Prayve's Jazz Funk Fusion

JAZZ FUNK... More Jazz Funk!!! Total grooviness, bouncing funk beats, plus very solid jazz musicianship all the way. That's what you're getting on this one.

Starts off with Herbie Hancock's "Bring Down The Birds" from the 1966 film "The Blowup". You'll immediately recognize the insane bass line from Dee Lite's "Groove is in the Heart"... Then some more from Abba's session guitarist Janne Schaffer. First with the band Svenska Löd Ab! and a very tight session from the album "Hôrselmat", an absolute rarity and collector's Holy Grail - then with the track "Dr. Abraham", from his second solo album.

Roy Porter's track entitled "Panama" with its thumping bass line, hypnotic Fender Rhodes, stellar horn and flute arrangements is a Jazz-funk classic masterpiece. A pure gem that won't stop haunting you.

Quinteplus is another rare jazz collector's favorite. A killer set by funky instrumentalists from Buenos Aires, with wonderful keyboards and sharp drum beats. The track "El Pasito de Nano" is an absolute winner... Marc Moulin's Placebo is next, and needs not be introduced any further. Outstanding funky jazz from Belgium, highly sought-after and sample-packed. "Only Nineteen" is another example of fine keyboard and horn savoir-faire.

You'll also hear some great instrumental jazz funk from Brazil, with Antonio Adolfo, Azymuth and Banda Black Rio, all of which were featured on previous posts on this blog. "Mr Funky Samba" is a timeless piece of Brazilian music. It's whatever you want to call it: samba funk, soul samba, funky samba... heavy electric bass and funky Fender Rhodes with stabbing horn sections and a strong jazz influence.

The great Dennis Coffey is also featured here, with "Scorpio". One of the most sampled track in history with its staggering 2:20 minute open break beat! Doesn't get any funkier than this...

Then come the Frenchies. Jean-Claude Pelletier, with an extract of his album "Streaking". Some of the best groovy funk ever recorded in France. Super heavy and very rare stuff... Then, Les Wanted with "Six, Quatre, Nous". Another PURE jewel, directed by Francois Rolland and Jean-Claude Pierric; "Mister J.", by the legendary Cortex from their second album "Vol.2", for all you Fender Rhodes lovers out there; "Old Timmy" by Schifters, aka. Jacky Giordano & Yan Treger; "Black Sweat" by the cult funk ensemble Chute Libre; "Clavinet Shit" by Ceccarelli, Chantereau, Padovan & Pezin. The name of the song speaks for itself; and finally "So be it" by Airto Fogo. This is basically the Funk DREAM TEAM from France (Cocorico!).

Classics to wrap up. U.S. Classics. The J.B.'s "Blow your head" will definitely fulfill the promise. Powerfull Moog driven madness from Fred Wesley's crew ; and finally the Blackbyrds' theme... Dig that!

Click on the image below to see the album art for all of tracks in this compilation:


Tracklist is:

01. Herbie Hancock - Bring Down The Birds, 1966
02. Svenska Löd Ab! - Va Då Rå - Va E', Reö, 1971
03. Roy Porter - Panama 1, 1975
04. Quinteplus - El Pasito De Nano, 1972
05. Placebo - Only Nineteen, 1973
06. Ray Bryant - Cool Struttin', 1974
07. Antonio Adolfo - Diana e Paulo, 1979
08. Azymuth - A Caça, 1977
09. Banda Black Rio - Mr. Funky Samba, 1977
10. Janne Schaffer - Dr. Abraham, 1974
11. Dennis Coffey - Scoprio, 1971
12. Jean-Claude Pelletier & Orchestra - To Streak With Devil, 1974
13. Les Wanted - Six, Quatre, Nous, 1975
14. Cortex - Mister J., 1977
16. Chutte Libre - Black Sweat, 1977
16. Schifters - Old Timmy, 1974
17. C.C.P.P. (Ceccarelli, Chantereau, Padovan, Pezin) - Clavinet shit, 1975
18. Airto Fogo - So be it, 1976
19. The J.B.'s - Blow Your Head, 1974
20. The Blackbyrds - Blackbyrds' Theme, 1974

Get your jazz funked up right here, right now!

