On April 18th, 1943, one of the funkiest drummers to come out of James Brown’s band, Hip Hop innovator, jazz-trained percussionist, and the man that’s been imitated & sampled by every known genre since 1960: Clyde (Austin) Stubblefield was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. TOV covered the artist’s death in the February 18th post. Please refer to it for more information. Mr. Stubblefield is most known for his drum break on the James Brown song The Funky Drummer. James says: "When I count to four, I want everyone to lay out and let the drummer go….it’s in my shirt-bout to work me to death! 1-2-3-4- hit it!"...If you’re unfamiliar with the break, play the YouTube video at 5:00 and let it run.
A few of the most notable classics that have sampled this break include: Public Enemy’s Fight The Power & Rebel Without A Pause, Dr. Dre-Let Me Ride, Mos Def-Mathematics, N.W.A.-Fuck Tha Police, RUN DMC-Run’s House, Ultramagnetic MCs-Give The Drummer Some, B.D.P.-South Bronx, Digable Planets-Where I’m From, LL Cool J-Boomin’ System, Common & Sadat X's One-Nine-Nine-Nine, De La Soul-The Magic Number, Sweet Tee-It’s My Beat, and Stetsasonic-Sally. Funky Drummer has been sampled over 1000 times! That’s a lot of unpaid gigs for a drummer that essentially played for about 20 seconds…Ponder that for a moment…this man made a drum break so dope, that it served as the backbone for over 1000 other songs. That's truly a marvelous feat, much like his playing. His musical legacy continues to grow as other newcomers go back to that staple break. Just goes to show, when something is that funky, it’s timeless. Mr. Stubblefield was 73 when he passed way.
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On April 18th, 1996, we lost Disco & Funk pioneer, 80's New Wave Music innovator, the man that laid the ‘bottom’ for Sister Sledge, bassist, and co-founding member of The Big Apple Band (featuring Luther Vandross on backing vocals), Chic, and Power Station-Bernard Edwards. TOV covered this artist’s birthday in the October 31st post. Please refer to it for more information. Edwards is unique in that his basslines usually defined the tracks he played on. During the early 1970's, he worked with Nile Rodgers in The Big Apple Band. Later he & Rodgers linked with drummer Tony Thompson, and formed Chic (featuring Norma Jean Wright on vocals). In fact, one of Edwards' most recognizable basslines can be heard on Chic's Good Times.
The same bottom was used for The Sugarhill Gang’s Rappers Delight and Another One Bites The Dust by Queen. Pioneering hip hop Dee Jays Grandmaster Flash and Jazzy Jay often spun doubles of the intro, while MCs rhymed over it. Edwards also produced for Diana Ross, Fonzi Thornton, and Debbie Harry. Once disco was on its way out, he helped form the New Wave band Power Station-featuring Robert Palmer on vocals, John Taylor & Andy Taylor (of Duran Duran), and Chic drummer Tony Thompson. They were extremely successful during the 80's. He also worked with Palmer after he went solo. Edwards is one of the few bassists able inspire musicians worldwide outside of the genre he helped shape. Bernard Edwards was 43 when he passed.
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Speaking of tight funk bassists that have passed on, this next artist comes from the P-Funk Camp. On April 18th, 2013, co-founder of United Soul (with Gary Shider) and New Brunswick/Plainfield, New Jersey funk innovator-Cordell 'Boogie' Mosson (Cardell Mosson) passed away from complications with his liver. TOV covered this artist’s birthday in the October 16th post. Please refer to it for more information. Mosson met Gary Shider when they were kids, and the two would jam often together in the Plainfield area. George Clinton and The Parliaments were still honing their chops at the time (early 1960's) also. Around the time that Clinton & his band got their break, and headed out on the road, Mosson & Shider moved to Canada to avoid being drafted into The Vietnam war (which was enlisting huge numbers of rural and inner-city youth). While there, they formed United Soul (simply known as U.S.). Clinton heard some of their stuff and linked them up with his backing band Funkadelic.
In 1971 they released the Clinton-produced I Miss My Baby b/w Baby I Owe You Something Good on Westbound Records (Funkadelic’s label), under the name U.S. Music with Funkadelic. Clinton quickly asked them to join the Parliament-Funkadelic Movement, and recorded a couple of the songs they’d made with United Soul on Funkadelic’s 1972 LP America Eats Its Young. Mosson acted as a double on bass with Bootsy Collins until Bootsy went solo in the mid 1970's. After this Mosson became the primary bassist for the majority of hits released from 1975 up to the early 1980's, when Clinton was forced to dissolve the group (due to legal battles and internal strife). Mosson stayed with Clinton up to his death however. This Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Inductee was 60 when he passed.
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HONORABLE MENTION: On April 18th, 1904, comedian, recording artist, sketch comedy innovator, and rap pioneer (David) Pigmeat Markham was born in Durham, NC. He’s the man that brought us the rhythmic spoken word intro on his single Here Come The Judge! (later made famous by Flip Wilson). He’s from the post-Great Depression school of comedy that featured Redd Foxx, Moms Mabley, and his partner in laughs-Skillet. Pigmeat, Skillet, and Moms Mabley would appear regularly on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In, on NBC (pre-SNL). He was 77 when he passed away.
On April 18th, 1938, an unsung jazz musician, pianist, educator, bandleader, composer, arranger, sideman, author and Jazz Educators Journal writer-Hal Galper was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Galper is a classically trained pianist turned jazz musician that worked with such notables as: Stan Getz, Joe Williams, Cannonball Adderley, Anita O’Day and Chet Baker. He remained a member of the Phil Woods Qunitet from 1980 to 1990 and began his career as a bandleader shortly after (1990). He’s been an active primary, secondary and college educator in jazz music and has written for several publications. He’s 81 today.
On April 18th, in 2013, we lost a seminal rock documentarian, video director and LP cover designer (graphic designer)-Storm (Elvin) Thorgerson. If you’ve never heard of him, he’s the man that was great friends with Roger Waters and David Gilmour (was best man in his wedding) of Pink Floyd. He also designed several on their LP covers including their biggest seller-Dark Side of the Moon. He was considered a graphic genius and designed 100s of covers for other notable artists like: Genesis, the Alan Parsons Project, Robert Plant, Al Stewart, AC/DC, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Megadeath, Bad Company, Paul McCartney, Def Leppard, ELO and Yes. He was 69 when he passed.
On April 18th, in 2013, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame hosted its 29th annual induction ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. This year’s class featured the pro-Black politically driven hip hop group-Public Enemy. Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Terminator X and the S1Ws (Security of the 1st World). They became the 4th hip hop act to receive the honor, preceeded by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5, Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. Other inductees included the seminal multi-genre producer-Quincy Jones, the groundbreaking female led rock group-Heart, Rush, pop/disco diva-Donna Summer, pop vocalist Randy Newman and one of the 3 Kings of the blues guitar-Albert King (other Kings include: Freddie & B.B. King)
For more information on any musician or event reviewed in posts, or for additional information on The Wandering Eyes Blog overall, use the search bar and search the artist or event using keywords. It’s like a Google search for the site. A myriad of information, covering several topics exists on this site going back to 2013 when it was created. PEACE