I Know Times Are Changing

0:00 — 0:10 In the summer of 1983, Wendy Melvoin was just 19 years old. She’d flown halfway across the country from Los Angeles for her first professional gig...

Remembering Bobby Byrd

Alan Leeds, one of my heroes and our greatest record of the living history of funk music, offers a warm remembrance of Bobby Byrd after Byrd’s passing last...

Goodbye, Godfather

To those of us who grew up after his artistic heyday, James Brown is some combination of legend, influence, icon, and inevitably, caricature. So on the day we...

mellow funk instrumentals

Sweet funky instrumentals. There’s the Commodore’s "Machine Gun", Barry White’s "Love’s Theme". There’s a whole bunch of almost vocal-free...

Extended Funkiness

The whole point of funk music is finding a groove and working it, but too many really funky songs quit just as they’re getting started. Stevie Wonder is...

James Brown

I love James Brown for the music, for the influence, for all the things he’s been to so many people. But part of his irresistible charm, to me, is his intrinsic...

Brother James

Four words: James Brown , Saturday night.