Jazz Funk Delight

This one is for all the jazz funk lovers out there. For those of you who are mad for the frantic drum beats, funky bass, warm Fender Rhodes keys, flutes all over the place and sax and trumpets galore. This selection of rare tracks, known mostly to the record collecting community - stuff you'll probably never hear on the radio - is made up of the work of some of the most brilliant instrument players, composers and producers ever to grace the world with their music. A lot of these have been sampled by house and hip-hop producers, but deserve to be featured in you music library as stand alone tracks.

Many of these musicians are tied together in some way: Eddie Russ formed a band called Mixed Bag, with whom he recorded his first album "Fresh Out"; a jazz funk gem from 1974 which gave us the first track of this selection "The Lope Song". Larry Nozero, flutist and sax player was part of the Mixed Bag, and plays the flute on "The Lope Song". His following track "Tune for L.N." is a hypnotic trip, filled with wah guitar, mystical flute phrases and lifting choirs.

Then comes the wonderful "Windy C" by 100% Pure Poison, and its very distinctive drums/bass/guitar/rhodes intro, sampled by everyone, from Pete Rock to Saint Germain, to Nas... The whole song is an amazing pre-disco piece of soulful jazz from 1974, recorded for EMI in... Chicago? Detroit? No, in Germany by American servicemen on the leave.

Then come the Europeans: Vincent Gemignani and his sculptural jazz funk, from the utra rare album "Modern Pop Percussion" originally composed as a "pop" version of Shakespeare's Midsummer night dream, featuring the finest French session jazz players. Marc Moulin and his band Placebo come next with the track "Aria" from the 1971 album "Ball of Eyes". No need for any further introduction, it's at least the 4th time I put up a Placebo song on this blog.

"Party Time", from Roy Porter's album "Jessica" is another amazing jazz funk gig, and another song from this album already made it on this blog too :) Then Ray Bryant, and the banging piano and drums on "Up above the Rock" will have your heads nodding for more. More is coming of course, with 2 HUGE tracks: Frank Strazzerri "Cloudburst" and Kenny Barron "Spirits". Straight up Jazz Funk madness with all the Rhodes solos you can dream of.

One of my favorite pieces from one of my favorite producers David "the Axe" Axelrod follows: "Mucho Chupar", and Martial Solal "Un Drôle d'Escalier Roulant" (A Funny Elevator). Then some great tracks from Seatrain, Mixed Bag (again!), Jeremy Steig, a couple of tracks featured on the excellent "Dusty Fingers" series ("On the Hill" by Oliver Sain, and Sammy Nestico's "Shoreline Drive" - sampled by Krs1 on "Mc's Act Like You Know").

The last track is from one of my very favorite studio jazz producers: Janko Nilovic, which I've featured numerous times on this blog. "Xenos Cosmos" from the album "Rythmes Contemporains" is a baroque suite of jazz moves, with an amazing orchestration, mind-shifting choirs, and a cinematic dimension that will blow your mind away to finish off this musical voyage.

Track list is:
01. Eddie Russ - The Lope Song, 1974
02. Larry Nozero - Tune For L.N., 1974
03. 100% Pure Poison - Windy C, 1974
04. Vincent Gemignani - Insidieusement les Elfes, 1970
05. Placebo - Aria, 1971
06. Roy Porter - Party Time, 1974
07. Ray Bryant - Up Above the Rock, 1968
08. Kenny Barron - Spirits, 1975
09. Frank Strazzerri - Cloudburst, 1976
10. David Axelrod - Mucho Chupar, 1974
11. Martial Solal - Un Drôle d'Escalier Roulant, 1974
12. Seatrain - Flute Thing, 1973
13. Johnny Hawksworth - Jazz Rule, 1970's
14. The Mixed Bag - Shark, 1975
15. Jeremy Steig - Goose Bumps, 1975
16. Sammy Nestico - Shoreline Drive, 1982
17. Oliver Sain - On the Hill, 1972
18. Janko Nilovic - Xenos Cosmos, 1974

