Well Funksters, just when you thought that the original funk tunes were funky, along comes a band that funkifies the original even further. We’ve heard this on some of the other shows that I’ve done on this subject. And I found some other tunes to add to this list. Some days I think I have only touched on the tip of the iceberg. Well, we are talking about 60 years worth of music….

I start the show off with a classic of a classic your might say…Herbie Hancock adding his incredible talent to that wonderful Curtis Mayfield tune Future Shock that Mayfield released on his album Back To The World ten years earlier in 1973. Herbie helped shock it into the future on his 39th studio album Future Shock, released in 1983. As you know this album  includes the big hit tune Rockit, which blew away the musical industry. This album, by the way, was Herbie’s first release from his electro-funk era and an early example of instrumental hip hop. Participating musicians include bass guitarist Bill Laswell, who also co-produced, guitarist Pete Cosey and drummer Sly Dunbar.

Our first set includes Dirty Loops where they put their funky spin on a real classic tune you all are familiar with…followed by another well known tune, done here by Greg “ Gee Mack” Dalton,  one of the most sought after Guitarists of his generation. He started off playing trumpet until he heard George Benson which got him to switch to guitar. In the early 1990s, Gee Mack formed The Polyester Players, a 70’s soul & funk band made up of top studio musicians and singers that immediately became a popular staple on the Los Angeles club circuit. Heavily influenced by James Brown, The Ohio Players, Earth Wind & Fire, and Kool & the Gang, The Polyester Players perform original songs and classic R&B hits…

And we end up the set with Victor Wooten showing us how talented he is doing that Sly and The Family Stone tune.

Up next, another funky set starting with a cover of a Jackson 5 classic which I remember dancing to when the original came  out…done by my fave sax player Maceo Parker…and you know he knows how to make things funky having learned a thing or two from the Master of Funk, Mr. Brown…doing the tune off of his School’s In! album…which is followed by a cover of that classic Sly and The Family Stone tune Everyday People, of course…done here by Arrested Development, that American hip hop group from Atlanta who formed back in 1988 to produce a positive,  Afrocentric alternative to the gangsta rap popular in the late 1980s…here doing People Everyday, from their debut album…which ignited the popularization of Southern hip hop. And we end the set with Vulfpeck doing their “funkified” version of that classic Stevie Wonder tune, Boogie On Reggae Woman.

To close out this show, I’ve picked out a tune performed by Jacob Collier, that incredible musician from the UK. I’d call him The Master of Harmony, wouldn’t you? I played a collaborative work he did with Cory Henry and the Boston Pops Orchestra a while back…the tune Billy Jean. Here he is  rehearsing with the WDR Big Band doing the Stevie Wonder tune I Wish. Who said Jacob couldn’t get funky, huh?

Hope you enjoyed the show!