Funk Friday - Bonnaroo! - June 1st 2012

In a few days I leave for Bonnaroo. It is my third American music festival in three years and I can reasonably predict it will by all respects be the most musically satisfying and physically arduous aural journey I will have embarked upon. Held at the same 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee for the past 10 years, the first Bonnaroo in 2002 saw 70,000 people, selling out the festival far in advance. Today, it has evolved to become one of the, if not the most high profile annual American music festival.

Mostly known for a wildly diverse slate of musical acts and the blistering Tennessee heat of the campgrounds that has effectively killed a handful of attendees in years past, Bonnaroo takes its namesake from New Orleans legend Dr. John's 1971 Meters-backed funk/R&B album Desitively Bonnaroo.

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mellowship Slinky in B Major

The anchoring headliner at Bonnaroo 2012, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, formed in 1983 by vocalist Anthony Kiedis and Michael "Flea" Balzary are in my view, the most successful, prolific funk rock band of all time. Rooted in Parliament/Funkadelic funky guitar rock and the fun, aggressive California punk rock of the late 1970s and early 1980s, RHCP have consistently maintained a broad, strong following for almost three (!) decades.

While the hugely successful 1999 release of Californication saw the band finally reach a decidedly mainstream audience with a new, more mature sound complete with soaring, anthemic hooks and instantly replayable singles, 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik stands as an unheralded funk rock masterpiece. This is my favorite cut off that album.

2. Darondo - My Momma and My Poppa

In the early 1970s, William Pulliam recorded a slew of enjoyably sublime soul singles in the San Francisco Bay area as "Darondo" for Music City Records, a locally popular label that due to distribution problems, had never left California. After having been unearthed by British DJ Giles Peterson, the 1973 single "Didn't I" caught the attention of modern Californian groove label Ubiquity Records and Darondo's complete discography, which at that time had only been treasured by dedicated collectors of rare funk and soul records, was very quickly re-exposed to modern listeners.

Known to have only actually released three singles and played four shows in the 70s (including one opening stint for James Brown), Darondo disappeared from the music business for over 30 years; it is widely rumored that Pulliam created a life for himself as a pimp, but had been known to host local Bay area television specials, including "Darondo's Penthouse After Dark." Darondo's upcoming gig at Bonnaroo will certainly be his most substantial yet in this, the second stage of his musical career.

3. Dr. John - (Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away

I think there is a good reason why Bonnaroo takes its namesake from Dr. John and The Meters' 1971 funky blues classic Desitively Bonnaroo LP. The factually obvious reason is that "Bonnaroo" is Ninth ward NOLA slang, encompassing the French word "bon" meaning "good" and "rue" meaning "street." Taken literally, we would have the phrase "the best on the streets." According to Dr. John, "desitively" is a simple mash-up of "definitely positively."

Beyond etymology though, I think what music festivals, and specifically what Bonnaroo offers is a brief escape from everyday reality. A lot of the preconceived notions about music festivals involve a sort of survivalist, too-drugged-out-to-function atmosphere, but this could not be further from the truth: The music festival is a place of unbelievable positivity; where the capacity for a truly shared kinetic experience is as close to realized as we can get. If the objective of Dr. John and The Meters and the soul of NOLA funk music in general is to invigorate listeners with "the best on the streets" then we should only hope that we get a little "Bonnaroo" before our time is up.   

Funk Friday - Oliver Wang's Soul Sides - May 18th 2012

I have been completely obsessed and devoted to being something of a student and purveyor of The Funk and soul music for only a couple years now, but to the best of my recollection, it has always rested deep within my psyche; a long dormant beast cultivated throughout my almost 15+ years of being a musician, only now fully realized as a natural extension of my musical being. But there are many others that I myself look to whom are heavyweights in the writing, research and historical exploration of the genre.

Lately I have been increasingly drawn to Los Angeles writer Oliver Wang's spectacular blog Soul Sides. Wang is a prolific music journalist, academic and renowned crate digger who has written extensively about hip-hop and its historically associated groove genres since the early 1990s. I personally look to Soul Sides as a modern voice in the restoration of legendary funk and soul artists from decades past and have discovered quite a few spectacular records and cuts, a few of which I'd like to share for today's Funk Friday.

1. Eugene McDaniels - The Parasite
("Soul Sides: "Side Bar podcast #27")

 "Goddamn it! / Tryin' to make it real compared to what."

Gene McDaniels is something of a revered figure in the league of professional musicians spanning across multiple genres. Most famous for writing the above lyric in the consistently relevant protest song "Compared To What", the late McDaniels emerged from his Nebraska upbringings with a head full of jazz and a heart brimming with the gospel music of his youth to become a relatively popular pop-soul musician and songwriter, following the path of many African American musicians in the 1960s.

