Funk

Author: Rickey Vincent
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1466884525
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Book Description
Funk: It's the only musical genre ever to have transformed the nation into a throbbing army of bell-bottomed, hoop-earringed, rainbow-Afro'd warriors on the dance floor. Its rhythms and lyrics turned bleak urban realties inside out with distinctive, danceable, downright irresistible music. Funk hasn't received the critical attention that rock, jazz, and the blues have-until now. Colorful, intelligent, and in-you-face, Rickey Vincent's Funk celebrates the songs, the musicians, the philosophy, and the meaning of funk. The book spans from the early work of James Brown (the Godfather of Funk) through today, covering funky soul (Stevie Wonder, the Temptations), so-called "black rock" (Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, the Isley Brothers), jazz-funk (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock), monster funk (Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubber Band), naked funk (Rick James, Gap Band), disco-funk (Chic, K.C. and the Sunshine Band), funky pop (Kook & the Gang, Chaka Khan), P-Funk Hip Hop (Digital Underground, De La Soul), funk-sampling rap (Ice Cube, Dr. Dre), funk rock (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus), and more. Funk tells a vital, vibrant history-the history of a uniquely American music born out of tradition and community, filled with energy, attitude, anger, hope, and an irrepressible spirit.

Everything Is on the One

Author: Scott Goldfine
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781541256606
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Book Description
Funk used to be a bad word. That was then. Now, funk is a pervasive style of music that has earned its rightful place alongside such other aural American art forms such as folk, blues, jazz and rock 'n roll. What's more, for those who free themselves, funk is a positive state of consciousness that brings together mind, body and soul in a quasi-spiritual experience of mesmerizing intensity. It took quite a while for funk to gain the respect it deserves. As with most other American music forms of the 20th century, funk remained a predominantly black phenomenon until the white public caught up and embraced it some 20 years after the fact. It had to survive the psychedelic 1960s, the disco 1970s and the new wave 1980s. This long-overdue book is a labor of love from a devout lifelong funk enthusiast. Everything Is on the One: The First Guide to Funk is designed to serve as an eye-opener for the uninitiated and as a reference guide for those already indoctrinated. The following pages thoroughly examine every aspect of funk through the inclusion of assorted text, reviews and lists. Everyone from J.B., Sly Stone and Hendrix to Clinton, Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Kool & the Gang and the Isley Brothers to the Bar-Kays and Slave to Run-D.M.C. and Dr. Dre to Stanley Clarke and Tom Browne to Muddy Waters and Stevie Ray Vaughan to the Talking Heads and Aerosmith is covered. There isn't really any specific formula for funk. But, you must have the right attitude and the music has to be on THE ONE. THE ONE stands for the first beat of standard four/four time in music (four counts per measure). Funk jumps on the first beat with a hard accent and then lays back in the groove for counts two through four. So just about everything in this book is on THE ONE. The content of this book is intended to be opinionated. It is designed to stimulate intelligent debate as to myriad topics that fall under the umbrella of funk. The objective is not to bash musical achievements or pursue character assassinations, but at the same time, measures are necessary to ensure the book's integrity. There are far too many music publications out there that find pandering to the industry and soft-pedaling issues seemingly unavoidable. This isn't one of them. By the same token, exceptional artists and outstanding work are given their just due. At this point, a word of caution is in order. Funk is extremely addictive and frequently results in an unquenchable desire to fill your ear hole with thumpin', bumpin', slammin', jammin' tunes. It can be an expensive habit, but always an immensely rewarding one. So slap your favorite jams into your stereo or iPod and read to the rhythmic rush while The First Guide of Funk does it to your eyeballs baby bobba!

The One

Author: RJ Smith
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101561106
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 556

Book Description
The definitive biography of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, with fascinating findings on his life as a Civil Rights activist, an entrepreneur, and the most innovative musician of our time Playing 350 shows a year at his peak, with more than forty Billboard hits, James Brown was a dazzling showman who transformed American music. His life offstage was just as vibrant, and until now no biographer has delivered a complete profile. The One draws on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Brown personally or played with him professionally. Using these sources, award-winning writer RJ Smith draws a portrait of a man whose twisted and amazing life helps us to understand the music he made. The One delves deeply into the story of a man who was raised in abject-almost medieval-poverty in the segregated South but grew up to earn (and lose) several fortunes. Covering everything from Brown's unconventional childhood (his aunt ran a bordello), to his role in the Black Power movement, which used "Say It Loud (I'm Black and Proud)" as its anthem, to his high-profile friendships, to his complicated family life, Smith's meticulous research and sparkling prose blend biography with a cultural history of a pivotal era. At the heart of The One is Brown's musical genius. He had crucial influence as an artist during at least three decades; he inspires pity, awe, and revulsion. As Smith traces the legend's reinvention of funk, soul, R&B, and pop, he gives this history a melody all its own.

