THIS IS FUNKY JAZZ

Description

It’s funky! When the acid jazz scene ruled the world, it drew its inspiration from places that other jazz fans tended to overlook. The soul jazz of the late 60s and early 70s. The music of lounge bars and small clubs that enlivened the nightlife of Black America. This compilation brings together ten examples of that sound and offers a high-quality listen from start to finish. In the post-bebop era, jazz was often condemned as intellectual music meant for the head and not the feet. Yet some of this music was always meant for dancing, directly descended from the legacy of the big bands and still in step with the R&B charts. The tracks featured here all remain true to that heritage. Whether it’s Lonnie Liston Smith’s plea for “Peace & Love” with its Bob Marley-like horn lines, or Joe Bataan, bandleader, taking on Isaac Hayes’s “Theme From the Men,” this music is in tune with contemporary sounds. Oliver Nelson’s heavy synth “Skull Session” or his TV theme “Theme From The Six Million Dollar Man” covered by Richard “Groove” Holmes are proof of that. At the heart of these recordings are the rhythms; Bernard Purdie is therefore the star, whether solo or simply behind the drums with Harold Alexander. This is Funky Jazz is a ticket to a party everyone should be invited to.