Amidst the worldwide turbulence in 2017 I seemed to have found sanctuary in my world of Funk and associated musical adventures. As always my believe in the magic of music and its connecting powers has been upheld. Read on if you want to get a little bit more of an insight in to my activities of the past year and the ones to come.

RSB RECORDS

In 1987 my great and late friend and vocalist Bernie ‘Big B’ Auer – gave me a stage nickname – ‘Red Steven Baker’ – ‘Baker’ was short for ‘Redtenbacher’ and ‘Red’ – well, at the time I had massively long AND (Henna) red hair. Somehow this name stuck for a while until I studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. ‘Red Steven Baker’ became RSB and my roommate turned ‘RSB’ into ‘Real Sexy Bass’ – good job I’d say! RSB music has since become a steady companion for my musical activities. Not a leap but small step to turn ‘RSB Music’ into ‘RSB Records’ in an effort to give all my recent releases a home – hence, ‘Real Sexy Bass Records’ was born.

The first two releases in 2017 were:

Backwood Five – ‘Brother Joe’s Garage’ RSB 73100

Redtenbacher’s Funkestra – ‘Re-imagined by Beat Fatigue’ RSB 73200

What’s on my release schedule in 2018?

The Red Counts – ‘A Little Book of Jazz’ RSB 7300

Redtenbacher’s Funkestra feat. Helena May – ‘Part of me’ RSB 73400

Redtenbacher’s Funkestra – ‘The Vinyl Collection’ RSB 73500

‘Beneath The Bassline‘ – soundtrack for this documentary about the bass guitar by Nick Wells RSB 73700

Redtenbacher’s Funkestra – ‘Big Funk Band’ (feat. Benny Greb, Stanton Moore, Francesco Mendolia, Mike Sturgis, Cory Wong & many others) RSB 73600

Redtenbacher’s Funkestra – ‘The String Sessions’ (Fab project with equally fab violinist and string arranger Pete Withfield) RSB 73800

FUNKESTRA (FNKESTRA)

This year has not only seen the strengthening of our musical relationship with vocalist Helena May, it has also brought the addition of a ‘quasi’ new member with guitarist Andy Little. Andy has long been a friend of the band and seems like a natural development to add him to the band. His own band ‘Mr Little’s Noisy Band’ is a great operation, well worth checking out. Maybe 2018 will bring the long wished for double bill?

In November we’ve been to the studio to record a bunch of tracks with Helena – we are hoping to be able to present it to you sometime this spring – it will be a bag of funkified re-imaginations – 2018 here we come! Next stop – horn session recording with Sid Gauld (trumpet), Simon Allen (tenor saxophone) and Nichol Thomson (trombone) – closely followed by percussion overdubs by Karl Vanden Bossche and we’ll be in good shape!

This year has also seen an effort to modify the band’s name – let’s face it: ‘Redtenbacher’s Funkestra’ is quiet a mouthful and I’ve witnessed many occasions when people who are otherwise really happy with the music, have shied away from pronouncing ‘Redtenbacher’ and only ‘Funkestra’ itself seems to be subject to numerous phonetic interpretations….

So, short of changing the name altogether or going back where we started, namely ‘RB Funkestra’ (short for ‘RedtenBacher‘), which I find a little bit ‘generic’ and none-described, I’ve started experimenting with ‘Fnkestra’ – quiet a bit shorter and perhaps less of a mouthful, yet, still with the obvious Funk connotation in it? Any thoughts welcome.

Anyone starting a band and looking for a new band name – beware of the seed that you are going to saw. My band name started as a joke at Berklee College of Music in 1994. As fellow students of mine referred to me as ‘Orville’ – short of ‘Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn’.

I thought ‘Redtenbacher’s Blue Funkestra’ has a similar three word ring to it…little did I know that I’ll drag this ‘cumbersome’ name with me for the next decades and I can’t see another band name on the horizon, other than playing around with what we’ve got, ergo…Fnkestra….

