Program Description Soul music stretches to create a rock and roll revolution in rhythm and attitude in the '70s. Innovators james brown, sly and the family stone, george clinton and famed bass players larry graham and bootsy collins take viewers on a tour of funk as the music becomes bolder and more expressive of the realities of black life. Filmed in new york, san francisco and philadelphia, the program also examines how funky dance hits blazed a musical trail to the disco craze of the late '70s. We were recording at King Records, which happened to be over in Cincinnati, Ohio, which happened to be where James Brown recorded his records.
So, that was our opportunity to get on the big stage. We knew that, so we hung over at King Records every day after school, waiting and watching for anybody. We happened to run into a guy called Charles Spurling, who was an A&R guy. And he liked us, he had heard about us, he wanted to come and hear us. So we invited him down to a club and he came down and checked us out.
He said, "Man, you cats have got a whole new energy, you've got the rhythm thing you all got. I want ya'll to be my band over at King Records." So, that started it, we went over to record some stuff at King Records with him. Once we did that, all the other producers there – Henry Glover, who produced Bill Doggett, Hank Ballard, Arthur Prysock, a whole slew of mugs. He was the first black country & western, soul, gospel, jazz producer, we had a chance to play on all these records before we got with James Brown. So, we got to learn discipline by coming in the studio and vibing, like we did last night.
You come in the studio and vibe, because we didn't know what was gonna happen. All we know is we've got our instruments and if you allow us to play, we're gonna tear this mother up! So, we took that attitude wherever we went. But at the same time, give us a chance and we'll show you. He's eight years older than I am, Catfish Collins.
I was just a young, long-haired sucker that looked up to his brother, didn't have a father in the home. You know how young boys look up to their brothers and want to be like them? That's what really inspired me – him.
You didn't get music like you get it today, it was kind of far and in between. First of all, we didn't have a radio. You'd hear music coming from a club or the house of someone who could afford a radio or record player.
So, we just had to get music however we could get it or listen to it however we could hear it. Every now and then, my brother would come and practice at the house, and that's where I witnessed music firsthand and how it affected people. I wanted to be like that, I wanted to be cool like that.
Especially the jazz players, they werereally cool. Not only my brother, there was this guy called Wilbert Longmire. He was a jazz player out of Cincinnati, Ohio, he became really big. George Benson took what he was doing and just blew it all the way up. But Wilbert was a local guy who could play like that, but never stepped out.
We've got a lot of those musicians, who are great at what they do but get distracted by the home life, different things, they'd get a little distracted and so you don't step out. So, he didn't step out and George Benson stepped out and just smashed. We were a local band that decided to step out and the way I got to be with my brother was I had to prove to him that I was worthy. You know, because big brothers are just, "Ah no, you get out of here." I was young. I was nine, I started messing around with the guitar when I was nine years old, and I started sneaking my brother's guitar when he was on his paper route.
So, while he was gone, I'd get my brother's guitar out the closet, but the deep thing unbeknown to me was, he knew how he had his guitar packed. Any little move he'd know someone had been messing with his guitar. An edited version of the song was made into a music video which features cameos by many other Bengals players. It has garnered tremendous local airplay and is viewable on Bengals.com Additionally, Cincinnati Bell is offering "Fear Da Tiger" as a free ringtone for its wireless customers in both polyphonic and MP3 formats. Collins appeared with Little Richard, Bernie Worrell, and other notable musicians as the band playing with Hank Williams, Jr. for the Monday Night Football opening during for the 2006 season. Collins was the only all star to return with Williams for the 2007 season.
Collins appeared with Little Richard, Bernie Worrell, and other notable musicians as the band playing with Hank Williams, Jr. for theMonday Night Footballopening during for the 2006 season. It has garnered tremendous local airplay and is viewable on Bengals.com Additionally, Cincinnati Bell is offering "Fear Da Tiger" as a free ringtone for its wireless customers in both polyphonic and MP3 formats. In 1990, Collins collaborated with Deee-Lite on their massive hit "Groove Is in the Heart" where he contributed additional vocals. Although he also appeared in the music video playing the bass, the bassline in the song is actually a sample of a Herbie Hancock song called "Bring Down the Birds".
Bootsy's Rubber Band became the de facto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour. The Rubber Band also recorded the EP "Jungle Bass", their first recording in 11 years. In 1990, Collins collaborated with Deee-Lite on their biggest hit "Groove Is in the Heart", and he contributed additional vocals. The Rubber Band also recorded the EPJungle Bass, their first recording in 11 years. The Rubber Band also recorded the EP Jungle Bass, their first recording in 11 years.
In 1990 Bootsy collaborated with Deee-Lite on their massive hit "Groove Is In The Heart" where he contributed additional vocals. Bootsy's Rubber Band became the defacto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour. In 1990 Bootsy collaborated with Deee-Lite on their massive hit "Groove Is In The Heart" where he contributed additional vocals. Although he also appeared in the music video playing the bass, the bassline in the song is actually a sample of a Herbie Hancock song called "Bring Down the Birds".
Bootsy's Rubber Band became the defacto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour. Yes, they were the ones who found Rihanna. That's who's playing behind Sparkle on the record. Evan Rogers on the conga, Carl Sturken on guitar. The drummer is Kevin Cloud and the keyboard is Keith Cloud. The bass player is John 'Noodle' Nevin.
That's the band behind the Sparkle album. His influence in popular culture is seen in that he has been referenced by a number of television series. Collins got his start in music by tagging along after his older brother, guitarist Phelps Collins.
