The J.B.'s

The J.B.'s (sometimes punctuated The JB's or The J.B.s) was the name of James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., The First Family, and The Last Word. In addition to backing Brown, the J.B.'s played behind Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, and other singers associated with the James Brown Revue, and performed and recorded as a self-contained group. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Career

The "original" J.B.'s

The J.B.'s were formed in March 1970 after most of the members of Brown's previous band walked out on him over a pay dispute. (Brown's previous bands of the 1950s and 1960s had been known as The James Brown Band and The James Brown Orchestra.) The J.B.'s initial lineup included bassist William "Bootsy" Collins and his guitarist brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins, formerly of the obscure funk band The Pacemakers; Bobby Byrd (founder of the original Famous Flames singing group) (organ), and John "Jabo" Starks (drums), both holdovers from Brown's 60s band; three inexperienced horn players, Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells, Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison, and Robert McCollough; and conga player Johnny Griggs. This version of the J.B.'s played on some of Brown's most intense funk recordings, including "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine", "Super Bad", "Soul Power", and "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing". They also accompanied Brown on a European tour (during which they recorded the long-delayed live album Love Power Peace), performed on the Sex Machine double LP, and released two instrumental singles, the much-sampled "The Grunt" and "These Are the J.B.'s".

J. B. S. Hardman

J. B. S. Hardman, born Jacob Benjamin Salutsky, (1882-1968) was a Russian-born Jewish-American political activist, radical journalist, and trade union functionary. Salutsky-Hardman was a proponent of radicalism as a Marxist thinker and a leader of the Jewish Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party of America. A brief stint in the American Communist movement ended in expulsion in 1923. For more than two decades thereafter, Hardman served as Education Directior of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA).

Biography

Early years

Jacob Benjamin Salutsky was born August 1, 1882 in Vilna, Lithuania, which was then part of the Russian empire. His father was a lumber merchant.

Salutsky was politicized at a young age, embracing Marxism and joining the General Jewish Labor Bund in 1902. Salutsky dedicated himself to the anti-Tsarist revolutionary work of the Bund and to labor organization over the subsequent several years, first heading a union of bank employees in Vilna before becoming the secretary of the central association of trade unions of Kiev.