Hello, Neal I was listening to Maceo Parker which I understand his style is funky or R&B?  Question what is the difference between Jazz and Funky  or R&B….  And is true no matter what style one chooses to play one must first learn Jazz? or what?

Thanks,

Yvonne

Hey Yvonne,
Maceo would call his style funk, he says onstage that it’s 2% jazz and 98% funk.  But that’s also kind of his signature thing and he did play with James Brown.

The chord changes are a lot simpler in funk and R&B most of the time.

Maceo Parker can definitely play jazz.  His CD ‘roots revisited’ has some jazz stuff.  But it’s still funky, since that’s how he plays.

You hear the ‘funk’ in the inflection, phrasing, approach to sound, etc.

Jazz is a very broad term.  If you can play the most complicated kinds of jazz, it will often times seem simpler to play other styles- at least harmonically.

However, we tried out a bass player who can play funk and jazz, but he didn’t have the rhythm down for latin music.  He could learn it, but just because he could play more complicated harmony didn’t make him a master of all musical styles.

So someone who can play jazz shouldn’t be overconfident and assume that any kind of music is ‘easy’.

-Neal