Hamilton Bohannon (March 7, 1942 – April 24, 2020) – The Stop And Go (1973)
Hamilton Bohannon (March 7, 1942 – April 24, 2020) – The Stop And Go (1973)
The funk bomb title track from Bohannon's debut LP, co-written by Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin, was once under consideration to become the new Soul Train theme.
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Hamilton Bohannon was a musical genius, a multi-talented producer, arranger, songwriter and bandleader. He led Motown’s live touring band in the late sixties and as a solo artist released several highly influential albums that helped shape the sound of modern day dance music, from disco to house and beyond.
Hamilton Frederick Bohannon was born in Newman, Georgia, about a half-hour from Atlanta. While still in preschool he began drumming along to the jingles on commercials he saw on TV while his mother watched soap operas. He became a drummer in his high school’s marching band.
Bohannon attended Clark College in Atlanta and majored in music. He worked as a drummer at the downtown Royal Peacock nightclub, where he played with Jerry Butler and a young Jimi Hendrix.
In 1964 he was hired as the drummer in 13-year old Stevie Wonder’s touring band. After three years on the road with Wonder, Bohannon relocated to Detroit and became the bandleader and arranger of Bohannon & The Motown Sound, the label’s official touring band that backed all its top acts.
When Motown moved its operations to Los Angeles, Bohannon stayed behind in Detroit and formed his own band. He produced, arranged, and co-wrote every song on his debut album, Stop & Go, released in 1973.
Every track was a masterpiece in its own way. Highlights included “Run It On Down Mr. D.J.," co-written by Ray Parker, Jr., the simple but powerful anthem “Happiness,” which he co-wrote with his wife Andrea, and a pair of superb tracks co-written by guitarists Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin (one of Motown’s Funk Brothers) and Leroy Emanuel, “Getting To The Other Side” and “Save Their Souls.”
The album’s instrumental title track, “The Stop And Go” was arguably its funkiest moment. At one point it was under consideration to become the new Soul Train theme, before Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were commissioned by Don Cornelius to write “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” for MSFB, which is what was ultimately chosen.
Co-written by Bohannon, Ragin, and Emanuel, it featured furiously funky guitars that echoed over wiggling synths by keyboardist Rod Lumpkins and wailing sax riffs by Danny “Dangerous Dan” Turner.
Other players on the mostly instrumental album included bassist Eddie Watkins, Leslie Bass on percussion, organist Mose Davis, Travis Biggs on violin and the Haywood Singers on occasional vocals.
“All the DJs knew Bohannon. We wanted people who sounded like they were from the church.” - legendary house DJ & producer Farley Jackmaster Funk, 2011
“(The) Bohannon joint [‘Let’s Start the Dance’] was a major, major piece for the dance-music community in Chicago.” - house and techno DJ & producer Ron Trent, 2011
“Creator of some of the greatest beats in dance music history…a true visionary and forerunner in music.” - pioneer disco DJ & remixer John Luongo, 2020
Further info:
“Future Rhythms: Bohannon set the stage for modern dance music by keeping four on the floor,” by Ronnie Reese, Wax Poetics issue #45, January/February 2011
Hamilton Bohannon: Chairman’s Award (video news story and interview from 2017 when he received the Chairman’s Award from the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame.)
#soul #funk #disco #Motown #SoulTrain #HamiltonBohannon #Bohannon
I had a weekly at a small taproom several years ago, and one of the cooks slipped me his copy of 'Summertime Groove' and said 'Hold on to this and play something off of this next week'. Well, he got fired before the next week and I had no idea how to get it back to him. I hadn't listened to it until about 5 years later when I was packing records for a new weekly; threw it on and within minutes was thanking the mysteries of the musical universe that saw this cook step momentarily step into my education.