Jazz-funk - The Role of Producers

The Role of Producers

Many mainstream artists in jazz used the talents of a few producers who were specialists in the genre and generated great commercial success. While Herbie Hancock was always his own producer, he teamed up with Mike Clark and Paul Jackson and formed "The Headhunters". The Mizell Brothers - Larry and Fonce - were responsible for a lot of the jazz-funk wave as they single-handedly produced many of the major jazz-funk artists (Donald Byrd, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Bobbi Humphrey, Gary Bartz, and more). Other producers included Dexter Wansel, Bob James, Dave Grusin, generally acclaimed musicians (especially arrangers) themselves who tried their hand at sound-engineer, arranger, or composer (the Mizell Brothers produced most of Byrd's and Johnny "Hammond" Smith's Jazz-funk) other artists. It was typically during this era - the mid 1970s - that the producers gained their arms and paved the way for others later, such as super R&B producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards from Chic in the early 1980s.