Funky Friday – Episode 85: ChiTown Funk
Updated: Sep 18
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Airdate: 9.18.26 - 9 AM Pacific Time on KDOG & 9 PM Pacific Time on KCSM HD2
Funky Friday – Episode 85: ChiTown Funk
Happy Friday and welcome to Funky Friday Episode 85: ChiTown Funk.
This week, we're headed to Chicago.
A city where blues, gospel, jazz, soul, and funk have been crossing paths for generations.
And when you start tracing those paths, something interesting happens.
The lines keep connecting.
Chicago never had just one funk sound.
Its groove grew out of musical traditions that were already deeply rooted in the city.
Gospel came out of the churches.
Blues traveled north during the Great Migration and became electric.
Jazz flourished on the South Side.
Soul developed a distinctly Chicago voice.
Then the bass moved forward.
The guitars got sharper.
The drums dug deeper.
The keyboards got stranger.
And Chicago got funky.
What makes the city's story particularly interesting isn't simply the number of important artists who came from Chicago.
It's how often their stories intersect.
Musicians moved between jazz, soul, rhythm and blues, and funk.
Session players became bandleaders.
Local musicians became international stars.
Sounds developed in Chicago studios and clubs traveled far beyond the city.
And artists who eventually went in very different directions often shared pieces of the same musical foundation.
That's the Chicago we're exploring this week.
There are giants here, of course.
Curtis Mayfield.
Earth, Wind & Fire.
Herbie Hancock.
Rufus and Chaka Khan.
But ChiTown Funk isn't only about the names everybody recognizes.
Because underneath the marquee artists was a much larger musical community.
Bands working the clubs.
Session musicians moving between studios.
Independent labels putting local sounds onto vinyl.
Jazz musicians discovering funk.
Soul singers following heavier grooves.
Radio stations carrying those sounds into neighborhoods.
And audiences deciding what moved them.
That's where things get interesting.
Because there isn't one straight line through Chicago funk.
There are dozens.
Some begin in jazz.
Others in gospel, blues, or soul.
Some lead to deep grooves known mostly by collectors and funk heads.
Others eventually produce songs nearly everybody on Earth recognizes within the first few seconds.
Different musicians.
Different neighborhoods.
Different routes through the city.
But sooner or later, those lines intersect.
So this week, Funky Friday is riding the L through Chicago funk.
From the South Side to the studio.
From jazz to soul.
From soul to funk.
From deep cuts to worldwide hits.
And along the way, we'll hear just how many different ways one city can find the groove.
Different lines.
Same groove.
Welcome to Chicago.
Welcome to ChiTown Funk.
Signal Discovery
This week’s Signal Discovery heads to the South Side of Chicago.
In 1973, Curtis Mayfield walked onto the stage of The Midnight Special in a tailored off-white suit with a white Fender Telecaster slung over his shoulder, ready to deliver “Superfly” live to late-night television.
Mayfield played guitar differently. Self-taught, he tuned his strings to an open F-sharp based on the black keys of a piano, creating the distinctive rhythmic sound that became part of his musical signature.
Backed by Master Henry Gibson’s rolling congas and a low-slung, hypnotic bassline, Mayfield’s airy falsetto delivered unfiltered reports from inner-city street corners straight into living rooms across the country.
Because “Superfly” was never just a movie theme.
The story on screen belonged to Harlem. The musical voice behind it belonged to Chicago.
Sweet melodies carrying hard realities.
I’m Noah McDonough.
Welcome to the Windy City.
Welcome to ChiTown Funk.
Funky Friday – Episode 85: ChiTown Funk
🔥 SETLIST + RENEGADE NOTES
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - “You Got the Love”
Personnel: Chaka Khan - lead and backing vocals; Dennis Belfield - bass, backing vocals; André Fischer - drums, percussion, backing vocals; Kevin Murphy - organ, clavinet, backing vocals; Al Ciner - electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals; Ron Stockert - keyboards, lead and backing vocals. Written by Chaka Khan and Ray Parker Jr.; produced by Bob Monaco and Rufus.
