Amen Brother

Recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, in early 1969 by the Washington, D.C.-based Winstons, with Richard Lewis Spencer leading the group and Gregory C. Coleman on drums. Produced by Don Carroll and arranged by the Winstons, the instrumental was assembled as the B-side to 'Color Him Father' and featured Coleman's distinctive four-bar drum solo. Released in May 1969, 'Amen, Brother' was the instrumental B-side of the Winstons' hit single 'Color Him Father', which reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. Although the instrumental received little independent commercial attention, its extended percussion break later became one of the most influential passages in recorded popular music. The six-second drum solo, universally known as the Amen break, became one of the most extensively sampled recordings in music history, providing a rhythmic foundation for hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, and electronic dance music. Its widespread reuse by subsequent generations of producers transformed a relatively obscure B-side into a landmark recording in the development of sample-based music.