(Jazz-Funk, Fusion) Funk Factory - Funk Factory - 1975, MP3, 320 kbps

A massive bit of funky fusion from the 70s – an album that was crucially overlooked at the time, but which has gone onto become a crate-diggers classic over the years! The group's fronted by Polish jazz legends Michal Urbaniak and Urszula Dudziak – but it also features a fair bit of American players too – all working together in a blend of the best funky fusion modes going down in both the US and Eastern Europe in the mid 70s! Drums on the set are totally great – played by Steve Gadd or Gerald Brown, depending on the track – and some tracks have weird vocal bits that riff around the instrumentation, sung either by Urszula, Bernard Kafka, or some other backing singers. The keyboards are great – quite tripped-out at times, but never too over the top – and overall, the album's a fair bit more soulful and funky than most of Urbaniak's other work of the 70s. Titles include the killer sample track "Rien Ne Va Plus" – used famously by the Beastie Boys many years back – plus "After The World Goes Home", "Funk It", "Sinkin Low", "Next Please", "Horsing Around", and "Watusi Dance".

Bernard Kafka (#1,3,5,7-9), Urszula Dudziak (#1-5,7-9), Irene Howard (#8) - voice
Barry Finnerty (#2,4-8), John Abercrombie (#9) - guitar
Michal Urbaniak - violin (#1,2,4,6,7,9), soprano saxophone (#1,7,8), tenor saxophone (#1,7)
Wlodek Gulgowski - keyboards
Anthony Jackson (#1-6,9), Tony Levin (#7,8) - bass
Steve Gadd (#1,3,7,8), Gerald Brown (#2,4-6,9) - drums
Urszula Dudziak - percussion (#2,4,5,7,8), synthesizer (#2,4)
BK Singers (#2-4,6) - Ann Tripp, Bernard Kafka, Bill Ruthenberg, Linda "Tequila" Logan
Recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York.