Renegade Note: We begin ChiTown Funk with one of the city's unmistakable voices. Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens in Chicago and came of age on the South Side before joining Rufus. “You Got the Love,” from 1974's Rags to Rufus, was co-written by Khan and Ray Parker Jr. and reached No. 1 on Billboard's R&B chart. Rufus had roots in the Chicago band American Breed, but Khan gave the group's increasingly hard funk a voice capable of cutting straight through it. Before we start following Chicago's different musical lines, Chaka kicks the door open.
Curtis Mayfield - “Billy Jack”
Personnel: Curtis Mayfield - vocals, guitar; Phil Upchurch - guitar; Joseph “Lucky” Scott - bass; Quinton Joseph - drums; Master Henry Gibson - percussion; Rich Tufo - arrangement. Written and produced by Curtis Mayfield.
Renegade Note: If Chaka gives us Chicago's fire, Curtis Mayfield takes us onto its streets. By 1975, the former leader of The Impressions had moved well beyond the sweeter Chicago soul of the previous decade. There's No Place Like America Today was darker, sparer and deeply concerned with the realities surrounding Black America. “Billy Jack” rides Lucky Scott's bass and Henry Gibson's percussion while Mayfield narrates the violent end of a neighborhood figure without romanticizing him. It's quintessential Curtis: an elegant groove carrying a considerably harder story.
Earth, Wind & Fire - “Power”
Personnel: Maurice White - vocals, drums, kalimba; Verdine White - vocals, bass, percussion; Philip Bailey - vocals, congas, percussion; Jessica Cleaves - vocals; Roland Bautista - guitar; Larry Dunn - piano, organ, clavinet; Ronnie Laws - soprano and tenor saxophones, flute; Ralph Johnson - drums, percussion. Produced by Joe Wissert; arranged by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Renegade Note: Before the immaculate harmonies and enormous crossover hits, Earth, Wind & Fire could get downright nasty. “Power,” from 1972's Last Days and Time, catches the rebuilt band early in its evolution. Maurice White was born in Memphis, but Chicago was where he worked as a Chess Records session drummer, joined Ramsey Lewis and began assembling the musical ideas that eventually became Earth, Wind & Fire. His brother Verdine was Chicago-born. “Power” lets us hear the exploratory side of that vision: jazz, percussion and funk stretching out for more than eight minutes before EWF became one of the biggest bands on the planet.
The South Side Movement - “I' Been Watching You”
Personnel: Melvin Moore - vocals; Bobby Pointer - guitar; Morris Beeks - keyboards; Ronald Simmons - bass; Willie Hayes - drums; Milton Johnson - alto saxophone; Stephen Hawkins - trumpet; Bill McFarland - trombone.
Renegade Note: Now we get underneath the marquee names. The South Side Movement was exactly what its name promised: a Chicago soul-funk band that had originally worked as the backing group for Simtec & Wylie before stepping out on its own. Their self-titled 1973 debut produced “I' Been Watching You,” which reached the Top 20 on Billboard's R&B chart. This is an important part of ChiTown Funk: Chicago's contribution wasn't created only by superstars. Bands like South Side Movement were working the same clubs, absorbing the same musical currents and building grooves of their own.
Chicago Gangsters - “Gangster Love”
Personnel: James McCants and Paul Ware - vocals; Sam McCants - piano, organ, guitar, vocals; Anthony Amos - bass; Chris McCants - drums; Dave Yushasz - guitar; R. “Scooter” Evans - vocals, congas; Sammy Bryant - saxophone; Leroy McCants - trombone; Ralph Flemm - trumpet. Strings arranged by Tom Tom; produced and arranged by Mac & Mac.
Renegade Note: The name isn't marketing geography: Chicago Gangsters came directly out of the city's funk scene, and “Gangster Love” gives us one of Episode 85's deeper discoveries. The 1976 album was recorded at P.S. Recording Studios and built around members of the McCants family and a full rhythm-and-horn lineup. Even the album's other titles keep one foot planted at home; one track is called “Michigan Avenue.” “Gangster Love” is exactly why we're digging below the obvious names this week. Chicago funk was bigger than the artists who eventually filled arenas.
