When was funk born and who invented funk?

[Nano]

Well, if you want to build a groove, you have to play the one; it's as simple as that. And not only the bass player; ALL musicians have to play it, the more people the funkier it gets. (That's why George Clinton's anthems usually feature phrases like "everything is on The One".)
Direct consequence of doing this is a fat sound, sometimes tight (like in James Brown's bands), but most probably quite loose, like in Sly Stone's and Parliament/Funkadelic albums. It's like ten people trying to walk at the same step, because that weak beat is harder to match than the second, "strong" beat of the bar. And the whole thing kind of syncopates and turns.
A simple example of playing the one is "Another one bites the dust" by Queen. If you change the way the bass is played (stolen to Bernard Edwards), the rhythm sounds different. (Nile Rodgers has said that the "Good times" bomb fit in when he told Edwards to "walk" the bassline during the recording.)
But "the one" is not exclusive of the funk community: you can find it also in ska, reggae and other music genres. Even some white rock bands -like the Rolling Stones- use it sometimes.

[woodysco]

Hi! I also think "Cold sweat" was the first real funk track!...James brown was back from his 1966 African Tour .In Nigeria he met Fela Kuti and his band who had a great influence on him...A kind of revelation gave birth to FUNK...You can also notice how the Maceo sax choruses changes from this days, and generally the structure of the music is more into an afro thing than classic soul...The new drum break in "Cold Sweat"..etc 8)

[FunkMaster]

James Brown pioneered funk

What is Funk?



James Brown "popCorn"



James Brown teaches Bootsy the concept of Funk which he brings to G Clinton



He even influenced the great Nigerian,Kela Futi into creating the funky souding Afrobeat which was Funk + Jazz + West African Highlife

"In 1962 Fela returned to the newly independent Nigeria (the country separated from Britain in 1960), and took a job in Lagos as a trainee for the Nigerian Broadcasting service. He also reformed Koola Lobitos to play the swinging clubs of the booming city, and soon left the job to pursue music full time. In 1969 he took his band to Los Angeles to record, and became enamored of James Brown and the Black Panther movement, two things that would radicalize Fela's sound and vision. He returned to Lagos in 1970, and promptly renamed his band Afrika 70 and opened his own club, which he dubbed "The Shrine." There he, along with drummer and arranger Tony Allen, pioneered a new style they dubbed Afrobeat. The sound borrowed the muscular horn arrangements and slinky guitars of James Brown's funk and grafted it onto thundering Yoruba rhythms to come up with one of the most potent African pop styles ever recorded. In the next three decades he would record over 77 albums with Afrika 70 and their successors, Egypt 80, including such legendary sides as "Expensive Shit," "Coffin For Head Of State," "Colonial Mentality" and "Army Arrangement."

Fela Kuti: National Geographic World Music

" Fela Kuti had been an attentive apprentice when he jammed with some of James Brown's band members in a Los Angeles recording studio in 1969. But sadly, Kuti failed to secure the proper work Visas, and after four days, the Immigration and Nationalization Service threw him out of the country. Of course, Kuti had already gotten what he needed-- James Brown's funk and some Black Panther literature. He would turn his old band into a JB's-style groove machine, re-name it the Africa 70, and bring it on to the worms in power."

Fela Kuti: Expensive Shit/He Miss Road: Pitchfork Record Review

Well, if you want to build a groove, you have to play the one; it's as simple as that. And not only the bass player; ALL musicians have to play it, the more people the funkier it gets. (That's why George Clinton's anthems usually feature phrases like "everything is on The One".)
Direct consequence of doing this is a fat sound, sometimes tight (like in James Brown's bands), but most probably quite loose, like in Sly Stone's and Parliament/Funkadelic albums. It's like ten people trying to walk at the same step, because that weak beat is harder to match than the second, "strong" beat of the bar. And the whole thing kind of syncopates and turns.

I agree Nano.

By the way,James Brown credits Little Richard for putting the Funk in Rock music

YouTube - Little Richard - Long Tall Sally (classic rock & roll video)

[FunkMaster]

Originally Posted by Greg Wilson

Within the Dancing In The Street documentary, and as far as many an authority on the subject is concerned, James Brown's 'Cold Sweat' (1967) is the pivotal moment in the birth of Funk. Dancing In The Street states that via this seminal record Brown "revolutionized the rhythmic foundation of Soul music...instruments like the trumpet, which had been traditionally used for melody, he now used to accent the beat".

Black Music historian, Nelson George, explains; "James Brown really re-invented the idea of rhythm", adding that "James took the concept of groove and intensified it so that every instrument on a James Brown recording augments this idea of groove".

Central to Brown's new approach to rhythm was a syncopated beat nicknamed 'the one' (as in the first beat of the bar, which was where the emphasis was placed). Bootsy Collins, who many people forget first came to prominence as the charismatic teenage bass player with the 2nd great James Brown band (around the time of 'Sex Machine'), would later take this concept to George Clinton (Funkadelic / Parliament), who would use it to the full in unleashing a new mutant strain of P-Funk in the 70's (the importance that Clinton placed on 'the one' is illustrated perfectly by the title of the Parliament track 'Everything Is On The One').

Hope this helps.

a clip from what you just described

YouTube - James Brown: A Video Documentary Part One

[Disco Funk]

Where would Lowell Fulsom's Tramp fall in here? That came out in '66. I'm a huge fan of the Godfather of Soul, and personally, I'd say he laid down the foundation for funk in tracks like Papa's Got A Brand New Bag. But Tramp came out in '66 and is funky too. I wouldn't say it was the most influential funk track, even though it did inspire two well-known remakes - The Champ by The Mohawks and Tramp by Otis Redding & Carla Thomas.

Disco Funk