Cymande

And the winner is: Cymande!
One of the best breaks ever and a very thoughtafter compostition puts a UK band on top of my this week`s defintion of funk. As it seems not so many liked the funky intermezzo - I will sure do one again in the future.
A shame this band only existed from 1971-1974 seeing how easily these eight autodidacts created beautifully complex though reduced music not giving the slightest fuck on crossing styles or genres.
The combination of the warm funk bassline and african rythms giving this irresistable groove and then these killer horns far away in the distance - "but its allright!" A trip has started one cannot elude from anymore. . .
Brothers on the slide is a far more slow & sexy groove like the american tracks of the time. Nevertheless absolutely brilliant.


CYMANDE -BRA 1973
CYMANDE - BROTHERS ON THE SLIDE 1974

(FUNKY WEEK # 6) Earth, Wind & Fire - Fair But So Uncool 1974

This is of the 1974 album called "Open Your Eyes" which started the commercial breakthrough being their first top 30 in the pop charts - the rest is history.

(FUNKY WEEK # 5) Magnum - Evolution 1974

Philly goes diggin` deeper. Evolution is one of these funky warm hardcore soul weapons.
What a record!! Even if you cannot sing at all join in to make this party :
"Evo-lu-tion what a so-lu-tion ?"

(FUNKY WEEK # 4) Fred Wesley & The JB's - I Wanna Get Down 1974

Funk Week without James Brown? this is as close as it will get to him. Next to being member of several of his bands and even the band leader to this (JB) project, the renowned Jazz trombonist Fred Wesley was fortunate and good enough to have also played with George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic and other grandeurs like Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, Randy Crawford and many more in his long career.
A classic funky dance monster with flying wahwahs, a highend horn section and an amazing drumsound doing its part to get people down on the dancefloor.

(FUNKY WEEK # 3) The Meters - Ain't No Use 1974

I don`t have to think twice when I claim the 1974 Rejuvenation from the Meters to be my over all favourite Funk LP.
I could have picked every song here to represent this masterpiece not only in terms of melodies, grooves, vocals, instrumentation, arrangements and songwriting they also were the tightest playing guys on the planet. The link between these musicians can be heard on numerous of their productions and especially on this mindblowing 12min jam I always favourited even to such Über-Hits like "Just Kissed My Baby" or "People Say" .
the Meters to me are (this is no joke) the best studio and live band of all times
PS: Thanx to my mentor PURE for introducing this to me when I was a little boy.

(FUNKY WEEK # 2) Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park 1975

The Blackbyrds were founded in the early seventies by the famous Jazz musician and trumpet player Donald Byrd who before becoming a professor in Ethnomusicology at New York Academy of Performing Arts and Howard University in Washington DC had been playing with illustriousnesses like Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Max Roach and John Coltrane.
When he started to look for musicians for this project wanting to combine funk and soul elements with jazz he had to choose within his students because people his age were sniggering at his idea.
After already releasing the album "Flying Start" in 1973 and track on the "Cornbread Earl & Me" soundtrack in 1975 they put out
"City Life" that featured the outstanding song: "Rock Creek Park" an hommage to the biggest park in Washington.
The song became (and still is) a popular local anthem, not to mention that it's still part of every hot selection at b-boys' parties.
It is the most sampled blackbyrds track:

Ol' Dirty Bastard and Coolio in (In the park)
NWA (Quiet on tha set)
Big Daddy Kane ("Raw '91")
Eric B & Rakim ("The R")
UTFO ("Doin' It)
Ice Cube ("I wanna kill Sam")
De la Soul ("Ghetto thang")

(FUNKY WEEK # 1) Ripple - I Don't Know What Is Sure Its Funky Now 1973

FUNKY WEEKS START ON TUESDAYS
Will be posting some of my favourite classic funk tunes this week - starting with the soulful "I don`t know what it is sure its funky now" of Ripple`s selftitled album from 1973. Many times heard, used and sampled in HipHop for instance Special ED's "I got it Made" and Kid-N-Play's "Rollin", which doesn`t make the original loose anything of its greatness.

Watsonian Institute - Coming Around 1978

Time for Johnny Guitar Watson and his Watsonian Institute. I do love a lot of his work
but the two albums he reorded under this name 78/79 with a bunch of other greatly
talented Musicians do suit me the most. When improvising on the guitar he sometimes
took it too far tooteling. But the same thing on a Moog, these great synthie basslines were a great addendum to his indispensible blues guitar Soli - Real Dance/Speed-Funk

Cane and Able - Dont Knock My Love 1972

A bit of spaced out funk. Cane & Able were one of the many groups that came out of the collective surrounding the Lafayette Afro-Rock Band. Some of their work is right now available at grooveprovider.
"Don't Knock My Love" Is a great cover originally by Wilson Pickett.
Featuring a part of James Browns` brass section: Tony Lytle (Trombone) and Hasan Tayratira (Trumpet) this song is taken from their selfentitled debut album.
A must for Your funky side.