What's Funky Music ^{(Edition 2005)}

Preface

This short introduction does not cover all aspects of Funky Music. I have analysed, structured and commented on its evolution from the viewpoint of a Funk music collector and I gave priority to the music compared with other aspects such as cultural background of Funky Music. Therefore the most of the information is focused on the music itself, that means, on the musicians, the music tracks, the records year of release and so on. As such this particular history of Funk is not definitive, because there is a considerable amount of information about the socio-political environment out of which Funk was growing off that is missing . Therefore, where it is of significance, I refer to various information sources (books, websites …) where further information can be looked up in more detail.

The basis for this analysis about Funk, was the database containing 15'000 LPs, 45s, 12"s and CDs. Where artists and/or tracks are listed explicitly it's there to understand as a representative excerpt and is not a claim on completeness.

What's "Funk" ?

First of all, we should be able to define what "Funky Music" is or at least, what it seems to be. But that's not easy. There is not a single, global definition that would make it clear to everyone when talking about "Funk" as a music style. I asked a lot of collectors "what is Funk" and found that I received more funny replies than really helpful explanations. If you ask for a serious definition you will usually get "silence". Besides the more common aspects when analysing Funk as music (see below) Funk seems to be a personal thing to some extent. That's also the reason why some people hear the Funk in tracks where others don't. But there is one thing (my opinion) that all Funk music should have in common:

"Funk is that bumpy & groovy sound
that his your belly
sends out waves through the whole body
making you move your feet,
nod your head and feeling allright"

As mentioned above I try to give light to some aspects that might help you to form your own definition of where Funk begins and ends.

Funk: "A Time-Period"

Funk evolved between 1960-1965 from the already established music styles of "Soul, Gospel, Blues, Jazz, R & B". It's not possible to completely define which style has mostly contributed to the formation of Funk. Funk seems rather to be a product of a parallel, music-style crossover evolution where the first mixed forms of Funky Music developed from the already existing music styles (Soul-Funk, Blues-Funk, Soul-Jazz and so on).

If the period could be defined as a space of time within which the style was still evolving, then the period reaches from 1963 until today (2005), thus some 40+ years. That over 40 year period can be structured according the significance that the years had on the life-cycle of Funk as follows (see also in appendix 1 "Charted and Non-Charted Records", the column "Scale of Importance":

Funk: "Is Here & Now"

Since we now know that there is a lively scene culture going on, Funk is not only a past oriented thing, it's here and now, with reappearing old Funk stars but also with new band formations, consisting of fresh young musicians who play in the old spirit but contribute their own spice to it. It's important to mention that the new formations are not only average-quality revival bands but rather they are groups that able to give us Funk of a quality that compares to the Funk that was made when the music was in full bloom - both recorded and when performed live. One example besides many other new formed bands (with a mix of international musicians) giving us that funky sweaty jams, we can see here live on stage …

"The Brand New Rhythm" live at the Schüür (Switzerland) in 2002 / Courtesy of Bobesch Dill

"Here & Now" … and  almost "Everywhere"!

Funk originally evolved in the USA and as collectors know Funk is no longer a mainly US centred thing. Collecting is an internationally spread phenomenon with people loving the sounds all over the world. There is also a growing number of new, high quality Funk bands coming from many places from all over the world.

Funk: "An Attitude, a Life-Style, a Mean of Expression"

Funk grew out of a particular political and social environment in which "war and freedom" (Vietnam), "the claim for racial equality" (Martin Luther King) beside others, were important matters. On one hand this environment had it's influence on the evolution of Funk music (as it had on Rock), on the other hand Funk became a mean of expression for young black people (as witnessed most readily today in Rap and Hip-Hop) for their issues. Maybe the same could be addressed to Soul, but here we can see differences in the attitude and the means of expression.

Funk as a carrier/messenger for a critical attitude or even a positively expressed rebellion, by still holding onto a preservation of the joy of living, can be somewhat compared to blues. This is one impression that you have especially if your mother language is not English, because you first hear the instrumental aspect of the track. You might then listen carefully to its lyrics and may realize a serious or even sad content. But the overall impression remains, an even serious message was passed on in a positive way.

