Graycap23 said:

Funkadelic?

Today's greatest Funk acts IMO ..

OperatingThetan said:

GC is not the best in the top 4-5 though. George Clinton used many of JB's musicians (Bootsy, Catfish, Maceo, Fred, ect.)

woogiebear said:

Yes. I'll be back my real answer:

FuNkeNsteiN said:

For me, no contest. Hugely assisted by his great 1960-75 bands, imo JB is the Alpha and the Omega of funk - The once and future King of Funk. I'm surprised this wasn't one of his many self-proclaimed titles, but he did have 'King of Soul' goin' on, I suppose .

While Sly obviously made several classic funk tracks, I'd actually class Sly as far more pop influenced; perhaps more a pioneer of 'funky pop', later practised and developed by the likes of Stevie Wonder etc.

George Clinton has always been a musicial magpie, but imo he never invented anything in his career. He just took Sly's cosmopolitan psychedelic pop soul template, added some JB, Hendrix and Norman Whitfield Temptations (imo a hugely underrated influence on P-Funk), borrowed Sun Ra's clothes and took it to the stage .

And, much as I love Bootsy, as a funk bass pioneer, he comes after Bernard Odum, Sam Thomas, Charles Sherrill (all '60s JB bass players for the unfunkified ), Larry Graham, and the spiritual influence of that era of bass, James Jamerson.

So, for me, JB is the King of Funk and by far the best funk artist there has ever been and ever will be. Everyone else, however good they were/ are, is just standing on the shoulders of the giant that is the JB legacy.

Damn, just listing the above shows what a great era of music that was.

DarlingDiana said:

None at all. A pretty sensible, balanced assessment.

Imo JB is, for better or worse (the worse mostly being hip hop and certain brands of jazz-funk ) the most influential individual artist in the last 50 years of popular music. He to that what Louis Armstrong basically was to the previous generation.

While funk itself is arguably a dead genre, the rhythmic innovations of the Brown sound (whoever takes credit for inventing this bit or that element) reverberate through almost all modern forms of western dance music, also influencing other genres such as jazz, rock, reggae (arguably the 'chank' guitar, straight out of 'Papa's Bag', though there may be a Motown or Jamaican jazz source for that in reggae), disco and electronic dance music along the way.

Elvis was less influential musically imo, much as I like him. However, personal analysis of his 1950s and late '60s-early '70s work in particular reveals he had a very unique rhythmic sense, expressed through body movement, that his bands had to watch and follow or die - not unlike James Brown himself.This 'sense' was never as classically formalised as Brown's 'commandments of funk' , and Elvis' rhythmic 'feel' was imo original and personal to him and is very difficult to successfully duplicate. This 'feel' is perhaps the secret of why his great up-tempo music is so unique. The latter similarly but x 10 for JB.

I like some of Michael Jackson's work, but his impact on dance music is entirely post James Brown. And Prince's funk music, however brilliant it was in the '80s and at times '90s, is clearly nowhere without the JB template.

While the Brown Sound clearly has many ancestors in r n b, gospel (err, Dixie Hummingbirds main duo = the original JB and Bobby Byrd anyone? Man they could get down for Jesus' sake ), hard-bop jazz and onwards, without the uniquely dynamic human being that was James Brown, funk would never have entered fruition in the way it did, and may not even have been 'invented' in the first place.

All lay hands on the sacred grooves of the 'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag' '45 and say 'Amen', followed by a loud 'Good God!!'.

Who the king? You should KNOW who the king is and that is James Joseph Brown.

MrSoulpower said:

Check out the Bamboos from Australia, same funk different chunk of earth...

Slave2daGroove said:

who are these cats-osaka monorail??? info please!

jonylawson said:

http://www.myspace.com/osakamonaurail

2Jay said:

They were mostly the touring band for Marva White. I know whay you're feeling: I had never heard of them either. I googled them.

2Jay said:

Oooh shit. Dem curls!

2Jay said:

sounds pretty good.

2Jay said:

That's Marva Whitney, not Marva White. Osaka Monaurail have been performing for 15 years. They have released four albums and a dozen 45s. I've been working with them for a couple of years now, and I honestly say that as a live act, they are the closest to the James Brown orchestra that I have seen so far, and definetely the tighest band these days.

Check out some clips on YouTube:

With Marva Whitney:

http://www.youtube.com/wa..._N1FK_1zf4
http://www.youtube.com/wa...t7cqhoYRKs

Alone:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...31R9EzwI10
http://www.youtube.com/wa...L2lKwrNgHQ
http://www.youtube.com/wa...CmzHiwUp80

Is there any female artist(s) that made a influencial impact on Funk?

Krytonite said:

A couple of ladies that worked with James and George Clinton, and maybe Meshell Ndegeocello abut that's about it.

Krytonite said:

BETTY DAVIS !



patrice rushen


[Edited 10/23/07 1:48am]

Krytonite said:

[Edited 10/23/07 7:36am]

MrSoulpower said:

Damn, they're coming to my city in Nov, should I go

This is THEE single undisputed queen of funk, nevermind what you heard...

magnificentsynthesizer said:

Definetely!!! Where are you based?

MrSoulpower said:

Milwaukee.