Unlike rap music's either unabashed paeans to consumerism and material gain, or expression of the unfocused anger of the hopeless, funk embodies the energy of potential. That the Black Panther movement's heyday coincided with funk's upsurge in popularity shouldn't be seen as a coincidence; they both represented a change in the attitudes of inner city black people in America.
Digging deep into the vaults of old recordings that have been floating around New York City since the late sixties Funky Delicacies, a division of Tuff City Records, has released Funky Funky New York a collection of rare and unissued recordings of New York City Funk from 1969-1976. This truly amazing collection of tunes has devoted half of it's tracks to the work of the Pazant brothers and their amazing band, Beaufort Express, for the simple expedient of the brother's being accessible for interviews and their recordings from that period having survived. Judging by the quality of their performances though, this whole disc could have been devoted to them, and nobody would have objected.
Like many of their contemporaries they came up from the South, in their case Beaufort, South Carolina, to further their musical careers. Other musicians on this disc had moved up from New Orleans, while some were native New Yorkers. It was the collision of all those musical sensibilities that resulted in that distinctive funk sound we think of today.
Ragtime from New Orleans, jazz from New York, blues from Carolina, and everybody's personal musical experiences on top of that, melded together to burst forth into something new. Although not known for being overtly political, the very first song on the compilation forced its creator to form a new band to record it because his label wouldn't touch Roy C. & The Honeydrippers' 1972 "Impeach The President" with a ten-foot pole.
"Impeach The President" is a classic, grab you by the seat of the pants get up and dance piece of funk music. Sitting down and listening to this simultaneously is both criminal and impossible. From the first jolt of the horns, to the pulse of the bass you're either dead, or suffering from spinal problems if you can remain seated for the course of this song.
Article comments
1 - Scott Butki
Excellent piece, man. I hope the Williams brothers are ok.