Keep On Dancin’

    Even his name is rhythmic, syncopated: Bo-HAN-non. You probably recognize it from the shout-out he receives in “Genius Of Love” by Tom Tom Club, right alongside George Clinton and James Brown. Though he’s not as well-known as those two funk masters, the late bandleader and drummer Hamilton Bohannon (1942-2020) richly deserves that acknowledgement.

Just cue up Bohannon’s “Foot Stompin’ Music” back-to-back with Talking Heads’ “I Zimbra” or “Once In A Lifetime” for confirmation. And Bohannon’s influence hardly stops there; over the years he’s been sampled by Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Craig Mack and Digable Planets, among many others. Yet unless you were a dance floor denizen during the heyday of disco, and possibly even if you were, the Bohannon sound is more recognizable than his name.

Tracks A1 Rap On Mr. D.J. 3:00 A2 Keep On Dancin’ 5:00 A3 Truck Stop 7:34 A4 Dance With Your Parno 3:57 B1 Have A Good Day 8:30 B2 The Fat Man 2:39 B3 Red Bone 3:02 B4 South African Man 7:00

By markwrite57

    Born in Newnan, Georgia, Hamilton Bohannon played drums in local bands before moving to Detroit during the mid-Sixties. In the Motor City he found a gig backing the teenaged Stevie Wonder, and by decade’s end he’d assembled a sterling resume: captain of the the Motown touring band, and house bandleader at Detroit’s famed 20 Grand Club. When Berry Gordy moved his label to Los Angeles in 1972, Bohannon struck a solo deal with the Dakar label (distributed by Brunswick) and set out on his own. Starting with his 1973 debut Stop & Go, Bohannon built a sturdy bridge between the soul/R&B tradition and the brave new world of dance-oriented music. Expertly helming his ensembles from behind the drum kit, he proceeded to barrel full-speed ahead across that gaping divide.   

      Keep On Dancin’, from 1974, is arguably the most consistent and varied Bohannon album. Eight tracks convey his full range and ambition while fleshing out his method. The band layers itchy electric piano and percussive rhythm guitar riffs on top of Bo’s deep-in-the-pocket foundation, while bassist Fernando Saunders (who recorded with Lou Reed in the Eighties) fluidly dances all around the beat without ever losing forward momentum. Listen to the way Saunders anchors “South African Man” with a catchy bomp-bomp in between subtle virtuoso runs. That track is as close as Keep On Dancin’ comes to a conventional song or social commentary. 

   Like most Bohannon singles, however, “South African Man” barely dented the R&B chart let alone cross over to Pop. Bohannon’s impact was exclusively limited to dance clubs, and that’s understandable given the way he made records. The other tracks from Keep On Dancin’, as with virtually everything Bohannon released, eschew the verse-chorus-verse template in favor of looser, free-flowing structures broken by gear-shifting tempo changes and dramatic rhythmic breaks. At the time, Bohannon may have been the first pop musician to tailor his records specifically for the dance floor. Here in the 21st Century, after forty-plus years of boundary-stretching techno, EDM, Krautrock, ambient, trance, Juju, dub etc, Bo’s percolating polyrhythmic almost-instrumentals make for satisfying listening at home, too.  

       Chants, exhortations, cries, sighs, whispers, shouts and screams blend with actual singing: vocals receive equal treatment as one more musical instrument, another color in Bohannon’s palate. And like James Brown, Bohannon is never shy about dropping his euphonious name into a track, or using it in a title: subsequent albums include “Bohannon’s Beat,” “Bohannon’s Theme,” “Bohannon’s Disco Symphony,” and so on.

      Bohannon added strings on later albums such as Dance Your Ass Off, sweetening his sound as he extended song lengths and gradually arrived at disco proper. Keep On Dancin’ registers as leaner and meaner, occupying a spot somewhere between the Memphis soul stew of Booker T & the MG’s and The Meters’ New Orleans second-line strut. The subtly stomping “Truck Stop” is ingeniously constructed: snaking guitar lines weave counter-melodies around the earth-moving beat, the athletic bass riffs hang suspended in the air and a jazzy harmonica adds down-home flavor.  “Red Bone” unfurls fuzzy psychedelic guitar soloing around Latin poly-rhythms and humming Hammond organ. “Dance With Your Pardno” displays Bohannon’s mastery of haunting mid-tempo melodies – not to mention hypnotizing, inexplicable lyrics. “Have A Good Day” slows the pace down to a drum-less crawl before settling into cocktail-lounge swing. Well, even the most determined dancers, and dance bands, deserve a breather. 

      As the Seventies progressed and the imperial phase of disco (Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54) appeared on the horizon, Bohannon’s insistent rhythmic emphasis and dance floor awareness looked ever-more prescient. He was perfectly placed for a crossover that somehow never quite happened. Switching to a bigger label in 1977, he continued on Mercury in fine form. “Let’s Start The Dance,” from the 1978 album Summertime Groove, reached number 9 in the R&B chart and became his signature tune. And his peak. Though he sporadically resurfaced for performances and records over the ensuing decades, Hamilton Bohannon returned to Georgia in the Eighties and focused on raising his family. Until the Mercury-era albums such as Phase II and Summertime Groove surface, hopefully soon, Keep On Dancin’ provides a frictionless entry to Hamilton Bohannon’s rich musical realm. And don’t be startled when you find yourself unconsciously moving your feet and mouthing the magic word: Bo-HAN-non.

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Buy the AlbumBohannon – 1974 – Keep On Dancin’