Jazz-funk

Jazz-funk
Herbie Hancock, one of the pioneers of jazz-funk
Stylistic origins	Jazz funk soul rhythm and blues
Cultural origins	Late 1960s – 1970s, United States
Subgenres
Free funk
Other topics
Jazz fusion

Jazz-funk is a style that grew out of jazz^[1] and the music fused jazz and funk music. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre whose spectrum is quite wide and ranges from strong jazz improvisation to soul, funk or disco with jazz arrangements, jazz riffs, jazz solos, and sometimes soul vocals.^[2]

Overview

Jazz-funk has basic harmonic structure or can be improvised. ^[3] Characteristic is the emphasis of danceable funky grooves.^[4] Arrangements, melody, and overall writing were heavily emphasized. In a nutshell this is a departure from funky jazz and free jazz back to the street funk movement of the era.

Pre-history

Early 1960s James Brown created "pure funk", a genre that created this groovy rhythm,^[5] which was played by James Brown's funky drummers Clyde Stubblefield and John "Jabo" Starks.^[6]

History

Examples of early jazz funk albums were Miles Davis' On the Corner (1972)^[7] and Jimmy Smith's Root Down (1972). The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, Lightnin' Rod, T.S. Monk, Pleasure, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Lenny White,^[8] Don Blackman, Ramon Morris, Monk Higgins, Wilbur Bascomb,^[9] and Les DeMerle^[10] and Michael Henderson^[11] also released jazz funk albums. Miles Davis, Donald Byrd^[12] and Herbie Hancock influenced on jazz funk. The Mizell Brothers are being listened to jazz funk fans. Their work has also been sampled in modern music.

Jazz-funk dance is directly related to the genre, with Jennifer Lopez popularizing it in the sketch comedy television series In Living Color.^[13]

At its conception, the jazz-funk genre was occasionally looked down upon by jazz hard-liners as a sell-out, or jazz for the dance halls. It was insubstantially presumed by these to be not intellectual or elite enough, which led to controversy about the music crossing over, but it was making jazz much more popular and mainstream.^[14]

From a pop audience perspective, the ambivalence towards the jazz-funk genre arose – despite commercial success – because it was "too jazzy" and therefore too complex.^[15]

Many mainstream artists in jazz used the talents of a few producers who were specialists in the genre and generated great commercial success. The Mizell Brothers, Larry and Fonce, produced many jazz-funk artists such as the Blackbyrds, Donald Byrd, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Gary Bartz, and more.^[16] Philly soul musician Dexter Wansel released jazz funk album "Life on Mars" in 1976.

Nu jazz blends jazz-funk with other music such as EDM, techno, and house. German group Jazzanova is an example of nu jazz.^[17]

UK jazz funk

In the UK's nightclubs of the mid to late 1970s, DJs like 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.^[18] In the late 1980s, the work of rare groove club DJs in England who were interested in looking back into the past and re-discovering old tunes, such as Norman Jay, Chriss Hill, Bob Jones, Colin Curtis and Gilles Peterson. Gilles Peterson formed new record label BGP Records.^[19]

They were encouraged by club DJs like Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent, who was then on BBC Radio London, and Greg Edwards, who had a Saturday evening show on London's first-ever commercial radio station, Capital Radio. They had a big jazz festival in 1980, and the jazz-funk band Light of the World performed in the Festival.^[20] The first of these self-contained bands to establish a real UK identity was Light of the World, formed by Kenny Wellington,^[21] 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, which itself was founded by Peterson and Eddie Piller. US3 covered "Cantaloupe Island", originally recorded by Herbie Hancock.

See also

• Rare Groove
• Acid jazz
• Jazz fusion

References

External links

• Jazz-funk at AllMusic
• Jazz funk (History in Britain)
• Blues & Soul Magazine Online
• Global Funk Radio

This page was last edited on 8 April 2024, at 04:01