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Jazz-funk was the British name for a musical genre used to denote a style of mostly American disco-ish jazz music, popular on the club-circuit of England in the mid 1970s. The American name for this genre was soul jazz, although jazz-funk and soul jazz do not entirely overlap.

Examples of jazz-funk artists are Roy Ayers, Eddie Henderson, Charles Earland, and Mass Production. The music featured a funk bassline and injections of jazz riffs, but always contained an overall soulful feel¹.

Other artists that made music in the 1970s considered jazz-funk by these criteria were Donald Byrd, Gil Scott Heron, Lonnie Liston Smith, Funkanova, Miroslav Vitous, Herbie Hancock, Deodato, Azymuth, Ronnie Laws, Ned Doherty, and Francine McGee.

Jazz-funk in the UK

Several British Jazz-funk artists and bands emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s who broke away from the disco and commercial scene, encouraged by club DJs like Chris Hill, Norman Jay, Robbie Vincent (then on BBC Radio London), and Greg Edwards who had a Saturday evening show commercial radio station Capital Radio.

Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent were instrumental in starting the Caister Weekender on the east coast of England. This event started after a break in 1992 at a holiday camp on the south coast, and returned to Great Yarmouth on the east coast, to the Vauxhall Holiday park in 1996 - the weekender continues to pull thousands of soul, jazz, and jazz-funk fans to the camp, three times a year in May, October and on New Year's Eve.

Chris Hill signed many artists to his Ensign record label. Some of the best known UK jazz-funk acts include Beggar and Co who reformed twice, first as Light of the World and then Incognito. The prime mover in the bands was J-P Bluey Maunick. Although Light of the World continue to perform in its own right without Bluey.

Other British jazz-funk bands include: Central Line, Level 42, Freeze, Heatwave, Hi Tension, Real Thing, Atmosfear, Imagination, FBI, and Gonzalez.

Many of the above had tracks compiled on to the 2003 album British Hustle: the Sound of British Jazz Funk 1974 to 1982. Label: Soul Jazz, ASIN: B0000C84NU, Catalogue Number: SJRCD82.

The album has extensive sleeve notes charting the history of Jazz-funk in the UK, and provides a good sample of British Jazz-funk. In 2006, it was still available on CD and 12" vinyl.

Many national and regional DJs including Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay and Tony Blackburn have and continue to play Jazz-funk tracks on their shows and at club nights.

The music has over the years featured heavily in the magazine Blues & Soul.

External links

• Jazz Funk
• Blues & Soul Online

See also

• Jazz fusion