Here are three stories about the relationship of funk to the avant-garde.
Meshell Ndegeocello at Tonic
In my twenties, I forced myself to experience a lot of very highbrow avant-garde music: free jazz, experimental electronica, and various combinations thereof. One such experience was a show at Tonic. I forget who was on the bill exactly, but it included Susie Ibarra and various other downtown luminaries. The group was ad hoc and clearly had never played together before. Their freeform improvisation was colorful and interesting, but tough to get an emotional hold on.
During the second set, Meshell Ndegeocello showed up, and the band invited her to sit in. She sat onstage with her bass for a minute or two, just listening to all the atonal noise swirling around her. Then she started playing a simple G minor funk groove, quietly but insistently. One by one, the other musicians locked into it, until the whole group was actually playing together, not just at the same time, but together. It was the best show I ever saw at Tonic. It also made me realize that the best musicians play stuff that makes sense.
Ira Newborn and BB King
My favorite class at NYU this semester is Scoring For Film and Multimedia with Ira Newborn. Ira is a cynical curmudgeon — think Larry David with a beard — but he’s really passionate about music. He came up in the blues and funk world before moving into orchestral music. A student in the class had written something really far out and atonal, and it reminded Ira of a story. He had written an atonal piece, and he wanted BB King to play on it for some reason. So he brought BB in and didn’t explain the piece at all or show him a chart, just had him just play whatever he felt like. BB laid down straightforward blues on A7, and Ira said that it tied the whole piece together.
Miles Davis and Bitches Brew
About seventeen minutes into “Pharoah’s Dance,” Miles enters with a short repetitive funk theme. You can hear the swirling chaos gradually coalesce around him into a nice groove.
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I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you’re an adventurous and avant garde musician or composer, don’t be afraid to feel the funk. Leave hostility to wards the listener back in the fifties where it belongs. Your music is stronger when you take the risk of inviting the audience in to feel your feelings.