Former Falconer Resident Recalls Recording With ‘Godfather Of Soul’
By NICHOLAS L. DEAN
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12/29/2006 - Nearly four decades after recording with the ‘‘Godfather of Soul,’’ Frank Vincent recalls being James Brown’s jazz man with much pride and appreciation.
In addition to playing piano on two studio albums in the late 60s, the Falconer native toured as part of Brown’s backing band and has nothing but positive memories of working with the late entertainer.
‘‘He was a great gentleman,’’ Vincent said Thursday from his home in Cincinnati. ‘‘He was a lot of fun to be around and he took good care of us.’’
Introduced to jazz music in Jamestown, Vincent took up playing the accordion in high school and moved to Cincinnati with his band shortly after graduating in 1955.
‘‘I was interested in the music and always hung around the Fairmount Grill to listen to the local jazz guys play. I was always fascinated with it,’’ Vincent said. ’’One of those guys was a drummer and he got a little group together and was going out on the road, so I went with him. We played around New York state and I never really did come back after that. One thing led to another and I ended up in Cincinnati.’’
Upon arriving in Ohio’s ‘‘Queen City,’’ the band broke up and Vincent found himself in the company of Dee Felice — a drummer with whom Vincent spent much of his career.
Without a place to live at first, Vincent stayed with Felice and was encouraged to pursue piano as an instrument by Felice’s mother.
After four years studying at the city’s Conservatory of Music and several additional years of practice, Vincent’s dues were paid. By 1970 the pianist was accompanying singers such as Mark Murphy and Mel Torme, touring widely as part of Dee Felice’s Mixed Feelings and appearing on television with James Brown.
Assessing Vincent’s career in a 1982 article, Cliff Radel, a music critic for The Cincinnati Enquirer, wrote that Vincent had become ‘‘the creme de la creme of the city’s jazz piano players’’ and argued that he was better than a lot of the top players in both New York City and Los Angeles.
In the end, Radel wrote, all roads for Frank Vincent led back to Cincinnati.
‘‘Our trio was playing at a restaurant in Cincinnati when we met James Brown for the first time,’’ Vincent said. ‘‘Of course, it made sense. King Records was based here and this is where he did all his recording.’’
Releasing multiple albums each year throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Brown became known as the ‘‘Hardest Working Man In Show Business.’’ Moving from fairly straightforward gospel-inspired R&B compositions to the innovative funk he is best known for, Brown became a massive success in 1965 with hits like ‘‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’’ and ‘‘I Got You (I Feel Good.’’
By the late 60s, Brown began to show an interest in pursuing different sounds. With Frank Vincent and the Dee Felice Trio, Brown recorded ‘‘Gettin’ Down To It’’ in 1969 for Polydor and ‘‘Soul On Top’’ in 1970 for Verve. Noted as a deviation in many accounts of Brown’s recorded history, ‘‘Gettin Down To It’’ featured standards such as ‘‘Strangers in the Night,’’ ‘‘It Had To Be You’’ and ‘‘That’s Life.’’ Allmusic.com compares Brown’s style at this time to Frank Sinatra and stresses that the album is not strictly mellow.
‘‘The only thing I can surmise is that he wanted to branch out and do some other types of music,’’ Vincent said of Brown’s foray into jazz and classic standards. ‘‘A lot of rock stars have tried it, tried going into the standard repertoire. Neil Diamond just recently did it. Rod Stewart did it. Linda Ronstadt did it. So, that’s what his thinking was. He wanted to record some of the standards.’’
While ‘‘Gettin’ Down To It’’ was recorded at King Studios in Cincinnati between December 1968 and March 1969, Brown and the band went to California to record the follow-up, ‘‘Soul On Top,’’ in late 1969. Though closer to his familiar funk sound, ‘‘Soul On Top’’ is an ‘‘intriguing detour into jazz-minded big-band territory’’ according to Allmusic.com
‘‘We did some traveling with him after that and appeared on the Mike Douglas Show, the Steve Allen Show, The Merv Griffin Show and a number of those talk shows which were on during that period,’’ Vincent said. ‘‘We traveled with him to do just those shows and we didn’t do too many, but it was fun and he was a wonderful gentleman. He was very much a gentleman with us . Over the period of a year or two we played those shows and in between we would go back to Cincinnati to work. Then his agency would call and tell us to meet him in whatever town the show was going to be in. He still his rock band at that time and they were out touring all the time.’’
Mentioning many names, cities and venues, Vincent reflected on a career which includes many stars in addition to James Brown — who died Monday at the age of 73.
‘‘We were lucky and we played with some nice people,’’ Vincent said. ‘‘A lot of years have gone by and I’ve remained friends with local musicians from Jamestown like Stu Sneider. I used to watch his quintet at the Fairmount Grill and the Max Davis Trio at the Hotel Jamestown. Stu is still living and he was probably one of the first bands that I went to hear at the Fairmount Grill. A lot of years have gone by since then and I’ve been very fortunate as far as the people I’ve met and the places that music has taken me. I really do consider myself very fortunate in that respect.
Self-described as semi-retired, Vincent still performs two nights each week at The Celestial in Cincinnati. Providing pictures for this story, Vincent’s sister Sylvia, who lives in Bemus Point with her husband Craig Fuller, said one of her favorite artifacts from the period is an autographed inscribed by Brown with the words — ‘‘Sylvia, your bro is too much.’’
