Queues of people form in front of Murata Yohichi Solid Brass - Some Skunk Funk

Murata Yohichi Solid Brass - Some Skunk Funk

This time, it was not the group Ponta Box with Murakami "Ponta" Shuichi, but this song Some Skunk Funk from the album Double Edge by Yohichi Murata Solid Brass.

Double Edge

Some Skunk Funk is the song from The Brecker Brothers as you may know.

HEAVY METAL BE-BOP

Terry Bozzio's explosive performance in the original release is awesome of course, but in this cover version, we can fully enjoy colorful and sometimes sharp-edged performance of the drummer Ponta.

Entertains with a variety of phrases

This is how it begins:

(00:00-)

You can enjoy various phrases along with passages of the song. He kicks without much regard, even if toms and snare are there in phrases. I was reminded a little bit of my stereotype that a kick must be always simultaneous with cymbal or high-hat.

Very unique phrases that no other drummers play

Then, just before the third theme of the song:

(00:59-)

The ensemble phrase of the 1st and 2nd bars comes up several times in the song, and it is cool that the 3rd beat of the 2nd bar has that sextuplet. It's a phrase that's not in the original song but a pretty fine idea.

The third theme comes from the 3rd bar. Slipped snare's backbeats (the 4th 16th note of the 1st beat) forms a sharp-edged funk style. Note the red colored notes in the 6th bar. This is a very unique phrase that no other drummers play. Perform with a big emphasis in order to make it stand out as a fill-in.

The 8th bar also has his own famous phrase. I remember a Japanese drummers' project featuring this phrase. Lots of drummers all together orally express this phrase instead of playing on drum kits.

Then, the last part of the song.

(04:04-)

On the 2nd bar, you can see that he is doing locally a double bass with twin pedals. This is actually unusual for him. In the 3rd bar, he also throws the above mentioned unique phrase (red notes in the score). This time the phrase ends with a flam accent.

Quite hard horn part

It is challenging to play Some Skunk Funk only with wind instruments and drums. If you listen to the original song, you don't think it is possible. However, they realized the heavy-metal-bebop feel of the original song in a new way, adding a fresh dimension, and it becomes the best cover version among many others. It is overwhelming that the band plays Michael Brecker's solo in the middle of the original song perfectly with horn ensemble. I remember that I tried to play this song with members of my jazz band and we simply gave up. The horns part is extremely difficult because the 12 tones from C to B turn up in the song and this and that. Is there anyone out there who can play it? Please let me know since I want to try it, too.