Aint It Funky Now Guitar

Catfish Collins playing one the best guitar solos in funk music with James Brown shouting and wailing in the background is priceless. If only Fred Wesley didn't always play the "same" solo every time...or if someone like Maceo Parker was available on the alto sax to play an extended solo...

Art Ensemble of Chicago's Barnyard Funk

For some bizarre reason, I missed Art Ensemble of Chicago's funky "Rock Out" during my obsessive jazz-funk phase a year or two ago. Like some of the group's blues, "Rock Out" brings a "farmyard" quality of the band doing their best to sound like roosters and other farm animals. While doing this, they pay tribute to an incredibly catchy beat from a James Brown song ("Cold Sweat," according to Paul Steinbeck). As someone who always finds funk music from avant-garde jazz artists to be the most interesting in the genre, this unique number is certainly memorable and indicates how the group always had an ear to R&B and popular music. No surprise, really. How could anyone be married to Fontella Bass and not know a thing or two about popular music?

Herbie Hancock's Funky Drummer

Harvey Mason's drumming on Herbie Hancock's "Shiftless Shuffle" is a new and improved "Funky Drummer." James Brown's Clyde Stubblefield was the star of Brown's illustrious tune, but Harvey Mason's prowess in "Shiftless Shuffle" is unforgettable. And surely Hancock must have been thinking of the famous Brown tune because the head is so quintessentially James Brown. 

James Brown's Cold Sweat Meets Miles Davis's So What: The Jazz Soul of James Brown

You can definitely hear an influence of Miles Davis on James Brown's "Cold Sweat," which borrows the "So What" vamp for its own rhythmic genius. Maceo Parker and other members of Brown's band maintained some knowledge and ties to events in the jazz scene, much to the greater benefit of James Brown's music, which embraced funk for the late 1960s and 1970s while keeping an eye on the roots of funk, soul and jazz. According to the wiki page, the song's composer, Alfred Ellis, used the horn line from "So What" and Brown changed up the guitar line to make it funkier with some room for a drum solo and Maceo Parker's saxophone solo. Unlike earlier funk pieces by Brown prior to 1967, "Cold Sweat" is no longer rooted in a blues chord progression, instead, basing itself on a single chord, much like modal jazz and "So What." If you want to jam to a jazzy rendition, check this!The best version, unsurprisingly, remains Brown's original recording with the wailing sax of Maceo Parker and a little "funky drummer" Stubblefield. To hear Brown get down with a jazz orchestra conducted by jazz genius Oliver Nelson, check out these funky, jazzy, soulful songs: "This a Man's World," "For Once In My Life," "September Song," "That's My Desire," and "Your Cheatin Heart."  Brown was quite versatile, eh? He almost sounds like Joe Williams but with additional funk and soul instead of the blues.

Funk Playlist

My favorite funk songs of all time. Taken from various funk, afrobeat, jazz, and hip-hop/R&B albums.

Fela Kuti is the best of the afrobeat musicians. Zombie, Water No Get Enemy and Expensive Shit are timeless funk jams. The only problem with these songs is they might be too long for some...

Janelle Monae's Tightrope

Julius Hemphill's Dogon A.D.

Al Green's Love and Happiness

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Theme de Yoyo

Blackstreet: No Diggity

Mystikal: Bumpin' Me Against the Wall

Charles Wright: Express Yourself

D'Angelo is probably the best funk artist in the neo-soul movement of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Donald Byrd jazz-funk, The Emperor

Erykah Badu has quite a few funky jams as well. Penitentiary Philosophy, Honey, Love of My Life Worldwide, etc.

Funkadelic

Gil Scott-Heron's funk always has a social message and features collaborations with Brian Jackson, who often played flute and piano.

The Heath Brothers wrote this jam as part 2 of the Smilin' Billy Suite. The use of mbira and the funky bass and drums made it quite distinctive to me and it has been sampled by Nas for One Love (produced by Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest).

The Heliocentrics and Mulatu Astatke combine Ethio-jazz with avant garde funk. Good stuff.

Fire in the Zoo is my jam

Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters did some essential 70s funk

Jill Scott has some really funky stuff as well

Jimi Hendrix recorded some funky stuff as well, especially during his black band, Band of Gypsies. Who Knows represents the best of this fusion of rock and funk

Jimmy Smith's Root Down is a jazz-funk classic that was sampled by the Beastie Boys

Lauryn Hill's Every Ghetto, Every City

Karl Hector and the Malcouns recorded some great afrobeat/African funk numbers here

Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder is a great example of Blue Note 1960s funk. Listen to that funky drumming!

Marvin Gaye's Got to Give It Up, essential funk

Michael Jackson got funky multiple times throughout his recording career

Mulatu Astatke

Otis Redding also got funky

Outkast

Parliament, one of George Clinton's great funk groups

Flashlight is one of the greatest funk songs of all time

Stevie Wonder

Sun Ra

Prince

James Brown, the king of funk

The Roots: Seed 2.0 is a great funk song

Wilson Pickett, Engine Number 9

James Brown, Papa Don't Take No Mess http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDh5QbPoDdo

Lou Donaldson's jazz cover of It's Your Thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acF8NtEKTWI

The Genius of James Brown

Ah, tis unfortunate that no one nowadays recalls the immense contributions of James Brown to music and culture for black America and through hip-hop, influencing white America.  Drawing on the influences of hard bop, Louis Jordan, and soul, James Brown revolutionized black music by creating funk with the seminal song, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." His gift for dancing, entertainment, and singing influenced Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. Jackson's dances directly channeled the legendary Brown.
Brown also went through stylistic shifts during his long career. His early records, such as Please, Please, Please followed contemporary trends in soul music that were initiated by Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and Motown. After 1964, with 'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag,' featuring Maceo Parker's wonderful saxophone solo and a funky backbeat, introduced funk to America. What followed was a gradual shift toward funk in Brown's music, culminating in his 1970s albums and the amazing 'Sex Machine.' This period of Brown's music is the most sampled music in hip-hop. The breakbeats, funky horns, and basslines have been sampled by everyone since early hip-hop history. For example, Public Enemy's best album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, features drum samples from the 'Funky Drummer' for several songs on the album. Brown's music is perfect for hip-hop music since it's totally rhythmic. The repetitious features of his funk are perfect and represent a revolution in African-American music.
Though one of the general features of black music is repetition, polyrhythms, and the use of blues phrases, Brown was innovative for putting emphasis on repetitious rhythms, blending electric and acoustic instruments, and gospel-shouts. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, black people in America had James Brown for our superstar. I suppose the equivalent for white folks would be The Beatles, but Brown's music is more interesting personally.
In addition to influencing the hip-hop generation by providing the samples, James Brown became a legend in Africa. African diasporic music such as Brown's was incredibly popular throughout Africa and influenced Nigerian legend Fela Kuti's music. Kuti's music has a greater social and political consciousness than Brown, but the funk basslines and Kuti's saxophone solos were pure American funk.
I guess the only way to conclude is to reiterate the greatness of Brown.
'The Payback,' 'Sex Machine,' 'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag' and Brown's backing band, The JB's, revolutionized black music. 'The Grunt' by the JB's was masterfully sampled by Public Enemy for 'Night of the Living Baseheads' if you would like to hear the use of Brown's music in hip-hop.
Although my knowledge of Brown is limited to his 60's and early 70's output, his later material and pre-funk material are still worth experiencing. Everything about the man was so tight, and despite his processed European hair, he defined blackness and cool for an entire generation of black Americans. To hear the man and not bob your head to the funky aura emanating from him is to hate life.