, I had never taken the time to go inside the genre to it's real players and environment - the ones who didn't cross over to popular music.

As usual, a connection to Bob Dylan led me to my most recent awareness and pursuit. Dylan's Religious releases 1978-1981 have recently been the subject of a CD and Documentary Gotta Serve Somebody, in which top gospel performers sing the material from Dylan'sSlow Train Comin', and Saved. While many of Dylan's fans were confused by these releases, I had always thought they contained some of his best performances so I took a special interest in these new gospel interpretations. The CD and documentary were inspirational and left me wanting more. Fortunately there are at least a couple of DVD's containing documentaries on the history of Gospel music and I have ordered them to deepen my knowledge of this important music and its players.

James Brown and Funk

Another missing link in my music collection was the absence of James Brown. Always on the fringe of 'mainstream' he had created his own signature sound that defied strict categorization and changed music. My interests in many other kinds of music, the scope of his music in time and style, plus the mountain of available releases perhaps led to an unconscious avoidance or confrontation with such a formidable force. Well, no longer !

Since my musical agenda seemed to be free at the moment, and James' death [which reminded me of his gigantic contributions] was still hovering in the recent past it seemed time to right this senseless wrong - but where to begin ?

I leapt head first into the deep waters of the Amazon and tried to stay afloat in 50 years of releases and musical history. I used a reference book I had, additional biographical websites and even e-mailed my friend and funk aficionado Lou with James Brown inquiries. They were valuable in helping me cut through the mountain of material to get a clearer picture of what I was after. I did narrow in on a few sets that look good and put a few on my wish list as well.

I nearly crashed the Amazon site by ordering some obscure and out of print materials. I Immediately began getting the standard order confirmations followed the next day by a string of cancellations and delayed shipping notices as several vendors realized they could not meet the inventory requirements of my orders.

Fear not, a man with a musical mission, and FREE money CANNOT be stopped. I promptly replaced my orders with alternate sellers, and was rewarded with confirmations and expedited shipping.

Several things are of interest and make the James Brown story very interesting. Like Elvis, his career began in the 50's and had to endure the changing musical and political landscapes of the 60's, 70's, and beyond creating the need for constant reinvention for survival. His catalog was one mainly comprised of singles even as the industry became a more album oriented medium. In addition to his main James Brown musical identity, much of the story revolves on the band and its members which was constantly changing contributing to the evolution of the music. The importance of the band as a musical tool through which to develop new musical ideas, there is a subset of instrumental releases by the various bands some songs featuring James on organ. The band members came from a diverse musical background adding to the complex mixture which James used to his visionary purpose.

Of course the most obvious and visible contribution is that the James Brown bands were the crucible that forged or forced FUNK from the raw elements of Rhythm and blues and poured it still molten on the musical world first directly, then through his musical expatriates and disciples Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Sly Stone etc.

Now all that remains is to watch, listen, and absorb the real meaning of all this music. A pleasant task !

My thanks to all those who contributed to my latest musical expedition !