best musicians were in what funk band???

ok who had the best musicians in the these funk bands p-funk,commodores ,ohio players,war,mandrill,earth wind and fire,jacksons,they were all from the same era...
my vote for the most skilled musicians goes to mandrill ,
p funk were sometimes too loose ,commodores were real tight,best guitar player was sugarfoot from ohio players...

My vote goes to Mint Condition. Those brothers were BAAAAAD.

There are many hard to say who's best:
The Time
P- Funk
The JBs
The Bar-Kays
Con-Funk-shun
Earth Wind & Fire.

ThreadBare said:

Kool and The Gang, when they were still a "real" band.

I've often wondered if construction of a red lightsaber takes place before you can become a Republican, or is it something you do after initiation. Dah, well...

WAAAAAY too many to list!!

SteamForest said:

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I'm not sure about "best"....most of those bands had some great musicians, with great feel...and Funk really is one of those feel things, all about where you put that note (again, it's almost more about the space between the notes)... in many cases, there are musicians that have all the training in the world, but might never really get that "funk feel"...then there are some that just have an innate ability to funk...

..that said, if you look back on it, a lot of the favorite bands really tended to mix different stylists, from Jazz, R&B, Classical, Gospel, Rock, and Blues backgrounds, which in turn gave their sound more scope....

It was a great mix: In P-funk you had classically trained Bernie Worrell mixed with artists like Eddie Hazel and Billy Nelson, with the the Rock and Soul feel...and Bootsy is just one of the funkiest people on the planet, period!

Then there's Earth Wind and Fire's jazz musicians like Louis Satterfield, Maurice White, and producer Charles Stepney, from a Jazz and Classical background, mixed with Rockers like Johnny Graham and the R&B driven guitar of Al Mckay, along with multi-faceted keyboardist Larry Dunn...

...and for many of the artists, a Church background was a common denominator, many of them either played or sang in their local choirs and bands...

then bands like Mandrill and War were great at mixing the Funk with the Latin influences...so yeah there were all kinds of great sounds going into the mix...it's hard to say who was best...

I dunno, I guess it really all depends on what feel you prefer, whether you like your funk tight or loose, or very broad...

I think some of the tightest were the JB's, Tower of Power ( now they were Gnat's-Ass Tight!), and early Kool and the Gang...and Man, The Horn sections!! I did a couple of threads on favorite horn sections, and I have a hard time choosing....

Parliament-Funkadelic was interesting, because they could be tight if they needed to be, but would also keep it loose, and, to borrow from Bruce Lee, "Be like water"...

...and that's not always that easy. Case in point: In concert, a lot of bands' drummers, because of the excitement or adrenalin or whatever, tend to rush the beat...but Parliament drummer Jerome Brailey always kept a solid, steady groove, not too fast or slow, live or studio....

I do think it's Kool that back then, the influences were flowing back and forth! -- look at Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock...by the late 60's, they were already two of the preeminent Jazz artists of all time ....But when they heard Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix, they were like "Whoah!! What is that?!!?? I gotta learn to play like that--- I want that in my sound!!"








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[Edited 6/7/06 11:25am]

paligap said:

ThreadBare said:

sugarfoot was the best guitar player to play in a funk band
he is so underrated.

thebanishedone said:

My best live-experiences with incredible skills :

Cameo - 1987
EW&F - 1997 / 1998 ( and their 1981 live-dvd )
Maze - 1987
The Time - 1996 / 1997
Zapp - 1997
.
.
.
[Edited 6/8/06 8:33am]

thebanishedone said:

Along with Herbie's Headhunters, i'd have to throw Tower of Power into the mix...

Chester Thompson
Dave Garibaldi
Franco Prestia

...and that horn section!


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

Along with Herbie's Headhunters, i'd have to throw Tower of Power into the mix...

Chester Thompson
Dave Garibaldi
Franco Prestia

...and that horn section!

paligap said:

Ndeed!! (Check out my comment on them a few posts up!)

Yeah, Francis "Rocco" Prestia was dangerous! Can't read a note, but his 16th note attack made folks like Jaco nod their head!! Chester on the Keys, Garibaldi's drums, Lenny Pickett, Emilio Castillo, Lord!! and Doc Kupka on the Baritone Sax!!!In fact, player for player, it's hard to fuk wit them, especially in their heyday, with Lenny Williams singin...

btw, T. O. P. horn man Greg Adams did the horn arrangement on fellow Bay area kats Tony Toni Tone's tune, "Wild Child" (from "House of Music") in fact, that whole tune was a great tribute to Tower of Power...



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theAudience said:

paligap said:

Ndeed!! (Check out my comment on them a few posts up!)

Yeah, Francis "Rocco" Prestia was dangerous! Can't read a note, but his 16th note attack made folks like Jaco nod their head!! Chester on the Keys, Garibaldi's drums, Lenny Pickett, Emilio Castillo, Lord!! and Doc Kupka on the Baritone Sax!!!In fact, player for player, it's hard to fuk wit them, especially in their heyday, with Lenny Williams singin...

btw, T. O. P. horn man Greg Adams did the horn arrangement on fellow Bay area kats Tony Toni Tone's tune, "Wild Child" (from "House of Music") in fact, that whole tune was a great tribute to Tower of Power...



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Oh yeah. And I agree on Kool & The Gang.
Back in the pre-JT days those guys could throw down the funk and turn on a dime and do a slick arrangement on something like Wichita Lineman or Stop, Look, Listen.

Mr. Brown even gave 'em props...

"They're the second-baddest out there...They make such bad records that you got to be careful when you play a new tape on the way home from the record store. Their groove is so strong you could wreck."

...Now that's an endorsement.


tA

James Brown band the JB's were the tightest funkiest band ever!!!

Only group playing funk I ever seen get to that level was Parliament/Funkadelic.

Thumparello said:

ThreadBare said: