Directions in Groove

"Funk has always been at the core but I feel like it's important to highlight this. It's more than just music history, it's also important to show these connections so we can continue to have a springboard through which we can introduce the kind of new, innovative musical ideas that come from blending genres. The artists that I asked to contribute to this compilation are some of my personal favorites who I feel can do exactly this. Whether you're on or off the dance floor, it's always on the one. Keep it funkin!"

" Funk has always been at the core but I feel like it's important to highlight this. It's more than just music history, it's also important to show these connections so we can continue to have a springboard through which we can introduce the kind of new, innovative musical ideas that come from blending genres. The artists that I asked to contribute to this compilation are some of my personal favorites who I feel can do exactly this. Whether you're on or off the dance floor, it's always on the one. Keep it funkin!"

The last decade or so has seen a flood of compilations from the funky end of jazz so another one, and a double one at that, hardly seems to be something to get too excited about. But it is. Funky End is a superlative collection of familiar and not so familiar funk tunes from a diverse range of artists. It not only includes such funkmeisters as James Brown, Parliament and the Average White Band but also giants from the jazz world like Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders, Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers. Stand-out tracks are far too many to mention, although a personal favourite is the jaw-dropping cover by Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth". With such variety Funky End could easily have become a patchwork, but it manages to avoid the pitfall of many compilations and retain a sense of unity. And unity is what the funk is all about.

Everyone can improvise! Here’s a step-by-step course on how to play exemplarily over an easy D minor loop

Everyone can improvise! Here’s a step-by-step course on how to play exemplarily over an easy D minor loop

Everyone can improvise! Here’s a step-by-step course on how to play exemplarily over an easy D minor loop

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a roughly five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz.

Directions was a short-lived unit from the evolving mind of drummer Jack DeJohnette, who on this ECM joint proved once again that his deftness at the keyboard is almost on par with his mainstay. New Rags features the same line-up (John Abercrombie on electric guitar and mandolin, Alex Foster on reeds, and Mike Richmond on basses) as 1976’s Untitled, sans Bernhardt. Our frontman meanders into the thick of things with three originals, of which the title track bristles with luscious work from Richmond in a steady interplay with all.

With Untitled, Jack DeJohnette’s Directions popped a jazz milestone into ECM’s prolifically expanding oven, and it still smells as fresh as the day it was baked. Building off DeJohnette’s robust intro to the 14-minute “Flying Spirits,” a compelling quintet completed by guitar (John Abercrombie), bass (Mike Richmond), sax (Alex Foster), and keyboard (Warren Bernhardt) makes for an aerial interweaving of complementary signatures. The band kicks up a whirlwind of activity, leaving DeJohnette’s delicate applications to rustle like the last stray leaves blowing down the road, out of sight but ever in mind.

Come now, let us all genuflect before Lamb of God, for to them we owe our metal souls. In the fat rat-infested, decrepit tenement called Heavy Rock Manor, the Virginia-based shock unit is one of the few groups striving to keep the power on and the hallways clear of gluttonous rap-rock/post-grunge False Marias. Yes, yes, Ashes of the Wake arrives via Epic Records, but this only will inflame the ire of the ignorant. For the rest of us, Lamb's ascendance to the majors melts a little more of the crap rock golden calf. Where previous efforts were fully automatic hot LZs, they were also slightly muddled for the very same reason. They fired in all directions. With Ashes, producer Machine has sharpened the corner of every riff and tightened the turns on classicist metal gallops.