All Together On the One
What animates Silverman is funk music, which presented a special challenge for me, because I am not a musician of any kind. Not only did I have to describe the sound, but also create some semblance of musical knowledge in my narrator. I found it daunting, at first. How could I achieve that level of verisimilitude in the mind of my narrator? By listening to music, talking to musicians, reading and studying and listening some more. Fortunately, I enjoyed my research. But this is why they tell you to write what you love.
Which is obviously what Rickey Vincent was doing when he wrote Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One, a comprehensive deep-dive on the subject. Vincent is a music writer/historian/educator and radio show host whose love of funk shines through every word.
According to Vincent, “funk is impossible to completely describe in words,” yet he has done it, defining the core aspect of funk as well as its origin, history, and social context in a voice that stays true to its subject. As Vincent will tell you, funk is based on African rhythms so compelling that they have taken over American music. All the instruments come together to “emphasize the downbeat—the ‘one’ in a four-beat bar”—before they diverge, coming together again “on the one,” as George Clinton so famously put it. Even if you have a hard time parsing a song, you know funk when you hear it. Or, more accurately, your booty knows it: “Funk is that low down dirty dog feeling that pops up when a baad funk jam gets to the heated part, and you forget about that contrived dance you were trying, and you get off your ass and jam,” says Vincent.
Included in the book is a genealogy of funk, from its forebears to its most recent incarnations at the time of publication. This list of “funk dynasties” starts with James Brown and ends with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The book concludes with a massive playlist of “Essential Funk Recordings,” which could keep you busy for a thousand years. Here are just a few, listed chronologically:
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!
Charles Wright and the Watts - Express Yourself
Funkadelic - Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
Sly and the Family Stone - There’s a Riot Goin’ On
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
Kool & the Gang - Wild & Peaceful
Fred Wesley & the JBs - Damn Right I Am Somebody
Isley Brothers - Live It Up
Miles Davis - Aghartha and Pangea
Earth, Wind & Fire - Gratitude
Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove
James Brown - Can Your Heart Stand It
James Brown - Doin’ It to Death
Trouble Funk - Saturday Night Live
Praxis - Transmutation
Kam - Neva Again
If that’s not enough for you, get Vincent’s book!