Artist	Song
Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five	Caldonia
from Louis Jordan: #1's (2005)
Little Richard	Miss Ann
from The Georgia Peach (2006)
Ray Charles	Mess Around
from Ray Charles (2005)
Fats Domino	Going to the River
from Greatest Hits: Walking to New Orleans (2007)
Hank Ballard & The Midnighters	Sexy Ways
from Hank Ballard & The Midnighters - All 20 of Their Chart Hits (1953-1962) (2005)
Jimmy Forest	Night Train
from Greatest R&B Hits of 1952, Vol. 4 (2009)
The Ink Spots	Prisoner of Love
from 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Ink Spots (1999)
Tampa Red	It Hurts Me Too
from Tampa Red Vol. 11 1939-1940 (2005)
Little Willie John	Need Your Love So Bad
from Little Willie John: All 15 of His Chart Hits from 1953-1962 (2005)
The Clovers	Fool Fool Fool
from Down In the Alley: The Best of the Clovers (2009)
Reverend J.M. Gates	Meeting the Judge On a Monday Morning
from Are You Bound for Heaven or Hell? The Best of Reverend J.M. Gates (2004)
The Dixie Hummingbirds	Christian Automobile
from Thank You For One More Day: The 70th Anniversary Of The Dixie Hummingbirds (1998)
Count Basie & Joe Williams	Every Day I Have the Blues
from Count Basie Swings - Joe Williams Sings (1993)
Miles Davis	So What
from Kind of Blue (1997)
The Orioles	It's Too Soon to Know
from Doo Wop Classics, Vol. 6 (2003)
Alex Bradford	When You Pray
from Gospel Music Anthology: Alex Bradford (Remastered) (2010)
Reverend C.L. Franklin	Two Fish and Five Loaves of Bread, Pt. 2
from Legendary Sermons (1999)
The "5" Royales	Think
from Dedicated to You (2008)
King Cole Trio	Nature Boy
from The Very Best of Nat King Cole (2006)
Larry Darnell	For You My Love
from The Definitive Blues Collection, Vol. 1 (2008)
Bill Doggett	Honky Tonk, Pt. 1
from All His Hits (2003)
Elvis Presley	Swing Down Sweet Chariot
from Peace In the Valley - The Complete Gospel Recordings (1999)
Swan Silvertone Singers	I Got a Witness
from Swan Silvertone Singers - At Their Best (2005)

Comment:

Long before funk was so much as a gleam in J.B.'s horn section, these masters of soul, jazz, gospel, blues, doo-wop, and pop all shaped James Brown while he was still green. Jump-blues legend Louis Jordan (along with his Tympany Five) set the stage for Brown's performing career in the boogie-woogie jive of "Caldonia," a Top 10 hit that J.B. himself would cover 19 years later. The Crescent City's resident Big Man, Fats Domino, didn't just pound the ivories in the bluesy Creole stroll of "Going to the River" — he also pounded Brown right out of his gospel-singing path and into the world of pop. And like a lot of rock's pioneers, Elvis Presley straddled the chasm between Saturday night's sinnin' and Sunday morning's sermon; in the gospel-tent revue of "Swing Down Sweet Chariot," it's easy to hear why Brown said, "There'll never be another like that soul brother." From the King Cole Trio to Ray Charles to Miles Davis, we've got all the sounds and styles that helped sire the Godfather of Soul.

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