Jazz Funk Song

[Giorgio Aguilar]

Esperanza Spalding is arguably one of the most talented jazz bassists and songwriters of the last 20 years. At the beginning of her career, her output was predominantly oriented towards traditional jazz covers.

Keyboardist and musical director of the band Larry Dunn describes how they came up with the groove together in a little room, with Maurice using a slightly politically-incorrect working title whilst penning the lyrics.

It features legendary soul duo Sam and Dave on vocals, who each offer the heartiest of vocal takes. The Rhodes and Hohner clav layers are supplied by none other than Herbie Hancock, while the Brecker Brothers tear through the brass parts with typically great aplomb.

Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds,[1] and analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre that ranges from pure jazz improvisation to soul, funk or disco with jazz arrangements, jazz riffs, jazz solos, and sometimes soul vocals.[2]

Jazz-funk is primarily an American genre, where it was popular throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s that also achieved appeal on the club-circuit in England during the mid-1970s. Similar genres include soul jazz and acid jazz.

Jazz-funk exhibits several distinctive characteristics. More emphasis is placed composition than improvisation, as well as arrangements, melody, and writing. This is a return from funky jazz and free jazz to the street funk movement. Examples of early jazz funk albums include Miles Davis' On the Corner (1972)[3] and Jimmy Smith's Root Down (1972). The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, Lightnin' Rod, T.S. Monk, Pleasure, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Lenny White, Don Blackman, Monk Higgins, Wilbur Bascomb,[4] and Les DeMerle[5] and Michael Henderson[6] released jazz funk albums. Miles Davis, Donald Byrd and Herbie Hancock were major influences. The Mizell Brothers were producers for many artists. Their work was sampled in later music.

A second characteristic was the use of electric instruments, such as the Rhodes Piano or the electric bass guitar, particularly in jazz fusion, and the first use of analogue electronic instruments notably by Hancock, who during his jazz-funk period surrounded himself with Moog synthesizers. He used Hohner D6 Clavinet and others. Hancock adopted jazz-funk on albums such as Head Hunters (1973). In the early 1980s, he added electronic influences into the jazz-funk mix when he created Future Shock (1983). Jennifer Lopez popularized it in the sketch comedy In Living Color.[7]

Many mainstream artists in jazz used specialist producers to great commercial success. Larry and Fonce Mizell [10] were produced many of the major jazz-funk artists (Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Gary Bartz, Donald Byrd, and more).

In the UK's nightclubs of the mid-late 1970s, DJs including Colin Curtis in Manchester, Birmingham's Graham Warr and Shaun Williams, and Leeds-based Ian Dewhirst and Paul Schofield championed the genre, along with Chris Hill and Bob Jones in the South.[11]

While the majority of jazz-funk bands are American, British jazz-funk artists and bands emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[12] They were encouraged by club DJs such as Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent, who was then on BBC Radio London, and Greg Edwards, who had a show on London's first commercial radio station, Capital Radio. They launched a jazz festival in 1980, where the jazz-funk band Light of the World performed.[13] Jazz-funk was also played on Europe's first soul station, Radio Invicta, and pirate radio stations such as Solar Radio, Horizon, and Kiss FM.[14] The first of these bands to establish a UK identity was Light of the World, formed by Kenny Wellington,[15] Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick and other musicians. The better known acid jazz movement has been seen as a rediscovery of 1970s jazz-funk, interpreted by artists of the 1990s. Incognito, The Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, and the James Taylor Quartet helped the acid jazz movement surge in popularity. UK group US3 signed to Acid Jazz Records, founded by Peterson and Eddie Piller. US3 covered "Cantaloupe Island", originally recorded by Herbie Hancock.[16]

With the launching of BeatCaffeine, I thought it was important that one of my early posts did two things 1) compile a list of recordings that would both help set the tone for this site, and 2) create an opportunity for personal exploration into what has become my one of my favorite music genres to collect, listen to, and learn about.

