A Conversation with The Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown – HuffPost 9.17.10

Mike Ragogna: Hello, Chuck Brown, you’re doing well?

CB: Yes sir, I’m doing great, I’m happy to be seventy-four. I just had my seventy-fourth birthday, and I’m happy, happy, happy. Everything makes me happy.

MR: Congratulations on your recent birthday.

CB: Thank you, sir. I’m just happy to be living, and still be able to get up on stage, and mover around a little bit, and make a little noise.

MR: (laughs) And you make a little noise on your new album We Got This. It contains a studio CD, a live CD, and a live DVD. So, you get the whole shebang.

CB: Absolutely.

MR: What was the thought behind doing a package as complete as this?

CB: Well, I wanted to give people something more than what they had been getting from us, you know? I thought this was a good idea, my manager thought it was a good idea, and whatever he thinks is fine with me because he’s always on top of it. I realized this was something different, and I don’t think many people have done this before. I feel that it was a good idea. We’ve got studio cuts on there, and we have a live DVD on there, and that’s giving people more than what they had before from us.

MR: It brings everybody up to date on your career because you’ve got familiar material on the live disc in addition to some new fun things. Plus you’ve got all sorts of guests on here too. Was this one live concert or is it an amalgam of several shows?

CB: This is just one live concert. The Jill Scott thing? I’m so happy to have her on my CD, and I’m happy to have Ledisi on my CD. These are the artists that I’ve always admired. I’ve admired Jill Scott ever since she came out with that tune called “Love,” with the go-go groove. I knew then that this young lady had been listening to go-go, and I sure wanted to meet her, man. I had the opportunity to do a couple of shows with her down in Constitution Hall, and I was so honored that she consented to be on my album. It’s also a great honor to have Ledisi on the album. I haven’t done anything with a lady since Eva Cassidy. I did a jazz ballad album with Eva Cassidy way back.

MR: Beautiful. That was your duet album?

CB: That was called The Other Side. Then, I did the next one by myself. I didn’t want to be caught with anybody else after we lost her. My wife named all the albums, by the way, including The Other Side. I came out with another one right after that called Timeless. That’s the one I did by myself.

MR: You are the Godfather of Go-Go, no?

CB: That’s the title they gave me.

MR: Why did they do that?

CB: At first, when I started my band up in ’66, I was going to call myself The Soul Searcher because I was looking for guys that had soul. Then I thought about it and said, “The musicians might think there is a little ego thing involved.” So, I decided to name the whole band The Soul Searchers. Then later on they started calling me Chuck Brown and The Soul Searchers. Then when I created this go-go sound, they called me the Godfather of Go-Go. I didn’t do that, these fans did that.

MR: Most people have heard your playing on quite a few classic records, right?

CB: Yes.

MR: Can you give a little history lesson from The Soul Searchers and on?

CB: Sure. First of all, when I first started playing in different places, I played in people backyards for cookouts and things, and they used to give me food and all the whiskey I wanted to drink. This was back in the day a lot of years ago. People kept advising me to get in a band, so I said, “Okay.” So, then I got a band, and I called it Earls of Rhythm. I stayed with them for about a year and a half, then I got with another band called Los Latinos with guys that I grew up with. A couple of these guys were Latin, but I didn’t know they were Latin because they were just regular playmates to me, you know what I mean? But these guys were great Latin dancers and percussionists and singers.

When I decided to put my own band together in ’66, I decided to take some of that groove with me, and that particular drumbeat came out of a church that used to go to when I was a kid. I decided to take that beat that had a spiritual feel to it and slow it down and lock in some Top 40 with it. I would break it down, do the call and response, and just keep going, going, and going. We didn’t break down to do slow tunes no more, you see? We’d just keep going and going, and that’s why we called it go-go. It’s just another form of funk, that’s all it is.

MR: I remember that you had a pretty popular album in ’86 called Go-Go Swing Live.

CB: Yes. That particular jazz feel that I had there I decided to put in a go-go groove.

MR: That was right before the Eva Cassidy record, right?

CB: Absolutely. When they called on me, I was very happy about that. Her fiancé, Chris Biondo owned a studio and he put a record of her on, and I heard that sweet voice coming out of those speakers and said, “Man, who is that?” and he said, “That’s my artist. She’s going to be out there.” I said, “I would love to do a tune with her.” Because I was inspired by listening to her and it took me back to the days of Louis Armstrong and all those great artists, that’s how we got into it. We just collaborated and decided to put something together and it worked.

MR: What a sweet voice. You know, we’re lucky that she left behind so many recordings. She’s the only obscure, hitless artist that I can think of that became famous posthumously. Jim Croce doesn’t count because he’d had hits.

CB: Yes, and her music is still playing all over everywhere.

MR: What is your take on what’s going on in music right now? One of the songs on your album is called, “Rappaz R. N. Dainja,” and I think, in some respects, they might be.

CB: Well, I don’t know about that. Rappers have been doing good ever since I’ve known them. A lot of Howard University students used to come down to shows, and they became rappers. People like Puff Daddy and Queen Latifah would come down to shows when they were students there, and that was way before rappers came out. In the days before that, of course, it was disco.

There was also jazz and blues, and I love jazz and blues, but when I put that go-go together, it really took off, and I didn’t have any desire to do anymore jazz and blues at that time unless I was putting it in a go-go beat, you know? People didn’t come and sit down anymore. When they had tables and chairs in the places, they would come in with their mink coats on, and their suits and ties, and they didn’t get up until they got a little tipsy. But when that go-go beat hit, they were right on the floor right away. People would even be all over the tables and everything, so they had to take the tables out of places where we played. They came through the door dancing.

MR: Most people don’t realize they’re listening to go-go because it hasn’t been as religiously stereotyped or classified as such.

CB: Like go-go is D.C. culture. You mention D.C. and you think go-go. That’s how we’re identified. Go-go music is going all over the world. It’s still happening, and I’m happy to say that at my age, I can still get on stage and shake the people up a little bit, you know?

MR: We all need to be shaken up. Do you think go-go has contributed in other ways to our culture?

CB: A lot of young guys became musicians when go-go started because they were inspired to get off the street and do something productive, you know? I’m happy to know that go-go music has helped a lot of people. You don’t have to be a great musician to play go-go, you learn as you go. The experience is what it’s about, you see?

MR: What do you have, as far as advice, for young people getting involved in music…maybe go-go…right now?

CB: Well, I think it’s a great thing, you know? Some of them may get into go-go, and some of them won’t play any go-go, but they’ll play jazz or blues or whatever they play. Everybody has their own, original style, and if they’re doing go-go, they do it their way.

MR: Any last thoughts on go-go by The Godfather of Go-Go?

CB: Like I said, you mention go-go, you think D.C. You say D.C., you think of go-go because it’s ours. It was created here, and it caught on in ’76. I tried to start it in ’72 with “We The People,” and then I put out another tune called “Blow Your Whistle” because that’s when all the kids were riding their bicycles and blowing their whistles, you know? A lot of people that came to my show even walked through the door with tambourines. It was a lot of fun, man. It’s been well over thirty years now, but ’76 is when it really caught on. There are even new groups, coming out now, that are taking it to a whole new level.

MR: Chuck, when you look at where music is right now, are you proud?

CB: I’m proud, very proud. I mean, in go-go music, I’m proud. Some of it doesn’t have enough music incorporated with it, but it’s all good as far as I’m concerned. I have no complaints whatsoever–I love what the young groups are doing, and I love what the pioneers are doing.

Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney