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.