Each track on this list features the album, year, and label the recording was featured on with a short 2-3 sentences about the selection. At the end of this list, enjoy a Spotify playlist featuring 90+ of the 100 tracks (Not all songs are on streaming platforms).

A personal favorite from the New York based latin-influenced jazz fusion group, who released four albums in the mid-late seventies. An often overlooked gem that you can typically find in the cheap bins.

A private press rarity from trumpeter Kamal Abdul Alim featured on the early eighties recording Dance. This album features a solid cast of musicians including saxophonists Bobby Watson, James Spaulding, and drummer Idris Muhammad. After being released on the small French label 52e Rue East, the album was later reissued in 1988 on Stash Records. Both issues continue to be very rare finds.

An incredible groove-heavy gem from Serbian composer and pianist Bora Rokovic. Recorded in a trio setting and released on MPS Records, the track features a deep funk bass line from German bassist Peter Trunk that lays the foundation for the piece. Included on the 1972 album Ultra Native, the hard-to-find album usually goes for a few hundred dollars these days.

A soulful space-aged orbital funk jam from legendary organist Charles Earland featuring a mind-blowing cast of musicians including Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone), Harvey Mason (drums), Larry Killian (percussion) with Rudy Copeland on vocals.

Featured on one of the most unique and greatest recordings from the Legendary Latin percussionist. The instrumental title track to the 1971 standout recording blends funky Latin-influenced rhythms with deep heavy funk grooves. Just one of many incredible tracks from this album.

Another masterful collaborative effort between trumpeter/composer Donald Byrd and the jazz-funk production tag-team Larry and Fonce Mizell. Featured on the 1974 album Stepping Into Tomorrow, which is one of the most sampled albums ever (A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, J-Dilla) and the third collaboration between Byrd and the Mizell Brothers (following 1973 recordings Street Lady and Black Byrd). The recording also included jazz greats Gary Bartz (alto saxophone) and Harvey Mason (drums).

Five years ago, life brought me together with the contemporary Azerbaijani artist Farhad Farzali. From that moment, the discovery of a very interesting and ancient culture of this country began for me, because Farhad and his friends turned out to be those who not only know their roots, but aspire to preserve the heritage and transmit it through their art.

So gradually, I began to immerse myself in the peculiarities of Azerbaijani culture in general and music in particular. As an art critic-orientalist, I found that Azerbaijani culture is interesting to me no less than everything I had already studied during my studies at the university, but it became especially obvious that I was shy in knowledge in this area when I directly came into contact with the huge and beautiful, but unfortunately practically unknown throughout the world, layer of the culture of this country.

The friendship between Rafik Babayev and Akif Islamzade is the first and the most striking example of experiments on folk music in the jazz-funk style. Despite the weakening of censorship, the material was never released at the state level and was not released on vinyl in the USSR. In 1986, Akif stopped his musical activities due to complete loss of voice.

The mix also features music from Azerbaijani cinema from the Soviet Union period. I have always been interested in the topic of music in films, so it was difficult for me to ignore this absolutely important part of the visual language.

Russian-born multi-instrumentalist Katya Yonder has just released her first LP since 2017, Multiply Intentions. An ode to her diverse musical upbringing, the album sees Katya explore both local and neighbouring musical cultures and a wide range of social influences.

We now premiere all our mixes a week early on Mixcloud Select. Subscribe to our channel to listen first, download the mixes, and ensure that the artists included in each one gets paid.

The attitude of the Soviet authorities to jazz was ambiguous. Soviet jazz performers, as a rule, were not banned but harsh criticism of jazz itself was widespread in the context of criticism of Western culture in general. Vagif Mustafa-Zadeh was too experimental for that position. To save the situation he was advised to make a more accessible jazz project with a Soviet twist. This is how ВИА Севиль appeared.

During the Soviet period, it was difficult to deal with Western alternative music in Azerbaijan. The salvation for Rafig Babayev was the work on music for TV and cinema, where dissent in terms of sound was not prohibited. Since 1984 he has been the artistic director and chief conductor of the Variety Symphony Orchestra of Azerbaijan Radio and Television.

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