Bass told Lydon, "I was in Atlanta . . . and I heard a dub . . . it was so different that it knocked me out. A disc jockey and I drove to Macon in a pouring rainstorm. James was out on parole to his manager, a Macon promoter and club owner named Clint Brandly. I was told to meet Brandly by parking my car in front of a barbershop which was across the street from a railroad station, and when the venetian blinds went up and down, to come in."
All of this intrigue was to avoid the potential unpleasantries of a white/black meeting in the Jim Crow Macon of 1956. There was an even greater sense of urgency than normal because Leonard Chess was on his way, but Leonard had to fly from Chicago.
"They had no radar and all that jive they have today, and so he was grounded . . . I gave the cat $200, and that was that."
Bass produced Brown's first hit "Please, Please, Please." "This was a very young James Brown," recalls Bass. "He was so browbeaten with that shit down there . . . he used to call me Mister Ralph . . . I says, Well man, don't call me no Mister Ralph. Either call me Mister Bass or call me Ralph." I'm glad that world is gone - I imagine James is too.
James is also getting jiggy with the jam band set at the Bonnaroo Festival in June. Get up offa that thing.
Article comments
1 - Joe
I had the feeling you had soul and were superbad.