Paris born guitar virtuoso Emmanuel “U-Nam” Abiteboul is the driving force behind the project California Funk Machine. This year he surprised the world with Volume I, a collection of selected pieces of funk history that brought it the greatest success and had a decisive impact on it. Volume 2 is is the logical continuation with new power hits.
On Volume 2 U-Nam performs lead and rhythm guitars, talk box, Vocoder, bass, Moog bass, Rhodes, clavinet, synth guitar, keyboards, drums, horn programming and editing, lead and background vocals. The hottest Funk, Disco, Soul and Jazz Funk classics of the 70’s and 80’s in Californian style are also created by Bill Steinway (keyboards), Bob Baldwin (piano), Tim Owens (background vocals), Jorel Flynn (drums), Frank Sitborn (keyboards), Kim Hansen (keyboards), Denis Benarrosh (percussion), Michael White (drums), Freddie Washington (bass), Marva King (vocals), Tony Tatum (vocals), Kim Chandler (vocals), DJ Puzzle (sound design), Maria Grig (violin, viola), Lyudmilla Kadybaeva (cello), Joabe Reis (trombone) and Christian Martinze (trumpet, flugelhorn).
The album opens with the EWF classic Let’s Groove with the typical U-Nam vocoderized exclamation mark. Second to none follows an interpretation of George Duke’s funky Reach Out. Midnight Stars’ Midas Touch experiences a revival with the lively singer Tony Tatum. Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Rockit gets a wild twin.
Read more …