James Brown’s backing band The JB’s were pretty much in a class of their own when it came to funk. Pick Up The Pieces was one of their finest moments from 1972.

When my son Theo was just eight and his favourite band was The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, I took him as a treat to see them live in Hyde Park. To my amazement, he insisted we get there early to see the support act.

“I didn’t think you’d have heard of James Brown,” I said loftily. “Of course,” he replied, giving me a look that was suspiciously close to an eye-roll. “He’s The Godfather.”

Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather as I bit my lip trying not to add “…of Soul.” In the pantheon of Proud Dad moments it’s one of my proudest.

So there we were, standing in the rain in Hyde Park in June 2004, as the Godfather of Soul went throught the creaky motions of what would be one of his last gigs prior to dying on Christmas Day two years later.

I don’t recall whether his band played this during the traditional 20-minute warm-up before he came onstage, nor do I know whether any of the elderly men in red jackets and white slacks played on the recording of Pass The Peas more than 40 years previously.

This funk instrumental by Brown’s backing band – The J.B.s – wasn’t a hit when it was released in 1972. But for anyone who likes funk, and anyone who likes brass, it’s an essential groove.

It’s bursting with brass from a band whose members have contained arguably the three greatest horn players in soul and RnB history – trombonist Fred Wesley and sax players Maceo Parker and Pee Wee Ellis.

The full line-up on this number is Fred Wesley, appointed by Brown as their musical director, on trombone, St Clair Pinckney on tenor sax, Jimmy Parker on alto sax, Russell Crimes and Jerone ‘Jasaan’ Sanford on trumpets, Fred Thomas and John ‘Jabo’ Starks on bass and drums, Hearlon ‘Cheese’ Martin on guitar and somewhere in there playing the organ is James Brown himself.

When it came to funk instrunentals The JB’s, whose ever-evolving membership also included both Bootsy and Catfish Collins, were pretty much in a class of their own.

Which is why they were less than impressed when Scotland’s Average White Band released Pick Up The Pieces – quite possibly intended as a tribute to this tune, right down to the title itself – in 1974.

So unimpressed were they, in fact, that they released their own answer-back version under the name AABB – for Above Average Black Band. They were certainly that.