Funk Filharmonik | New York’s Tightest Funk Band

By ROB TAUBE

“Funk,” like “swing” or “clave,” is one of those musical qualities that’s easier to feel than define.

You can find funk in a lot of different places: it’s there in the tight, muscular punches of James Brown’s band, in the sassy, percussive horn and bass lines of Earth, Wind and Fire, in the suave, street-smart arrangements of seventies-era Marvin Gaye, and in every single thing Stevie Wonder has ever done.

“It’s more of an attitude than anything else,” said drummer Lee Finkelstein of Funk Filharmonik, a 12-piece band appearing next week at Le Bar Bat.

“It started in New Orleans in the fifties,” Finkelstein said. “Drummers started going from one-bar phrases to two and even four-bar phrases, and that created a real edge. Later on, in the sixties, [drummer] Clayton Fillyau invented the James Brown beat. Then bands like Sly Stone and Tower of Power added more horns, and the horn section became like a percussion instrument. Eventually, it developed into an enormous groove.”

With their five horns, two singers, and five-piece rhythm section, the Filharmonik is dedicated to the perpetuation of that groove. Their shows are full of vigor and intensity from start to finish, with slow or mid-tempo tunes placed sparsely in the set just to break things up. Almost everyone in the crowd hits the dance floor, and those that don’t can be seen blissfully gyrating where they sit or stand.

The group has been working Le Bar Bat once a month for nearly four years. The club’s midtown location makes it a good place to be seen and pick up jobs–plus top-notch musicians who back up stars like David Letterman, Chaka Khan, the Neville Brothers, and Madonna have become friendly with the band and have even played the gig on occasion.

The Filharmonik just celebrated their 16th anniversary at a club called the Brokerage in Bellmore, Long Island, and they have no plans of breaking up or slowing their schedule anytime soon.

“We started out totally for fun, just to play the music, and it became this phenomenon,” Finkelstein said.