Life-style, attitudes and so on were also expressed by other means than the music itself. For example by the outfits of the musicians, from the dress-code haunted groups like James Brown's band, to groups with their colourful hippie- or carnival-like dresses like Parliament and Funkadelic, to groups where everybody was obviously free to dress in his on style, like …

"The Fabulous Mark III" / Courtesy of Gerald "Jazzman" Short

I don't mention the Fabulous Mark III purely for their outfits! Far from that, as a group who released one of the best and rarest up-tempo Funk tracks "Psycho", they stand for what is Funk all about.

More information about the history of Funk, about life-style and it's socio-cultural environment can be looked up in Ricky Vincent's book ""FUNK: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One" " (S.F. USA 1996).

Funk: "A live Party"

Funk stands also for "a great amount of people in party mood". That party mood, as well as defining the nature of Funk music, was emphasized by a great number of musicians in those Funk groups (usually 5 – 12 musicians).

Funk: "A Music-Style"

Generally there is the question of whether Funk is a music style of it's own or just spice which is added to other music styles? Funk as a raw, rhythmic version of Soul, Jazz, Blues, Afro, Latin, … and therefore rather a variation of a music style than a style on it's own?

… or is Funk even the sum of all these and maybe more ingredients?

Additionally it has to be mentioned, that the rhythm group is very much in the foreground and also the loudness of the bass plays an important role. Funk is performed by the musician, as it's said "out of the belly" and should reach the audience also there, instigating that earthy feeling. Remarkable in addition is that also solos are strongly bound in a rhythmic context, in the extreme case  a solo becomes almost a rhythm solo (take as example the trombone solos by Fred Wesley).

Nevertheless, a hint, that Funk was and partially is still today not noticed as its own style, is the fact, that in many US record stores for a long time there were the sections 'Soul', 'Jazz' … but often there was no section for 'Funk'. Depending on where the group or artist is generally filed under, the record can be found. Because there is actually no 'Soft'-Funk (that's mostly just 'Soul') and because LPs and 45s often contain tracks of both music styles, they are filed for the track on which the most people are going for and for the broad range of people, Soul and Jazz is of more importance and logically filed under these sections.

More Peculiarities of Funk

Funk is performed in a slow, up to fast version, but the most common Funk songs (vocal or instrumental) were recorded with beats between 85-125.

Often there is the question, "how do I recognize a Funk record"?. Naturally there is no real correct answer for that, but often (not always) Funk songs have a remarkable title. There is a certain experience needed to derive with certainty from it's title whether it is a Funk song or not (for example 'Doing their own thing', 'Get on down', 'Get on up and get into it', 'Fat bag',  'Shake that thing', 'Bump some booty', 'Do it, to it', 'Catch a groove', 'Come on down', 'Chicken bump', 'Itch and scratch',....). Often, such titles in connection with the label (record company), attributes of the LP cover (design, liner-notes …) respectively the label design of 45s (… and additional information) are very helpful in discovering an otherwise little known Funk song.

Did you miss the "Big Names" so far ?

Maybe you've noticed that almost everything about Funk was explained so far without reference to the Big Names like James Brown, Meters and all the others in the examples herein, and also the pictures show groups which represent more the underground scene. That was the whole intention! There are enough books that refer to the same super stars of Funk and completely ignore the less known groups. Sure, the famous ones deserve the attention, but the same do all those artists and groups who gave us super sounds but unfortunately never made it to big public attention for whatever reason. We should not forget that many members of later famous Funk groups  made their first appearances in such groups, and took with them some ideas which were developed in those groups and brought it into the famous ones. That was the base and source for the evolution of Funk, so some remarkable less known groups were put in front in this chapter.

The different Funk-Styles

So far I have attempted to describe "Funk" in general. To speak of "Funk", there should be mention of the particular  characteristics more or less.  But Funk, as I said before, exists in different variations. Funk was mixed with previous existing music styles, was derived from them.