One more thought – yes, there are numerous Funkestra ensembles dotted around the planet – some active, some party bands, some studio projects, some long gone…I guess our strongest stance is that we are steadily releasing original music and seem to have the strongest listenership around the globe, I guess this helps:-)

I’ve also been working hard on the ‘Big Funk Band’ album – so far I’ve recorded amazing drummers Benny Greb, Stanton Moore, Francesco Mendolia and our own ‘oracle’, Mike Sturgis as well as Vulfpeck guitarist Cory Wong and Bill Cobham keyboardist Steve Hamilton. There is lots more to do before I can go into the studio with a full Big Band horn section of 13 players and present it to you. When I will – I hope you are going to be as excited about it as I have been at every step putting this together!

Also, again, very grateful to collaborate with arranger Peter Tomasso who always manages to make the horns sound ‘phatter’ and in every sense more balanced. I had a taste of this fat and balanced sound when Mark Armstrong, musical director for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) invited me along to a rehearsal with his stellar Big Band and I was most pleased and encouraged with what I heard. Thank you for the opportunity – looking forward to rockin’ all the new tunes with you somewhere on a bandstand!

[Stefan and Helena May with Funkestra at Ziggy’s Jazz & World club; picture courtesy of Rob Blackham]

THE BAND SOON FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE STAKS

This year has been a busy and in my book a pivotal one for this band. I’ve been in the band since late 1999 when it was formed. It started as a one-off surprise party band and has since formed into a formidable beast of +/- 16 musicians, fronted by lead singer Noel McCoy. I think we’ve always seen ourselves as a mature of ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’, Otis Redding, Sharon Jones/Charles Bradley and The Dapkings with a good extra dose of Rock’n’Roll chucked into it.

Over the years we’ve played with artists like Beverly Knight, Joss Stone, Imelda May, Steve Winwood, Paul Carrack, Lulu, and also the late Jack Bruce. I think we were the last band to ever perform with him live on stage. What an honor!

With this pedigree behind us we thought it would be time to put ourselves on the map and release a few records in 2018! To pave way the way we have hooked up with Brooklyn artist Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and after a rehearsal trip to Paris and a few shows in London decided to team up – what a great story, especially as the journey started with me watching ‘Preacher’ – an Amazon Prime exclusive series – and when the tune ‘Your Sins (will find you out)‘ came one during one of the iconic scenes I was blown away by the vibrancy of the tune and just had to find out about the artist – Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed – what a start yo our future musical adventures!

[The Staks with Joss Stone and Seal; photo courtesy of Monica Dart photography]

BACKWOOD FIVE

Joseph or ‘Seppi’ Hinterhoelzl AKA Joe Backwood has become a real good friend ever since our first musical Big Band outing about two years ago. Joe is a great drummer and he set out to become the bandleader for ‘Backwood Five’ – “Hard hitting Fuzz for Groove Jam lovers – since 2016”. Joe, Andreas See (sax), Oliver Kerschbaumer (organ), Paul Slaviczek (guitar) and honorary members Johnny Sommerer (guitar) and Martin Gasselsberger (organ) have played a bunch of gigs in 2017 and we are looking forward to continue to ‘funkify’ the Austrian population with our brand of funk, penned by yours truly. Listen to our first release ‘Joe’s Garage’ on RSB Records here: and check in at our Facebook page for future gigs.

HUGH TURNER FUNK QUARTET

Hugh is a formidable guitarist, bandleader and a household name in and around Reading in musician’s circles. I would describe his music as * electrifying * free-fall * psychedelic * guitar funk * and had the pleasure to play with his quartet pretty much every month of 2017. The nucleus of the band are Hugh Turner and Nial Tompkins on guitar, Steve Wyndham on drums and me on bass.

Our regular-once-a-month-gig at the The Global Cafe in Reading is always fun and I very much enjoy the free spirit of Hugh who lets us all stretch out and be creative on the spot. My own spontaneous offerings don’t always work out but sometimes it seems as if all planets align just nicely. Love it – more of please! Maybe even a recording and release in 2018? I know a label (hehe!).

