Jimmy Nolen
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Jimmy Nolen (April 3, 1934 - December 18 1983) is an American guitarist known for his rhythm guitar playing in James Brown's bands.
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[edit] Pre-James Brown
Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Jimmy “Chank” Nolen took up the guitar at the age of 14, teaching himself on a Harmony Acoustic guitar. Having played the violin since the age of 9, Jimmy already had a sound musical foundation upon which to base his T-Bone Walker-inspired guitar playing. Nolen was “discovered” by Jimmy Wilson, a blues singer that was famous for his 1953 hit “Tin Pan Alley”, in a club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Soon afterward, Wilson offered Nolen a job in his band and he took Nolen back to Los Angles, California to play in the studio band for popular southern California players Monte Easter, who played the trumpet and Chuck Higgins, who played the tenor sax. During this period Nolen also played on his own commercially unsuccessful singles, mostly for the Federal label, a subsidiary of King Records where he both sang and played period inspired blues songs. In 1957 Nolen had begun to play for Johnny Otis, replacing the ailing Pete "Guitar" Lewis and was the principal behind Otis' hit, "Willie And The Hand Jive". He remained in Otis’ band until 1959 when he formed his own group, The Jimmy Nolen Band, performing in small clubs and ballrooms in California and Arizona's "Chittlin Circuit", backing many of the blues greats that passed through California. His principal influnces that inspired his guitar technique were, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and Lowell Fulson. The Jimmy Nolen band was very popular, but never released any records since their primary purpose was to work as a live backup for more famous acts. In the early 1960s he began playing with the backing band for harmonica legend George "Harmonica" Smith. 75.84.177.220 18:15, 10 December 2006 (UTC)'Grayboy' Dan Pollock
[edit] 1965-1970
In 1965 Jimmy Nolen joined the James Brown band at the recommendation of Eldee Williams, one of Jimmy's former sidemen in the Jimmy Nolen Band who had joined Brown while in Nolen's employ. It was at this time that Nolen redefined the roll of the rhythm guitar playing for R&B and what would later become funk. Nolen developed a style of picking called “chicken scratch” where the guitar strings are pressed lightly against the fingerboard and then quickly released just enough to get a muted “scratching” sound that is produced by rapid rhythmic strumming of the opposite hand near the bridge. As a footnote, Jimmy had been experimenting with this unique guitar sound prior to his joining James Brown. It can be heard on an obscure 45RPM single for the Fidelity label, a subsidiary of Art Rupe's Specialty Records called, "Swinging Peter Gunn Theme (Parts 1&2), released in 1960. This new guitar style was augmented not only by Nolen’s choice of two and three note chord voicings of augmented 7th and 9th chords, but also by his use of strumming straight 16th note patterns as in the case of James Brown’s “Papas Got a Brand New Bag”. Nolen’s choice of guitars and amplifiers also affected the sound by which he would become nicknamed. In his first recordings with James Brown, Nolen used a Gibson ES-175 and an ES-5 swichmaster, both hollow body jazz guitars equipped with single coil P-90s. He also relied on a Gibson Les Paul Recording model with single coil pickups, an Acoustic Black Widow, and a Fresher Straighter which were also single coil instruments. The single coil pickups on these guitars produced a thin “chanky” sound; Nolen ran these guitars through a Fender Twin Reverb with the treble set at 8 out of 10. The result of these factors was a rhythm guitar sound that seemed to float somewhere between the low-end thump of the electric bass and the cutting tone of the snare and hi-hats with a rhythmically melodic feel that fell deep in the pocket. A good example of such tone would be in James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “I’ve Got The Feeling”. Nolen remained a staple in James Brown’s band much like the renown alto saxophone player, Maceo Parker, trombonist Fred Wesley and drummers Clyde Stubblefield and John “Jabo” Starks. He played with James from 1965 until 1970, when the entire band quit from a mixture of Brown’s erratic behavior, and a long standing dispute over wages which was only exasperated by Brown’s policy of fining his musicians for any number of actions, or lack thereof. For example Brown would fine musicians for being late to gigs, hitting wrong notes, and in the case of one particular bass player, for getting a haircut that struck Brown as un-funky. Grayboy43 18:41, 10 December 2006 (UTC)'Grayboy' Dan Pollock
[edit] JB Era/Maceo And All The King's Men (1972-1983)
During this time Nolen began to tour with Maceo Parker’s Maceo And All The King’s Men. James replied to this massive jumping of ship by hiring a then juvenile band called the Pacesetters who were based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. This band was composed of the young, but still heavy hitting Bootsy Collins on bass, his brother Phelps “Catfish” Collins on guitar, Robert McCullough on saxophone, Clayton Gunnels on trombone, and Frank Waddy on drums. This new band was named the JB’s and marked a new era for James Brown. Months after this new band was formed Starks and Stubblefield returned, this lineup can be heard on Brown’s album Soul Brother Number One. Despite this band's undeniable talent to play neck breaking funk they were relatively short lived as a unified group. In 1972 Nolen returned to the band and remained until December 18, 1983 when he died of a heart attack in Atlanta Georgia. Despite the fact that Jimmy Nolen defined the guitar style which influenced decades of guitarists and funk groups to follow, including Earth Wind and Fire, Tower of Power, George Clinton, and more, his influence on other forms of contemporary popular music, such as hip-hop are often overlooked. James Brown cuts from 1965-1983, excluding 1970-1972, such as “Papas Got a Brand New Bag”, “I Got You (I Feel Good)”, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”, “Cold Sweat”, “Bring it Up (Hipster’s Avenue)”, “Ain’t it Funky”, “The Funky Drummer (Part 1)” and 2, and “The Boss”, have been sampled and mimicked or further utilized by artists ranging from Nas to Coolio, as well as countless other producers, DJs, and MCs. Eric B, the producer/DJ associated with Rakim Allah’s earlier recordings was known for his use of James Brown samples most often featuring Jimmy Nolen, “Jabo” Starks ,or Clyde Stubblefield. A good example of this would be “Move the Crowd”, in which Eric B. sampled Brown’s “Say it Loud I’m Black and I’m Proud” which was recorded in 1969, and featured the aforementioned lineup sans Starks, or the 1973 “Blind Man Can See it” for Eric B. and Rakim’s “?”. The Bomb Squad, Public Enemy’s production group, is also another name on the lengthy list of producers that have relied heavily on James Brown grooves assisted by Jimmy Nolen’s funky “chicken scratch” guitar, Brown’s 1973 “Make it Good to Yourself” was the part of the foundation on which Public Enemy laid their cut “1 Million Bottlebags”.
[edit] Works Consulted
Larkin, Colin, ed. "Jimmy Nolen." Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. New York: New England Associates, 1992. Klenzle, Rich. Great Guitarists. New York: Facts on File, 1986. 234 Thompson, Dave. Funk. Detroit: Backbeat Books, 2001. 11-14. Pollock, "Grayboy" Dan . "Funky Stuff Jimmy Nolen." Funky Stuff. 19 Nov. 2006 <http://www.funky-stuff.com/Nolen/Index.htm>. Pollock, "Grayboy" Dan . "Funky Stuff Jimmy Nolen." Funky Stuff. 19 Nov. 2006 <http://www.funky-stuff.com/Nolen/Interview.htm>. Prasdad, Anil. "Guitar Player - Fight the Presets." Guitar Player. Jan. 2006. 19 Nov. 2006 <http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=17&storycode=14684>.