Again, it's important to mention that the following definitions are far from being a universal, all encompassing and fully 'agreed' description of Funk styles. But nevertheless it's an attempt at giving the different variations a name (respectively a hold on names already established) with the purpose that you could express more clearly of what kind of Funk you are talking about. Therefore the below listed sample songs act as a reference. In case someone doesn't know what you mean when talking about "Soul-Funk" you could refer to the listed tracks to express more clearly what you mean.

Note: For this educational purpose, all sound-samples duration is limited to 2:30 min. and it's quality is limited to 128kbits sound-quality. To enjoy full length and full quality of these sounds, you are encouraged to buy the official releases on vinyl records, on CDs or other formats. The most of them are today available on reissues or compilations, therefore please support the musicians and buy these recordings on your favorised media.

... And what's DEEP-FUNK?

The term "Deep-Funk" is partially misunderstood as it's own music style. But Deep-Funk has another background than being it's own music style or defining a variation of a Funk style. I would like to include here an extract of what Jason Stirland has written in his article "How deep is your Funk?" as an attempt to explain what's all about.  

Summarized quote in the form of an abstract (from the article by Jason Stirland):

The term "Deep-Funk" undoubtedly came into being via Keb Darge, a long term 'inmate' of the Northern Soul scene and renowned rare Funk 45 jock. There were of course many other people who had looked for and enjoyed similar sounds – even before the legendary out-spoken Scotsman took up the torch – but ...

The first definition of "Deep Funk" came in 1995/96 when Keb Darge, joined by all round good guy Mark Cotgrove (aka DJ Snowboy), ran their rare Funk nights in Central London.

... to conclude that only the records that are played at the club called 'Deep-Funk' define the term "Deep Funk", would be misleading. If the term "Deep Funk" could be neatly defined, then a lot of people would point to the sounds on the three 'Keb Darge's Legendary Deep Funk' compilations which document the sounds featured in his sets over a six year period. What makes this problematic is, that those albums contain tracks that don't fit into a supposed magical period of '68-73', furthermore the compilations featured even Modern Soul. To conclude that only the records that are played at the club called 'Deep-Funk' define the term "Deep Funk", would be misleading. If the term "Deep Funk" could be neatly defined, then a lot of people would point to the sounds on the three 'Keb Darge's Legendary Deep Funk' compilations which document the sounds featured in his sets over a six year period. What makes this problematic is, that those albums contain tracks that don't fit into a supposed magical period of '68-73', furthermore the compilations featured even Modern Soul.

"Deep Funk" is a label that distances itself from the more widely understood manifestations of the word "Funk". The creation of the "Deep Funk" scene was based on finding and introducing what some would describe as 'advanced dance floor records'. It's a pointless and near impossible task to attempt to attribute a rule to what makes one rare Funk sound "Deep" and the other not. Maybe the distinction should be drawn between the locally produced Funk records and the nation-wide distributed offerings. These distinctions may then go some way to explaining the difference in the feel , sound and spirit of the music.

"Deep Funk" followers have often been accused of subscribing to the scene purely for the rarity and exclusivity of it's music.

Own comment to the topic:

All so-called "Deep Funk" tracks can be related to one and/or the other previously described variations of Funk, like "Funk, Soul-Funk, Soul-Jazz, ….". One important point shows us that it would be wrong to define "Deep Funk", as a variation of "Funk" like "Soul-Funk". As Keb Darge was focused as DJ onto 45s only, 99% of the so-called Deep-Funk tracks were obviously 45s releases. Consequently what ever a definition could be, it would have to be extended by "… on 45s only", because if it's available on LP only, no matter how 'deep' it is, it's consequently neglected by the scene, as if "Deep Funk" depends on the released 45s format. As an example, "Joe Lee & His Combo: Bottom of the bag" was 're-discovered' on 45 and declared as "Deep-Funk". Later it turned out that this track was originally issued on LP too. The track is still a must have Deep-Funk track for the collectors. Alternatively the "Invaders: Spacing out" album on the Duane label was never listed as a must have for Deep Funk collectors even the sound fits perfect to the other Deep Funk tracks.