Herbie Hancock - “Doin' It”
Personnel: Herbie Hancock - keyboards and synthesizers; Wah Wah Watson - guitar, synthesizer, vocals and bass on “Doin' It”; Ray Parker Jr. - guitar and backing vocals; James Gadson - drums and backing vocals; additional backing vocals by Art Baldacci, Fred Dobbs, Don Kerr and Chris Mancini. Written by Herbie Hancock, Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin and Ray Parker Jr.; produced by Herbie Hancock and David Rubinson & Friends, with Wah Wah Watson as co-producer.
Renegade Note: Herbie Hancock gives us a completely different Chicago line. Born in the city and a classical piano prodigy as a child, Hancock eventually became one of jazz's great explorers. By Secrets in 1976, acoustic jazz had collided with synthesizers, studio technology and an increasingly deep funk pocket. Herbie's own discography describes “Doin' It” as the album's earthy, danceable funk side, and listen to who's helping him do it: Wah Wah Watson, Ray Parker Jr. and James Gadson. The kid from Chicago who once performed Mozart was now helping redefine how futuristic funk could sound.
The Chi-Lites - “My First Mistake”
Personnel: The Chi-Lites - vocals; Phil Hurtt - songwriter; Richard “Richie” Rome - songwriter, producer and arranger. Additional track-specific instrumental personnel are not fully identified in readily available credits.
Renegade Note: You can't tell Chicago's soul story without The Chi-Lites. Formed in the city and forever associated with the lush harmonies of hits like “Have You Seen Her” and “Oh Girl,” the group was still evolving as the decade moved on. “My First Mistake,” from 1977's The Fantastic Chi-Lites, trades some of the group's familiar ballad atmosphere for a much heavier rhythmic foundation. Written by Phil Hurtt and Richie Rome, it gives us another example of how porous the boundary between Chicago soul and funk really was.
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - “Once You Get Started”
Personnel: Chaka Khan - lead and backing vocals; Tony Maiden - lead guitar, vocals and backing vocals; Kevin Murphy - organ, clavinet, acoustic piano, ARP synthesizer and backing vocals; Bobby Watson - bass, backing vocals; André Fischer - drums and percussion. Written by Gavin Christopher; produced by Bob Monaco.
Renegade Note: Chaka returns, but Rufus has changed around her. “Once You Get Started” opens 1974's Rufusized with a tighter lineup and a horn-driven groove that helped push the band further into funk. Khan handles most of the lead while guitarist Tony Maiden takes the second verse. Released as a single in 1975, it reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the R&B chart. Rufus had moved its recording operation west, but at the center remained a singer whose musical identity had been forged in Chicago.
Gene Chandler - “Get Down”
Personnel: Gene Chandler - lead vocals. Written by James Thompson. Full track-specific session personnel are not consistently documented in readily available credits.
Renegade Note: Gene Chandler takes us back to an earlier generation of Chicago R&B. Long before “Get Down,” Chandler had become nationally known as the voice behind 1962's “Duke of Earl.” By the late 1970s, he had moved into a very different musical environment. Released in 1978, “Get Down” puts a veteran Chicago soul singer squarely into the funk-and-dance-floor era. That's part of the story we're following this week: Chicago musicians didn't simply hand one style to the next generation. Some of them stayed around long enough to ride the city's changing groove themselves.
Curtis Mayfield - “Superfly”
Personnel: Curtis Mayfield - vocals, guitar; Craig McMullen - guitar; Joseph “Lucky” Scott - bass; Morris Jennings - drums; Master Henry Gibson - percussion; Johnny Pate - arranger and orchestrator. Written and produced by Curtis Mayfield.
Renegade Note: Curtis returns with the song that took his cinematic funk around the world. Written for the 1972 film Super Fly, the title song belongs to a movie set in Harlem, not Chicago. But the musical voice behind it is unmistakably Curtis Mayfield: Lucky Scott's bass, Master Henry Gibson's percussion, Johnny Pate's orchestration and Mayfield's guitar and falsetto transforming a street narrative into something simultaneously beautiful and unsettling. That's why “Superfly” belongs in ChiTown Funk. The story on screen belonged to Harlem. The musical language behind it came through one of Chicago's great architects.
