Hunk o' Funk

Recorded on 26 March 1970 at Island Studios, London, England, as part of sessions that ran from 23 to 26 March; the track co-written by J.J. Jackson and McDuff featured a large ensemble of British jazz musicians including Dick Morrissey on reeds, Terry Smith on guitar, and J.J. Jackson on piano and percussion. The album was released on Blue Note during the period when Francis Wolff oversaw production alongside Duke Pearson. Released during McDuff's tenure at Blue Note, 'Hunk O' Funk' showcased the organist's command of hard, rolling funk grooves within a British session context, demonstrating the transatlantic reach of the organ-led soul-jazz and jazz-funk sound that Blue Note was nurturing in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The track was also issued as a Blue Note 7-inch single, underlining the label's confidence in its commercial potential. The track has endured as one of the most celebrated cuts in McDuff's Blue Note catalogue and a touchstone of organ-driven jazz-funk, cited alongside his Prestige recordings as essential to the rare-groove and crate-digging canons. Its combination of an infectious bass-and-Hammond intro and swinging large-ensemble arrangement has kept it in regular DJ rotation across soul-jazz and funk scenes for decades.