Jazz Funk is a subgenre of Jazz and although it draws on R & B and Soul it is a distinct niche. While it draws on many sources, it never completely overlaps them. It is a black American sound. it is accessible with a strong backbeat, good arrangements and shorter but tightly focussed solos. Above all it is danceable and that brings joy. Back in the seventies, it received a measure of grief from both sides of the spectrum. Jazz purists complained that It was not cerebral enough or too reliant on electric instruments while some in the broader music press complained that it was too much like mainstream Jazz. 

From today’s perspective, such nonsense is laughable. When Jimmy Smith, Gil Scott-Heron, Herbie Hancock, George Benson and Freddy Hubbard started releasing stunning Jazz Funk albums the naysayers were left with album sized chunks of egg on their faces. 

A few days ago Ben McNicoll brought his popular Jazz Funk unit to the CJC. His unit is called the CTI All-stars Tribute band and the reference is a potent one. The original CTI Allstars were leaders who came together for a large California concert: George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Stanley Turrentine, Hank Crawford, Johnny Hammond, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham and Airto Moreira. The CTI label was the brainchild of record producer Creed Taylor. 

A man whose legacy is incalculable. He worked at Bethlehem Records, ABC-Paramount, Verve, Impulse and A&M before founding CTI (and its imprints). He signed John Coltrane for Impulse, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz to Verve. He signed Oliver Nelson, Gil Evans, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery and many more. His last great project, the CTI label captured a moment in Jazz history, bringing with it those warm funk-infused albums and for a time, a wider audience.  

McNicoll is a musician who puts in the hard yards and he captured the CTI vibe perfectly. While featuring a gig of covers is not a CJC thing, this was much more than that. Yes, CTI covers were aired, but only in the context of an over-arching project. McNichol’s band offered us a valuable window into this epoch and his selection of overlooked standards captured the vibe to a tee.  It was great to see these numbers aired as they are often left languishing in the shadows. 

The tunes were infectious and they soon brought people to their feet and on a chilly winters night, what could be better? They were tunes redolent of an era and they were happy tunes. For those in the audience around during the seventies, they brought back fond memories, for the rest, the joy of discovery. Among the tunes played were Freddy Hubbards ‘Red Clay’, ‘Gibraltar’ and ‘Povo’. The ‘Taxi’ theme, Herbie Hancock’s ‘Hornet (a funky tune written around two notes), A Bob James and a Wayne Shorter tune and very pleasingly Idris Muhammed’s ‘Crab Apple’, a Louisiana funk classic. This is the music that you can hear in the New Orleans clubs. A unique sound that rides a groove to the moon and back. 

I have put up the ‘Povo’ and ‘Crab Apple’ cuts. The band featured Ben McNicolls on baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone and tenor saxophone, Joe Kaptein on Rhodes, Mostyn Cole on electric bass, Kurt Dyer on percussion, Andy Keegan on drums and special guest Jason Herbert on guitar.  The gig was at Anthology, CJC Jazz Club, 9 June 2021.

I would also like to acknowledge McNicoll for his tireless work on behalf of the Auckland Jazz scene. Most know him as the person who introduces the gigs each week, but the observant will be aware that he also helps set-up and pack-down; he does the sound checks and sits at the ‘desk’ and on top of that he frequently organises gigs for other musicians. He is a prime example of how a not-for-profit organisation remains functional. In short, he us the archetypal (unpaid) A & R person.

JazzLocal32.com was rated as one of the 50 best Jazz Blogs in the world by Feedspot. The author is a professional member of the Jazz Journalists Association, poet & writer. Some of these posts appear on related sites.