Earth, Wind & Fire - “September”
Personnel: Maurice White - vocals; Philip Bailey - vocals, congas; Verdine White - bass, vocals; Al McKay - guitar, vocals; Johnny Graham - guitar; Larry Dunn - keyboards; Ralph Johnson and Fred White - drums; Andrew Woolfolk - tenor saxophone; Louis Satterfield - trombone; Rahmlee Michael Davis and Michael Harris - trumpets. Written by Maurice White, Al McKay and Allee Willis; produced by Maurice White; arranged by Tom Tom 84.
Renegade Note: We started Earth, Wind & Fire with “Power,” the sprawling eight-minute workout from 1972. We end ChiTown Funk six years later with the other side of the story. “September” arrived in 1978 as a new song on The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, written by Maurice White, Al McKay and Allee Willis. By now the experimental band heard on “Power” had become one of popular music's great precision machines without losing the groove underneath it. And that makes it the right place to leave Chicago: Maurice White's journey had carried him far beyond the city, but one of the lines that led here ran through Chess Records, Ramsey Lewis and the Chicago music community where his vision first took shape.
🔗 Quick Links:
🎧 Listen live on KDOG 9 AM Pacific Time→ Here
🎧 Listen live on KCSM HD2 9 PM Pacific Time→ Here
📆 Add to Calendar — Funky Friday (Weekly):
• 9 AM KDOG
Add to Google Calendar
• 9 PM KCSM HD2
Add to Google Calendar
🎶 Catch the Replay → Here
📖 Full Episode Recaps + Setlists → Here
📻 Renegade Radio Site → Here
Funk Facts
RUFUS FEATURING CHAKA KHAN - You Got the Love
Built around electric bass, drums, guitar, clavinet, keyboards, percussion, and Chaka Khan's lead vocal. The rhythm section establishes a hard, tightly controlled pocket while guitar and clavinet work as rhythmic instruments, striking short figures around the bass and drums rather than filling every available space. Khan's vocal adds another layer of rhythmic attack; she moves between sustained phrases, clipped accents, and explosive responses to the band. Listen to how much of the song's power comes from the musicians hitting together and then immediately leaving space. It's a remarkably disciplined groove underneath an enormous voice.
CURTIS MAYFIELD - Billy Jack
Built around bass, drums, guitar, percussion, orchestration, and Mayfield's high, restrained vocal. The bass establishes the song's dark, repeating foundation while percussion creates movement around a drum part that rarely needs to force the groove forward. Mayfield's guitar enters in short rhythmic figures rather than dominating the arrangement, leaving considerable space for the bass and percussion. That restraint is crucial. The music never sounds frantic even as the story becomes increasingly grim; the rhythm section maintains an almost unsettling cool underneath it.
EARTH, WIND & FIRE - Power
Built around bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, saxophone, flute, kalimba, and layers of percussion. At more than eight minutes, “Power” operates less like a conventional song than an extended ensemble workout. Instead of moving through a simple verse-and-chorus structure, Earth, Wind & Fire develop the track by changing its density: instruments enter, disappear, answer one another, and gradually redirect the groove. Jazz improvisation and funk repetition coexist throughout the arrangement. Listen especially to the relationship between bass and percussion; even when the musicians stretch outward, that rhythmic center keeps pulling everything back into the pocket.
THE SOUTH SIDE MOVEMENT - I' Been Watching You
Built around bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, horns, percussion, and vocals, with a compact rhythm section carrying most of the song's momentum. The bass establishes a repeating foundation while guitar and keyboards fill the spaces around it with short rhythmic figures. Horns arrive primarily as punctuation, adding weight without overwhelming the groove. There's very little wasted motion in the arrangement. Rather than building toward enormous instrumental passages, South Side Movement keeps tightening and reinforcing the central rhythm, giving the song the directness of a working funk band locked into a groove.
