Funk Fusion - Help

SharkyBait911

Senior Member
Hi guys,

I need to write a report on specific genres of music and I'm stuck on Funk Fusion, I need to describe the origins, background, what it actually is and influential artists withing the genre.

Any help would be appreciated !

Tris
 
Fusion - the integrating of rock and jazz. Then making it funky.

James Brown could be considered the king of funk fusion since he was incredibly funky, but had jazz players (like Fred Wesley on trombone) that could blow solos when needed.

Or you could look at the Brecker Brothers (probably more funky then swingy). Or maybe perhaps the closest would be the Yellowjackets since they fuse alot of styles together, but there is definitely a jazz element overall (improv, swinging, yet funky when they need it).

But then again, if you took a band that did a great country swing, and syncopated some beats around with some power chords thrown in for good measure, that'd be Funk Fusion too. There are definite genres of music, but I think if you keep thinking about it, it's all just music. Especially if it's all in 4 (like mostly all of American music is).
 
The Yellowjackets probably come more from a blues/jazz place than funk. That band started as the back up band for Robben Ford's first solo release, The Inside Story. Ford and Ferante going way back. They had such a good time playing together, they released a second album under a band name. Ford got reduced to guest artist status due to label/contractual conflicts and Russ became the bandleader, filling in the missing guitar with horns.

In my view, funk fusion kind of started with the Miles stuff and hit it's stride with the Headhunters. Ex Miles guys like Hancock and Duke pushed the funk while Corea was doing the "classical music for rock band" as he called it. Add Cobham to the mix. Coming out of Dreams together with Cobham, Sanborn and the brothers Brecker were like the folks coming out of Miles' band, each starting their own thing and pushing it further.
 
I wouldn't really consider "funk" fusion a distinct genre- all fusion is funk influenced- it seems to be more a descriptive term people occasionally apply to fusion that's real overt in its funk influence. Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and Thrust, and Miles Davis' Live Evil, On the Corner, and Jack Johnson would be pretty quintessential examples of that.

Per its name, fusion is the result of a meeting of styles- jazz, funk/R&B, rock, and latin (particularly Brazilian), 20th century classical and other musics. Miles Davis usually gets credit for creating it, with the albums Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way, and Bitches Brew. Earlier practitioners include Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams Lifetime, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Chick Corea's Return to Forever (note that these groups are all led or co-led by former Davis sidemen).
 
billy cobham
tower of power with david garibaldi (if youre talking about drummers)
james brown (look up some of his drummers like bernard purdie etc)
if the paper is drumset influenced these bands or drummers are pretty important. do some research on what feels, patterns, sound level, and other are involved in playing on the drumset for example ghosting notes how groove oriented the funk drumming is blah blah blah
 
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