#rickey vincent

[wanderingandactingout]

Funkiness in a person's behavior or attitudes can mean anything from an ego trip, to a protest, to escapism.

from  Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One by Rickey Vincent

[blackrockandrollmusic-blog]

Displaying an ability to explore the aural landscapes of the subconscious--with a guitar—and yet still rock the blues hooks, the Jimi Hendrix Experience stormed onto the rock scene in the spring of 1967 with the debut album Are You Experienced?--but Jimi was just getting started. On "If 6 was 9," from his second album, Axis: Bold as Love, Hendrix was able to articulate the social and cultural dichotomies he was helping to confront: White collared conservative flashing down the street, Pointing their plastic finger at me. They're hoping soon my kind will drop and die, But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high, Wave on, wave on, Fall mountains, just don't fall on me, Go ahead on Mr. Business man, you can't dress like me.                           Jimi Hendrix Experience, "If 6 was 9" (1967) The dialogue is set along a spacey, free-form groove, transcending the blues riffs that begin the jam. The spacey sounds were only the backdrop for an existentialism never experienced in rock before. As the jam expands further, Jimi can be heard whispering, "I'm the only one that's got to die when it's time for me to die/so let me live my life/the way I want to." When Jimi played Woodstock in August 1969, it was with a six-piece multiracial band, with Jimi, his old army buddy Billy Cox on bass, two Afro-Latino percussionists (Jerry Velez and Juma Sultan), a black rhythm guitarist named Larry Lee, and Mitch Mitchell, his drummer from his first hit group, the Experience. The performance, the finale of the three-day ultimate rock event to end the ultimate rock decade, actually had a distinctive African polyrhythmic energy to it. However, the engineers effectively mixed out the percussionists and much of the work of the other guitarists, leaving the sound of Jimi and Mitch Mitchell, the sound of the old Experience. Jimi's African ensemble, exposed to the world, vanished with a sweep of the mixing board. As biographer Dave Henderson wrote, "The sound the African drums made was lost, an entire acoustical realm lost in the air." This may be a small point, but careers are made at significant points in history, as James Brown's was solidified after Dr. King's death. The best-selling Woodstock soundtrack featured only "Purple Haze" and Jimi's solo performance of "The Star Spangeled Banner," the subtleties of which, the ironies of which--the knowledge of which--evaded the typical black listener, who was not even exposed to Hendrix on black radio. While the ultimate concert was a showcase for the propulsive Latin rock of the then-unknown act Santana, and Sly Stone's triumphant rendition of "Higher" is legendary, Jimi's efforts to flow musically in that same direction were sadly missed.

Rickey Vincent, Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One

[blackrockandrollmusic-blog]

It became something of an organic process for rhythm and blues bands to step forward and “become” black rock bands by the 1970s. These bands fused the wide-open impulse of rock with the rhythms of James Brown and Sly, and turned into funk bands by the mid-seventies. George Clinton's Parliafunkadelicment Thang captured perhaps the most authentic replication of the Hendrix legacy, recording as Funkadelic. The band recorded loud, freakish, bluesy versions of the polished records they had performed as the Parliaments, and steadfastly maintained the hard guitar-driven edge in their music even after most black acts began to polish their sounds. The impact of Hendrix on P-Funk can be heard on the 1971 Funkadelic classic "Maggot Brain," and on the 1994 compilation: P-Funk Guitar Army Tributes to Jimi Hendrix.

Rickey Vincent, Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One

[leftofblack]

Left of Black S4:E14:  How Black Power Transformed Soul Music

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype by Rickey Vincent, author of Party Music: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers' Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music (Chicago Review Press).  Vincent, a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, is also the author of the classic Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One (1996)

Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

*** 

Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in @ iTunes U

*** 

Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack

Follow Mark Anthony Neal on Twitter: @NewBlackMan

Follow Rickey Vincent on Twitter: @RickeyVincent

[forthegoodofthehood]

Dr. Rickey Vincent joined us to discuss his latest book, Party Music: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers' Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music.

[ogtoldme]

Visit Original Link

"You need to trust what you believe in … But the thing is: you’ve got to find your path, you’ve got to find your track."- Rickey Vincent

Rickey Vincent said he met his wife back in the day, after she asked if he was the author of an article that appeared in the campus newspaper. The article was about James Brown, and likened Brown to a political prisoner. She appreciated his angle. And she dug the Funk. But when they went to get married, she didn’t allow a Funk song to be played as she walked down the isle.

And she didn’t name her kids after James Brown’s band members— somewhat to Rickey’s chagrin.

His love for the funk is deeper than most. 

When Rickey was a kid, he heard "Up For The Downstroke" in 1974 and his world changed. He was 12. And although Parliament Funkadelic sang to his soul. Their tunes weren’t "Soul Music", it was funk. The music that came afterSoul, and before Disco; the music that gave birth to more 1990’s Hip-Hop songs than Diddy, back when he was Puff Daddy.

Rickey Vincent, author of "Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One”, is a professor at UC Berkeley. He teaches a class on globalization and Hip-Hop, but he specializes in the history of Funk music. 

Recently, I sat down with Prof. Vincent, and talked for an hour. We discussed Rick James, Jonny Guitar Watson, Chaka Khan, Too Short, the saxophonist with arguably the coolest name ever— Maceo… and of course: James Brown. 