Get you groove on right here

Jazz Funk Break Beats

Finally some more good music on Food4Funk!! I'm back this time with a selection of soulful Jazz and Funk tunes, all rare and extremely groovy with tons of FAT drum breaks, rolling bass lines and crazy Fender Rhodes keyboards solos... The kind of music you unfortunately don't hear on the radio, or when you go out... but that will -- with no doubt -- make you want to turn the sound up, and nod your head to the beat. The kind of music you will -- for sure -- hear if you walk into my apartment :)

Great Jazz Funk, from Cortex and Placebo, which I have already featured on this blog, and who define the European Jazz fusion sound from my standpoint. More Europeans too, with the super talented Janko Nilovic, a film and library music producer from Montenegro, who lived in Paris and produced over 30 albums in the 70s. Also from France: Bernard Estardy, legendary organ player and sound engineer, with a real chaser here called Road Number 9... Francis Lai, the Oscar winning soundtrack producer for "Love Story" and "Un homme et une femme" (A Man and A Woman), with his ultra funky title "Rapt" from the film "L'aventure c'est l'aventure". And finally Airto Fogo, which I hardly know anything about, except that they were recorded in France, and released only there and in Canada. Heavy heavy bass and choppy wah-wah guitars... Starsky & Hutch Style.

There are also a few amazingly good pieces from German musicians... such as Jazz Rock genius bass player Peter Trunk, with the Beautiful: "Fresh air, where?" - Classic Funk track "Executive Party" from the movie "Rollerball" by German-born André Prévin (who has won 4 Oscars for best Musical Score); and the amazing Theme song from the late seventies German TV show "Timm Tahler", one of the finest pieces of cosmic synth music you will probably ever listen to...

Music from other parts of the world as well, as the track "River of Fire", by Melodiya Ensemble from 1974, which is said to be the very first jazz-rock effort in the USSR. The result is simply stunning. Also Rogier Van Otterloo, an orchestral arranger from Holland once called the Dutch Quincy Jones...

You'll aslo find some great American artists that I invite you to discover: The very unique Moondog, and his Lament for Charlie "Bird" Parker, which you've probably already heard as a very notorious sample, Mike Longo (more Starsky & Hutch style action), Ramsey Lewis, Oliver Sain, Jack McDuff, David Matthews and Ike Turner (with the super funky "Thinking Black").


Track list is:

01. Moondog - Lament 1 (Bird's Lament), 1969
02. Ike Turner - Thinking Black, 1969
03. Airto Fogo - Right On Bird, 1976
04. Cortex - La rue, 1974
05. Placebo - Humpty Dumpty, 1971
06. Ramsey Lewis - Tambura, 1974
07. Peter Trunk - Fresh Air, Where?, 1973
08. Melodyia Ensemble - River of Fire, 1974
09. Janko Nilovic - Cross Rolls, 1970's
10. Andre Previn - Executive Party (Rollerball), 1975
11. Jack McDuff - Electric Surf Board, 1976
12. David Mathews - Dune, Part II (Sandworms), 1977
13. Rogier van Otterloo - My Dearest Fluffie, 1976
14. Mike Longo - Like a Thief in the Night, 1974
15. Oliver Sain - London Express, 1975
16. Francis Lai - Rapt (L'aventure c'est l'aventure), 1972
17. Christian Bruhn - Wetten, dass.. (Timm Tahler), 1979
18. Bernard Estardy - Road Number 9, 1970's


Download, relax, play loud and funkify your soul....

Euro Jazz Funk Madness

Back in the early 1970’s, the fusion of jazz with funk and elements of rock was a pretty big trend in North America. With the recent introduction of synthesizers and other electric instruments and with the increasing popularity of funk music; recognized jazz band leaders such as Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley and Donald Byrd started exploring new electronic grounds. Before long, their most noted band members started their own jazz-funk outfits and by the mid 70’s, the likes of Herbie Hancock and the Head Hunters, Chick Corea and Return to Forever and Joe Zawinul and Weather Report were drawing huge attention and had become big record sellers.

