The Funk Era and Beyond New Perspectives on Black Popular Culture

by Bolden, Tony

• ISBN13: 9780312296087
• ISBN10: 0312296088
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The Funk Era and Beyondis the first scholarly collection to discuss funk music in America and delve into the intricate and complex nature of the word and its accompanying genre. While pleasure and performance are often presumed to be mutually exclusive of intellectuality, funk offers immense possibilities for a new critical rubric. As these writings demonstrate, funk is reflected in myriad forms and context and has been the catalyst for stylistic innovation. Contributors employ a multitude of methodologies to examine this unique musical field's relationship to African American culture and to music, literature, and visual art as a whole.

Author Biography

Tony Bolden is Associate Professor of African American Literature and Culture, University of Alabama and is the author of Afro-Blue: Improvisations in African American Poetry and Culture

Table of Contents

Series Editors' Preface	p. vii
Prelude from the Funkmaster
Sly Stone and the Sanctified Church	p. 3
Introduction
Theorizing the Funk: An Introduction	p. 13
Inside the Funk Shop: Writings on the Funk Band Era
A Philosophy of Funk: The Politics and Pleasure of a Parliafunkadelicment Thang!	p. 33
James Brown: Icon of Black Power	p. 51
A Land of Funk: Dayton, Ohio	p. 73
From the Crib to the Coliseum: An Interview with Bootsy Collins	p. 89
Impressions: Funkativity and Visual Art
Cane Fields, Blues Text-ure: An Improvisational Meditation on Jean Toomer's Cane and Jean-Michel Basquiat's Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta	p. 107
Good Morning Blues: Gordon Parks Imagines Leadbelly	p. 125
Shine2.0: Aaron McGruder's Huey Freeman as Contemporary Folk Hero	p. 143
Funkintelechy: (Re)cognizing Black Writing
Alabama	p. 161
Jazz Aesthetics and the Revision of Myth in Leon Forrest's There Is a Tree More Ancient than Eden	p. 171
Living the Funk: Lifestyle, Lyricism, and Lessons in Modern and Contemporary Art of Black Women	p. 183
Cultural Memory in Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men	p. 193
Imagine That: Fonky Blues Rockin and Rollin
Funkin' with Bach: The Impact of Professor Longhair on Rock 'n' Roll	p. 213
Blue/Funk as Political Philosophy: The Poetry of Gil Scott-Heron	p. 227
Contributors	p. 245
Index	p. 249
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