"I just kept bugging him and kept stealing his guitar when he went on his paper route. James Brown also recorded at King's studio, and in 1969 he hired the Collins brothers and their drummer, Frank Waddy, into his band. William "Bootsy" Collins is a pioneering funk bassist, singer, and songwriter. Bootsy was instrumental in Parliament and Funkadelic together with George Clinton and Bernie Worrell. He is well known as one of the founding members of the 'P-Funk' sound.
Known worldwide for pioneering funk music with James Brown and Parliament Funkadelic, Collins is a singularly influential bassist. His star-shaped "Space Bass" and the driving grooves he produced with it have become synonymous with modern funk and inspired everyone from The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus to NWA and OutKast. Aside from his seminal work with James Brown and George Clinton, Collins achieved considerable success as a frontman for several groups, including Bootsy's Rubber Band. Vice President of the GRAMMY Foundation Scott Goldman will moderate the discussion, and Collins will also take audience questions. In July 2010, Collins, in partnership with former child actor Cory Danziger, launched Funk University ("Funk U"), an online-only bass guitar school in which he also serves as curator and lead professor.
Funk University offers an intense curriculum tailored for intermediate to advanced bass players as well as anyone interested in a deeper understanding of funk. Born on October 26, 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bootsy Collins is one of the greatest bass players of all-time. While continuing to tour and record with Clinton, he launched his solo career in 1976 with Bootsy's Rubber Band. Player of the Year, reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart. Yeah, everybody has come up off of somebody, is a fan of somebody. With this album I wanted to make sure that young people especially knew that, OK, they might be fans of us now, but we were fans of somebody else.
And whom you just saw was a fan of somebody else. So, what you do in that case is you go back and connect the dots so you can be educated, because if you just go with what's happening today like everyone's been programmed to do, then you don't really know the history. Not only do you want to be a great musician, you wanna know the history of where your music came from and all of that. So, you'll be that much ahead of the next drummer, the next bass player, the next guitar player. You'll have something more to offer.
It's not just, "I'm an artist." Take your artistry as many places as you can, especially on an educational tip. That's what we did also on the James Brown tribute. If we can leave out on that one, we'll be good to go.
This is on the same album as well, a tribute to James Brown who brought me into the business. Our biggest one was "Sex Machine." That was the first to get international attention. Most of the sessions were after a show. James was always into not letting us have wild fun and hanging out with girls. As you know, you and the fellas, I just don't know about you cats, man. You're young, you want to get out there, drink a little bit, have a bit of this and that.
But we were known for that and James wasn't down with that. He knew if we got distracted we were gonna miss some of those hits he was doing. So, what he'd do was take his time, then take us to the studio, and in the studio we'd rehearse or record something.
With "Sex Machine" we were on our way to the studio and we were riding a bus, from the gig, and he said , "Bobby, gimme something to write with." He got a brown paper bag, tore the paper bag in half and he started writing. Bootsy, Catfish, come on up here." Man, when I talk like him, it's… man! He said, "Come on up here." We went up in the bus, sat right behind him and Bobby Byrd, and he wrote the lyrics. Get on up, get on up…" That was our thing, so we had to read his body language.
So, it was like being in Japan and you don't know the language. You have to interpret what he's doing, what he's feeling, what he's saying. " "Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it, that's it. That's it, son," , and then I'd fall in with the bass thing. "Yeah, Bootsy, Bootsy, Bootsy, you're killing me, you're killing me!
" So, we started right there, and we'd take that to the studio. Once we got to the studio, we had a good vibe of where we were going. That's pretty much the way we would start it up. Some of the times we would go to the studio and we might be rehearsing on something, and James might hear something and go, "Uhh, right there, right there. Just do that." And then that would become a song. Of course, we've got all the goodies to help us.
But then it was right off the top, and you had to do it until you got it right. It wasn't like you could walk in the studio and bam, there it is. You might come up with the thang, but you have to make it perfect. We all wanted it that way, too, so that was another good point.
There were a lot more instrumentals back then. I heard a guy, Lonnie Mack, I don't know if you ever heard of this guy? Lonnie Mack played guitar and he was like a country-folk-western-funk mesh combo. There was no singing, just him playing guitar, and the style of guitar he played, I just loved it. My brother loved it, and we played all the Lonnie Mack-type records.
Then we had to play all the top stuff on the radio. Later on, we figured out how to play the stuff on the radio, but to us that wasn't fun. For us, what was fun was coming up with stuff that we could play and watch people say, "What the hell is that? " And we got off on that and that kind of lasted on through. It was during this period that Collins "took LSD every day for at least two years, right up until the point I began feeling like I was living in another world." Collins recorded as both a solo artist and with the Rubber Band in the '80s.
In 1988, he returned on Columbia with the appropriately named What's Bootsy Doin'? In 1989, Bootsy was a member of the Bootzilla Orchestra on Malcolm McLaren's album Waltz Dancing. One year later, he became a featured guitarist and bassist with the dance music trio Deee-Lite, signed with 4th and Broadway, and also toured England with a group co-led by Parker and Wesley. Born in Cincinnati, William Earl "Bootsy" Collins started on guitar, inspired by Jimi Hendrix and older brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins.
When the bassist in Catfish's band was a no-show, the younger Collins substituted and stuck with his new instrument. The Collins brothers became the nucleus of the Pacemakers, a unit that also included vocalist Philippe Wynne, later of Spinners fame. The band made the local King Records their adoptive home base and established themselves as a session and live band for label artists such as Hank Ballard, Marva Whitney, and Lyn Collins.