In addition to playing piano on two studio albums in the late 60s, the Falconer native toured as part of Brown’s backing band and has nothing but positive memories of working with the late entertainer.
‘‘He was a great gentleman,’’ Vincent said Thursday from his home in Cincinnati. ‘‘He was a lot of fun to be around and he took good care of us.’’
Introduced to jazz music in Jamestown, Vincent took up playing the accordion in high school and moved to Cincinnati with his band shortly after graduating in 1955.
‘‘I was interested in the music and always hung around the Fairmount Grill to listen to the local jazz guys play. I was always fascinated with it,’’ Vincent said. ’’One of those guys was a drummer and he got a little group together and was going out on the road, so I went with him. We played around New York state and I never really did come back after that. One thing led to another and I ended up in Cincinnati.’’
Upon arriving in Ohio’s ‘‘Queen City,’’ the band broke up and Vincent found himself in the company of Dee Felice — a drummer with whom Vincent spent much of his career.
Without a place to live at first, Vincent stayed with Felice and was encouraged to pursue piano as an instrument by Felice’s mother.
After four years studying at the city’s Conservatory of Music and several additional years of practice, Vincent’s dues were paid. By 1970 the pianist was accompanying singers such as Mark Murphy and Mel Torme, touring widely as part of Dee Felice’s Mixed Feelings and appearing on television with James Brown.
Assessing Vincent’s career in a 1982 article, Cliff Radel, a music critic for The Cincinnati Enquirer, wrote that Vincent had become ‘‘the creme de la creme of the city’s jazz piano players’’ and argued that he was better than a lot of the top players in both New York City and Los Angeles.
In the end, Radel wrote, all roads for Frank Vincent led back to Cincinnati.
‘‘Our trio was playing at a restaurant in Cincinnati when we met James Brown for the first time,’’ Vincent said. ‘‘Of course, it made sense. King Records was based here and this is where he did all his recording.’’
Releasing multiple albums each year throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Brown became known as the ‘‘Hardest Working Man In Show Business.’’ Moving from fairly straightforward gospel-inspired R&B compositions to the innovative funk he is best known for, Brown became a massive success in 1965 with hits like ‘‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’’ and ‘‘I Got You (I Feel Good.’’
By the late 60s, Brown began to show an interest in pursuing different sounds. With Frank Vincent and the Dee Felice Trio, Brown recorded ‘‘Gettin’ Down To It’’ in 1969 for Polydor and ‘‘Soul On Top’’ in 1970 for Verve. Noted as a deviation in many accounts of Brown’s recorded history, ‘‘Gettin Down To It’’ featured standards such as ‘‘Strangers in the Night,’’ ‘‘It Had To Be You’’ and ‘‘That’s Life.’’ Allmusic.com compares Brown’s style at this time to Frank Sinatra and stresses that the album is not strictly mellow.
‘‘The only thing I can surmise is that he wanted to branch out and do some other types of music,’’ Vincent said of Brown’s foray into jazz and classic standards. ‘‘A lot of rock stars have tried it, tried going into the standard repertoire. Neil Diamond just recently did it. Rod Stewart did it. Linda Ronstadt did it. So, that’s what his thinking was. He wanted to record some of the standards.’’
While ‘‘Gettin’ Down To It’’ was recorded at King Studios in Cincinnati between December 1968 and March 1969, Brown and the band went to California to record the follow-up, ‘‘Soul On Top,’’ in late 1969. Though closer to his familiar funk sound, ‘‘Soul On Top’’ is an ‘‘intriguing detour into jazz-minded big-band territory’’ according to Allmusic.com
‘‘We did some traveling with him after that and appeared on the Mike Douglas Show, the Steve Allen Show, The Merv Griffin Show and a number of those talk shows which were on during that period,’’ Vincent said. ‘‘We traveled with him to do just those shows and we didn’t do too many, but it was fun and he was a wonderful gentleman. He was very much a gentleman with us . Over the period of a year or two we played those shows and in between we would go back to Cincinnati to work. Then his agency would call and tell us to meet him in whatever town the show was going to be in. He still his rock band at that time and they were out touring all the time.’’
Mentioning many names, cities and venues, Vincent reflected on a career which includes many stars in addition to James Brown — who died Monday at the age of 73.
‘‘We were lucky and we played with some nice people,’’ Vincent said. ‘‘A lot of years have gone by and I’ve remained friends with local musicians from Jamestown like Stu Sneider. I used to watch his quintet at the Fairmount Grill and the Max Davis Trio at the Hotel Jamestown. Stu is still living and he was probably one of the first bands that I went to hear at the Fairmount Grill. A lot of years have gone by since then and I’ve been very fortunate as far as the people I’ve met and the places that music has taken me. I really do consider myself very fortunate in that respect.
Self-described as semi-retired, Vincent still performs two nights each week at The Celestial in Cincinnati. Providing pictures for this story, Vincent’s sister Sylvia, who lives in Bemus Point with her husband Craig Fuller, said one of her favorite artifacts from the period is an autographed inscribed by Brown with the words — ‘‘Sylvia, your bro is too much.’’
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