CHICAGO GANGSTERS - Gangster Love
Built around bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, congas, horns, and layered vocals. “Gangster Love” balances a heavy rhythm section against a surprisingly polished arrangement, with horns and vocals providing color around the central bass-and-drum pocket. Guitar parts are particularly economical, appearing in clipped rhythmic figures rather than long melodic statements. Congas add another pulse underneath the drum kit, giving the groove additional movement without making it feel crowded. It's a good example of how a large funk arrangement can sound full while still leaving the rhythm section enough space to breathe.
HERBIE HANCOCK - Doin' It
Built around synthesizers, keyboards, electric bass, drums, guitar, and vocals, with Herbie Hancock and Wah Wah Watson treating electronic sound as part of the rhythm section itself. The track settles into a deep repeating groove and then develops through subtle changes in texture rather than conventional harmonic movement. Synthesizers squirm around the beat, guitar answers the keyboards, and the bass repeatedly pulls everything back toward the center. At more than eight minutes, “Doin' It” demonstrates one of the fundamental principles of funk: once the pocket is deep enough, the musicians don't need to leave it. They just keep finding new things to put inside it.
THE CHI-LITES - My First Mistake
Built around bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, orchestration, percussion, and the group's layered vocals. The arrangement retains the polished vocal character associated with The Chi-Lites while placing it over a much more aggressive rhythmic foundation. Bass and drums provide a steady pulse underneath sweeping orchestral textures, while guitar and keyboards contribute shorter rhythmic accents. The contrast is what makes the song work: sophisticated Chicago soul harmonies are riding on top of a groove with considerably more weight underneath it. Soul hasn't been replaced by funk here; the two are occupying the same arrangement.
RUFUS FEATURING CHAKA KHAN - Once You Get Started
Built around bass, drums, guitar, clavinet, keyboards, horns, percussion, and vocals. Compared with “You Got the Love,” the arrangement feels even more tightly engineered around forward motion. Bass and drums maintain the center while clavinet and guitar repeatedly strike around the beat, and the horns appear in short bursts that push sections into one another. Chaka Khan's vocal is again intensely rhythmic, but the band never simply follows her; voice and instruments continually answer each other. The title becomes almost a description of the arrangement itself. Once this groove gets started, virtually everything in the band is working to keep it moving.
GENE CHANDLER - Get Down
Built around a prominent repeating bass line, steady drums, guitar, keyboards, percussion, strings, and Chandler's lead vocal. “Get Down” reflects the late-1970s moment when the boundary between funk and dance music was becoming increasingly difficult to locate. The rhythm section relies on repetition and precision while orchestral elements give the track a brighter, more polished surface. Chandler's vocal rides above that machinery rather than fighting against it. Listen underneath the strings and production sheen and the foundation remains straightforward funk: bass and drums establishing a pattern strong enough for the rest of the arrangement to revolve around it.
CURTIS MAYFIELD - Superfly
Built around bass, drums, Mayfield's distinctive rhythm guitar, congas and additional percussion, horns, strings, and falsetto vocals. The bass line is extraordinarily active, but the arrangement gives it room by keeping Mayfield's guitar light and percussive. Henry Gibson's congas create another constantly moving rhythmic layer while the orchestration appears around the groove rather than burying it. Mayfield's vocal sits unusually high above that low rhythmic foundation, creating one of the track's defining contrasts: an airy, almost delicate voice floating over music that feels heavy, tense, and street-level.
EARTH, WIND & FIRE - September
Built around bass, drums, interlocking rhythm guitars, keyboards, percussion, horns, and densely layered vocals. “September” sounds effortless, but underneath the celebration is an exceptionally precise arrangement. Verdine White's bass remains active without crowding the drums, while the guitars divide the rhythmic space into short, interlocking patterns. Horns punch into carefully chosen openings and the vocals add still more rhythmic layers. Almost nothing plays continuously, yet something is always happening. That's the trick: dozens of small parts fit together without obscuring the groove. After an hour of different approaches to Chicago funk, we end with a band turning rhythmic organization into pure joy.
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