ThreadBare said:

Preach

calldapplwondery83 said:

I can't believe NONE of you remebered George Clinton! Funkadelic and the early Parliaments were inventing funk too - JB moved from R&B into Funk, and they moved from Blues into FUNK. Personally I like GC better than JB.

I would say James Brown but I have heard some stuff by Jr. Walker and the Allstars and Booker T and the MGs from the 1960s that is funky as hell. I have no idea who invented it.

The fact of the matter is (as PFunkJazz and Threadbare have indicated) James Brown's American "FUNK" is based on the technique of the African drummers.
Each drummer plays his own very specific rhythm. When played alone, may seem insignificant.
But when each drummer's rhythm is stacked one on top of the other, an intense hypnotic groove is created.

James Brown did that with the drums and combined melodic instruments (guitar, bass, keys, horns).
However even with the melodic instruments, the rhythm played is paramount.

And when you talk about the extenders of the FUNK lexicon (Sly, Clinton, etc.) you must include Herbie Hancock.

Who with the Head Hunters releases...



...proved that FUNK doesn't have to be one-line vamps. FUNK can have extreme melodic and harmonic interest also.


tA

Tribal Disorder

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

God.

GangstaFam said:

Eric Clapton?

While it's true that James Brown's "Outta sight" and "Papa's got a brandnew bag" could be labeled as the first real funk tunes, funk syncopated rhythms can be found in the hard bop of the 1950s already. Horace Silver for example had a style that was labeled "funky" in the 1950s.
In the 60s, JB pioneered next to a group that used to scare the shit out of him back in the day: Dyke and the Blazers. Up to this day, JB doesn't want to hear any tunes by Dyke at his parties.

ThreadBare said:

Whoop, there it is!!!

Hmm.....

The thread initiator should do what the most recent "sleuths" here did:

Just google the word "funk", copy and paste. Sheesh!

And funk did not come from Africa entirely. Its a Black American genre of music. Derived from and heavily dependent upon the rhythms of West Africa? Yes. Entirely African? No.

chuckaducci said:

That's true... I remember that from the late 60's through the 70's, some African and Afro-Brazilian artists like Manu Dibango and Gilberto Gil saying that they would occasionally enlist American players, precisely because they wanted musicians that could play with a Funk feel....


...

paligap said:

My partner, Longineu, did some gigs with Manu years ago.


tA

Tribal Disorder

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

chuckaducci said:

This site is much better for this IMO, than your advice.

"Funk" was invented by jazz musicians of the 50s.

theAudience said:

TALK!!!

Funk can do airthang!!!!

This site is much better for this IMO, than your advice.

Why you took my post as an attack on you is beyond me. All I was saying was that if you wanted to find out who invented funk, just google it. You'd get the same information from the internet that some posters cut and pasted in this thread.

Everybody who knows anything about music knows that James Brown, Sly Stone and then George Clinton should be considered the founders and first proponents of funk.

My "advice" is the shit, baby.

funkpill said:

can dig it.

chuckaducci said:

Interesting story on African funk. James Brown did a concert tour of Africa in early 70s. Bootsy was in his band then. A number of African musicians got inspired by James Brown's cultural exchange tour and it became a major force in developing Afro-funk. Artists like Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade had simlar musical ideas that were so inspired. So while funk as developedin America based on African rhythms it went back to Africa to influence Afro-funk.

MadameS said:

God invented FUNK! FUNK STARTS WITH THE MOTHERLAND.

PIGMEAT MARTIN IS THE FIRST DUDE I HEARD COME WITH SOME REAL FUNK. JB KINDA COPPED HIS GROOVE. JAMES MADE IF POPULAR, GEORGE CLINTON MADE IT AN ARTFORM. AND OF COURSE SLY. JB IS THE DNA OF IT ALL!!

MrSoulpower said:

Forgot about Dyke and the Blazers. They were some bad boys back in the day (Not that I have seen them.)

"Funk" to me means rhythmic tension, bluesiness and bottom heaviness. As a quality of rhythm and blues music, it certainly already existed prior to James brown, as a genre though, James Brown was definitely the author. Just about all west african rooted forms of music have layered rhythm, syncopation and whatnot. This quality, the "groove" or resultant of multiple overlapping syncopated rhythmic patterns, is present in jazz, r&b, rock etc., funk just emphasizes this quality above other characteristics, increases the quotient of syncopation and the complexity, increases the bottom, and uses every instrument as a rhythmic instrument (which also isn't entirely unique to funk and can be found in types of afro-latin and jazz music).

JB then sly put some extra grease on the concept !!!!!

Novabreaker said:

Read this again. And shut up everybody.

Look, it's cool that everyone wants to give props to Africa concerning the origins of funk. Of course, anything art that Black Americans participated in, I'm talking African slaves brought over to any part of the new world, has it's origins in Africa. Duh. But that is to neglect the fact that once over here, many of these African slaves created with new cultures, new forms of musical and artistic expression.....so...

Funk is not an African genre of music! Someone please,...go to Africa and find me a funk musician prior to James Brown or any Black American you want to include in this topic. Just as the fundaments of reggae are most likely based in Africa, reggae is a Black American art form; you could not find any element of reggae, funk, jazz or any other Black American art form existing in Africa before the slave trade save elements of rhythm.



Funk is a Black American form of artistic expression; its the rudiments of R&B.

Yes, as a Black American, I love my historical ties to Africa. But, as a man who studies music and musicology, I know that the Black American was and is one enterprising muthafucker.

theAudience said:

SUSTAINED!!!

And another thing...

Enough of this Headhunters lp being an extension of melodic and harmonic funk (such a thing is hard to find).

The reason why anyone would think this is because essentially, Headhunters is a jazz fusion album inspired by funk.

It's not a funk album. Its jazz fusion with R&B (funk and soul) rhythms.

chuckaducci said:

I can't argue with that in any shape or form.

chuckaducci said:

Again, funk can do airthang.....

chuckaducci said:

I think it's BOTH, and this ends up being a circular semantics argument. When I hear The Headhunters' "Chameleon", I hear FUNK. Does the fact that it has a solo on it exclude it from the Funk lexicon? Herbie formed the Headhunters Band precisely because he was turned out listening to Sly Stone and James Brown, and wanted to play some funk---of course, it was filtered through his jazz sensibilities...


...

The first guy who didn't wash his ass.

2freaky4church1 said:

Sorry, that's not funky enough. The true music form of Funk took years to evolve starting just from the beat of a drum in villages of Africa to now.