Birth Of Funk 1949 – 1962
Jacksonville, Florida, 1960. Charles 'Hungry' Williams mentors young Clayton Fillyau after he had just joined the James Brown band: 'I don't care where you put it on those drums, remember where '1' is and you'll never lose the time.' Listen to Hungry on Huey Smith's Talk To Me Baby from 1962 and then listen to how Clayton turns it into a relentless breakbeat on James Brown's I've Got Money. Not everything on here was cut in New Orleans. New York singer Vernon Harrel's Slick Chick is held together by an intriguingly syncopated bass line that hints at late '60s Studio One dub. And in case you think any of this was new, listen to Earl Palmer's sixteenth notes, off-backbeat snare accents and double-tempo hi-hats in 1953 on Professor Longhair's Tipitina. (Serious students dig out Zutty Singleton's drum break on Victoria Spivey's Funny Feathers from 1929). Here you are then. 47 funky tracks from the 50s and early 60s. Get on down.
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