latin jazz funk

Jazz-funk is a sub-genre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds^[1], and often, the presence of the first electronic analog synthesizers. The integration of Funk, Soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre whose spectrum is indeed quite wide and ranges from strong jazz improvisation to soul, funk or disco with jazz arrangements, jazz riffs, and jazz solos, and sometimes soul vocals^[2]. Jazz-funk is a mostly American genre, where it was popular throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s, but it also achieved noted appeal on the club-circuit in England during the mid 1970s. Other possible names for this genre include soul jazz and jazz fusion, but neither entirely overlap with jazz-funk. Notably Jazz-funk is less vocal, more arranged and featured more improv than Soul-Jazz, and retains a strong feel of groove and R&B Vs some of the Jazz-fusion production.

At the jazz end of the spectrum, jazz-funk characteristics include a departure from ternary rhythm (near-triplet), i.e. the "swing" (see swing rhythm), to the more danceable and unfamiliar binary rhythm, known as the "groove". It is therefore no surprise that this type of jazz saw its name associated with the term funk, a genre that created this groove rhythm, which was spearheaded by James Brown's drummers Clyde Stubblefield and John "Jabo" Starks. Jazz-funk also draws influences from traditional African music, Latin American rhythms, and Jamaican reggae. A second characteristic of Jazz-funk music was the use of electric instruments (such as the Rhodes Piano or the electric bass guitar, particularly in jazz fusion (or electro-jazz), and the first use of analogue electronic instruments notably by Herbie Hancock, whose jazz-funk period saw him surrounded on stage or in the studio by several Moog synthesizers. The ARP Odyssey, ARP String Ensemble, and Hohner D6 Clavinet also became popular at the time. A third feature is the shift of proportions between composition and improvisation. Arrangements, melody, and overall writing were heavily emphasized.

At its conception, the jazz-funk genre was occasionally looked down upon by jazz hard-liners as a sell-out, or "jazz for the dancehalls." It was presumed not intellectual or elite enough, which led to controversy about the music crossing over, but it was making jazz much more popular and mainstream^[3].

The jazz-funk (as well as a proportion of the jazz) community absorbed the street sound of the funk rhythm, which gave the genre a dance-able rhythm and gained influences from the electronic sound of fusion. The 1970s included many original stylistic creations, and the jazz-funk genre was representative of this movement.

From a jazz perspective, the ambivalence towards the jazz-funk genre arose–despite commercial success–because it was "too jazzy" and therefore too complex^[4]. Arrangements and instrumental tracks in pop or R&B music requires less initiation and allows the lead singer to relate to the audience, but jazz-funk was more focused on specific notes and overall music writing, so it seldom offered this same interaction with the audience.

Disdained by a part of the jazz community and its inability to top the pop charts, jazz-funk had a long hard time to establish itself. By the middle of the 1990s, the work of rare groove crate diggers–DJs who were interested in looking back into the past and re-discovering old tunes–such as Norman Jay, and Gilles Peterson, have both the jazz community and the pop professionals beginning to understand the value of the genre. Today, Eddie Henderson, Donald Byrd, and Herbie Hancock are seldom challenged as influential jazz musicians. The Mizell Brothers have received official accolades from the industry and are being listened to widely. Their work has also been sampled in more modern music.

The genre is widely imitated and sampled in R&B and hip hop with countless Mizell Brothers' loops in both styles of music. Other genres that have sampled jazz-funk house music from Erykah Badu and DJ Dimitri.

It is also worth noting that the more famous Acid Jazz movement is often seen as a rediscovery of 1970s jazz-funk, interpreted or produced by contemporary artists of the 1990s. One of the most blatant example is the band US3, who were signed to Acid Jazz Records founded by Peterson and Eddie Piller. US3 covered Cantaloupe Island, originally recorded by Herbie Hancock, and reissue of rare grooves from the era, led by DJ Peterson and Patrick Forge in the United Kingdom. Contemporary jazz artists have also contributed to the rediscovery, most notably Nathan Haines and Courtney Pine.