Design by Sweden10
Letter from the Editor
James Brown, the godfather of all that is funky and right in the world, shattered previously held assumptions about music when he exploded out of radio speakers with his 1967 hit “Cold Sweat.” Leaving behind traditional ideas of song structure and harmonic motion, Brown instead focused on bringing a strong rhythmic groove to the forefront of R&B. His sound, which drew its power from repetition — sometimes sitting on the same chord for the entirety of the song — the drummer’s hit — birthing Brown’s famous phrase “Give the drummer some” — and the sheer unadulterated passion of Brown and his band, signaled the dawn of funk.
Funk and soul music represented a soundtrack for the Black power movement, created the musical framework for the backbone of hip-hop, and brought the instances of booty-shaking to an all-time high, which later led to full-on dance music movements such as disco, Afrobeat and other genres taking a hold of America’s collective imagination.
In an effort to bring the stories of funk and soul to light, we are teaming up with Ubiquity and Luv N’ Haight Records to launch our funk & soul issue; “Jazz In Dancehalls” – The Rise Of Funk & Soul. We have followed our curiosities to the stories and sounds that intrigue us; the pivotal moment when funk and soul overtook jazz as America’s popular music, the phenomenal impact of James Brown’s drummer Clyde Stubblefield, Betty Padgett’s contributions to the Miami soul scene, the recent soul revivalists Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, the cult genre of blaxploitation films, Jamiroquai’s influence from across the pond, the late night recording sessions of Twilight, and much more. We are looking back into time with this issue but also making sure to see exactly how funk and soul have taken shape now, as always, with jazz as the undercurrent of our discussions.
We hope you enjoy.
Nora Ritchie
Senior Managing Editor
The post Issue No. 6: “Jazz in Dancehalls” – The Rise of Funk & Soul appeared first on The Revivalist.