Interview with Clyde and Jabo: Funkmasters and Original James Brown Drummers

Meinl Cymbals artist relations managers, Norbert Saemann and Chris Brewer, came up with the idea to create a documentary style interview with the two legendary James Brown drummers,Clyde Stubblefield and John 'Jabo" Starks.

Robert ‘Sput’ Searight of Snarky Puppy sat down with the two legendary funkmasters for a nice, long interview at S.I.R. in Nashville, Tennessee. What resulted was a lot of Q&A, good bar-b-que, and memorable drumming by the threesome.

EPISODE ONE

"It is sad to think that with the enormous impact that both Clyde and Jabo have had on modern drumming as we know it today, there is still more to learn about them that hasn’t been put out there already," says Chris Brewer. It was for this reason alone that Saemann and Brewer came up with the interview idea and decided to tackle the project on their own. "When James Brown said 'give the drummer some,' he meant it, although symbolically the rest of the world hasn’t always sat up and taken notice," says Brewer.

EPISODE THREE

In this episode, Chris Coleman gives a heartfelt testimonial about Clyde and Jabo. During the interview the two discuss Clyde's experiences in Motown, the reasons why they each left James Brown, Clyde's experiences with the band in Vietnam, Jabo's recordings with Janet Jackson, and probably the most controversial issue of all: How they feel about being the most sampled drummers in history.

EPISODE FIVE

In this episode, Clyde and Jabo talk about such things as the word "funk," how it originated, and its actual meaning. This is something that we all take for granted these days (i.e. ever since you have been playing drums, there has been funk music and funk drumming). What does "funk" mean and where did it come from? Sit back and watch this episode as Clyde and Jabo tell you all about it...and a whole lot more.