jazz funk "standards"

[Howard K]

OK, I have an opportunity to get some (of what I think are) very decent players together to play some jazz funk material and hopefully/probably gig it soon.

I've managed to get people on board by promissing to find the songs & sheets, book rehearsals, gigs etc. it's gonna be hard work, but I'm sure will be worth it

Anyway, what I need are some examples of tunes we could play... I've got a fair few in mind, but I could use help finding a few more tracks.

I'm not after anything too complex, just nice funky tunes, and ideally, tunes that are in a real book, any ideas very welcome

ta
H

[Bruce Lindfield]

Lucas Pickford has a lead sheet for the Chicken - made famous by Jaco - on his website :

www.lucaspickford.com

[Howard K]

couldnt find it...


and not sure i'm up to playing anything jaco played, but i'll have a listen!

[wulf]

That's easy... open your New Real Book and look in the front. It's got a section called 'jazz funk standards' (or something similar). From that source, Lovesjones does Streetlife and, for a mellower tone but still fitting within the overall context of what we do, Feel Like Making Love.

The rest of our repetoire has been learnt by ear, based on tracks that we've pulled out of our joint music collections. One or two of us will put together a mix CD and create enough copies to go round. We'll then pick a few tracks from that to work on; the expectation is that each person will be able to play their part in brewing up a 'jones version of the song (which may or may not sound much like the original).

If you want to go more for tunes that are available in notation for a suitable line up, then it might be easiest to start by identifying a source for the music rather than just getting a whole bunch of song titles thrown at you. Maybe somewhere like Argents in Denmark Street could help - they carry a lot of sheet music, although I haven't looked specifically for jazz/funk small band arrangements.

Wulf

[DaveBeny]

I just had a look at the Sher 'New Real Books' for you:

Re: jazz-funk/fusion/pop, Vol.1 includes:

GEORGE BENSON This Masquerade; Turn Your Love Around; Affirmation
THE CRUSADERS Street Life; Put It Where You Want It; Never Make Your Move Too Soon; Keep That Same Old Feeling; It Happens Everyday; Young Rabbits
ROBERTA FLACK Feel Like Makin’ Love; Killing Me Softly With His Song
ARETHA FRANKLIN Baby, I Love You; Chain Of Fools
MICHAEL JACKSON P.Y.T. - Pretty Young Things
BOB JAMES Sunrunner
JACO PASTORIUS Portrait Of Tracey; Three Views Of A Secret GROVER WASHINGTON JR Desire; Make Me A Memory - Sad Samba
WEATHER REPORT Mr Gone; Havona; River People; Plaza Real
THE YELLOWJACKETS Matinee Idol; Rush Hour; Goin’ Home; Sonja’s Sanfona; One Family

Vol.2 includes:

CHICK COREA Spain; Windows; Waltse For Dave; Friends; You’re Everything; 500 Miles High; Sea Journey; Time Track; Got a Match?; Eternal Child; T.B.C. (Terminal Baggage Claim); Morning Sprite;

Vol.3 includes:
ARETHA FRANKLIN Respect;
MARVIN GAYE Ain't That Peculiar; What's Going On?; I Heard It Through The Grapevine; How Sweet It Is;
AL GREEN Let's Stay Together;
STEVIE WONDER I Can’t Help It; Part-Time Lover; Bird Of Beauty; Another Star; That Girl; Creepin'; Too High.
HERBIE HANCOCK Speak Like A Child; Actual Proof; Butterfly; Never Said (Chan's Song);
JACO PASTORIUS (Used To Be A) Cha-Cha;
YELLOWJACKETS Revelation; Freedomland; Man Facing North.

There are also a couple of "fake real books" available free online as .pdfs - three volumes, about 50mb each. Not sure how accurate the transcriptions are - worth looking at perhaps - they do contain Herbie Hancock's 'Chameleon' and Freddie Hubbard's 'Red Clay':

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~adams/realbook/

[EmmSee]

also, in V. 1

Wayne Shorter - Endangered Species

funky!

[Planet Boulder]

Pick up The Crusaders' "Southern Comfort". It is RIDDLED with inspiration!

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Howard K

couldnt find it...


and not sure i'm up to playing anything jaco played, but i'll have a listen!

It's not hard - don't worry!!

[Bayou_Brawler]

Herbie Hancock - watermelon man album

some jimmy smith

some jimmy mcgriff

some john scofield

some groove collective

chalie hunter did this album with two other guitarists that ws pretty funky......try to look that up

[JimK]

You can also think outside the box-

Take Jazz Standards/Classics & funkify them-
"Salt Peanuts"
"Footprints"
"Equinox"

...Liquid Soul does this sorta thing.
Andy Summers' The Last Dance Of Mr. X does some of the same, too.

Or take something Funky(Sly, James Brown, AWB, etc) & 'jazzify'...maybe swing over the changes in a chorus/solo or two.

There is a sub-genre of Hard Bop called "Funky Jazz"(or "Soul Jazz")...perhaps most were played on acoustic instruments, IMO, it would be cool to rearrange for electric & maybe change the feel("Latin-ize" or make into something 'odd').


Otherwise, stick with the tried & true-
"Watermelon Man"-Herbie
"Chameleon"-Herbie
"Wiggle Waggle"-Herbie
"Red Clay"-Freddie Hubbard
"Matinee Idol"-Yellowjackets(+ about anything else from their initial 2 releases).
"Tom Cat"-Tom Scott & the L.A. Express
"Rock Island Rocket"-Tom Scott & the L.A. Express
"Spiral"-Crusaders(+ anything from Images or Free As The Wind)
Others include George Benson("Good King Bad"), Pat Martino, Grover Washington, Jr(Mister Magic, Winelight, etc), Spyro Gyra, Corea, etc.

[baba]

Watermelon Man; Chamelion -- Herbie Hancock (Headhunters)

[Passinwind]

Les McCann, Cannonball Adderly

[Woodchuck]

Stanley Clark's "Rocks, Pebbles, & Sand".

[Muzique Fann]

Grant Green's Windjammer...

[Howard K]

OK, a complete wealth of info there guys, very, very, VERY much appreciated!!
I dont have to time to read here at work, so I'm gonna do the un-eco-friendly thing and print out the posts for study at home

FYI - I'd already decided on Chameleon and Actual Proof. I was listening to a bunch of CDs last night and had a few other inspirations...

James Brown - Aint It Funky Now
I've heard Many bands do cissy strut - and it's a corker

I also really love a version of Squib Cakes by Lonnie Plaxico - I'm just not sure how close it is the origional and therefore how hard it would be get sheets?

Also, that track Technicolur Nightmare from Christian McBride latest album - the 'riff' and melody is relativley straight forward (plus I have it transcribed in bass player , the bass solo is obviously way beyond me in this lifetime, at least, but much of the song/solos are over simple vamp.. and any drummer will love it!

anyway, thanks agian, i'll post back the list when it's agreed
H