While King Records started with white country and western acts, Syd Nathan embraced what author Peter Guralnick called “musically integrationist policies” and wasted no time adding Black rhythm and blues-based acts to his roster. This was in keeping with Nathan’s progressive views on race: King Records was a quietly non-segregated company, with white and Black staff working together equally throughout the organization.
Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, the company released not only country and rhythm and blues records, but also bluegrass and western swing, blues, jazz, gospel and pop. Many of these artists and the music they recorded for King would influence and change the course of American popular music, including The Delmore Brothers, Homer and Jethro, Ohioan Cowboy Copas, Moon Mullican, Tiny Bradshaw, Little Willie John, Wynonie Harris, The “5” Royales, Billy Ward and The Dominos, Freddie King, and Hank Ballard and The Midnighters.
And then there was James Brown.
In January of 1956, James Brown and his vocal group The Famous Flames signed to Federal Records, a subsidiary of King set up in 1950 to release mainly rhythm and blues records. In February the group entered King’s studio on Brewster Avenue for their first recording session. However, the mood soured as Syd Nathan loudly and profanely made it clear that he hated the first song, titled “Please, Please, Please.” He only allowed it to be recorded after an angry argument with producer Ralph Bass. The song went on to be a hit when it was released in March, but Nathan remained unconvinced of Brown’s potential. It wasn’t until 1958 when Brown had his next hit with the ballad “Try Me” that he would begin to earn Nathan’s respect. From that, the two men would go on to forge a deep friendship, despite an increasingly frustrating and bitter business relationship.
In the 1950s, most of Brown’s songs stayed within the musical framework of the era’s R&B sound. But slowly, his musical vision came into sharper focus. His 1960 hit “Think” is a good example of this. Setting aside the more relaxed sound of the original version by his label mates, the “5” Royales, Brown revved the song up with a propulsive and insistent beat, driven by hard-hitting drums and punctuated by wild saxophone. His arrangement was basically the start of his deconstruction of 1950s R&B, taking the essential pieces and hardening them into a radically different sound. The sound of James Brown.
James Brown’s star was ascendant from 1958 onwards, pushed by a relentless touring and recording schedule. From 1958 to 1967, over fifty singles would be released under his name, most of them on the King label, and fifteen albums, including the legendary 1963 album The James Brown Show Live at The Apollo. Emerging as a star at the same time that soul music, a rich melding of blues, rhythm and blues and gospel, became the dominant sound of Black America, James Brown was an undeniable force in the genre, with his innovative music and exciting live performances leading the way.
In the mid-1960s, Brown released a series of singles that proved he was an explosive and exciting musical visionary, an artist determined to push beyond boundaries. They would establish the template for James Brown’s changing musical style, which placed the overall rhythm of the song over melody or chord changes. The first of these, “Out of Sight,” released in 1964, was a bold declarative musical statement of Brown’s intentions. This was music born in part from his live performances, where the band would “vamp” on a chord, holding a pattern as Brown worked his patented dance moves across the stage. “Out of Sight” introduced this bold new sound, bringing the “vamp” to the radio. This sound would soon have a name of its own. But for now, it was simply James Brown music. “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” and “I Feel Good (I Got You),” both released in 1965, became his biggest hits yet and arguably remain the songs most identified with him. Again, they are striking examples of Brown’s restless musical vision: they intensified the sound heard on “Out of Sight,” “Brand New Bag,” in particular.