The J.B.'s (sometimes punctuated The JB's or The J.B.s) was the name of

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...

's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., Fred Wesley and the New JBs, The First Family, and The Last Word. In addition to backing Brown, the J.B.'s played behind

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader and talent scout, who played an integral and important part in the development ...

Lyn Collins Gloria Lavern Collins (June 12, 1948 – March 13, 2005), better known as Lyn Collins, was an American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s and for the influential 1972 funk single, " Think (About It)". A favorite ...

, and other singers associated with the James Brown Revue, and performed and recorded as a self-contained group. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

but failed to be inducted and can be considered for Musical Excellence in the future. They have been eligible since 1995.

Career

The "original" J.B.'s

The J.B.'s were formed in March 1970 after most of the members of Brown's previous band walked out on him over a pay dispute. (Brown's previous bands of the 1950s and 1960s had been known as The James Brown Band and The James Brown Orchestra.) The J.B.'s initial lineup included bassist

William "Bootsy" Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading na ...

and his brother, guitarist

Phelps "Catfish" Collins Phelps "Catfish" Collins (October 17, 1943 – August 6, 2010) was an American musician. A lead guitarist and rhythm guitarist, he is known mostly for his work in the P-Funk collective. Although frequently overshadowed by his younger brother, ...

, formerly of the obscure

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

band The Pacemakers;

(founder of the original Famous Flames singing group) (organ), and

John "Jabo" Starks John Henry "Jabo" Starks (; October 26, 1937Sources vary as to his year of birth. According to his obituary, published by Mobile Register, Starks was born on October 26, 1937; The New York Times gives 1938 – May 1, 2018), sometimes spelled Jab' ...

(drums), both holdovers from Brown's 1960s band; three inexperienced horn players, Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells, Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison, and Robert McCollough; and

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

player Johnny Griggs. This version of the J.B.'s played on some of Brown's most intense

recordings, including "

Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" is a song recorded by James Brown with Bobby Byrd on backing vocals. Released as a two-part single in 1970, it was a no. 2 R&B hit and reached no. 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2004, "Sex Machi ...

", " Super Bad", " Soul Power", and " Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing". They also accompanied Brown on a European tour (during which they recorded the long-delayed

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

'' Love Power Peace''), performed on the ''

Sex Machine A sex machine is a mechanical device used to simulate human sexual intercourse or other sexual activity.Leung, Isaac (2009). The Cultural Production of Sex Machines and the Contemporary Technosexual Practices. In Grenzfurthner, J. et al., eds. ...

'' double LP, and released two

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, the much-

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

The Grunt "The Grunt" is a funk instrumental recorded in 1970 by James Brown's band The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single on King. It was one of only two instrumental singles recorded by the original J.B.'s lineup with Bootsy and Catfish Collin ...

" and "These Are the J.B.'s".

Later configurations

In December 1970,

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

Fred Wesley Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band lead ...

rejoined James Brown's organization to lead the J.B.'s. Other former Brown sidemen, including

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many o ...

and

St. Clair Pinckney St. Clair Pinckney (September 17, 1930 – February 1, 1999) was an American saxophonist who performed with James Brown as a member of the James Brown Orchestra and The J.B.'s. He played tenor and baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a ...

, eventually followed his lead, while the Collins brothers and most of the rest of the "original" J.B.'s left Brown to join George Clinton's

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive ...

collective. Wesley and Parker left in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. Brown continued to bill his backing band as the J.B.'s into the mid-1980s, when he changed their name to the Soul Generals, or Soul G's.

Recordings

In addition to backing Brown on stage and on record during this era, the J.B.'s also recorded

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

s and

on their own, sometimes with Brown performing on

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

. Their albums were generally a mixture of heavy funk tracks and some more

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

-oriented pieces. Nearly all of the J.B.'s recordings were produced by Brown, and most were released on his own label, People Records. The band scored a number of chart hits in the early 1970s, including " Pass the Peas", "

Gimme Some More "Gimme Some More" is a song by American rapper Busta Rhymes, released on October 26, 1998 by Elektra Records. The single serves as the lead single released from his third solo album '' E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front'' (199 ...

", and the #1 R&B hit, "

Doing It to Death "Doing It to Death", also known as "Gonna Have a Funky Good Time", is a funk song recorded by The J.B.'s featuring James Brown. A 10-minute, two-part version of "Doing It to Death" was included on a J.B.'s album of the same name. The complete ...

". Credited to "Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s", "Doing It to Death" sold over one million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

in July 1973. Some of the J.B.'s releases have unusual characteristics. The 1974 album ''Breakin' Bread'' is unique, in that most of the songs have a Fred Wesley spoken reminiscence dubbed onto the beginning of the song, each time over a canned backing track. It is in sharp contrast to James Brown's real-time dominance of the proceedings on the classic ''Doing It to Death'' LP. A similar oddity is encountered on the other 1974 album, ''Damn Right I Am Somebody'', where 20-second extensions of that album's track-2 jam (each including James Brown's trademark shriek) have been spliced onto the beginnings of most of the other songs. Under the name A.A.B.B., the group released a single, "Pick up the Pieces One by One", which reached #108 on the U.S. chart in 1975.

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...

, ''Top Pop Singles 1955-2008''. Record Research, 2009, p. 19. Both the song and the name—which stood for "Above Average Black Band"—were a tribute to and tongue-in-cheek reply to the then-popular Scottish funk group, the

Average White Band The Average White Band (also known as AWB) are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track " Pick Up the Pieces", and their album ...

