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.

Many would say that 2016 was a turbulent year – I guess I’m also one of them. I need quiet a bit of ‘grey wolf’ time (read ‘solitude’) to write music but more than ever I believe in the connecting power of music & performance – hence:

2016 was a year of expanding relationships, forging new ones and strengthening old ones beyond borders, race, religion and beliefs.

I’m very much looking forward to 2017 – performing my music and hearing it performed by small bands to the biggest funk orchestras! But first, here is a brief overview of what we were up to in 2016.

Early in 2016 I was most pleased to be invited to Ronnie Scott’s to listen to the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) under the direction of Mark Armstrong. Naturally it gave me great pleasure to find ‘Crankmaster General’ and ‘Tricknologists’ on the set list, performed with much fire and vigour by the Big Band. Thank you Gordon Silver and Nigel Tully for an excellent night out! More please:-)

A totally different experience but equally fun was an invite from bass educator Scott Devine to do an interview for SBL – this is what came out of it:

‘You’ll never find your voice on the bass by competing with other bass players!’.

Listen here.

In February we had the enormous pleasure to work and play with the Royal Northern Session Orchestra (RNCM) in Manchester – to hear the music played by such a large and talented funk orchestra is something I will not forget in a long while. A big thank you to all the people that helped me to put this together, special shout out to Andy Stott, Peter Tomasso, Pete Whitfield and the musicians of NYJO who came out to blow through the charts before the gig!

Watch the concert here.

In March it was studio time which also marked the beginning of Backwood Five, basically the Austrian relative of the Funkestra, run by funky drummer Seppi Hinterhoelzl, aka ‘Joe Backwood’. It was so much fun that Joe organised a mini-tour and recording session in Austria during November – the energy was just fantastic and is very likely to fuel more activities in 2017!
Check on their activites here.

The Haslemere Fringe Festival in the summer marked another high point and featured vocalist Lisa Olivant from the RNCM Session Orchestra – we are looking forward do doing more with her in 2017!

Another new ‘addition’ to the band is vocalist Helena-May – her soulful vocals and general feel-good vibes are hard to beat and we are glad to have our own funky ‘little miss sunshine’ interpret our re-imagined funk and soul tunes – can’t wait to write some more originals with this talented singer.

Throughout the year the 606 Club was definitely our main stomping ground and it was our pleasure to bring our stew of funk to the now 40 year old club, pretty much every other month of the year!

2016 was another year of 12 of my ‘in session’ columns for the iBass Magazine and editor Nick Wells – a good portion of the tracks came from ‘The Red Counts’ album ‘A little book of Jazz’ – the jazzier sibling of the Funkestra. Have a listen here.

The collaboration with string arranger Pete Withfield on previous Funkestra record has finally led us to write together and currently we are working on a Funkestra ‘The String Sessions’ album. Get a taste here.

I also must make a mention of our new permanent member of the band – Mr. Karl Van Den Bossche on percussion. Mike and myself have been playing with Karl in ‘The Staxs’ for years and it felt like a natural progression to add his mean groove to our Funk machine.

And last but not least, finally, we dropped ‘The Time Thief’, our 9th release and 7th full blown album at the first of December. Watch this series of ‘the making of’ and if you enjoy them, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The activities with larger ensembles have led to another Funk Orchestra outing – the ‘Upper Austrian Funkestra’ will perform on Saturday, 11th of March 2017 at the Anton Bruckner University as part of the Jazz Weekend. I can’t wait to work and play with this large ensemble with 12 strings, 13 horns, 8 rhythm, 3 singers and myself with my bag of funky tunes!

As always a special thanks to my funk bros Mike Sturgis and Eran Kendler. Our time in the ‘Funkshed’ are always fun, productive and simply a pleasure.

Have a wonderful 2017!

Stefan

‘Carpe Funkem’

PS: Thank you Rob Blackham for all your cool images throughout the year! Have a look here at this awesome picture collection.

Watch Alfred ‘Pee Wee’ Ellis up close recording in the studio here or watch Stefan talk about his experience recording with PW here.

The inspiration for this tune came from what now seems a lifetime ago: when I was younger I used to play in a place called ‘Paletti’ in the town I grew up in. Not only did this place offer live music it also put on DJs. I still remember one DJ – way back in the day – playing ‘Misty’ – but not in the usual jazz standard way – but instead it was in this super funky style which was, at the time unbeknownst to me, ‘Go-Go’ performed by singer/guitarist Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers – some say Chuck Brown is ‘the godfather’ of Go-Go – well – listen to him that evening – he certainly made a ‘god-fatherly’ impression on me.

‘Walkin’ Struttin’ Strollin’ is not really a purist Washington D.C. Go-Go style tune, rather than a Funk tune inspired by Go-Go in the broadest sense, mixed in with influences from other funk sub-genres and of course, the universe of Jazz.

Mike and myself spent quiet a bit of time to develop a drum and bass arrangement with a good hook-up. Adding Eran to the foundation helped to shape the tune into what it is today. As ‘Go-Go’ puts an emphasis on live audience call and response (according to wikipedia), I thought it would be cool to have a call and response between the guitar and the horns over the main riff.