I cut the interview down to 7 minutes— all about James Brown, for your enjoyment!

Oh! And before I got out of the KPFA studio in Berkeley, I asked Rickey, if he had the chance to give the youth some wisdom, what would he tell them?

OG Told Me:

"Unplug everything for a short period of time everyday. And just listen to what your soul is telling you.”- Rickey Vincent

[punkfunkmob]

RV's top ten funk sessions of 2010 (Punk Funk Mob is #7)

from Rickey Vincent

"Another year and another wide ranging collection of funky discs have come my way, and I’m going to share my favorite ones from the year.  The best criteria I can give is that these discs have been playing in my ipod nonstop since they came out.  Simple as that."

1-Orgone -- Cali Fever

I saw these guys in 2009 open for Gil Scott Heron and wasn’t tripping off ‘em.  Then “Cali Fever” was sent my way  & it blew my socks off!  Such a magnificent groove, such tickly & tangy rhythm guitar work, tight vocals and nonstop THUMP.  Clearly the jam function the year. 

  2-Fatback Band – Bill Curtis and Friends, vol. 1 and 2

Bill Curtis is a dog dirty funk genius, and he’s been hitting HOT dancefloor music for 40 years!  His latest set is on itunes but the nonstop licks on “Gooshy Sushi” and “Open House Partay” are just too much, too much funk from an O.G. 

  3. Jesse Johnson – Verbal Penetration

The most serious session from a Minneapolis legend in a long time.  Jesse has some spectacular chops and a helluva lot to say this time.   Songs like “Propaganda” and “Slave to our Freedom” aren’t the kind of topics you’d expect from a loverman like Jesse Johnson, but he has matured in his vision – channeling some Curtis Mayfield -  and he’s never been tighter musically.   Disc 1 stands alone as a masterpiece.  Get into disc 2 at your own risk.

  4. Socialybrium – For You For Us For All

Oh what a solid crunchy bounce Bernie does for us here, with Blackbird on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass & J.T. Lewis on drums, this deep, trippy, drippy session is the BEST of the funk rock instrumental madness of the year.  Most of this kind of stuff gets you bugged, then you forget it.  Not this one.  I play Socialybrium every day.

  5. Nick Rosen – Into the Sky

Hypnotic jazz from a bass player produced by members of the “Build and Ark” camp.  Don’t sleep, to me this is some of the best serene but substantial jazz since Lonnie Liston Smith was recording on Flying Dutchman.   Listen all the way through this and if you don’t feel better about life, you get your money back.  It is that good.

  6. John Legend and the Roots – Wake Up

Finally a great contemporary black act takes on the great soul legends and delivers a completely satisfying album,  one that treats the original material with respect, and still speaks to the times we’re in today.  Finally the classic soul sound has been honored.  Now it is time to take it beyond the masters.  This disc has raised expectations.

  ***7. Punk Funk Mob – Revolution***

Still can’t wrap my head around the transformation the sweet soul singer Femi undertakes when she throws down as lead singer of this musical monstrosity of a band.  Bandleader Quincy Ramone puts down a cross between Erykah Badu & the Bad Brains, so be warned, this ain’t no lightweight groove, it’s the heavy sh*t.

  8. Lige Curry – The Naked Funk

P-Funk bassist Lige Curry is at it again, with this understated swamp funk masterpiece.  Gurgling funk undertow keeps a sinister grind going all the way through this jazzy effort.  Lige creates his own category of music with this one.

  9. Dr. Illenstein – Listen While I Tell You of the Clones

PTFI (Phil The Funky Instrumentalst) put this madness together that brings a range of talents to put Marlon “Dr. Illenstein” Kemp on the musical map.  The beats are nutz and the funk is on overload in this lunatic fringe funk session.

  10.  L.A.W. – The Planet 12 Syndrome – This NYC youngster comes from heavy funk stock and blasts some hot and heavy funked up party favors.  Check out “Thick Girly Girls” and “With Your Heels On” and you’ll see that this multi-instrumentalist funkateer came to serve it up.

  Also digging on:

  Street Sweeper Social Club - Ghetto Blaster EP

Boots Riley and Tom Moreno packed a monster punch in this 7 song b*tch slap of a session.  The remake of The Coup's "Everythang" is worth the price of admission.

  Wayman Tisdale – The Fonk Record

Yes Wayman Tisdale, the NBA star turned smooth jazz bassist came with a thunderous p-funkadelic funkblast for his last recording.  Some of the sharpest jazzy funk this side of George Duke, and totally maxxing on the funk vibe here.

  I’m also into Browmark’s “SYX Mil BREACH” and Blackbird McKnight’s “Bout Funkin’ Time”  for ripping jams.  Gil Scott Heron’s incredible “I’m New Here” is as deep as it gets, so don’t sleep on that either & I can't stop playing Steve Arrington's "Pure Thang."

  & I’m waiting for Ronkat to get his new CD “Change Generation” out there to back up his magnificent single “The One”

Let's see if 2011 will be as 'on the one for the funk' as 2010...  + there is 3 more weeks of this year to go.  Who gots tha funk?