THE JAMES BROWN LEGACY AND THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE GENERAL SOULS
DR. DEANNA BROWN THOMAS
The project carries a direct connection to the Brown family through Dr. Deanna Brown Thomas, daughter of James Brown, who serves as Executive Producer and songwriter on the album.
Brown Thomas is the founder and president of the James Brown Family Foundation and founder of the James Brown Academy of Musik Pupils (JAMP), an educational initiative created to give young musicians opportunities to learn, perform, and carry forward the musical traditions associated with her father’s legacy.
The James Brown Family Foundation logo appears on the album cover, recognizing the Foundation’s participation in and connection to the project.
FRED THOMAS OF THE J.B.’S
Fred Thomas occupies a very special place in the history of R&B. As James Brown’s principal bassist beginning in 1971—the “Make It Funky” era—he participated in one of the most prolific periods of the Godfather of Soul’s incredible career as a member of Brown’s band, The J.B.’s.
Fred is a producer on the album and the featured vocalist on the title track, “Rise When Fallen Down.”
Thomas can be heard on James Brown classics including “Hot Pants,” “Papa Don’t Take No Mess,” “Make It Funky,” “Get on the Good Foot,” “Doing It to Death,” “I’m a Greedy Man,” “I Got Ants in My Pants,” “There It Is,” and “Stoned to the Bone,” as well as instrumental classics such as “Pass the Peas” and “Gimme Some More.”
His bass lines can also be heard on songs such as Bobby Byrd’s “I Know You Got Soul” and Lyn Collins’ “Think,” which have been sampled numerous times.
Fred appears on the seminal Live at the Apollo, Vol. 3: Revolution of the Mind and can be seen in the 2008 documentary Soul Power, documenting James Brown’s legendary 1974 concert in Zaire, as well as in numerous James Brown appearances on Soul Train.
With his own band, Fred Thomas is front and center, singing, playing bass, and tearing into a mix of blues and soul classics alongside the J.B.’s hits he helped create.
JEREMY PHOLWATTANA
Producer Jeremy Pholwattana brings more than 25 years of experience in music, entertainment, production, and community programming to the project.
A Recording Academy Voting Member of the New York Chapter and GRAMMY U mentor, Pholwattana is the founder of Sound Entertainment and has worked across live entertainment, recording, artist development, and large-scale event production.
His career has included collaborations and projects connected to the James Brown family, as well as work involving Disney, ESPN, and the NBA.
Pholwattana is also the Executive Director and Founder of Downtown Montclair, where his work centers on music, arts, business development, and community programming.
He is the creator and producer of Montclair Porchfest, producer of the Church Street Live summer concert series, and owner of a music school and recording studio on Church Street in Montclair, New Jersey.
His work connecting professional musicians, young performers, education, and community programming closely reflects the mission behind Rise When Fallen Down.
GABRIEL CAPLAN
Gabriel Caplan is a teaching artist, performer, producer, and writer. He has performed nationally and internationally as a guitarist with the touring James Brown Band, Fred Thomas of The J.B.’s, and Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens.
Caplan produced the debut singles for Fred Thomas of The J.B.’s and wrote “Nothing’s Gonna Change (My Love for You)” and “For a Lick and a Promise.”
He is Co-CEO, alongside his wife, Kaori Kiki Nakajima, of Science of Music, LLC, a New York City-licensed vendor providing music education programs in schools throughout the city.
Caplan met Fred Thomas in 2008 while performing with Daptone artist Naomi Shelton and has since made it his mission, as Fred’s guitarist and Music Director, to pass that knowledge forward through performance, songwriting, and education.
THE GSRS — GENERAL SOUL RHYTHM SECTION
The music of James Brown is universal.
The rhythm tracks for five of the album’s seven songs were recorded in Tokyo, Japan, with members of Osaka Monaural, a premier James Brown-inspired band.
In 2024, Gabriel Caplan and Kaori Kiki Nakajima traveled to Tokyo and invited their friends Soki Kimura, Dan Hayami, Ouchi Tsuyoshi, and Kazuyo into the studio. Together, they recorded the rhythm tracks for “Shallow Waters” and “Rise When Fallen Down,” and then created the basic tracks that would become “We Do Better (The General Souls Theme),” “Joy Scroll,” and “Rhythm Is Key.”
While language could sometimes be a barrier, each musician’s deep immersion in the music of James Brown created a lingua franca of funk. Ideas could be sung, played, answered, and shaped in real time. Then they would hit record—and lock it in.
What emerged was more than a collection of rhythm tracks. It was a musical conversation across cultures, built on a shared understanding of groove, feel, and the unmistakable language of James Brown.
There is power in music as a universal language—and with James Brown as a powerful vein of communicative gold, the General Soul Rhythm Section brings that spirit into a new generation.
