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Clyde Stubblefield

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spanky
Niki
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1 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Clyde Stubblefield Wed Feb 22, 2012 1:09 am

spanky

spanky

Living Legend Tries to Make a Living
 Clyde Stubblefield Drumme10
Aside from musicians, record collectors and D.J.’s, the name Clyde Stubblefield does not make many ears perk up. But no matter who you are, you probably know his drumming.

If you’ve heard Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” or “Fight the Power,” you know his drumming. If you’ve heard LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” or any number of songs by Prince, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A., Run-D.M.C., Sinead O’Connor or even Kenny G., you definitely know his drumming, even though Mr. Stubblefield wasn’t in the studio for the recording of any of them.

That is because he was the featured player on “Funky Drummer,” a 1970 single by James Brown whose 20-second drum solo has become, by most counts, the most sampled of all beats. It’s been used hundreds of times, becoming part of hip-hop’s DNA, and in the late 1980s and early ’90s it was the go-to sample for anyone looking to borrow some of hip-hop’s sass (hence Kenny G.).

Yet Mr. Stubblefield’s name almost fell through the cracks of history. The early rappers almost never gave credit or paid for the sample, and if they did, acknowledgement (and any royalties) went to Brown, who is listed as the songwriter.

“All my life I’ve been wondering about my money,” Mr. Stubblefield, now 67 and still drumming, says with a chuckle.

A new project tries to capture at least some royalties for him. Mr. Stubblefield was interviewed for “Copyright Criminals,” a documentary by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod about the gray areas of music copyright law, and for a special “Funky Drummer Edition” DVD of the film released on Tuesday, Mr. Stubblefield recorded a set of ready-to-sample beats. By filling out a basic licensing form, anyone willing to pay royalties of 15 percent on any commercial sales — and give credit — can borrow the sound of one of the architects of modern percussion.

“There have been faster, and there have been stronger, but Clyde Stubblefield has a marksman’s left hand unlike any drummer in the 20th century,” said Ahmir Thompson, a k a Questlove of the Roots, who was to play “Fight the Power” with him and Public Enemy’s Chuck D. on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on Tuesday. “It is he who defined funk music.”

Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., Mr. Stubblefield was first inspired by the industrial rhythms of the factories and trains around him, and he got his start playing with regional bands. One day in 1965 Brown saw him at a club in Macon, Ga., and hired him on the spot. Through 1971 Mr. Stubblefield was one of Brown’s principal drummers, and on songs like “Cold Sweat” and “Mother Popcorn” he perfected a light-touch style filled with the off-kilter syncopations sometimes called ghost notes.

“His softest notes defined a generation,” Mr. Thompson added.

“We just played what we wanted to play on a song,” Mr. Stubblefield said in a telephone interview last week, referring to himself and his fellow Brown drummer John Starks, better known as Jabo. (Brown died in 2006.) “We just put down what we think it should be. Nobody directs me.”

You might expect Mr. Stubblefield, who has appeared on some of the greatest drum recordings in history, to have gone on to fame, or at least to a lucrative career playing sessions. But for the last 40 years he has happily remained in Madison, Wis., playing gigs there with his own group and, since the early 1990s, playing on the public radio show “Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know?”

Alan Leeds, whose time as Brown’s tour director overlapped with Mr. Stubblefield’s period in the band, remembers him as a gifted but not terribly ambitious musician. “He was a fun guy,” Mr. Leeds said. “But if one guy was going to be late for the sound check, it was Clyde.”

The technology and conventions of sampling — isolating a musical snippet from one recording and reusing it for another — also kept him from greater recognition. “Funky Drummer” didn’t appear on an album until 1986, when it was on “In the Jungle Groove,” a Brown collection that was heavily picked over by the new generation of sampler-producers.

The lack of recognition has bothered Mr. Stubblefield more than the lack of royalties, he said, although that stings too.

“People use my drum patterns on a lot of these songs,” he said. “They never gave me credit, never paid me. It didn’t bug me or disturb me, but I think it’s disrespectful not to pay people for what they use.”

In 2002 Mr. Stubblefield had a tumor in his kidney removed, and now he suffers from end-stage renal disease. He qualifies for Medicare but has no additional health insurance.

The “Funky Drummer Edition” of “Copyright Criminals” includes Mr. Stubblefield’s beats both on vinyl and as electronic files, and in addition to any licensing, he also gets a small royalty from the DVD, said Mr. McLeod, an associate professor of communications at the University of Iowa. As in his days with Brown, Mr. Stubblefield was also paid a fee for the recording session.

“Breaks” albums with ready-made beats are nothing new in hip-hop. By his reckoning, Mr. Stubblefield has done four or five such collections, but not all of those have paid him his royalties either.

“They sent us royalty papers, but no checks,” he said of one such album made for a Japanese company.

For Mr. Stubblefield, lack of credit is not only an issue with D.J.’s and producers sampling his beats. It was also a bone of contention with Brown, who was famous for running a tight ship — he fined his musicians for missing a beat or having scuffed shoes — and also for not giving his musicians more credit.

“A lot of people should have gotten a lot of credit from James Brown,” Mr. Stubblefield said, “but he only talked about himself. He may call your name on a song or something, but that’s it.”

