Bertrand Odom (June 10, 1932 – August 17, 2004), known professionally as Bernard Odum, was an American bass guitar player best known for performing in James Brown's band in the 1960s.

Biography

Odum started playing with Brown in 1956 and became a full-time member of Brown's band in 1958. He worked in the James Brown band until the end of the 1960s, and played on such hits as "

Papa's Got A Brand New Bag "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is a song written and recorded by James Brown. Released as a two-part single in 1965, it was Brown's first song to reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Top Ten, peaking at number eight, and was a number-one R&B hit, top ...

" (1965), "

I Got You (I Feel Good) "I Got You (I Feel Good)" is a song by the American singer James Brown. First recorded for the 1964 album '' Out of Sight'' and then released in an alternate take as a single in 1965 and included on the compilation album of the same name, it w ...

" (1965), and "

Cold Sweat "Cold Sweat" is a song performed by James Brown and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis. Brown recorded it in May 1967. An edited version of "Cold Sweat" released as a two-part single on King Records was a No. 1 R&B hit, and rea ...

" (1967).James Brown's Bassists
". March 2005. ''Bass Player''. Retrieved on June 17, 2008. In 1969, Odum and most of the other musicians in Brown's band walked out on him over a pay dispute and other issues, prompting Brown to create a new backing band,

The J.B.'s The J.B.'s (sometimes punctuated The JB's or The J.B.s) was James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records, the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul Train, Mace ...

. In 1970, Odum briefly joined Maceo Parker's group, Maceo & All the King's Men, appearing on the album ''Doin' Their Own Thing''. Bernard Odum played a 1956

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (or "P-Bass") is a model of bass guitar, electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument ...

, strung with flatwound strings, throughout most of his career. He also played a Vox "teardrop" bass as well as a 120

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

Westminster 1x18 bass combo amp when Brown and his band gained an endorsement from Vox towards the end of 1965. Odum died of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

at the age of 72 in his hometown of

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

References

1932 births 2004 deaths American funk bass guitarists American male bass guitarists American rhythm and blues bass guitarists Deaths from kidney failure in the United States James Brown Orchestra members Musicians from Mobile, Alabama Guitarists from Alabama American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians {{US-bass-guitarist-stub