FUNKY PLAYALONGS

Over the past few decades I’ve produced a mini-mountain of backing tracks. When I started out I always created little loops to play-along to in order to work on improvising, bass lines, sight-reading, etc. During my time as head of bass at the ACM I continued this tradition and also produced tracks for the Bassguitar Magazine and then the iBass Magazine.

I still spontaneously create my own play-alongs when I’m working on something I want to focus on, for example ‘licks’ with symmetrical scales and such. For a few years this catalogue of backing tracks, including ‘minus one versions’ of most of the Funkestra records were offered exclusively as AudioSheetMusic via the KR Player app. As this technology is currently morphing into its 2nd phase I’ve decided to release the best sounding high quality backing tracks plus their music notation of Bandcamp.

I called the Bandcamp site ‘Funkyplayalongs’. To start out with I’ll only upload ‘minus bass’ versions but who knows, as time goes by, I might the ‘minus one’ tracks for drums, guitar, keys, etc. as they are all sitting on a massive hard drive. I’ve opted for the ‘name your price’ model as I feel it it most aligned with my vision being an ‘independent artist’ and educator. It honestly makes me feel happy knowing that a bassist somewhere in the world has decided to have a go at my lines of practises along to one of my backing tracks.

Although the current catalogue is technically ‘free’ I want to thank all of you who have payed generously for my offering- I’m most grateful. 2018 will bring a steady growth of this site – so, if you are interested, check in frequently.

[picture courtesy of Rob Blackham]

Thank you to everyone of you who supported me and the band throughout the year – listening to the music, coming to a gig, watching a video, interacting on social media or simply having words of encouragement for my ‘independent artist’ adventures.

Wishing you a healthy, successful and fulfilled Happy New Year and peace to all!

Carpe funkem, Stefan

[Stefan recording with the Staks at British Grove Studios]

[photo by Rob Blackham]

I’m very excited to offer the bass community high quality minus one audio tracks and corresponding bass charts. Check some out here on Bandcamp ‘FunkyPlayAlongs‘.

To start out with I’ll offer minus one tracks from the original Funkestra records – so you can expect high quality audio quality and excellent musicianship. I’ll do my best to credit every single musician on the each track – credit where credit is due.

The idea started when Nick Wells, the director of the movie ‘Beneath The Bassline‘ asked me if he could use ‘Bassface‘ from ‘Dr Hypenstein’ as the title track. I think it would be fun to for bassists interested in funky music to play along to the track.

At the moment you can ‘name your prize’ on Bandcamp (yes, you can download for FREE if you are strapped for cash) for the minus bass track plus bass chart. Once you downloaded the zip folder from Bandcamp in your chosen audio format you’ll find not only the backing track but also the bass chart and cover in the unzipped folder. Magic!

If you like the idea of cool bass backing tracks and charts I will also release my ‘Playing the Blues’ series, ‘A Little Book of Jazz’ by the Red Counts, ‘Session Cats’ – a whole bunch of stylistically different tunes and cool sounding tracks which I wrote for my ‘in session’ column for the ibass magazine as well as a whole bunch of chord progressions and scale/arpeggio exercise backing tracks. I don’t think I’ll run out soon. Just let me know what you are into!

Here a lovely credit from another bassist:

“Das ganze Konzept finde ich einfach geil. Für jeden Bassist, der sich einigermaßen für Funk interessiert, ist es ein Traum.” [Nicholas M.]

Translates roughly to:

“I really dig the whole concept. This is a dream for any bassist who is remotely interested in Funk.” [Nicholas M.]

[cover photo courtesy of Jasmine Krivosheev]

Backwood Five is another sibling of the Redtenbacher’s Funkestra (the other ‘jazzier’ sibling being The Red Counts).

This groove jam funk band, based in and around Linz in Upper Austria, is run by drummer Josef Hinterhölzl (aka Joe Backwood). Over the last year or so I had the great pleasure of working and playing with this fun and high energy five piece – what’s more is that Joe has picked all the tunes from my original repertoire and has also tasked me with MDing the band – there is really nothing not to love about this gig!

