10 Musical Artists Who Are Keeping Funk Alive

With track titles like Chaga, Hey Mamajo, and Rinconito, listeners can rest assured they'll be treated to percussive afrobeat stylings, which is exactly what The Funk Ark provides. The brain child of keyboardist Will Rast, a veteran of Antibalas and Thievery Corporation, The Funk Ark has taken some of Washington DC's best instrumental jazz artists and merged them into one super-team of hardcore funk renegades.

Lengthy sax solos, pocket grooves, and perfectly placed bass notes form the hallmark of their compositions. The tracks are further enhanced with harmonic vocal chants, grinding embellishments from the keyboards, and the odd guitar feature that spices up the melody with exemplary tone and masterful phrasing. Every instrument plays its part, working in unison to push the groove.

The group burst onto the scene in 2014 with their first album, Man Is A Monster. It featured both methodical tunes, like Selassie Strut (the tempo, about 90BPM, falls right in the range of the optimal strutting pace), and high-octane funk by way of the eponymous track Man Is A Monster.

Their follow-ups, 2016s From The Rooftops and High Noon, further establish the group's credentials with a clever synthesis of Latin percussion, slick bass work, and synchronous horn playing that has become the group's signature.