Trouble Funk
Miles off the radar of popular music during the early '80s, Trouble Funk energized their D.C. home with the sound of go-go music, an uproarious blend of swinging, up-tempo '70s funk and a '60s-style horn section. The band formed in 1978, and the lineup coalesced around drummer Emmet Nixon, percussionists Mack Carey and Timothius Davis, guitarist Chester Davis, bassist Tony Fisher, trombone players Gerald and Robert Reed, trumpeter Taylor Reed, keyboard player James Avery, and saxophonist David Rudd. Trouble Funk earned a loyal fan base for their notoriously can't-miss live act, a raw, party friendly version of dance and funk with few songs but plenty of extensive jams organized around audience-friendly vocal tags and call-out hooks.
The first go-go record released outside of D.C., Trouble Funk's 1982 debut Drop the Bomb appeared on Sugar Hill, the same label then championing early hip-hop. (The two styles had very similar origins, in the breakbeat culture of urban block parties.) Though the band's second album, In Times of Trouble, appeared only on the local label D.E.T.T., Trouble Funk earned national distribution with a prescient concert record, 1985's Saturday Night (Live from Washington, D.C.), released through Island. After taking the live act nationwide and even worldwide (they played the 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival), Trouble Funk returned in 1987 with the boundary breaking Trouble Over Here, Trouble Over There, featuring sympathetic heads like Bootsy Collins and Kurtis Blow. It was a bit of a stylistic misstep, however, and Island released the group from its contract. Undeterred, Trouble Funk kept on grooving around the city, playing often, even into the '90s, for nostalgic party goers as well as the musically curious.
© John Bush /TiVo
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Discography
33 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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In Times Of Trouble (Remastered)
Soul - Released by Essential Media Group on Jan. 1, 1983
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Beat
Funk - Released by Essential 12 Classics on Dec. 4, 2012
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Drop the Bomb
Funk - Released by Funky Delicacies on May 13, 2008
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Trouble Funk Express
Funk - Released by Essential 12 Classics on Nov. 27, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Pump Me Up/Let's Get Small
Funk - Released by Funky Delicacies on Oct. 7, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
So Early In The Morning
Funk - Released by Essential 12 Classics on Dec. 4, 2012
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Freeky Deak Part
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by TWF Productions on Sep. 12, 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Big Tony and Trouble Funk Live Chapter 64 (Live)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by TWF Productions on Jun. 21, 2024
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Say What?
Funk - Released by Essential 12 Classics on Oct. 7, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Southeast Crank (Radio Edit)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by TWF Productions on Sep. 11, 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
E-Flat Boogie
Funk - Released by Funky Delicacies on Jan. 1, 2000
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Trouble Over Here, Trouble Over There
R&B - Released by Island Records on Jan. 1, 1987
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Trouble Funk 35th Anniversary Live Set 1
Soul - Released by TWF Music on Mar. 7, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
It's in the Mix (Don't Touch That Stereo) / Still Smokin' (Live)
Funk - Released by Essential 12 Classics on Dec. 16, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Let's Get Small
Funk - Released by Essential 12 Classics on Oct. 7, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Best of Trouble Funk
Soul - Released by TTED Red Records on Jan. 8, 2008
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Funkin' The Classics
Funk - Released by Funky Delicacies on Jan. 1, 2001
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Trouble Funk Live Ultimate Crank, Vol. 1
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Trouble Funk on Apr. 8, 2015
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Trouble Funk 35th Anniversary Live Set 2
Soul - Released by TWF Music on Mar. 7, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Big Tony & Trouble Funk (Live at DC City Winery)
Soul - Released by Big Tony & Trouble Funk on Mar. 7, 2022
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -