THE CRUSADERS - SPIRAL

I've always been a fan of The Crusaders. They always managed to stay funky whilst still keeping their sound rooted in Jazz. And when I think of Jazz-Funk, or am trying to explain to someone what it is, I always turn to The Crusaders as an example. They were extraordinarily consistent over their time. Spiral is the first track off their 1976 LP, Those Southern Knights. Needless to say it's an extremely FUNKY Jazz instrumental and been sampled a fair bit. Most notably (at least notable to me!) by French house outfit Kojak for their Crime In The City album from 1999 on the track You Can't Stop It and also by Moodymann for his Don't You Want My Love 12" from 2000.

The Crusaders - Spiral

PRINCE - EROTIC CITY

Perhaps a bit of an obvious choice in terms of artist but I've recently reignited my love affair with Prince and have gone back to listen to a lot of his records. I won't go into how much I love his music and how much of a genius he is (the guy is insanely talented even if he is weird and mysterious). Erotic City essentially relies on a strong bassline and simple keyboard riff but despite this is still an amazingly funky track and also extremely dirty. For me, Erotic City was especially resonant during my early nightclubbing days. I used to hear this played a lot at Sunday Night Heat which was a retro night. On the nightclubs big sound system it sounded phenomenal and I would totally immerse myself in that Minneapolis Funk sound. Even after all these years it's still up there as one of my all time favorite Prince songs. Make love not war people.

Prince - Erotic City