"New bag" paved the way for the Funk era. 
Jimmy Nolen's chopping guitar break was something never heard before.
Rickey Vincent

Jimmy Nolen was the founder of funk guitar," states bandleader Johnny Otis, "yet the very people who are influenced by him are not aware of it at all. He was a giant influence in American music."
Nolen, who died of a heart attack at age 49 on December 18, 1983, played on several Otis sessions in the late '50s, including the bit "Willie And The Hand Jive," but developed his pervasive funk style during his 16 years with James Brown. Nolen was more than a stylistic innovator; until his deat ' h he remained the standard by which all other funk guitarists were measured.
Although he was primarily a rhythm guitarist, the impact Nolen had on subsequent players was no less important or farreaching than the influence of rock/ R&B innovators such as Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, and B. B. King. His distinctive style of sixteenth note strumming and funky, choppy chord work (relying heavily on 7th and 9th chords) provided the foundation on which virtually all modern R&B, funk, and disco guitar is based. Through his work with Brown, Nolen also influenced many rock and new wave stylists; among the groups and individuals who owe a great debt to Jimmy Nolen are Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads, Nile Rodgers of Chic, George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, Tower Of Power, the Rolling Stones, Leo Nocentelli of the Meters, Sly & The Family Stone, David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Gang Of Four, U2, and Earth, Wind, & Fire. His impact has even been felt throughout the world of African popular music. In Nigeria, the groups of the three leading popular artists King Sunny Ade, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, and Fela Ransome Kuti all base major elements of their styles on Nolens innovations.
James Brown was already an established R&B star by the time Nolen joined him in 1965. His first single, "Please, Please, Please," rose to #2 on Billboards rhythm and blues chart in 1956. In 1965 "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," Nolen's first session with Brown, became his first Top 10 crossover hit (scoring big on both the pop and R&B charts), and the string of hits continued "Cold Sweat," "There Was A Time," "Say It LoudI'm Black And I'm Proud," "Get On The Good Foot," and "Talking Loud And Saying Nothing" (all featuring Jimmy's choppy rhythm guitar work). Mr. Dynamite, Soul Brother Number One, the Godfather Of Soul, The Hardest Working Man In Show BusinessBrown earned these titles and others thanks to his taut arrangements and explosive stage presence. His 1963 LP, The James Brown Show Live At The Apollo (reissued as Live And Lowdown At The Apollo), stayed on the Billboard album charts for 66 weeksan unprecedented feat for an R&B record.

In the mid to late '60s James Brown seemed to have a new bit every month, often based around a new dance step. In 1969 he placed nine songs on the charts, five of thern variations on the same dance"The Popcorn," "Mother Popcorn," "Lowdown Popcorn," "Let A Man Come In And Do The Popcorn (Part 1),""Let A Man Come In And Do The Popcorn (Part 11)." But as Robert Palmer wrote in lhe Rolling Stone Illustrated History OfRock & Roll. "Pervasive as Brown's influence was during the '60s, he shaped the music of the '70s even more profoundly. The chattering chokerhythm guitars, broken bass patterns, explosive horn bures, onechord drones, and evangelical vocal discourses he introduced during the mid'60s have become the linguafranca [universal language] of contemporary black pop, the heartbeat of the discotheques, and a primary ingredient in such farflung musical syntheses as Jamaican reggae and Nigerian Afro-beat."
Despite his major contribution to so many of Brown's recordings, Jimmy Nolen was never given credit on any of the albums. Only in recent years did Brown verbally acknowledge Nolen during live performances, and then only to play brief solos imitative of B.B. King and Wes Montgomery.

Nolen was born on April 3,1934 in Oklahoma City, and was raised with nine brothers and sisters on a farm in nearby Weleka, Oklahoma. At around age nine, he began playing violin. "I sawed around on it a little bit, but I didn't get too far with it," he recalled. When he was about 14, he bought an acoustic Harmony guitar. Selftaught, he copied records he heard on the radio, especially those by electric blues guitar pioneer TBone Walker. He got his first electric guitar a few years later while living with a sister in Wichita, Kansas.

Jimmy Wilson, a blues singer who was riding the crest of his 1953 hit, "Tin Pan Alley," spotted Nolen at a club in Tulsa in 1955 and hired him for a road tour. The group broke up in Los Angeles and Nolen settled there, working at first with trumpeter Monte Easter's band and recording obscure singles with Wilson and Ray Agee. Later in 1955, Nolen joined Chuck Higgins, an extremely popular southern Califomia tenor sax honker best known for his 1952 hit instrumental, "Pachuko Hop." Nolen eut several sides with the Higgins band for the Dooto label, including the rocking "Wetback Hop" on which he played three stinging choruses of TBone Walkerinfluenced blues guitar.

Nolen replaced the late Pete Lewis in Johnny Otis'band in 1957 and remained for the next few years, appearing on numerous Otis recordings, including the Bo Diddleyinspired "Willie And The Hand Jive." During this same period, Nolen also recorded several commercially unsuccessful singles under his own name as a vocalist and guitarist for Federal Records. One, an imaginative reworking of "It Hurts Me Too," the Tampa Red composition most commonly associated with Elmore James, found Nolen playing brittle blues lead in a style reminiscent of both Pee Wee Crayton and Johnny Guitar Watson. After leaving Otis, Nolen led his own ninepiece group around Los Angeles, backing such blues artists as B. B. King, TBone Walker, Lowell Fulson, and Buddy Ace for local engagements.

Nolen's nowtrademark rhythm guitar style was introduced to the world in 1965 on James Brown's trendsetting "Papas Got A Brand New Bag," which was recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina, shortly after Nolenjoined the Brown organization. Nolen remained with Brown until his death, with the exception of a twoyear break (1970'72) when virtually the entire Brown band defected and, under saxophonist Maceo Parker's leadership, began performing and recording as Maceo And All The King's Men.

LA session bassist Tim Drummondbest known for his work with Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Youngjoined the James Brown band in 1968 and roomed with Nolen on the road. "Jimmy and I were the best of friends," he recalls. "We went to Vietnam and Korea together. James had a 22piece band, but theyd only let us take seven. We also made a trip to Africa for the State Department. I learned a lot from Jimmy. Thats Nolen and me on'There Was A Time' and 'l Cant Stand Myself and all those things. In fact, we were jamming one time1 had this bass lineand it turned out to be 'Say It LoudI'm Black And I'm Proud.'James would get an idea and hum a bass line to me. But he didn't have to say much to Nolen; Jimmy would automatically just fit in there. He was everything to James' music. He'd use those great 9th chords, like on 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag.' He was without doubt the best rhythm guitar player in the world."
In the following interview, conducted in San Francisco nine months before his death, Nolen talks at length about his oneofakind guitar approach and his long time association with Soul Brother Number One.

Lee Hildebrand and Henry Kaiser
Guitar Player April ' 84.

Remembering Jimmy Nolen | Interview | Scores | Funky Stuff