2
Funky
Legends
There were several bands that found success in Atlanta, GA in the 70’s but two of the most successful were the two powerful self-contained hit making bands that broke on the music scene out of the ATL was the smooth jazz and funk band Brick and the other coming from Kalamazoo Michigan and finding a home in Atlanta was the self-contained funk band Ripple.
The two patriarchs Jimmy Brown (lead vocalist, saxophone, flute, trumpet) "Brick" and Curtis Reynolds “Ripple” (vocalist and all Keyboards) has been playing together for over four decades as JIMMY & CURTIS as well as members of Brick and Ripple. Jimmy and Curtis has went back into the recording studio working on new material and they brought along a couple of friends, hit writer producer and the group member from OutKast Sleepy Brown and songwriter, singer and producer Luke “G”. The dual will treat their fans with a double dose of excitement featuring Jimmy and Curtis, an all star combination of Brick and Ripple band members and hit the concert touring circuit.
Jimmy Brown
Brick was formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1972 from members of two bands - one disco and the other jazz. They coined their own term for disco-jazz, "dazz".[2] They released their first single "Music Matic" on Main Street Records in 1976, before signing to the independently distributed Bang Records. Their next single, "Dazz", (#3 Pop, #1 R&B)[3] was released in 1976. The band continued to record for Bang records until 1982. Other hits followed: "That's What It's All About" (R&B #48) and "Dusic" (#18 Pop, #2 R&B)[3] in 1977, and "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody" (#92 Pop, #7 R&B)[3] in 1978. Their last Top Ten R&B hit was "Sweat (Til You Get Wet)" in 1981.
Curtis Reynolds
Migrated from the cold weather Mid-West (Chicago, IL/Kalamazoo, MI) and signed with the new Atlanta based record label GRC Records and struck gold with their first single release “I Don’t Know What It Is But It Sure Is funky”. They were an eclectic hodgepodge of influences circulating in soul music at the time -- sometimes they can sound like a flat out funk band, other times they sound like a less distinctive variant of Stevie Wonder.
Their brand of funk was neither too raw nor too slick, with liberal pop and jazz influences.
Their hit record “I Don’t Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky “paved the way for the group to tour with legendary bands such as Earth Wind And Fire, The O’Jays, Commodores, Kool And The Gang. Ripple hit song contained the global sing along hook "Ooh,ooh, ooh,ooh,yeah not only song around the world, plus was one of the most sampled hook in RnB music history.
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