As we are young band we are looking to add to our existing gig circuit – one of the steps we have taken towards this is to release our first EP called ‘Brother Joe’s Garage’ featuring five original songs. Have a listen/download on any of the provided links below – choose your favorite service, heads up though, only on Bandcamp you can NAME YOUR PRICE – give us whatever you think the music is worth to you or even better, invite us to your next festival – no matter how big or small!

Backwood Five are:

Josef Hinterhölzl (Joe Backwood) – drums, bandleader
Andreas See – tenor saxophone
Oliver Kerschbaumer – keyboards (Hammond, Rhodes)
Paul Slaviczek – guitar
Stefan Redtenbacher – bass, MD

and ‘honorary’ BW5 live band members: Johnny Sommerer (guitar), Martin Gasselsberger (keyboards) and Gerd Rahstorfer (trumpet).

Two of the tunes were recorded at Ollie’s place in Austria – watch us recording them here: ‘Samurei Phunk‘ and ‘Scarlett Town‘.

The other three tunes Joe and I recorded over here in the UK at Masterlink productions with the fab Simon Allen (tenor sax), Adam Goldsmith (guitar) and Ross Stanley (keys).

A big thank you to Tom Fitzsimmons who helped us out in the studio and last but not least Karl Vanden Bossche who overdubbed percussion @his on ‘Samurei Phunk’ and ‘Scarlett Town’ – always a pleasure to work with such master musician (“More cowbell, anyone?”).

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Backwood Five – ‘Hard hitting Fuzz for Groove Jam Lovers!’

A while a go I stumbled across Dutch producer and guitarist Beat Fatigue’s Glitch Hop catalogue on Bandcamp.

I was immediately hooked by his music and many car journeys later with Beat Fatigue’s funk offering testing my sound systems to the limit it was time to contact the man himself – London calling Amsterdam.

After a initial hook-up of like minded spirits united in Funk, I pinged all tracks from ‘The Time Thief’ the latest release of Redtenbacher’s Funkestra to Mr Beat Fatigue to pick one for re-imagination … and ‘Walkin’ Struttin’ Strollin’’ Beat Fatigue re-edit was born, much to my delight!

The funk was strong and vibrant – so much so that the musical journey couldn’t end there. This was when the idea of Redtenbacher’s Funkestra ‘Re-imagined by Beat Fatigue‘ was born.

Bow Wow (from ‘Hausmusik’), Guilty and Walkin’ Struttin’ Strollin’ (from ‘The Time Thief’), The Oracle (from ‘The Cooker’) and Skintight (from ‘A Little Book of Jazz’ – by The Red Counts, the jazzier sibling of the Funkestra) were all re-imagined with fresh funk spectacles.

“Funky wobbly swinging bass-lines with jazzy chord progressions, some recorded midi layers, effects, vocals chops, punchy drums and guitar-jam to top” is indeed what you can expect of this sound.

Great to experience these Funkestra classics in an Electro Funk setting, re-imagined through Beat Fatigue’s unique Glitch Funk vantage point. Dare I say it – but listen to this remixes with a system that can move some serious air – this is not laptop speaker music and this Glitch Hop EP will really get you going!

Also a big thank you to K+Lab for his awesome cover art!

A digital release at the moment, available on over 40 digital online stores for streaming and/or download – we are planning to releasing the EP on vinyl later this year. Looking forward to taking these vibes onto a bandstand near you.

LISTEN HERE

Get this release directly from us HERE!

PS: I’m very proud to release this collaboration with Beat Fatigue on my RSB Music label (‘RSB’ is short for ‘real sexy bass’) – currently working on a whole bunch of releases to make my indie label grow and offer you the funkiest vibes I can muster!

Dammit! Time is moving way too fast. Oscar has sent me this album quite a while ago and although I have listened to it loads – I haven’t seem to have the chance to tell him how great I think this album is! So, just made myself a lovely Espresso and finally sit down in the Devon sun to write down what I’ve been thinking on countless car journeys whistling along to their tunes.

Three Step Manouvre are a seriously funky three piece – their second release and first full length album ‘Three Step Strut’ features the core members: Oscar Reynolds – drums, Ben Lee – guitar, David Ferris – keys as well as guest artist like Gareth Lockrane on flute and Cherise Adams-Burnett on vocals.

