James Brown - Hartford, CT, 1974

This set seems to be from just a few days after the Apollo set just posted. The band is on fire, playing some great funky music. And JB himself reacts with an energized show.

We only get two opening tracks by the J.B.'s this time and the whole show runs shorter, but there's some great funk all the way through!

Again, sound is rough here, but to me, it's good enough to enjoy the music (the famous Kinshasa show is similar, soundwise... these two might even be a bit better, less muddy).

Again, if you have any further information, be it on the line-up, the date or location, please do post a comment!

Both of these sets come from dime, and these are the original FLAC files I got from there - thanks go out to the kind folks over there sharing all this amazing stuff!

James Brown and the J.B.'s
Hartford, CT (USA) (prob. Hartford Civic Center)
1974 (prob. December 3, 1974)

James Brown - vocals
prob. line-up:
Russell Crimes - trumpet
Fred Wesley* - trombone
Maceo Parker*, prob. Jimmy Parker - alto sax
St. Clair Pinckney - tenor sax
Jimmy Nolen & Hearlon "Cheese" Martin - guitars
Fred Thomas - bass
John Morgan - drums
Johnny Griggs - congas & percussion
Lyn Collins & Martha High - vocals

*) confirmed

MC: Danny Ray


J.B.'s
1. Rockin' Funky Watergate (3:32)
2. Soul Power 74 (4:52)

3. Intro (1:29)

STAR TIME
4. The Payback (2:37)
5. Soul Power (2:15)
6. I Got Ants in My Pants (And I Want to Dance) (2:28)
7. Doin' It to Death (4:20)
8. Try Me (3:50)
9. What My Baby Needs Now Is a Little More Lovin' (1:35) [cuts in]
10. Gimme Some More (1:39)
11. Get on the Good Foot (6:13)
12. Stone to the Bone (5:05)
13. Sex Machine (1:23) [inc]

TT: 41:27

Sound:
Source: audience tape


:: dime seeder's comments ::

Received this in trade, around 1992.
This is a nice audience recording,some distortion in the lower frequencies.
To me this is a good example how tight the JB's were in the early seventies.You can hear the excitement,
for instance in Gimme Some More where James probably did some splits.
Listen to Get On The Good Food, when the bass drops out you can here why funk isn't funk without a good bass.

Enjoy!
Mantra
September, 2009


:: dime-comment #4271084 by kingmike at 2010-09-25 22:56:18 GMT ::

probably "Hartford Civic Center" and I'd estimate the date to be December 03, 1974 based on gigs in the North East at the time etc.....educated guess on the date....I'm pretty sure on the venue....

James Brown - Apollo Theater, NYC 1974-11-30

Another JB show - one more to come... sound is much less good than on the Swiss set, but the band and its boss is on home turf and livelier than in the previous set. Brown strays a bit during "Crossroads" and "Try Me" and the bad sound becomes a bit of an issue during these more quiet parts, but the opening bits by the J.B.'s and the final quarter of an hour are some dead heavy funk!

If you have any further additions or corrections to the line-up, please post a comment!

James Brown and the J.B.'s
Harlem, NY (USA), Apollo Theater
November 30, 1974

James Brown - vocals
prob. line-up:
Russell Crimes - trumpet
Fred Wesley* - trombone
Maceo Parker*, prob. Jimmy Parker - alto sax
St. Clair Pinckney - tenor sax
Jimmy Nolen & Hearlon "Cheese" Martin - guitars
Charles Sherrell* - bass
John Morgan - drums
Johnny Griggs - congas & percussion
Lyn Collins* & Martha High - vocals

*) confirmed

MC: Danny Ray


1. Intro (0:30)

THE J.B.'s
2. All for One (4:32)
3. Intro by Danny Ray (1:19)
4. Same Beat (4:05)
5. Damn Right I Am Somebody (4:55)
6. Pass the Peas (2:53)

STAR TIME
7. The Payback (3:37)
8. Soul Power (2:16)
9. The Boss / Make It Funky (4:01)
10. Doin' It to Death (5:25)
11. James talking (2:10)
12. Man Has to Go Back to the Crossroads (15:31)
13. Try Me / Gimme Some More (7:05)
14. Cold Sweat / Can't Stand It (4:12)
15. Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (4:39)
16. Sex Machine (1:20)
17. Papa Don't Take No Mess (5:13) [incomplete]

TT: 73:57

Sound: B+
Source: audience tape

James Brown - Switzerland 1973

I'm still deeply into James Brown's music, proceeding roughly chronologically (but so far without also playing the Hip-O-Select 2CD sets compiling all the Singles... Vols. 1, 2, and 5 are far gone, Vol. 6 has been around and several of the others shall be here soon, too). Some listening protocols and stuff will be published on my new blog (in German only, sorry) over here:
http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I've arrived at the 1971-75 period recently and yesterday, it was all 1973. There's a pretty good live set around that seems to be from early 1973 - Brown embarked on a five week European tour within days after recording "Mind Power" for the album The Payback). The stage announcer also mentions an exclusive concert by José Feliciano coming up on March 30 in Lausanne... so my best guess for this is: poss. Lausanne (Switzerland), February/March 1973.