(Also known as AWB) and its #1 hit single, "Pick Up the Pieces". The J.B.'s final single for Brown's People label, 1976's "Everybody Wanna Get Funky One More Time", features a rare hornless arrangement. As funk music gave way in popularity to

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

in the 1970s, the group's material and arrangements changed accordingly, but their chart success declined along with Brown's own. Like most of James Brown's music, the recorded output of the J.B.'s has been heavily mined for samples by hip hop

DJs A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

and record producers.

The JB Horns

During the 1980s and 1990s, Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley intermittently toured under the name The JB Horns, sometimes with other former Brown sidemen such as Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis in tow. The JB Horns recorded several albums for the

Gramavision Gramavision Records is an American record label founded in 1979. Since 1994 it has been a subsidiary of Rykodisc. The label's music is largely jazz, blues and folk oriented but has touched on many other styles and genres. In 1979, Jonathan F.P. ...

label which were later

reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or Single (music), single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New aud ...

d by

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

. They also recorded an album under this name with producer

Richard Mazda Richard Mazda (born 5 May 1955) is a record producer, writer, musician, actor and director. Music career Mazda was one of the co-founders of Poole punk/mod band Tours, singing and playing lead guitar. They signed to Virgin Records in 1979 afte ...

called ''I Like It Like That''. The JB Horns are also associated with

The Horny Horns The Horny Horns were a horn section associated with Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band led by trombonist Fred Wesley. The group also featured saxophonist Maceo Parker and Rick Gardner and Richard "Kush" Griffith on trumpets. While ...

, staple members of

P-Funk Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive f ...

and

Bootsy's Rubber Band A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

, which was led by Fred Wesley and included Maceo, as well as Rick Gardner and Richard "Kush" Griffith on trumpets.

Reunion

A version of the J.B.'s including Fred Wesley, Bootsy Collins, Pee Wee Ellis, Bobby Byrd, and

Clyde Stubblefield Clyde Austin Stubblefield (April 18, 1943 – February 18, 2017) was an American drummer best known for his work with James Brown. A self-taught musician, he was influenced by the sound of natural rhythms around him. His drum patterns on Brown's ...

assembled to record the 1999 "reunion" album ''Bring the Funk on Down'', dedicated to the memory of St. Clair Pinckney. The album was released in Japan by

P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

, and in 2002 it was reissued in the U.S. by Instinct Records. A reunion of the original J.B.'s rhythm section, with Bootsy and Phelps Collins, Clyde Stubblefield, and Jabo Starks, and supplemented by

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Rol ...

, recorded the ''

Superbad ''Superbad'' is a 2007 American coming-of-age teen buddy comedy film directed by Greg Mottola and produced by Judd Apatow. The film stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as Seth and Evan, two teenagers about to graduate from high school. Before grad ...

movie soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

. They went on to perform the first tribute concert remembering James Brown.

Discography

Albums

* ''These Are The JB's'' (1970 – released in 2014) * ''Food For Thought'' (1972) * ''

'' (1973) * ''Damn Right I Am Somebody'' (1974) – as "Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s" * ''Breakin' Bread'' (1974) – as "Fred & the New J.B.'s" * ''Hustle with Speed'' (1975) * ''Jam II Disco Fever'' (1978) * ''Groove Machine'' (1979) * ''Bring the Funk On Down'' (1999) * ''The Lost Album'' (2011) – credited to "The J.B.'s with Fred Wesley"

as The JB Horns

* ''Pee Wee, Fred and Maceo'' (1989) * ''Funky Good Time / Live'' (1993) * ''I Like It Like That'' (1994) * Blue Moon Rising, Walter “Wolfman” Washington (feat. JB Horns) (1995)

Singles

*1970 **"

, Pt 1" / "Pt2" **"These Are the J.B.'s, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" *1971 **"My Brother, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" **"

" / "The Rabbit Got The Gun" *1972 **" Pass the Peas" / "Hot Pants Road" **"Givin' Up Food For Funk, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" **" Back Stabbers" / "J.B. Shout" *1973 **" Watermelon Man" / "

Alone Again (Naturally) "Alone Again (Naturally)" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. It was recorded in 1972 at the same time as his album '' Back to Front'' and was a worldwide hit. The single spent six non-consecutive weeks at number one on ''B ...

" **"Sportin' Life" / "Dirty Harri" **"

" / "Everybody Got Soul" **"You Can Have Watergate" / "If You Don't Get It The First Time..." **"Same Beat, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" *1974 **"Damn Right I Am Somebody, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" **"Rockin' Funky Watergate, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" **"Little Boy Black" / "Rockin' Funky Watergate" **"Breakin' Bread" / "Funky Music is My Style" *1975 **"Makin' Love" / "Rice 'n' Ribs" **"(It's Not the Express) It's the J.B.'s Monaurail, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" **"Thank You for Lettin' Me Be Myself and You Be Yours Pt 1" / "Pt 2" **"C.O.L.D." (A.A.B.B.) *1976 **"All Aboard The Soul Funky Train" / "Thank You for Lettin'... Pt 1" **"Everybody Wanna Get Funky One More Time, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" *1977 **"Music For The People" / "Crossover" – as the J.B.'s International **"Nature, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" – as the J.B.'s International *1978 **"Disco Fever, Pt 1" / "Pt 2" – as the J.B.'s International

CD compilations

*''Funky Good Time: The Anthology'' (2 CD) (1995) *''Food for Funk'' (1997) *''Pass the Peas: The Best of the J.B.'s'' (2000)

References

External links

* Allmusic page on the J.B.'s {{DEFAULTSORT:J.B.'s, The James Brown Soul musicians American funk musical groups Musical groups established in 1970 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 1970 establishments in Ohio 2006 disestablishments in Ohio