This raises the question of whether Mr. Stubblefield is himself violating any of Brown’s copyrights by recording beats in the style of those original recordings in Brown’s band. Mr. McLeod dismissed that suggestion, saying that the beats are not identical, and that the original copyright registration forms for Brown’s songs mention melody and lyrics but not rhythm.

And besides, Mr. McLeod added, what you’re getting is simply a great drummer doing his thing.

“This differs from buying a sample pack for GarageBand,” he said, referring to Apple’s home-recording program, “because you know that what you are listening to and what you are sampling is the genius labor of this incredible musician. It’s Clyde Stubblefield.”

2 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:29 am

D. Slam

D. Slam

I'll tell you, as simple as those beats may
look and sound, they played a major and
pivotal role in the James Brown sound and
was one of the elements that was a main-
stay in his success.

It's not so much how hard or simple a
pattern is but rather the FEELING you can
pull out of it. This is the attribute that gave
Clyde, Jabbo, and Melvin (Parker) the GREAT,
r&b, funky drumming status they deserve so
very much. It was all about the feel and the
groove.

Understand that these guys came up around
the same time and performed during the same
era as the Funk Brothers. Actually, even before
because James Brown is the father of funk and
these were his staple guys and co creators of
that sound.

For me, now when I hear Mr. Stubblefield playing
grooves like in the above clip it brings it all
back and puts things in a very real and genuine
perspective. By drumming comparison it's like
getting a fine hand made chair from a master
craftsman as opposed to a nice factory built piece
made by a computer controlled machine.

You realize that they're both cool but you quickly
learn that with one there's really no comparison,
that when you sit down in the fine hand built chair
from the true craftsman, it's like sitting in no other.

It's an experience all it's own and though the other
chair is a pleasant temporary departure, that hand
crafted chair is home.... And there's NO place like it.

Clyde is a true, drumming, master craftsman.

3 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:22 am

Niki

Niki

very well put, Don!

http://myspace.com/nikidolp

4 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:04 pm

spanky

spanky

Do you all think that Clyde should get compensated for his contributions, I mean James would just take all the credit. When in fact from Bootsy to Clyde and other musicians, use to come up with a lot of the Grooves that Brown would put out. Brown would in a rehearsal and here the band playing a groove and say hold that groove right there and he would add words to it and the next thing you know it was a record. Just like Cold Sweat wasn't a groove that he came up with and many others. So many musicians have been duped out of money. Like the 50's and 60's groups that are still living most of them can't collect a penny.

5 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:59 am

Asaph

Asaph

I was never into funk, never into James Brown and all, so Clyde and Jabo and Co., were not perceived as having much to do with my own playing. But when you hear Lenny, and Billy, and Alphonse you realize the foundation and you cannot escape it. Incredible, really. There may ultimately be more of Clyde in my own drumming than Rich, or Baker or Palmer, (other perceived major influences). Mind-blowing.

http://drumsinhisheart.weebly.com

6 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:06 pm

Asaph

Asaph

Should Clyde be compensated? From a moral standpoint, sure. Hard to say, really, business and legality being what it is.

Is there a father of the dotted eighth note in jazz? Clyde may have to go to the end of his sojourn on earth with nothing but the knowledge he had as much influence on the art of drumming as any other player in history. Doesn't pay medical bills, I know. Not much is fair in this life.

http://drumsinhisheart.weebly.com

7 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:19 pm

D. Slam

D. Slam

Asaph,

Just out of curiosity... In observing your posts
I've been noticing that you have on several
occasions made mention of what players and
music you're NOT into. Just what are your musical
roots? What and who do you like to listen to today?

8 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:11 pm

Asaph

Asaph

Well, you can see by those I have mentioned as influences what I listen to, used to, continue to, whatever. Buddy and his bands. Used to be into Cream, Blind Faith, Airforce - Baker stuff. ELP and Yes and Renaissance and a lot of that prog back in the day. Then revisiting MO, RTF, JLP, Weather Report, Passport and the 70s fusion stuff, which I currently listen to a lot. Things by Tony's groups. Other things Chick has done. Vibes players. Stick players. Mostly all instrumental music.

I don't purchase music like I used to. Recently I purchased a bunch of Billy's CDs to listen to on trip I just took. That was interesting. I liked Palindrome quite a bit. But I still like Spectrum the best, I think.

After that it gets pretty eclectic. Classical, Celtic, New Age synth stuff, Traditional and contemporary Christian things, Gaither and Southern Gospel stuff. All kinds of things, really.

I'd really have top say my "roots" really begin with the Beatles, Monkees, Dave Clark 5, etc. Then came Cream. Then Came ELP. Then came MO. Then I became a Christian and life took totally new avenues - hymnody and all that. Now, back to some 70s fusion which remains the music that impresses me the most, though I hear newer things that are good, too. I'd like to get Dennis' CDs. I've heard his stuff on my Pandora channel. That's where I heard Garaj Mahal. Other groups, too.

http://drumsinhisheart.weebly.com

9 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:29 pm

rarebit



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncvBBjb3iU4

To call his playing 'in the pocket' is not enough.

10 Clyde Stubblefield Empty Re: Clyde Stubblefield Sun Feb 26, 2012 2:42 pm

Daveonskins

Daveonskins

This DVD is Great--Check it out if you haven't already

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iM7ZAg7Xm0

Sponsored content



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