Sixty years ago on October 24th 1962, the audience at the Apollo theater had no idea they were witnessing the recording of a concert that would become a seminal album in American music.
On that night James Brown recorded the first of his Live at the Apollo albums each of which would become a classic. The album was released in 1963 and stayed on the Billboard top 100 albums chart for over a year reaching number two. In a departure from how DJs played cuts from albums, R&B stations would play the album in its entirety. Brown himself financed the recording because his recording company at the time, King Records, didn’t feel this would be a good investment. Little did the powers that be at King Records realize this album would become the root of a revolution that James Brown and his colleagues would create. One of the more interesting aspects of this album is that Brown who is more known for his fast paced recordings has only two fast paced tracks on it. Most of the songs are ballads. It wasn’t the last time someone would doubt the viability of James Brown. One of his biggest hits “The Big Payback” was originally written by Brown to be the theme song for the movie “Hell Up In Harlem.” The movie’s producer Larry Cohen rejected it because in his mind it wasn’t funky enough. The rest as they say is history.
As he went from Mr. Dynamite, King of Soul, Soul Brother Number One to Godfather of Soul, over the next five decades Brown would garner over 100 Billboard charted hits and 17 number one records on the Billboard R&B charts. He would become the most sampled artist in history, a symbol of entrepreneurship and black pride and his music has been on the soundtracks of dozens of movies. In 1969 the cover of Look magazine asked the question “Is James Brown the most important black man in America.” He would have audiences with almost every American president since Lyndon Johnson as well as heads of state in several African nations. In fact contrary to popular culture it was actually James Brown who was among the first to ask for a holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Indeed it was Brown who the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King jr. was credited with preventing violence in the city of Boston as a result of his concert being televised live.
While others would ponder questions about social justice by asking “What’s Going On” Brown himself was definitive in his statements such as “Say it loud I’m black and I’m proud” “Don’t be a dropout” “I don’t want nobody to give me nothing open up the door I get it myself” and ”King Heroin” and even in his recording of “Funky President” (a reference to then President Gerald Ford) was in many ways a reiteration of the black political manifesto.
While Brown is rightly celebrated for his musical innovations, what is often lost is his love of jazz as evidenced in his “Soul On Top” album recorded with the legendary Louis Bellson orchestra and arranged by the great Oliver Nelson. In fact, Brown arguably recorded the first ‘’unplugged” album when he recorded “Getting Down To It” with the Dee Felice Trio. Unfortunately, Brown like most artists who have enjoyed longevity has had his career minimized to a few songs such as “Get Up Off That Thing” “I feel good” , “Sex Machine” and thankfully “This is a man’s world”. While these recordings are classic the truth of the matter is that Brown was a versatile performer and singer. Even in the late 1960’s Brown did not always start his show with a fast paced selection. Sometimes he started with a tune such as “If I Ruled The World” and songs such as Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life and Tony Bennett’s “I want to be around” became regular entries in a James Brown concert set list. In his earlier years, Brown also included Ella Fitzgerald’s “These foolish things” in his musical repertoire. In some places his recording of Sinatra’s ”All The Way” can be heard and one of his most famous hits was a cover of “Prisoner of love” originally made famous by Billy Eckstein and Perry Como.
The severely flawed movie “Get On Up” a feeble but failed attempt to capture the historical essence of Brown unfortunately did very little towards that goal. Even now as a four part series on Brown to be aired in 2023 is being produced by Questlove and Mick Jagger, it is hoped it will be more insightful about the musical and social depth of Brown.
Brown whose career influenced performers from Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Prince, Tina Turner, Bruno Mars, MC Hammer to Usher and provided the foundation for early rap is arguably the most important artist of the 20th century.
While the 1980’s saw a Brown who actions were more prominent in the tabloid pages rather than the music charts he nonetheless cemented his status as an American music icon.
Brown was an astute man who understood who he was but he could also be an enigma. He is a man who endorsed Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon while also engaging in conversations with H. Rap Brown. Brown was a man who on one hand had as his attorney Strom Thurmond Jr but on the other hand his manager was Nation of Islam’s Charles Bobbitt aka Mustapha Muhammad.
That night in 1962 set in motion a revolution in music that still resounds today. No one could have predicted the influence that Brown would have on music and would become one of a handful of artists who are known by their moniker. Even within popular culture think about how many refer to themselves as the Godfather of this or that. It begins with Brown. On today’s talent shows, Brown’s “Its a Man’s World” has almost become a rite of passage for contestants to showcase their vocal prowess.
Despite his passing in 2006, Brown remains a seminal part of the musical fabric of the nation and the world. On that night in 1962 at the Apollo Theatre those who were present can say they saw the beginning of the roots of a musical revolution.