The B section provides a good contrast to the A section with the high flutes and organ melody on top of a tight rhythm played by all. This leads to what has become ‘The Zawinul section’. I felt I wanted to find a melody to be played by most instruments – comparable to a Big Band arrangement ‘shout chorus’ in the widest sense. I was improvising on my bass until I came up with a somewhat unusual melody which Mike nicknamed the ‘Zawinul section’ as he improvised these words to the last phrase:

We gonna make it sound like Zawinul!

(He can be a very funny man! – watch this short impromptu video)

When it came to arrange the horns I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. However, when Michael B Nelson had a choice of a ‘blowing section’ of a ‘horn tutti’ instead, he opted for the latter and this section brings a massive Cheshire cat smile on my face every time I hear it! His writing and the performance of the Hornheads is just superb!

‘Walkin’ Struttin’ Strollin’ has, aside from the Beat Fatigue Glitch Funk edit which I already wrote about in my ‘Time Thief blog #4‘, two versions – the extended one feat. trombonist Michael B Nelson and tenor sax player Kenni Holmen and the ‘radio edit’ version featuring Alfred ‘Pee’ Wee Ellis. I have to thank guitarist Tony Remy for the hook-up with PW. Having already worked with trombonist Fred Wesley (another titan of ’the JB horns’) on ‘Bom Le Bom’ (watch the video of the recording session here) and ‘Fred’s Haus’ – it was a great please to work with ‘Pee Wee’ on ‘Walkin’ Struttin’ Strollin’.

I’m looking forward to presenting you with the videos we shot during the recording session once ‘The Time Thief’ is out on December 1st.

Get ‘The Time Thief’ here:
Funkestra store (download + CD)
Apple iTunes UK (sample + download)
Bandcamp (streaming + download):
Amazon US (sample, download + CD)
CD Baby (sample, download + CD)

The journey of ‘The Funkie Moon’ started with Mike Sturgis getting a hold of a compilation album called ‘It Ain’t My Fault’ by Smokey Johnson. As a rhythm section we long have been in love with the music and grooves of New Orleans – classic bands like the Meters, Neville Brothers, Dr John, Professor Longhair, The Wild Tchoupitoulas, Eddie Bo and contemporary artists like Galactic, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Stanton Moore (click here to see him sit in with the Funkestra), Dumpstaphunk, Trombone Shorty and many others feature greatly on our playlist.

All the tunes on ‘The Time Thief’ are originals but with ‘Funkie Moon’ we made an exception and created our own arrangement – the centerpiece being the fantastic drum groove around the catchy riff.

Before we went up to Monnow Valley Studio to record the rhythm section, the tune was already well bedded in as we often used it as the opener for our live shows. Mike customarily plays a drum solo in the middle section – what I really like about it, is that it is in keeping with the groove and feel of the original song, you could call it a ‘groove solo’ – which I love dearly as it shows his musicality and maturity as a player – the rock of the Funkestra! In the studio we had great fun recording this one – in the first solo section Dave Limina and Rob Taggart are ‘trading’ licks and Eran Kendler plays one of his electrifying solos with which he regularly electrifies the crowds at live gigs. Mike played this really cool groove with a tambourine mounted to his drum kit – it sounds like 3 drummers playing at the same time! I recall how much fun it was recording this tune – the guys sounded great and I loved the bass sound that Rupert Christie got out of the Ampeg VST plus 8×10” speaker cabinet – happy bandleader days!

When it came to recording horns – although we have been playing this tune for a while with my horn arrangement – I wanted to involve Paul Jordanous, one of our regular trumpet players in arranging it for five horns and getting his chosen group of players into Stakeout studios to lay down the track (video to come:-). Paul was very upbeat it, jumped right to it and presented me with two different approaches – both of them, to my surprise, with full blown horn features over Mike’s groove solo. Although this wasn’t initially intended it seemed to fit so well to my ears that I went for it – it sounds like Mike’s drum groove and the horn feature were always meant to be!

On the final recording you can also hear a really cool retro filter on the entire section – a brave choice admittedly – but both Rupert ‘master-ears’ Christie and myself really dug it during the mixing process. It conjured ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ soundtracks vibes. Originally, probably not envisioned by Paul – however, I had great fun overdubbing the bari sax part with my Rickenbacker with all mutes out and played with a pick.

On a final note I want to mention Piers Green who did a fine and soulful job in playing solo fills between the riff sections – to me he really got the spirit of this great tune!

Smokey Johnson might be gone but hopefully we are helping to keep his funky spirit alive!

Hear the Royal Northern Session Orchestra perform ‘Funkie Moon‘ under the tutelage of Stefan and his iPad. The Big Band horns were adapted from Paul’s arrangement by Peter Tomasso.

Epitaph: Smokey Johnson stopped playing drums after suffering a stroke in 1993. He was forced to leave his home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. Before his death (in 2015) he was a resident of Musicians’ Village, a Habitat for Humanity project in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

Get ‘The Time Thief’ here:

Funkestra store (download + CD)
Apple iTunes UK (sample + download)
Bandcamp (streaming + download)
Amazon US (sample, download + CD)
CD Baby (sample, download + CD)