Groove Theory 

Welcome to Groove Theory

Funk music became popular during the Black consciousness movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. And since music is central to Black cultural philosophy, artists like the great harpist Dorothy Ashby recorded funky jazz. Black novelists, poets, and visual artists also experimented with the concept of funk.

Groove Theory is conceptually located in the lowdown blues section of the Mothership. As such, we are dedicated to the foundations and manifestations of the African-derived spiritual knowledge commonly known as the Funk. Throughout American history, the central precepts of the funk aesthetic have informed artistic innovation in multiple mediums.  

Groove Theory / Programs & Interviews
Click below for lively discussions!

20

November

2020

WORDS & MUSIC LITERARY FESTIVAL

Panel: New Books on Black Music

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21

November

2020

MAKE IT FUNKY: A SPECIAL EDITION FOR GROOVE THEORY

VIRTUAL BOOK PARTY!!! 

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27

November

2020

FUNK: INTELLECTUAL HISTORY

Interview: Hettie V. Williams

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ZENCASTR


2

April

2021

GROOVE THEORY @YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Funkin' in the Dirty South: A Conversation with C. Liegh McInnis 

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9

April

2021

LEFT OF BLACK @ GROOVE THEORY

Conversation with Mark Anthony Neal

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17

July

2021

SOUTH FLORIDA BOOK FESTIVAL

Groove Theory / Book Talk

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Countdown

JULY 17 , 2021

0 Days
9 Hours
59 Minutes
59 Seconds

Reviews

In Groove Theory, Tony Bolden takes his readers “to the bridge and drops them off into some funk." Through songs, literary fiction, interviews, memoirs, and provocative case studies on Sly Stone, Chaka Khan, Gil Scott-Heron, and the inimitable Betty Davis, Bolden identifies funk’s fundamental essence as grounded in the blues. His interdisciplinary riffs on the musicians, histories, and social contexts that led to the funk genre brilliantly address the reasons this musical style is considered a musical lingua franca of the pop world. As a songwriter said, “funk not only moves, it can remove—dig?" Groove Theory does both and with style. — Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., author of Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop and The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop. 

In a holistic critique of the meanings of funk and the multiple black vernacular expressions that collectively have shaped the funk aesthetic, Tony Bolden's Groove Theory: The Blues Foundation of Funk takes readers on a cultural and historical journey. Using vivid illustrations of music making for over four centuries—beginning with African ritualized practices, their manifestations as the impulse and emotive character of both spirituals and blues that carried over into jazz and gospel—Bolden identifies specific cultural and musical traditions as progenitors of funk in its development as a distinctive musical genre. This indispensable monograph undoubtedly will influence new approaches to the study of funk. — Portia K. Maultsby, coeditor of Issues in African American Music: Power, Gender, Race, Representation and African American Music: An Introduction, 2nd edition.

For many years Tony Bolden has been evangelizing a theology that considers funk as an aesthetical practice, rather than simply a musical genre. Groove Theory is his fully realized exegesis of the interconnectedness of blues, funk, black literary practices, and identity politics. This book is an eloquent and illuminating study that employs a more expansive theoretical and historical lens than what has been advanced through funk historiography. It is timely and much-needed work as it reminds us of how black folks have continually used language, rhythm, and sound to advance epistemologies that have been central to their survival in America. — Tammy L. Kernodle, professor of musicology, Miami University in Ohio.

Groove Theory is an essential addition to scholarship on funk. Tony Bolden does important work here, replacing the vague musical definitions that too often accompany his subject with deeply researched histories and carefully analyzed sonic descriptions. Despite Bolden’s precision and knowledge, he never freezes this vital music in amber, but helps us to appreciate its cultural power anew. Chapter after chapter he leads the reader to view famous figures like Chaka Khan in a whole new light, while revealing fresh insights into lesser-known artists like Betty Davis. This is the book on funk we have all been waiting for, so put a glide in your stride, a dip in your hip, and come on up to the Mothership! — Nate Sloan, assistant professor of musicology, University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and coauthor of Switched on Pop: How Popular Music Works and Why It Matters.

Read more

Gallery

Phunkativity.org

Assorted LPs

Sounds of Blackness

Black music has traditionally functioned as our people's literature. And more often than not, even today, notwithstanding the hard-won prizes and outstanding achievements that Black scholars, filmmakers, journalists, and literary artists have garnered, music is a form of storytelling that captures our beauty and contradictions, pains and pleasures, insights and attitudes.

The Funk Archive

Analog Section

Love City

Sly Stone 

New Orleans Literary Festival

Funk

Rhythm

Stank

Left Of Black

Left Of Black

Who Knows

Foxy Lady

Make It Funky IV

Tribute to Lauryn Hill

Make It Funky V

Tribute to Kendrick Lamar

Make It Funky VI

Tribute to Prince 

Funk

Book Party 

Blue Funk

Organic  Intellectual

Ite

LorFu

Blue Funk

Gil Scott-Heron 

Bootsy on Groove Theory!!!

Bootsy Shout Out 

Groove Theory

Blue Funk

Funk is Black Cultural Philosophy. Groove Theory is Philosophy for the People.

Groove Theory

Address

711 Sly Stone Road NW
Eulipia, CA, 99999, US

About us

Groove Theory: The Blues Foundation of Funk explores music, dancing, and other forms of expression that Black artists deemed funky. But unlike most discussions of our music, Groove Theory spotlights philosophical aspects of music making. Indeed, epistemology is central to the analysis. In blues culture, the question of what constituted musical knowhow was directly related to methods and mechanisms musicians used to generate knowledge and thus create specific sounds that both dancers and musicians considered blues shonuff. How, then, did Black musicians develop musical knowhow? How did they learn to play music that dancers and musicians validated as funky? To answer these questions, Groove Theory relies largely on Black musicians' memoirs and interviews. In the context of music making, in particular, Black artists functioned as organic intellectuals and collectively they indicate that the funk principle—in other words, the dynamic interplay between motion and emotion—contributed significantly to artistic development and innovation in music and other areas of Black expressive culture throughout the history of the United States.

At the same time, there were racial stigmas attached to the funk aesthetic. Groove Theory analyzes the political climates and complexities in which Black musicians developed funk into a centerpiece of their aesthetic framework as well as a defining element of a distinctive ethos. In addition to the meaning and etymology of funk, we probe additional questions: Why did black musicians use this word to signify dope musicianship before the genre of funk was created? Why was funk considered a bad word? Why did Black artists who associated funk with honesty, integrity, and cultural affirmation generally use the word behind closed doors? And what changed things? Why did funk become a popular term during the Black Power Movement? Who were key figures and what were key factors in this process? How did gender politics affect black women funk artists? What did it mean to be a Black woman funk artist? And what were some of the models of the funk aesthetic that Black musicians developed in this period?

We address these and other questions in our cultural and historical explorations of funk. To demonstrate the variety and flexibility within the funk aesthetic, Groove Theory includes chapters on Sly Stone, Chaka Khan, Gil Scott-Heron, and Betty Davis whose recordings, performances, and politics highlight noticeable contrasts and similarities in the funk aesthetic.  This is the story of Groove Theory.

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