On this first volume of Bay Area Funk (Luv N' Haight), 16 tracks represent the best of the infamous Bay Area scene, ranging from the boogaloo and shing-a-ling sound of Marvin Holmes and the Uptights to the psychedelic funk-jazz of P-I-R-Square. The compilation covers the period from 1967 to 1976 and is packed with music from the key originators and characters including a 12-year-old Little Denice produced by blues legend Jimmy McCracklin, rhythm and blues hero Rodger Collins, KSOL radio station director “Hard Punching" Herm Henry, and Sugar Pie Desanto, former opening act for James Brown who is still pulling back-flips on-stage even in her late 60s.
The Bay Area Funk sound features at least two distinct approaches. San Francisco and the rest of the Peninsula (including East Palo Alto, San Jose, San Mateo, etc.) added rock and Latin rhythms to soul grooves, evident in bands such as The Unforgettables, H.P. Riot, and Veda. The East Bay (including Oakland, Richmond, Vallejo, etc.) blended blues and jazz with funk as demonstrated by notable artists like Johnny Talbot, Lonnie Hewitt, and Wylie Trass.
The Bay Area is also known for mixed race bands that helped mix even more genres. For instance, the San Francisco TKOs had black, white, and Asian musicians playing to the crowds (not to mention a very funky drummer who, like Little Denice, was only twelve years old!). Reflecting the mix of races that migrated to the area, the music, feelings, and the love of their people, Bay Area funk is a unique sound, as you'll hear on this compilation.
This is one of the most essential releases on Luv N'Haight to date and has taken a couple of years to complete. It was compiled by the Luv N'Haight tune detectives Andrew Jervis and Michael McFadin with the help of DJ Riddm of Funky Riddms Records in Berkeley, “I found Wylie Trass through his daughter after calling every Trass in the Oakland phone book. I met Wendell Basey of Onyx through a friend who went to school with his nephew," explains DJ Riddim. “My search for local funk led me to the house of the legendary singer and guitarist Marvin Holmes, who was surprised to learn that diggers were searching high and low for music he had recorded over 30 years ago. He introduced me to other musicians and the more I learned about Bay Area funk, the more avid I became in my search for the music and the artists who created it." Without these bands and their efforts we might not even be here
For more information contact All About Jazz.
