10. James Brown
What’s it like to play with someone of this stature having grown up with their music? Y’know what, man? I’ve been trying to figure that one out! I really have. I don’t even think my words would do it justice to describe what it feels like.
James Brown was so huge at the time. I didn’t even think I was going to get the chance to meet him. We started meeting his band over at King Records and that was big enough for me. That was the biggest thing that I figured would happen; that maybe we’d meet some of the band members. And when that happened, then I was happy. If nothing else had happened, I’d still be great. I met Bobby Byrd, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Clyde Stubblefield, Jabo Starks and those guys would wind up in my band! I can’t explain none of that. It’s mind-boggling!
I can’t say that I felt intimidated when I joined the band. When you’re a kid and you’re coming in off the street you have a cocky attitude, anyway. I wanted to learn so I knew that these were my heroes and I knew that I needed to learn from them. These cats did it for me, so I never thought about discrediting them because those cats gave me something to look at that maybe I could do at some point. And the whole thing was about being in a band; not just James Brown. We were all so tight and so when we got together with James Brown, he just made us better. He made us the best we could be.