All three musicians sound great on their respective instrument and seemed to have found their ‘mojo’ as a trio as their interplay seems at ease and I guess they have spent a fair few hours with each other playing and making music.

Really enjoying the length of the album too – not too short nor too long – more in the vein of a vinyl record with two sides – perfect time and all tunes have distinctive characters from each other. No mean feat!

The music is a lovely potpourri of different funk styles and artists from the classic bands to contemporary influences. Clearly there is a strong Meters influence but naturally a Soulive touch as well, not least because of the line up.

The first track ‘Three Step Manoeuvre’ is an overture in three acts – a fun introduction to the album – the three changes of pace are surprising – even unsettling at first but on after a few listens become familiar and show clear purpose in constructing an interesting funk (jazz) tune.

The 2nd song ‘The Drill Song’ – although with some ‘fusion’ influences, still serves up a ‘hum-able’ melody – something which is going through most songs – solid tunes with catchy melodies. The arrangement is imaginative and the guitarists has fun with muted and open notes playing techniques (a bit of a nerdy fact but it just catches my attention every time:-).

Track three – ‘Grant’s Party’ – a high octane song as the name implies – great groove and energy and yet again a very memorably and catch melody as well as riffs which will have you sing and whistle along in no time. The flute solo by Gareth Lockrane is a great sonic addition to the trio who know how to make the most of their sonic arsenal regardless.

My personal favorite is track 4 ‘Throwback’ – the groove and chords in the opening have a mesmerizing character and remind me of early Eryka Badu records. The slightly harder edge riff with crunchy guitar sound is augmented by a supercool melody played by the organ followed by a slightly psychedelic section which is reminiscent of Martin, Medeski and Wood – the sound escapes are very cool – I just love this track with it twists and turns and ‘gear shifts’ – again – very memorable riffs and melodies make this tune vibrant and catchy.

A fun idea – take a song by The Who (‘Won’t Be Fooled Again’) and give it a funk treatment – inviting vocalist Cherise Adams-Burnett – and a horn section – and it works. Clearly influenced by the grooves of James Brown and the JB horns (honking 60s Soul Bari et al) as well as some Motown vibes. Letting the band rip in the tag is surely a great thing to watch and listen to at their live gigs.

Track 6 (in my mind track 1 of the B side) ‘Southern Fried’ is a fantastically catchy track – the melody is a seriously happy-must-whistle-along type and also clearly shows the long reaching influence of the Meters as well as the crisp guitar sounds of Steve Cropper – the Staxs label and also Booker T & The MG in particular. The melody is also super cheeky – super simple – and equally catchy. Booker T is lurking from behind the corner when the Hammond takes over the melody. The super syncopated stop section seems slightly out of character with the rest of the tune but doesn’t hinder my enjoyment a tiny bit. Yet again the guitarist enjoys some prominent muted guitar notes as in ‘The Drill song’ – a good contrast to his otherwise pristine soul/funk guitar sound. A guaranteed head ‘bopper’.

Track 7 ‘Early’s Cafe’ is taken us to Church with a very Gospel influenced vibe and some cool Grant Green meets Scofield with MMW vibes. There is a lovely joy-de-vivre in this tune and the positive energy is infectious. The single ‘Yeah’ Meters style vocal rendition is a little random but nonetheless great fun and just makes me smile! The swampy guitar solo has a good amount of grid to it and there is even a mini excursion in the land of swing – luckily not for too long before returning to save funk grounds!

Track 8 ‘Topsham Twist’ – sounds like an homage to Galactic and their drummer Stanton Moore as well as a massive nod towards the New Orleans Funk scene in general. And there it goes again – a catchy melody performed by the guitar – very cool.

Track 9 ‘Melon Collie Flower’ – has a smooth vibe with a jazzier/fusion like approach – not unlike the Crusaders or the original Stuff. There are even some Benson licks in the guitar solo:-) Chilled!

