I have just returned from the funeral of a long time friend and colleague, St. Clair Pinckney. I met Mr. Pinckney when I joined the James Brown Band in 1968. Although I didn't actually meet him until I joined the JB band, I knew how he looked and what he did for many years before. He was very recognizable because he played the tenor saxophone and had a patch of gray hair in the front of his head. Whenever I saw The James Brown Band I remembered the saxophone player with streak of gray hair if I didn't remember anything else. I may have even spoken to him when I shared a rooming house with the JB band as they played the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., back in 1962. I met Al "Brisco" Clark, who had the room next to mine, and reacquainted myself with Mack Johnson, one of the trumpet players who I had played with in the Ike and Tina Turner band. I only spoke cordially to the other band members when I encountered them in the hallways or on the street. That was the first time I got a good look at the James Brown Band and St. Clair was one of the most visible members, not only because of the gray hair but he was one of the main soloists and was one of the best at executing their exhausting, precision dance routines.
 

The next time I saw the James Brown Band was in 1966 when I was in the Army. The personnel of the band had changed a lot, but the sax player with the gray streak was still there. My friend Mack Johnson was gone but my friend Waymon Reed, another fine trumpet player, was now in the band. I knew Waymon from when we played in a circus band together back in 1960. Waymon introduced me to Pee Wee Ellis, the band leader, and Clayton Philliyew, one of the drummers, and, I'm not sure, but I think, St. Clair Pinckney. I know for sure that I learned his name that day because, from then on, when ever anyone mentioned the James Brown sax player with the gray streak, I proudly announced that I knew his name. It was in 1968 when I joined the band that I got to know who St. Clair Pinckney actually was as a person. St. Clair, the icon, the soloist, the dancer, turned out to be a real gentleman musician, much like a lot of the guys I played with as I grew up in my father's band. I'm sure that he and my father would have been good friends. As I acclimated myself to the trombone parts and the dance steps that would be my job in the James Brown Band, I found out that St. Clair was the veteran who would tell and/or demonstrate to you how things really go after the band leader gave you the basic notes and formats. Through the years, many musicians have come and gone with the James Brown Band, but St. Clair has always been there to preserve the traditions and the standards for which James Brown Bands have become famous. He was smart enough not to ever become the actual bandleader, a job that is by nature a burn-out position, but he has been there through the years to support whoever did venture down that dead-end road. For me, he definitely made the experience, from the beginning to the end, easier and endurable. He was like the unannounced liaison between the members of the band, the bandleader and Mr. Brown.
 

You could say that St. Clair was the catalyst that kept the James Brown show consistent with whatever personnel was available at whatever time. The funeral was a fitting tribute to the man that St. Clair was and the position that he maintained with the James Brown Band. Many of his contemporaries have passed on like Luke Garner, L.D. Williams, Al "Brisco" Clark and Jimmy Nolen. But many are still alive and did attend his send-off, like John "Jabo" Starks, Walter Foster, Russell Crimes, Bobby and Vickie Byrd, Leon Austin and, of course, James Brown. Vickie sang "Precious Lord Take My Hand" and Bobby played the piano throughout the entire service. Mr. Brown didn't sing, but spoke glowing words of love and togetherness in memory of his childhood friend, lifelong co-star and loyal employee. Many of my contemporaries who saw St. Clair as a big brother were there. Maceo Parker, Joe Collier and I rode to Atlanta together and played our horns in tribute to a man who had played his horn side-by-side with us on more shows and recordings that we care to count. The largest group at the funeral comprised musicians who are in the James Brown Band now or who were in the band in the recent years. To them, "Pink," as he is now known, was loved as a father and even grandfather figure.

The emotions at the church ranged from sadness for losing a close friend and loved-one to relief from having to watch a friend and loved-one suffer through the pain and inconveniences of the dreaded disease, emphysema. Many testimonies praised his life. Ron Laster, currently the lead guitarist with James Brown, characterized Pink as "A Good Man" who helped him and others with and through many personal problems. His niece spoke of the love and caring he had for and from his family. After much testifying from friends and family, Reverend Dr. Carl Moncrieff, the Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, where the funeral was held because it was more convenient for everyone than Mr. Pinckney's home church, Tremont Baptist Church of Augusta, Georgia, summed up all of the tributes by preaching, "I Wish That I Had Known Such A Man." Hardly an eye was dry when the pallbearers carried the body out of the church as Joe, Maceo, Bobby and I played "When The Saints Go Marching In."

I will miss Mr. St. Clair Pinckney. I will miss not only St. Clair the musician, songwriter and arranger. His big, bold, tenor sax sound and his full-bodied flute sound have been silenced forever. I will also miss St. Clair the man. A loyal friend, he was a true gentleman, very respectful and caring of everyone he encountered and worked with. He was always patient with the many fans and admirers who sought after his company and knowledge. He readily gave counsel and advice to us younger musicians who were experiencing things that he had experienced many times before. His help and advice have saved many of us from having to learn many of life's lessons "the hard way."
 

Although St. Clair Pinckney is gone, his music will live on, deeply embedded in the tight horn voicing of James Brown and JBs songs like "I Feel Good," "Cold Sweat," "I've Got The Feeling," "The Big Payback," "Pass The Peas" and his own original, "Hot Pants Road." We will endeavor to re-release his two solo albums, "Private Stock" and "Do You Like It?" There is a new, yet, unreleased, untitled solo album that also needs to be released as soon as possible. Mr. Brown has a new label distribution deal with Eagle Records of London and I'm sure he will take charge of keeping Mr. Pinckney's music alive and before the public.

I'm proud to have the distinction of getting the last recording effort from Mr. Pinckney. Although he was very ill and on oxygen 24 hours a day last October, we managed to roll St. Clair in his wheelchair into Audioarts Recording Studio and capture a wonderful flute solo on a tune that I wrote and he titled "Dynaflo" for the soon-to-be-released Jabo and Clyde album "Born To Groove." Jabo and Clyde are two ex-James Brown drummers and I produced the album that featured quite a number of present and ex-James Brown players. After the burial, I witnessed the true measure of Mr. St. Clair Pinckney's life. A large crowd of people, old friends, new friends all standing around the grave site telling St. Clair Pinckney stories. St. Clair was doing in death what he was so good at doing in life,
bringing people together.

Fred Wesley   
February 1999