SAY IT LOUD FOR THE GODFATHER OF SOUL

A four part James Brown doc series airs February 19 and 20th on A&E

I have been a James Brown fan since my mother took me to see him at the Apollo Theater in 1962 or ‘63. Pigmeat Markham did his famous “Here Comes the Judge” routine as an opener and then the hardest working man in show business took the stage. We were sitting in the orchestra in a back row. The soulful sounds of Brown and the Famous Flames burned through the legendary venue (you can catch a sample of that show on the classic ‘Live at the Apollo’ album.) What sticks in my mind is Brown hutching over in pain, having a cape tossed on his shoulders by Danny Ray, and then Brown, theatrical as a Broadway actor, throwing off the rope to grab the mic again and sending the audience in a frenzy. It’s one of those things you see as a child that you never forget.

Over the years I would experience James Brown many times, but there was always something a bit mysterious about his inner life. I was part of a team of four writers who won a Grammy in 1992 for liner notes on the epic ‘Startime’ boxed set of JB jams. Later, with ex Brown tour manager Alan Leeds, I’d co-edit ‘The James Brown Reader,’ a collection of fifty years of journalism about the bandleader. So I am happy to report that ‘Say It Loud,’ the four part documentary series that airs February 19 and 20th on A&E is the most complete visual record of Brown’s career to date, opening up his personality in new ways. I didn’t like the film with Chadwick Boseman (he was too lanky and not Southern enough) and the ‘Mr. Dynamite’ doc was too short and truncated.

With Brown’s family involved, particularly daughers Yamma and Denna, ‘Say It Loud’ has an intimate honesty about the man off stage that previous efforts have sorely lacked. Kudos director Deborah Riley Draper and EP’s Amir Thompson and Tariq Trotter for bringing it home.

It’s a appropriate that the man who recorded “Mother PopCorn” finally had his own box.

At the premiere at the Victoria Theater in Harlem, a mini James Brown museum was set up with items seen in the doc series.

Bassist/band leader Christian McBride and James Brown expert Alan Leeds are both featured prominently in ‘Say It Loud!’ McBribe played bass for Brown, while Leeds served as his road manager for many years.

This is the cover of ‘The James Brown Reader’ I edited with Alan Leeds. It takes him from the earliest press coverage of his shows to articles written after his death.

“The Payback” may be my favorite James Brown recording. For me, it is the essence of funk.