The line-up is taken from what I heard... Maceo, Fred, St. Clair, Nolen and the two funky divas are announced, the rest is guesswork on my part. Thomas, Starks and the trumpet players were around at that time - and I do think there are three trumpets audible in CD1#6 during those fanfare kinds of thing they play there.
The mystery remains if there's a third sax player or not... in "Shaft", Maceo's on flute and there's a tenor and baritone (? or two tenors ?) audible. Maceo to my knowledge never played tenor with Brown at that time, so Eldee Williams (who was present on some sessions in that time) would be my best guess - but I'm really not sure there!

If you have any additional information to add, please do let me know! I'd also like to know the two unknown tunes in the opening J.B.'s set!

The band here isn't as exciting as it was at the time of the Paris concert in 1967 - Brown had the Collins brothers and their exciting rough bred of youngsters pushing the funk to its limits for a year in 1970/71, but by early 1971, they had defected as well and were soon to take a ride on George Clinton's spaceship. Brown hurriedly had Fred Wesley put together a new band, which included loyalists St. Clair Pinckney and "Jabo" Starks. Wesley simplified the music, put together tight grooves that were very effective and fun to hear, yet were adapted to the abilities of the new band. By late 1972 they got a major rhythmic push by Jimmy Nolen returning on guitar, and in early 1973, finally, another fine horn soloist was added: returning star Maceo Parker!

We hear the J.B.'s at that point - with Lyn Collins (ably supported by Martha Harvin aka Martha High) doing some very mean funky songs towards the end of the opening set. The J.B.'s are putting on a mighty fine show here though, playing some of their own hits like "Pass the Peas" and having their go at Isaac Hayes classic theme from "Shaft". Lyn Collins' features then are the icing on the cake!

The Startime set is alas cut short, and as I hear it, things only fully gel in "Sex Machine", while before, it's good but not great. The final few cuts are great though, and the ten minutes of "Sex Machine" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" are the highlight of the whole set, to me!

James Brown and The J.B.'s
Avalanche Of Funk (liberated boot)
Switzerland (poss. Lausanne)
1973 (prob. February/March)

James Brown - vocals, organ, drums
prob. Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison, prob. Isiah "Ike" Oakley & prob. Jerone "Jasaan" Sanford - trumpet
Fred Wesley - trombone
Maceo Parker - alto sax, flute
St. Clair Pinckney - tenor sax (& baritone sax?)
poss. Eldee Williams - tenor sax
Jimmy Nolen & prob. Hearlon "Cheese" Martin - guitar
prob. Fred Thomas - bass
prob. John "Jabo" Starks - drums
prob. John Morgan or Johnny Griggs - percussion
Lyn Collins, Martha High - vocals
Danny Ray - MC

CD1/49:23 - THE J.B.'S
01. Intro (1:06)
02. Backstabbers (4:43)
03. Hot Pants Road (3:04)
04. Theme from "Shaft" (3:27)
05. instrumental (4:18)
06. instrumental (3:40)
07. Pass the Peas (6:14)
08. Parrty (5:51)
09. Me & Mrs. Jones (1:51) [Maceo Parker, vocals]
10. I'll Take You There (2:59)
11. Never Gonna Give You Up (3:05)
12. Do Your Thing (4:39)
13. Think (4:20)

CD2/52:18 - JAMES BROWN
01. Intro (1:19)
02. Get On the Good Foot (3:48)
03. Soul Power (4:22)
04. Make It Funky (4:25)
05. Bewildered (8:04)
06. Super Bad (5:51)
07. Try Me (3:51)
08. Hot Pants (2:23)
09. Sex Machine (7:23)
10. I've Got a Brand New Bag of My Own (3:00)
11. It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World (2:42)
12. Please Please Please (2:06)
13. I Can't Stand Myself (1:21)
14. Cold Sweat (1:38) [inc]

TT: 101:41

Sound: A-
Source: SBD

A complete recording of a 1973 James Brown Show/Revue concert including the full JB's opening set. I have not listened to this in quite a while... It was nice to kick back and check this show out. The band is tight!
The CD's I obtained was released by Big Fro Discs


:: ubu notes ::

In the Intro on CD1, an upcoming event (Jose Feliciano) for March 30th is mentioned, and Brown was on tour in Europe for five weeks beginning early February 1973 (see Alan Leeds' liners to the CD reissue of "The Payback")
First time that JB plays in Switzerland
Martha High is announced with her birthname as Martha Harvin
Not sure about Eldee Williams, but I seem to hear ts and bari during "Shaft", while Maceo is on flute there (and never seems to have played ts with Brown at this time anyway).
Also not sure about the number of trumpet players - the three listed were the regulars in studio sessions of the time - but ther may be only two present, but there are parts (for instance in CD1#6) where there seem to be three audible.