Funk Primer #2: Jerome Brailey & P-Funk
One of my favourite funk bands to come out of the '70s was a collection of musicians directed by George Clinton. Originally known as Parliament (although often seeming to exist simultaneously under the name Funkadelic), the group ultimately became known as P-Funk.
Driving the rhythm section during Parliament's most commercially successful period was Jerome Brailey, whose simple and direct drumming style was an integral part of the group's sound. His tight grooves were often organised into two-bar loops, punctuated by hip fills and cymbal crashes. As a consequence, many of the tracks that he played on have been sampled by a variety of modern artists, including Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.
Today's groove is inspired by Jerome's playing with P-Funk. First I'll demonstrate it on its own, and then you'll hear it with bass and percussion. Don't forget that the bass and perc loop can be downloaded for you to play along to, completely free, at my website, www.justindrums.com.