What was going on in Europe at the time? With the psych pop and Yé-Yé craze slowly fading and the Disco frenzy just a few years ahead… Was the talented European jazz avant-garde falling asleep? Hell no!!! A few guys back here were seriously vibing on the Fender Rhodes and chomping up some of the most groove infected drum breaks you'll ever hear.

In fact, they may have not had the same level of attention back in the days – but they have had as much impact on the hip-hop, trip-hop and electro scenes to come as their American counterparts.

Here is a selection of 20 super rare - super funked up European jazz grooves that you can't miss on. Please meet (if you don't know them yet):

Marc Moulin (from Belgium) and his band Placebo, (he also plays on the amazing track from Cos); a visionary force in European acid jazz, heavily influenced by Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock - who in turn has been highly influent for pop-synth and trip-hop artists in later decades.

Jean Claude Pierric and Francois Rolland who are the masterminds behind the Harlem Pop Trotters, Les Wanted, Minotaure and the legendary Godchild; Most of their music was not even commercially released at the time. It was production music, or library music, pre-recorded and sold via sound banks for usage in commercials or television programs! Other Library musicians featured in this selection include Michel Gonet, and Englishman Peter Milray, from the famous DeWolfe music Library.

The legendary band Cortex, led by Alain Mion & Alain Gandolfi and this track from their Album "Troupeau Bleu" - an indescribable blend of Jazz, funk, samba and batuccada with brilliant keyboard arrangements. The album was recorded in 2 days, and is almost impossible to find - aka Holy Grail for record collectors like myself (luckily it was recently re-edited).

World-class French drummer André Ceccarelli and other Jazz greats such as Martial Solal, Maurice Vander, Michel Sardaby and Romano Mussolini (who is no other that the youngest son of Benito himself), all feeling the funk pretty heavily on these tunes.

Spanish Jazz fusion artists Jordi Sabates and Pedro Ruy Blas, who add a very noticeable (and wonderfully appreciated) flamenco feel to their groove. Ever heard that from Mr Hancock?

Famous French composer Michel Colombier, who has worked with the worlds greatest, from Gainsbourg to the Beach Boys, to Quincy Jones and Madonna. On this track, from his 1979 self titled album, the personel is no other than:
Michel Colombier : piano, fender rhodes synthesizer - Lee Ritenour : guitar - Herbie Hancock : mini-moog solo - Jaco Pastorius : bass - Airto Moreira : percussion - Steve Gadd : drums. That says it all. I've never seen such an impressive line-up.


Tracklist is:
01. Les Wanted - Couidic-Kong, 1972
02. Ceccarelli, Chantereau, Padovan, Pezin. (C.C.P.P.) - Joris of lumina, 1975
03. Peter Milray - Time Machine, 197?
04. Harlem Pop Trotters - La Moto Verte, 1974
05. Michel Sardaby - Welcome New Warmth, 1974
06. Romano Mussolini - Mirage, 1974
07. Maurice Vander - Grand Rogue, 1974
08. Martial Solal - A Train is Better Than Two, 1974
09. Cos - Halucal, 1974
10. Jordi Sabates - Ocells del mes enlla, 1975
11. Cortex - Sabbat, 1975
12. Placebo - Balek, 1973
13. Pedro Ruy Blas & Dolores - La Ausencia, 1976
14. Martial Solal - Locomotion, 1974
15. Marc Moulin - Le Beau Galop, 1975
16. Minotaure Illustration - Yawn and Yell, 1972?
17. André Ceccarelli - Gang Process, 1975
18. Genevieve Paris (with André Céccarelli) - De Paris en Paris, 1975
19. Michel Gonet - Flower Dance, 1978
20. Michel Colombier - Sunday, 1979

This is like good wine. Kept in a cellar for about 30 years, finely matured, it just tastes amazing today (and similarly to Bordeaux, 1974 and 75 were pretty excellent years).


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