Track 10 ‘The 145’ – Kick out the last tune on the album and have fun with this upbeat and unashamedly funky tune with a melody that at times has a Bluegrass/Fingerpicking country soul vibe to it. Again, all the riffs have a sing/whistle along quality to them which makes this album so enjoyable to listen to. Not ‘just’ grooves but also ‘tunes’ and clever arrangements – a successful funk exploration. The end has a upbeat – kind of Fatboy Slim Breakbeat vibe to it and just helps the feel good vibes all-round.

A catchy, super groovey, fresh and inspired album – the future of funk is is save hands with these guys struttin’ their stuff – can’t wait to hear what their next offering is going to be like and in which direction they will take it – more vocals, expand the band, more experimental, more Jazz – I’ll be there to support it whatever it is going to be …as long as it is funky:-)

Get the album here.

What can I say? I thoroughly enjoyed myself – during rehearsals and the concert as well as spending time with new and old friends- what a privilege! Some people came as far as Slovakia (400 kilometres) to hear the music – I hope we did the long drive justice – thank you Vladimir!

Here a collection of selfies and fan pics to paint a picture of a totally awesome concert at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz/Austria, headlining the annual Jazzweekend.

A special BIG Thank you to Andreas See who not only played lead alto and a killer solo on ‘Music To Swing Your Handbag To’ – he also was the brain and organiser behind the entire Jazzweekend. I want to applaud his drive and long may it last!

The other special BIG Thank you goes to drummer Joseph ‘Seppi’ Hinterhoelzl (aka ‘Joe Backwood’) who was the ‘unofficial’ conductor of the band, played his funky socks off and made sure that I was at the right place and the right time and generally looked after me really, really well. This extends to his lovely and most accommodating family (thanks for the conducting tips by Mister Hinterhoelzl senior:-) Samarei rocks…erm ..funks!

And of course – last but not least – all the wonderful musicians and section leaders who took time out of their schedule to practise the parts, rehearse and play the concert – you know who you are and so do I:-)

Can’t wait for the next one – I’m ready!

Carpe funkem.

VOCALS

‘Trinity’

Karin Wasmeir – vocals
Regina Mitterberger- vocals
Barbara Hell – vocals

RHYTHM SECTION

Josef Hinterhoelzl (aka ‘Joe Backwood’) – drums, section leader
Andreas Erd – guitar
Paul Huber – guitar
Jacob Kastenhuber – Hammond organ
Alex Brosch – Hammond organ
Hannah Roitinger – Fender Rhodes
Conrado Molina – Percussion
Daniel Hackl – Percussion

SAXOPHONES

Andreas See – alto saxophone 1, section leader
Lisa Helmel – alto saxophone 2
Michael Kneidinger – Tenor saxophone 1
David Aschauer – Tenor saxophone 2
Vicy Pfeil – Baritone saxophone, clarinet

TROMBONES

Werner Wum – tenor trombone, section leader
Benedikt Betzel – tenor trombone2
Andreas Bauchiger – tenor trombone 3
Herman Mayr – bass trombone

TRUMPETS

Klaus Ganglmayer- trumpet 1, section leader
Gerd Rahstorfer – trumpet 2
Edwin Eder- trumpet 3
Jonathan Banholzer – trumpet 4
Andreas Costamoling – trumpet 5

STRINGS

Christian Wirth – violin 1, section leader
Magdalena Oberstaller – violin 1
Ines Rettensteiner – violin 1
Anna Huber – violin 1
Denise Fait – violin 2
Tao-Deva Stingl – violin 2
Angelika Silber – violin 2
Johanna Hohenwallner – viola
Kathy v Hohenfels-Milo – viola
Stephan Punderlitschek – cello/viola
Laura Myslik – cello
Kathi Bruellmeir – cello

ARRANGEMENT COLLABORATIONS

Pete Whitfield
Peter Tomasso
Paul Jordanous
Michael B. Nelson
Simon Allen

SOUND

Matthias Kronsteiner

LIGHT

Matthias

VIDEO

Michael

PICTURES/VIDEOS

Trinity, Carmen Hinterhoelzl, Thomas Schmidt, Michaela Riahi, Michal Kneidinger, Christian Wirth, Denise Fait, professional photos courtesy of Bernie Brunmair.