In 1968, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, a radicalized McDaniels left the United States in a self-imposed exile to Denmark and Sweden, eventually returning to America in 1971 to record his most famous record, "Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse", a visceral, politically liberated LP that spanned the soul, funk and folk genres, with many tracks decades later by hip-hop artists like Pete Rock and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. "The Parasite" is one of the most epic cuts of soul I have ever heard: McDaniels' soaring, sometimes guttural musings on the violence of America's past, backed by the laid back blues guitar of Richie Resnikofff and underlined by Alphonse Mouzon's kinetically satisfying grooves. 


2. Dizzy Gillespie - Matrix
("Soul Sides 04/19/2012: "Naturally Good: Perception and Today Records")

There isn't much that needs to be said about Dizzy Gillespie that hasn't been repeated ad nauseum, but why the hell not. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, Dizzy Gillespie, was instrumental (pun kind of intended) in pioneering and exposing listeners the world over to bebop and injecting Latin rhythms into his playing, effectively creating the afro-cuban genre. Gillespie's contribution to the evolution of funk music, or even perhaps the more focused jazz-funk genre are relatively limited, but we can reasonably say that come the 1970s, most popular jazz men (names like George Benson, Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis come to mind), had tried their hands at the increasingly lucrative funk scene in America.

Gillespie's 1971 "The Real Thing" LP is much more than the trumpeter attempting a stab at jazz-funk. Released by New York's Perception label, known for its soul and R&B records, the album, written mostly by Gillespie collaborator and pianist Mike Longo, is an example of groove-heavy, melodically dynamic jazz-funk; a sound that given Gillespie's genre defining career, is simultaneously refreshing and comforting. "Matrix", undoubtedly one of the most sampled and therefore pop culturally recognized Gillespie cuts, is a ridiculously catchy blast of signature Gillespie-style bebop and just plain infectious funk rhythm. 

3. Lionel Robinson - Steppin Out
("Soul Sides 04/11/2012: "Slapping Down 7"s")

 Finally, the most obscure of the musicians profiled in today's post, Lionel Robinson was discovered in 1967 singing on a street corner in New Orleans by a member of NOLA local band The Blue Pearls and shortly after landed an opportunity to record with producer Traci Borges of Knight Records, who would go on to sign Robinson to a record deal and write the first of Robinson's (now rare) EPs. Robinson would eventually leave Borges' label (now famous for rare funk/soul cuts by Jean Knight and Eddie Bo) to perform with other well-known NOLA soul performers though the years, but has never pursued other solo work to date.

"Steppin' Out", as Oliver Wang describes it, is "super-solid early ’70s gutbucket funk with an opening breakbeat...and slick bass work." Indicative of the developing NOLA funk style in the late 1960s and early 70s, popularized mainly by The Meters, with Robinson echoing James Brown gospel-style vocals, this is a raw, addictive cut that belongs on the dance floor and a must-listen for old school NOLA funk fans.

Funk Friday - Funk (also hugely infuential jazz) Artists - March 30th 2012

Usually when we think of the most influential funky jazz artists, we think of names like Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Roy Ayers; cats whose versatility and comfortability in their jazz roots allowed them to smoothly crossover into commercially and artistically successful careers in multiple genres, especially with the rise of funk music in the 1970s, which allowed traditional jazz artists to stretch out their rhythmic songwriting chops and enter into the pop blood stream.

Today we'll look at a few artists that are labeled and recognized in music circles as "jazz" artists, but in my mind are important contributors to the history and development of well-composed, infectious funk music. Two of them also worked with the man: Miles Davis, one of the undisputed legends of the fusion of jazz and progressive funk rock music.  

1. Every Little Step I Take - George Duke (1979)

Keyboardist George Duke, known for his jazz pedigree and work as a session musician, has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Jean-Luc Ponty, Frank Zappa and Parliament/Funkadelic's George Clinton. Having attended a life-changing Duke Ellington concert with his mother at the age of four, Duke's awakening to jazz came very early in life, eventually leading to a Masters degree in music composition and a brief teaching stint at a junior college in Oakland. But it was the gospel music in the Baptist church that taught Duke the roots of Black music, informing the funky soulful sound that would manifest itself in his solo work. Duke says that "art has to have something to communicate" and this cut off his 1979 LP Master of the Game is a taste of the outwardly funky but inherently jazz-oriented work found on many of Duke's albums released during the golden era of 1970s funk music.

