Deep funk is a subgenre of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

music which features a "hard, lean" sound and emphasis on groove,

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

, and musicianship over traditional songwriting. The term is also used to describe rare funk recordings sought out by collectors and DJs. Artists such as

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

and

the Meters The Meters (later The Funky Meters) are an American funk band formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). The band performed and recorded their o ...

were basic reference points for the style. Deep funk later saw increased popularity due to

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

producers seeking out new material to sample, as well as in the British rare groove and

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

scenes. Though most deep funk was originally released on 45s, modern releases by labels such as Goldmine, BBE, and Stones Throw, as well as DJ Keb Darge's compilations of deep funk, have helped usher the style into the CD age.

History

It got its name after DJ Keb Darge's "Legendary Deep Funk" DJ night, held at

Madame Jojo's Madame Jojo's was a nightclub and venue for cabaret, burlesque, drag shows, and live music located on Brewer Street in the Soho area of the City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Ki ...

nightclub in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

district. The night started originally with Snowboy, Keb Darge and Greg Belson as the DJs for the club session. The focus of the scene is collecting and DJing rare

45s of the deep funk genre, most usually released originally by local funk groups and artists in the USA throughout the 1960s and 1970s that usually stayed in their local home bases, only playing nearby clubs and other venues, and releasing their music on small local and regional record labels at the time in the form of 7" 45 rpm singles in quite small quantities (usually about 1,000–5,000 copies or fewer), hence their extreme rarity and high collectible value. Most of these records have quite high re-sale values due to their scarcity, with some selling for upwards of four to five figures.

References

{{Funkmusic Funk genres

History

See also

References