Amen, Brother

The record

The Winstons were a multiracial soul band from Washington, D.C., led by singer and tenor saxophonist Richard Lewis Spencer, with Ray Maritano on alto saxophone, Quincy Mattison on guitar, Phil Tolotta on organ, Sonny Pekerol on bass and Gregory C. Coleman on drums. In 1969 Metromedia Records released their single “Color Him Father”, catalog MMS-117, produced by Don Carroll. The A-side reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, was certified gold, and won the Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. The B-side, “Amen, Brother”, was an instrumental reworking of the gospel standard “Amen”, recorded in Atlanta in early 1969 and reportedly put together in about 20 minutes. The group disbanded in 1970 after struggling to find bookings in the South as a mixed-race band.

The break

About 1:26 into the track, the band stops and Coleman plays four bars alone, around seven seconds in total at roughly 136 beats per minute. The pattern delays its snare hits against the beat and ends with a crash cymbal, which gives it a lurching, forward-leaning feel. Those seven seconds became known as the Amen break. On the original single the whole track runs only about two and a half minutes, so the solo is a small moment on a B-side that few buyers of the hit ever played.

Into hip hop

The track reached DJs and producers through Ultimate Breaks and Beats, the Street Beat Records series of compilations that collected clean drum breaks. Salt-N-Pepa's “I Desire” in 1986 was one of the first records to sample it. In 1988 it drove Mantronix's “King of the Beats”, N.W.A's “Straight Outta Compton”, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock's “Keep It Going Now”, 2 Live Crew's “Feel Alright Y'all” and Ultramagnetic MC's' “Watch Me Now”. 3rd Bass, Nice & Smooth and Eric B. & Rakim followed, and in the early 1990s British producers sped the break up and chopped it apart, making it the rhythmic basis of jungle and drum and bass.

Legacy

Neither Spencer nor Coleman received royalties from the sampling. Spencer, who held the copyright, did not learn how widely the break had been used until 1996, after the statute of limitations had run out. Coleman died homeless in 2006. In 2015 a crowdfunding campaign for Spencer raised more than $26,000, and Spencer died in 2020. A new lineup of the Winstons was put together by Joe Phillips in 1996. The Amen break is often described as the most sampled drum recording ever made.