58 / 68
& % $ ## & % $ !$%
"!
I first saw The Supremes before
Berry Gordy renamed the group to
Diana Ross and the Supremes. Since
then I have had the pleasure of attend-
ing performances by a variety of soul
and jazz artists including Art Blakey,
Dave Brubeck, Jean Carne, Chick
Corea, Isaac Hayes, Grove Holmes, Phyl-
lis Hyman, Ramsey Lewis, Les McCann,
Melba Moore, and Jeffrey Osbourne.
Do you recognize the person in the
photo? While I never attended one of
his live performances, I did see him
dance a few steps. You would be cor-
rect if you identified him as James
Brown, aka Soul Brother Number One
and The Godfather of Soul.
I moved to Atlanta in 1976 and not
too long after that I traveled to Toron-
to on business for a few days. Our
meetings were held at
the Inn on the Park hotel,
no longer in existence, in
the Don Valley area near
the city.
Ten of us were cooped
up in a room all day. We
had dinner together and
continued by adjourning
to the hotel’s night club.
It was early in the evening
and there were few peo-
ple in the club. However,
across the empty dance
floor was a small group of people seat-
ed around a man in a white sequined
jump suit. It was none other than
James Brown.
As a newbie to Atlanta, I felt com-
pelled to say hello given my affinity for
soul and jazz as well as a
regular watcher of a tele-
vision show called Future
Shock, featuring him.
James was spending a lot
of time in Atlanta work-
ing on this show, that
aired on Ted Turner’s first
television station, WTCG,
from 1976 to 1979.
I crossed that dance
floor and without any has-
sles, introduced myself.
He was very cordial and
we talked for no longer than a minute
or two about his show and Atlanta.
Eventually, he took the dance floor
with one of the women in his small
entourage. During one song, we were
treated to a few seconds of his signa-
ture moving feet.
Five years later, I had boarded a
flight in Washington DC returning to
Atlanta at the end of a business trip.
The plane was packed. There were only
two empty seats on the plane to my
left. We were already a half hour
delayed at which point the flight atten-
dant made an announcement that the
flight was being held for the last two
passengers.
Ten minutes later a couple was seat-
ed next to me. When the man took off
his big fur coat and sat down next to
me, I turned to him and said, “Nice to
see you again Mr. Brown. We met in
Toronto a few years ago.” During the
short flight, we had a nice chat and I
got an update on which of his moves
Michael Jackson had adopted.
SOUL AND JAZZ
By: Dan Rosenberg
PAGE 58
www.theconnectionsnj.com 16 Division St., Somerville, NJ 08876 • (908) 450-7474 urbanchaosnj@yahoo.com www.urbanchaosnj.com @urbanchaosnj 20% OFF purchase of $25 or more Expires 5/31/17 Military Discount 15% Off Student Discount 10% Off OPEN 7 DAYS Mon.-Sat. 10am - 9pm Sun. 12pm - 8pm 10% OFF Expires 5/31/17 The Dessert Plate Baked Goods from Scratch 34 E. Main Street, Somerville, NJ 08876 908-722-9881 info@thedessertplate.com www.thedessertplate.com Tue-Fri: 7am-5pm • Sat-Sun: 8am-1pm (closed last Sunday of each month) Monday: Closed Baked goods from scratch, the old fashioned way with real ingredients, butter, flour, sugar, eggs. For celebrations, for special occasions, for new traditions, for any time… Enjoy!Shop Somerville