Bohannon – The Fat Man from the Dakar Records 45

With the 45 Sessions only a week away, I’ve been doing some last minute promotion for the night as well as another new Soul night I’m trying to pull together. This night would include a handful of Soul DJs, plus some live Soul bands. When it is definite, I will let you all know the new name, the time and the venue. As I was cleaning a huge mound of unsleeved 45s, I pulled this next record out. I wanted to do this earlier, but to be honest with you, I have so much in my que, that some days I have a hard time deciding which record I want to share. Fortunately, this pre-Disco monster won the contest. Strap yourself in and get ready for some heavy drums and percussion, courtesy of Bohannon on Dakar Records from 1973 with “The Fat Man”.

Hamilton Bohannon hailed from Newman, Georgia, a car’s drive from Hotlanta. Starting out drumming in his high school band, he eventually attended Clark University. While at Clark, he played in a band that included Jimi Hendrix. His drumming peaked the interest of Stevie Wonder, and he went on to become Stevie’s drummer over at Motown from 1965-1967. Apparently Wonder wasn’t the only person he impressed in Detroit, as the higher ups in the Motown company would hire Bohannon to be a band leader for them. When Motown decided to pick up and move from the Midwest to the West Coast and Los Angeles, he opted to stay in the Motor City and put together his own band. In 1972 he signed with Brunswick/ Dakar, and released the most popular record I’ve seen digging, ‘Stop and Go” from 1973. He went on to release 4 more records on the label, most notably “Keep On Dancin'” and “Inside Out”, which were tepid on the charts at best. In 1975, “Foot Stompin'” music dropped, and it kicked off a more successful career in the Disco era for the drummer, who was now a full fledged arranger, band leader, and composer. Bohannon would go on and work with singer Carolyn Crawford, producing her records and making music along side of her up until the 80’s. He had a small comeback in the 80’s, but his best work was clearly in the mid to late 70’s. He embraced the sampling of his music, and has been sampled by Ugly Ducking, BDP, Jungle Brothers, Digable Planets, Kool Keith, Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool G Rap, Craig Mack, and Chubb Rock among others.

“The Fat Man” predates disco, but lays a foundation of what Bohannon would put out shortly after. From the beginning, he was know for his heavy drums, and this song is no exception. It’s heavy all around, and has a really tight groove. Think a Blaxploitation theme on steroids. Bohannon was on to something in 1973, and like I said, this foundation was the basis of his Disco records his released in the mid to late 70’s. I can get into Disco a bit, but I much prefer a side like this one with the heavy drums and percussion, a great organ sound, and an all around groove that can not be stopped. If you like percussion and that 70’s Blaxploitation sound, this side is for you. I’ll be back tomorrow with some new digging stories (hopefully), and don’t forget about the Sept. 14th Asbury Park 45 Sessions. More on that as the date grows nearer. Keep Diggin’!