- Jazz funk or funk, and how do I choose?
- Funk strips harmony to almost nothing, often one or two chords for a whole track, so every bit of attention lands on the groove. Jazz funk keeps that groove and puts sevenths, ninths and thirteenths on top, plus room for solos. Listen to the bass: in funk it is the hook, in jazz funk it is a bass part holding up the harmony.
- And how does it differ from fusion?
- Ask whether the track needs to make heads nod. Fusion prioritises odd meters and extended soloing and treats the groove as a vehicle; jazz funk stays locked in 4/4 and keeps solos on a leash. For beds and sync work, jazz funk. For a piece you sit down and listen to, fusion.
- What should the prompt actually say?
- Build it in three layers: 'sixteenth-note 4/4 pocket, straight eighths, no swing' at the bottom, 'Rhodes and clavinet, ninth and thirteenth chords' in the middle, 'saxophone lead, head-solos-head' on top. The line people forget is 'no swing' — the word jazz alone hands you a swung ride cymbal and the funk vanishes.
04:45
04:38