 2. Norman Connors - Stella (1979)

A classically trained percussionist and drummer, Norman Connors met his idol, Miles Davis at age 13 and in middle school got the chance to sit in on drums with John Coltrane in place of the legendary Elvin Jones. Connors would go on to study his craft at Juilliard and like Duke, try his hand at session playing after receiving his degree, playing on records with names like Herbie Hancock and Pharaoh Sanders. Connors released a number of jazz/R&B LPs under his name after obtaining his first record deal, but it was only after Connors signed a deal with mainstream label Arista that he would find his funky sound. Off of his debut LP with Arista This Is Your Life, "Stella" is a soulful, danceable love song, representative of the funky R&B elements of his late-seventies jams that still inspire funk fans and collectors today. 

3. Stratus - Billy Cobham (1973)

Billy Cobham is known as one of the best jazz, fusion and funk drummers of all time, full stop. Most well known from his work as a permanent member of Miles Davis's band and The Mahavishnu Orchestra, part of what makes Cobham special has nothing to do with his lightning-fast chops, chameleon like versatile yet unmistakable style, or even his impressively precise dynamics. Cobham's true genius for funk enthusiasts in particular, is his songwriting ability. His LP A Funky Thide of Sings in particular is an absolute blast of intricate, uptempo funky rock-fusion, but this particular cut off his first release as a solo artist called Spectrum was a grammy-winning sensation and regarded in the fusion and drumming communities as a game changer. It's dark, viscerally funky stuff that also completely rocks.

Album Review: Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again

Steadily over the past decade or so, it has become clear that the UK has developed a knack for producing some of the most powerful and popular voices in the pop-soul/jazz scene heard round the world; names like Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Lily Allen and of course newly-crowned pop heavyweight Adele come to mind. New to the genre, quickly making a name for himself opening for Adele during her 2011 tour and winning the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll over such recognizable names as Skrillex and Frank Ocean, is Michael Kiwanuka, who released his wonderful debut LP Home Again in early March of this year.

Kiwanuka's brand of soulful jazz-pop has been compared to a bevy of singer/songwriters from decades past including Willie Nelson, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and my favorite soul singer/songwriter of all time, Bill Withers. The Withers connection has been made in every piece I've read written about Kiwanuka thus far, and from my view, it is an apt one: the lead track off of Home Again called "Tell Me a Tale" showcases Kiwanuka's propensity for 70s style swingin' soul-jazz rhythms and a lyrical tenderness (Lord I need lovin' / Lord I need good, good lovin') that is positively Withers-esque.

But while Kiwanuka certainly shares a meaningful amount of stylistic similarity with Withers, to me he sounds like the second-coming of Willie Wright, an only recently embraced soul-folk artist from the late 70s, whose LP "Telling the Truth" was released by the Numero Group in March of last year. Wright's brand of deeply felt soul - soft, delicate rhythms that maintain a melodic grace and palpable swing, is a departure from the kinetic funk of Bill Withers and more closely resembles the style that informs the bulk of Kiwanuka's album.

Like Wright, despite what Kiwanuka's first batch of songs perhaps lack in sophistication and versatility, the sheer listenability of smooth, infectiously lovable songs like "I'm Getting Ready", "Bones" and the melancholic title track ultimately make Home Again an impressive debut for an artist that is on the cusp of solidifying a place for himself in the pantheon of beloved British soul artists.

Funk Friday - The Chicago Sound - March 16th 2012

1. We Ain't Free - Boscoe

 The south side of Chicago produced many soul / funk superstars but is also known in funk circles as one of the beating hearts of American funk in the early-to-mid 1970s. The golden era of funk music was born out of the... need for a rougher, tougher sound evolving out of the popular soul music of the early 1960s and into the angry, violent mood in America, especially in low-income African-American communities beginning around 1967. Coming straight out of the south side, the self-titled album by Boscoe, discovered and re-released by the always reliable Numero Group in 2008, is a slice of virulently political funk that explicitly skewers American policy, while pushing through tremendously infectious funk grooves and melodies. "We Ain't Free" is the best example of the band's fearlessness, starting off with a dissonant blast on the Star-Spangled Banner then morphing into a delicious groove with the protest-worthy "Can't you see / We ain't free" chanted in sparkling harmonies throughout. 

2. Black Enuff - The Pharaohs 

 Before Maurice White formed the pop-funk behemoth known as Earth Wind and Fire, he was a session drummer from Chicago working for the legendary Chess records, having recorded tracks with the likes of legendary artists ...like Etta James. But before EWF, White put together an 11 (!) piece ensemble band with a percussion section led by White and Derf Reklaw, who would go on to become one of the most respected names in the world jazz genre. Their first album "Awakening", which Allmusic called "absolutely one of the finest funk albums of the early 70s, and one of the most unfairly neglected" is an impressively mounted LP that lays down complex horn arrangements on top of gritty afro-funk rhythms and a rowdy, free-flowing lyricism in tune with black protest rhetoric of the early 1970s. Easy to see early elements of EWF in this cut, called "Black Enuff".


