Blue Nile Celebrates Black History - James Black
"You've never heard drums like that and you'll never hear drums like that again. James was one of the most talented drummers I ever worked with and James was way out there. Not many folks could play that many rhythms at one time. And then he was spaced out and he would go further with his drums. James never did stay on this planet.” -Eddie Bo
“…Now James, I never had to tell James what a pocket was. He'd go out of the pocket and play in the pocket at the same time. Now how he got there, I don't know, but all those rhythms he was playing, I didn't need extra drummers or to hit on something extra to get that second beat, he did it himself. But he had to have a cigarette in his mouth, and it had to be burning. Until it burned his lips, then he'd drop it and light another one."
He is one of the key players in New Orleans drumming continuum. In what has to qualify as a lifetime of accomplishments, he played with Cannonball and Nat Adderley, Horace Silver, and Yusef Lateef, and toured with Lionel Hampton. He was the drummer on seminal recordings by Ellis Marsalis, worked with many R&B artists, and laid the foundations for the funk and jazz drummers that followed.
Born in New Orleans on February 1, 1940, James Black absorbed the "second line" rhythms from a young age. Like so many other native New Orleans musicians, James Black came up through the public school system's music programs under the guidance of Yvonne Busch. "Miss Busch" was known for requiring her students to play at least two instruments. James gave her great credit, saying "instead of just being a drummer, now I'm a musician". He later studied music at Southern University in Baton Rouge, and played in their marching band. Like any New Orleans drummer, he was greatly inspired by the street percussions of the Mardi Gras Indians and developed his "street beat" by following second line parades.
Image Source: https://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/James_Black.html