BIG FUNK BAND — THE FUNKESTRA AT FULL SCALE

Big Funk Band was not made by assembling one enormous group and asking everybody to play at once. Instead, Stefan Redtenbacher built eight different ensembles around the particular needs of eight original instrumental compositions.

More than 50 musicians from Austria, Cuba, Germany, Ghana, Italy, the UK, the USA and Venezuela move through expanded rhythm sections, 13-piece horn sections, strings and instrumental combinations not previously heard on a Funkestra album.

The record is especially concerned with drums. Benny Greb, Keith Carlock, Stanton Moore, Francesco Mendolia, Josef Hinterhölzl and long-standing Funkestra drummer Mike Sturgis each bring a distinct rhythmic character to the writing.

“Funkberater” combines two drummers, two guitarists, two keyboard players, percussion and the Austrian Backwood Five with a large horn section. “Go East” places Bruce Gertz’s double bass alongside Stefan Redtenbacher’s electric bass, while the opening “Crescent City” pays tribute to New Orleans—the musical meeting place from which a considerable amount of this trouble began.

“Feed the Chicken” brings Stanton Moore, Cory Wong, Michael B. Nelson and Tucker Antell into the same piece. Elsewhere, Keith Carlock, Benny Greb, Francesco Mendolia, Mike Outram, Dave Limina, Paul Jordanous and Piers Green add their individual voices to the changing line-ups.

The cast is substantial, but the album is not a roll call of well-known guests. Each musician and expanded ensemble serves the composition. The result is one of the major large-scale records in the Funkestra catalogue: drum-centred, horn-heavy and deliberately different from both the compact, bass-led Dr Hypenstein and the open small-group playing of The Hang.

LISTENING

RECOGNITION

Big Funk Band was selected for The Wicked Sound’s Best Albums of 2021 and was also included among Funknstuff’s best funk albums of the year.

German publication Hooked on Music praised the album’s instrumental writing and substantial horn arrangements, placing the Funkestra in the company of bands such as Tower of Power, the Brecker Brothers and the Average White Band.

LIMITED WHITE-VINYL EDITION

  • Limited edition of 300 copies

  • 180-gram white vinyl

  • Printed inner sleeve

  • Eight original instrumental compositions

  • Vinyl mastered by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering at AIR

  • Original artwork by Angus MacKinnon

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. Crescent City — featuring Benny Greb and Tucker Antell

  2. Slipped Biscuit — featuring Keith Carlock and Tucker Antell

  3. Feed the Chicken — featuring Stanton Moore, Cory Wong, Michael B. Nelson and Tucker Antell

  4. Go East — featuring Bruce Gertz

SIDE B

  1. Cool Beans — featuring Mike Outram and Paul Jordanous

  2. Shiny Boots — featuring Piers Green

  3. Funkberater — featuring Backwood Five

  4. Jump Up — featuring Francesco Mendolia, Mike Outram, Dave Limina and Tucker Antell

ARRANGEMENTS AND PRODUCTION

All compositions written by Stefan Redtenbacher.

Produced and arranged by Stefan Redtenbacher, except where indicated.

Horn arrangement for “Cool Beans” by Paul Jordanous and Stefan Redtenbacher.

Horn arrangements for “Crescent City,” “Go East,” “Jump Up” and “Slipped Biscuit” by Peter Tomasso and Stefan Redtenbacher.

Horn arrangement for “Feed the Chicken” by Michael B. Nelson and Stefan Redtenbacher.

String arrangement for “Cool Beans” by Pete Whitfield.

Mixed and digitally mastered by Rupert Christie.

Vinyl mastered by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering at AIR.

Recording engineers: James Welch, Stefan Redtenbacher, Lewis Chapman, Michael Whittaker, Joe Steward and Michael B. Nelson.

Artwork by Angus MacKinnon.
Graphic design by Stefan Redtenbacher.

Released by RSB Records on 30 April 2021.
Catalogue number: RSB73700.