feature photo: Nikola Stankovic
Sometimes you want jazz that makes you think and other times you just want that jazz to party and get down. Nils Landgren and his Funk Unit takes care of the latter end of the spectrum with their recent release Funk Is My Religion.
Landgren is a Swedish trombonist who plays a distinctive red horn, boeating a long, rich history as a sideman, adding his ‘bone sound to artists as diverse as ABBA and Herbie Hancock. He started making his own records in the mid-90’s and almost concurrent with that, he formed a side project, the Nils Landgren Funk Unit for his outlet for funk-jazz. They’ve since put out ten albums and motivating audiences with their captivating cross between Cameo, Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers and the Crusaders.
Now almost 30 years running, the NLFU put forth Funk Is My Religion, album #11. Founding bassist Magnum Coltrane Price is on it, as is Jonas Wall on tenor sax, Andy Pfeiler on guitar, Petter Bergander on keyboards, and Robert Ikiz on drums. The songs alternate between instrumentals and band vocals led mostly by Landgren who wouldn’t scare Marvin Gaye but nonetheless is credible as a soul singer: smooth, subdued with just a tinge of that Nordic accent showing. They come up with their own tunes, with Landgren writing about half of the songs and contributions coming from three other members.
What I dig mostly about Landgren’s Funk Unit is that they stay true to the principles of classic funk. This is old school party music, and it reminds anyone who was around for that kind of music just what made it so irresistibly fun. At the same time, they came up with catchy melodies and load their solos with plenty of chops, especially Landgren. They even got that vintage funk lingo down, coming up with lines like “I see you got your dancin’ shoes, come on and bust a move.”
The program begins relatively softly with the slick, mid-tempo instrumental “Amanda,” and even though it might be slightly atypical to the rest of the album, like all the other tunes, it’s anchored on a groove-laden bass line, in this case doubled by a bass clarinet and augmented by a scratchy guitar. Price’s wah-wah’d bass sets the menacing funk undercurrent of the strutting “Anyway You Want It” and the Landgren/Wall trombone/sax combo dances around Landgren’s lyrics without getting in the way.
A tight and tough James Brown funk palpitation forms the force that drives “See Ya In Court,” and composer Wall took the time to put in a jazzy bridge. “Funk Is My Religion” sports Wayne Henderson/Wilton Felder-styled trombone/sax unison lines, and even has that vocal call-and-response chorus so popular in funk’s heyday but rarely heard these days.
“ES in Memoriam” is a shout out to the late fellow Swede and friend Esbjörn Svensson, and thus this melody is a tad downcast, but the groove remains. “Brand New Funk” is where Pfeiler gets his spotlight, as Bergander gets his on “Play Funk.”
The calling-card song “NLFU Will Never Stop” motivates with a breezy melody and a head-nodding beat.
If you want 70s funk-jazz from the 70s, go get Chain Reaction by the Crusaders or Water Sign by the Jeff Lorber Fusion. If you want 70s funk-jazz from the 2020’s, Funk Is My Religion from the Nils Landgren Funk Unit is as good as it gets.
Funk Is My Religion is on sale now, from ACT Music.
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