Stylistic origins Funk | ||
Cultural origins Late 1960s, United States Typical instruments Electric guitar
bass guitar
drums
keyboards (Hammond organ, Clavinet, synthesizer)
horns | ||
Deep funk is a genre of funk music which, unlike traditional mainstream funk, has a more soulful, rawer, grittier, and "heavier" sound. The term "deep funk" is also the name of the scene of collectors, DJs, and musicians who are into deep funk as a genre.
It got its name after Keb Darge's "Legendary Deep Funk" DJ night, held at Madame Jojo's nightclub in London's Soho district.
The focus of the scene is collecting and DJing rare funk 45s of the deep funk genre, most usually released originally by local funk groups and artists in the USA throughout the 1960s and 1970s that usually stayed in their local home bases, only playing nearby clubs and other venues, and releasing their music on small local and regional record labels at the time in the form of 7" 45 rpm singles in quite small quantities (usually about 1000–5000 copies or fewer), hence their extreme rarity and high collectible value. Most of these records have quite high re-sale values due to their scarcity, with some selling for upwards of four to five figures.
The main deep funk DJs still working are Ian Wright, Fryer, Jason Stirland, Funky Plumber and Jazzman Gerald.
Deep funk is a reference to the term "deep soul" coined by Dave Godin.