Brooklyn Funk Essentials

The label acid jazz proves inadequate for many of the ensembles it has tagged, yet it restricts Brooklyn Funk Essentials more sharply than most—a fluid, multicultural collective that has blended funk with multiple jazz inflections, soul, ska, and dub poetry. Recognition has centered chiefly on their first album, Cool and Steady and Easy (1993), which helped launch the independent British imprint Dorado. While individual members have pursued separate projects, the group has periodically reassembled, issuing two albums per decade and marking the close of their third decade with Stay Good (2019).

Electro pioneer Arthur Baker, who had previously participated in Lenny Dee and Victor Simonelli’s earlier house project of the same name, founded Brooklyn Funk Essentials together with bassist and musical director Lati Kronlund, once a member of Swedish new wavers Reeperbahn. The expansive ensemble soon became a fixture on the New York City club circuit. Early rosters included singers Joi Cardwell, Sha-Key, and Papa Dee, dub poets Everton Sylvester and David Allen, DJ Jazzy Nice, keyboardist Yuka Honda (before Cibo Matto), trumpeter Bob Brachmann, trombonist Joshua Roseman, saxophonist Paul Shapiro, drummer Yancy Drew, and percussionist E.J. Rodriguez. Cool and Steady and Easy appeared in the U.K. in 1993, achieving underground traction with a version of Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan” and guest spots from Maceo Parker and the Tower of Power horns. RCA secured U.S. rights in 1995.

After Cardwell departed for solo work, vocalist and songwriter Stephanie McKay joined and was featured on the 1998 collaboration In the BuzzBag with Turkish group Laço Tayfa as well as on Make Them Like It two years later. Following a prolonged pause, BFE resurfaced in 2008 with Watcha Playin’, on which Sha-Key, Papa Dee, and Sylvester covered McKay’s absence. The band returned to Dorado, reinstated Cardwell and McKay, and released Funk Ain’t Ova in 2015. Their sixth album, Stay Good, arrived late in the decade with veteran singer Alison Limerick added to the lineup.