3. Help Somebody - Earth Wind & Fire

Probably the most successful funk group ever, Earth Wind And Fire is founder Maurice White's crowning achievement and the truest expression of the Chicago funk sound. Formed in 1971 by White, their first, self-titled... album stood out in the increasingly crowded pantheon of funk groups of the 1970s with a decidedly eclectic sound employing afro-funk style grooves, heavy use of African percussion, White's complex horn arrangements (honed his time with The Pharaohs), and progressive, positive lyrics. EWF would go on to record seven top-10 albums, influence more popular musicians than appropriate to name and play for President Obama at his administration's first social event. "Help Somebody" is the first cut off their debut LP.

Funk Friday - NOLA Edition - February 17th 2012

Hey Y'all!

In honor of Mardi Gras next week I've decided to dedicate this week's Funk Friday to New Orleans-style funk music: A big, raw, noisy and sustained genre of The Funk that is characterized by its loyalty to the very roots of the New Orleans Jazz scene, specifically its use of brass instruments and band leaders that simultaneously front and orchestrate a league of backing musicians.

The NOLA style's unmistakable swing and overtly rhythmic sound have allowed for an international appreciation of artists like The Meters, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint and Eddie Bo. I've featured The Meters & Eddie Bo in the past, but here's a great rare-funk track from some NOLA style all-stars and a couple from the new heavyweights of the genre.

1. Earl King - Tic Tac Toe

This is a delicious piece of New Orleans-style Funk from NOLA R&B legend Earl King. King, better known for his compositions covered by popular musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, recorded this rare 45' from 1970 with the help of producer Allen Toussaint and The Meters as his backing band. Drummer Zigaboo Modeliste and guitarist Leo Nocentelli's funky fingerprints are all over this track; a simplistic but noteworthy collaboration from the libraries of Toussaint, The Meters and King.

2. Soul Rebels Brass Band - My Time

Continuing the tradition of the New Orleans Brass band into today's decidedly amorphous musical environment, the Soul Rebels Brass Band employ a cutting-edge version of the NOLA style, meshing Funk, Jazz, Hip Hop and R&B, making for an eclectically explosive listening experience. Since Katrina, the band has garnered international attention for bringing awareness to the devastation of their hometown, with appearances in HBO's NOLA-based "Treme" and Discovery Channel's "After the Catch" and a full touring slate including a set at the 2012 Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

3. Big Sam's Funky Nation - Big Ole Booty

Big Sam Williams is a true ambassador for NOLA style Funk the world over. Having seen him twice, once at Austin's SXSW music festival and most recently this summer, headlining the Toronto Beaches Jazz Festival, Big Sam and his Funky Nation are the undisputed champions of the hard working funk band. His shows are big, loud, long funk parties, the way that NOLA style funk parties should be. Here' s one of the better examples of Big Sam's sweat-drenched, booty shaking jams.

Funk Friday - February 10th 2012

1. Esperanza Spalding - Black Gold

You might recognize Esperanza Spalding as the winner of the Best New Artist award at the 2011 Grammys (beating out Justin Bieber and Drake). What you might not know is that she is a highly accomplished musician and academic, having taught at the Berklee College of music and travelled all over the world with four albums under her belt. Oh yeah, and she's only 27 years old. This is her latest single, a funky slice of neo-soul off her upcoming album "Radio Music Society".

2. BADBADNOTGOOD - Electric Relaxation

Toronto Hip-Hop Jazz trio BADBADNOTGOOD have been steadily building buzz and an intensely loyal fan base for themselves ever since posting a cryptic but headbangingly-original Jazz-Funk cover of a track from the now infamous Hip-Hop collective Odd Future back in April of 2010. Comprised of three friends from Humber College's Music program, BBNG have found themselves mentioned in the same sentence as big names like Flying Lotus, at the forefront of the post-modern Hip-Hop scene in North America. This is their silky, funky, dark cover of A Tribe Called Quest's "Electric Relaxation". Addictive stuff.

3. Eddie Hazel - Physical Love

 

 

 

A spacey, jammed out track off of legendary Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel's 1977 LP "Game, Dames & Guitar Thangs." Up there with Hendrix as one of the greatest black lead guitarists ever, Hazel is known for his explosive work with George Clinton and the P-Funk gang, but this album in particular showcases Hazel at his best, layering tight grooves on top of wild, facemelting guitar work. A fantastic LP, especially on Vinyl.