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About these
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.

Vintage Record Player

The two patriarchs, Jimmy Brown of Brick (lead vocalist; saxophone, flute, and trumpet) and Curtis Reynolds of Ripple (lead vocalist and keyboardist), have shared a musical partnership for more than four decades—both as founding members of their iconic groups and as the duo Jimmy & Curtis.

Now reunited in the studio, Jimmy and Curtis are creating new music and have invited a few notable collaborators to join them, including hit songwriter, producer, and OutKast member Sleepy Brown, along with acclaimed songwriter, singer, and producer Luke “G.”

This powerful collaboration will deliver a double dose of excitement for fans, featuring Jimmy and Curtis alongside an all-star lineup of Brick and Ripple band members as they return to the concert touring circuit.

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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.

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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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