Groove Theory

Author: Tony Bolden
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 149683061X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Book Description
Tony Bolden presents an innovative history of funk music focused on the performers, regarding them as intellectuals who fashioned a new aesthetic. Utilizing musicology, literary studies, performance studies, and African American intellectual history, Bolden explores what it means for music, or any cultural artifact, to be funky. Multitudes of African American musicians and dancers created aesthetic frameworks with artistic principles and cultural politics that proved transformative. Bolden approaches the study of funk and black musicians by examining aesthetics, poetics, cultural history, and intellectual history. The study traces the concept of funk from early blues culture to a metamorphosis into a full-fledged artistic framework and a named musical genre in the 1970s, and thereby Bolden presents an alternative reading of the blues tradition. In part one of this two-part book, Bolden undertakes a theoretical examination of the development of funk and the historical conditions in which black artists reimagined their music. In part two, he provides historical and biographical studies of key funk artists, all of whom transfigured elements of blues tradition into new styles and visions. Funk artists, like their blues relatives, tended to contest and contextualize racialized notions of blackness, sexualized notions of gender, and bourgeois notions of artistic value. Funk artists displayed contempt for the status quo and conveyed alternative stylistic concepts and social perspectives through multimedia expression. Bolden argues that on this road to cultural recognition, funk accentuated many of the qualities of black expression that had been stigmatized throughout much of American history.

Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?

Author: George Clinton
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476751072
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Book Description
Traces the funk music legend's rise from a 1950s barbershop quartet to an influential multigenre artist, discussing his pivotal artistic and business achievements with "Parliament-Funkadelic.".

Party Music

Author: Rickey Vincent
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613744951
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Book Description
Connecting the black music tradition with the black activist tradition, Party Music brings both into greater focus than ever before and reveals just how strongly the black power movement was felt on the streets of black America. Interviews reveal the never-before-heard story of the Black Panthers' R&B band the Lumpen and how five rank-and-file members performed popular music for revolutionaries. Beyond the mainstream civil rights movement that is typically discussed are the stories of the Black Panthers, the Black Arts Movement, the antiwar activism, and other radical movements that were central to the impulse that transformed black popular music—and created soul music.

The Music Lesson

Author: Victor L. Wooten
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440637695
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
From Grammy-winning musical icon and legendary bassist Victor L. Wooten comes an inspiring parable of music, life, and the difference between playing all the right notes…and feeling them. The Music Lesson is the story of a struggling young musician who wanted music to be his life, and who wanted his life to be great. Then, from nowhere it seemed, a teacher arrived. Part musical genius, part philosopher, part eccentric wise man, the teacher would guide the young musician on a spiritual journey, and teach him that the gifts we get from music mirror those from life, and every movement, phrase, and chord has its own meaning...All you have to do is find the song inside. “The best book on music (and its connection to the mystic laws of life) that I've ever read. I learned so much on every level.”—Multiple Grammy Award–winning saxophonist Michael Brecker

98% Funky Stuff

Author: Maceo Parker
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613743491
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
Maceo Parker's signature style became the lynchpin of James Brown's band when he and his brother Melvin joined the Hardest Working Man in Show Business in 1964. That style helped define Brown's brand of funk, and the phrase &“Maceo, I want you to blow!&” became part of the lexicon of black music. He took time off from James Brown to play with George Clinton's P-funk collective and with Bootsy's Rubber Band; he also formed his own band, Maceo and All the King's Men, whose records are cult favorites among funk aficionados. Here Maceo tells his own warm and astonishing story, from his Southern upbringing to his career touring the world and playing to adoring fans. Maceo has long called his approach to the saxophone &“2% jazz, 98% funky stuff.&” Now, on the eve of Maceo's 70th birthday, in prose as lively and funky as his saxophone playing, here is the definitive story of one of the funkiest musicians alive.

Presence and Pleasure

Author: Anne Danielsen
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 0819501603
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Book Description
In this exploration of the funk groove and its unique sounds, author Anne Danielsen takes an in-depth look at this under-explored genre. Danielsen concentrates on the golden age of funk in the late 1960s and the 1970s, focusing on two of the era's artists who made a substantial impact on the landscape of popular music: James Brown and George Clinton/Parliament. Aiming to understand funk not only as objectified musical meaning but also as lived experience, she begins with the musical events themselves and draws on her experiences as both a fan and a scholar to capture how their particular organization creates the funk listener's pleasure. Danielsen further examines issues surrounding race in the construction and consumption of this music, focusing her study with how white listeners responded to funk in the 1970s, and arguing that African American music has remained a means of catharsis and of dealing with pleasures of the body. Funk's crossover to international success among listeners of pop and rock music affected both the music itself and audiences' understanding of it. Presence and Pleasure shows us how.

Hit Me, Fred

Author: Fred Wesley
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822329091
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Book Description
The famous trombonist and arranger from the James Brown band and Parliament-Funkadelic tells his own story.