Editing Funk (section)

=== 1960s ===
====James Brown====
[[File:JamesBrown.jpg|thumb|right|James Brown, a progenitor of funk music]]
James Brown credited [[Little Richard]]'s 1950s R&B road band, [[The Upsetters (American band)|The Upsetters]] from New Orleans, as "the first to put the funk into the rhythm" of [[rock and roll]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Little Richard: 20 Essential Songs|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/little-richard-20-essential-songs-15792/|last1=Harris|first1= Keith|last2=Erlewine|first2=Stephen Thomas|date=2020-05-09|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-15 }}</ref> Following his temporary exit from secular music to become an evangelist in 1957, some of Little Richard's band members joined Brown and [[the Famous Flames]], beginning a long string of hits for them in 1958. By the mid-1960s, [[James Brown]] had developed his signature groove that emphasized the [[Beat (music)#Downbeat|downbeat]]—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure to etch his distinctive sound, rather than the [[backbeat]] that typified African-American music.<ref>[http://www.anisman.com/steve/samd02.htm Lessons in listening – Concepts section: Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire, The Best of Earth Wind & Fire Volume I, Freddie White.] (January 1998). ''Modern Drummer Magazine'', pp. 146–152. Retrieved January 21, 2007.</ref> Brown often cued his band with the command "On the one!," changing the percussion emphasis/accent from the one-'''''two'''''-three-'''''four''''' backbeat of traditional soul music to the '''''one'''''-two-three-four downbeat – but with an even-note [[Syncopation|syncopated]] guitar rhythm (on quarter notes two and four) featuring a hard-driving, repetitive brassy [[Swung note|swing]]. This one-three beat launched the shift in Brown's signature music style, starting with his 1964 hit single, "[[Out of Sight (song)|Out of Sight]]" and his 1965 hits, "[[Papa's Got a Brand New Bag]]" and "[[I Got You (I Feel Good)]]".

Brown's style of funk was based on interlocking, contrapuntal parts: syncopated [[bassline]]s, 16th beat drum patterns, and syncopated guitar riffs.<ref name="Slutsky, Allan 1997"/> The main guitar ostinatos for "Ain't it Funky" (c. late 1960s) are an example of Brown's refinement of New Orleans funk— an irresistibly danceable riff, stripped down to its rhythmic essence. On "Ain't it Funky" the tonal structure is barebones. Brown's innovations led to him and his band becoming the seminal funk act; they also pushed the funk music style further to the forefront with releases such as "[[Cold Sweat]]" (1967), "[[Mother Popcorn]]" (1969) and "[[Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine]]" (1970), discarding even the twelve-bar blues featured in his earlier music. Instead, Brown's music was overlaid with "catchy, anthemic vocals" based on "extensive vamps" in which he also used his voice as "a percussive instrument with frequent rhythmic grunts and with rhythm-section patterns&nbsp;... [resembling] [[West African]] polyrhythms" – a tradition evident in African-American work songs and chants.<ref name=jbmusicstyle>Collins, W. (January 29, 2002). [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628140121/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419200141 James Brown.] ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture''. Retrieved January 12, 2007.</ref> Throughout his career, Brown's frenzied vocals, frequently punctuated with screams and grunts, channeled the "ecstatic ambiance of the black church" in a secular context.<ref name=jbmusicstyle/>

{{external media
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After 1965, Brown's bandleader and arranger was [[Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis]]. Ellis credits [[Clyde Stubblefield]]'s adoption of New Orleans drumming techniques, as the basis of modern funk: "If, in a studio, you said 'play it funky' that could imply almost anything. But 'give me a New Orleans beat' – you got exactly what you wanted. And Clyde Stubblefield was just the epitome of this funky drumming."<ref>Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis quoted by Stewart (2000: 303).</ref> Stewart states that the popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s."<ref name="Stewart2000-293"/> Concerning the various funk motifs, Stewart states that this model "...is different from a [[bell pattern|time line]] (such as clave and [[tresillo (rhythm)|tresillo]]) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle."<ref>Stewart (2000: 306).</ref>

In a 1990 interview, Brown offered his reason for switching the rhythm of his music: "I changed from the upbeat to the downbeat&nbsp;... Simple as that, really."<ref name=nytimes>Pareles, J. (December 26, 2006). [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/26/arts/music/26brown.html?pagewanted=2&en=aef74e8250526096&ei=5087&ex=1182920400&excamp=GGGNjamesbrown James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul" dies at 73.] ''The New York Times''. Retrieved January 31, 2007.</ref> According to [[Maceo Parker]], Brown's former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard for him and took some getting used to. Reflecting back to his early days with Brown's band, Parker reported that he had difficulty playing "on the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and playing with the accent on the second beat.<ref name=fa_maceo>Gross, T. (1989). [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6676990 Musician Maceo Parker (Fresh Air WHYY-FM audio interview).] National Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2007.</ref>

==== Parliament-Funkadelic ====
{{Main|P-Funk}}
[[File:George Clinton 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.15|[[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]] and [[Parliament Funkadelic]] in 2006]]
A new group of musicians began to further develop the "funk rock" approach.  Innovations were prominently made by [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]], with his bands [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]] and [[Funkadelic]]. Together, they produced a new kind of funk sound heavily influenced by [[jazz]] and [[psychedelic rock]].  The two groups shared members and are often referred to collectively as "Parliament-Funkadelic". The breakout popularity of Parliament-Funkadelic gave rise to the term "[[P-Funk]]", which referred to the music by George Clinton's bands, and defined a new subgenre. Clinton played a principal role in several other bands, including [[Parlet]], the Horny Horns, and the Brides of Funkenstein, all part of the P-Funk conglomerate. "P-funk" also came to mean something in its quintessence, of superior quality, or ''[[sui generis]]''.

Following the work of Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s, artists such as Sly and the Family Stone combined the psychedelic rock of Hendrix with funk, borrowing [[wah pedal]]s, [[fuzz box]]es, [[echo chamber]]s, and vocal distorters from the former, as well as [[blues rock]] and [[jazz]].<ref name="Scott">{{cite book|first=Portia K.|last=Maultsby|chapter=Dayton Street Funk: The Layering of Musical Identities|url={{GBurl|id=eL37scDf0PMC|q=psychedelic+funk+genre}}|editor-last1=Scott|editor-first1=Derek B.|title=The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology|year=2009|access-date=November 25, 2016|page=275|publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-0-7546-6476-5}}</ref> In the following years, groups such as Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic continued this sensibility, employing synthesizers and rock-oriented guitar work.<ref name="Scott"/>