Not quite funk
This is one great album. It's an awesome mood-maker, putting you into a comfortable jazz groove right up front and consistently. My one complaint is the title. I don't think it actually brings back any funk; it's more of a fusion of 75% jazz and 25% funk. The main reason for that is that piano was never at the heart of funk. Funk built on rhythm and a thumping bass, not keys. That said, Culbertson definitely has a funky heart and brings a great vibe to his jazz.

The Funk Has Definitely Been Revived!
I'll make this review short but sweet. If you are a fan of classic funk then Brian Culbertson (with the help of a few of his old school friends with serious funk credentials) has just created a generous slice of the good stuff. To carry my metaphor a little further, it's like unexpectedly coming across a bottle of a favorite old wine, sharing it with a special friend that you know will appreciate it, and discovering that it's every bit as good as you remembered it to be. Of course the difference here is that you can listen to Brian's new CD as many times as you want. If you appreciate "the real deal" funk as much as I do, my prediction is that as soon as the last note dies away you will be hitting play again to reappreciate Bringing Back the Funk's remarkable and fully realized goal of revitalizing a genre of music that has sadly, become all too rare in this era of corporate driven desperation to find anything that can be foisted off on a fragmented and increasingly disinterested (and clueless) public, hoping to sell as many "units" as possible. Ah well, sorry for the rant, but hearing a CD this good made me miss what we used to have in abundance before corporate greed once again reassumed control. So, even though this post ended up being neither short or sweet, the actual parts of it where I talked about the fantastic Bringing Back the Funk were. Time to stop reading the reviews and just buy it, because it's Great!

Up on the Down Stroke
Great combination of funk and jazz. I especially like the Bootsy Collins cuts, Hollywood Swinging and The World Keeps Going Around. Some of the cuts are average, but the others are superior. Well worth listening to.
KEEP FUNK ALIVE !!!!

...and he really did. Culbertson brought back the funk!
That Brian Culbertson is a fine piano player is no news. What it's real news it's his amazing versatility to navigate from one silky, mellow & romantic repertoire ("It's on tonight") to a funky and jazzy album like this one, effortlesly. That's a gift that not many musicians can prove. Brian has it. "Bring back the funk" is a "must" for any smooth jazz lover. It's hard to believe after listening this album someone could write "tired and uninspired effort", unless you have become def without acknowledgeing it, of course.

Very Tired and Uninspired Effort.
I have alway thought of Brian Culbertson as being one of the finest smooth jazz artist of this time. However, this release is very tired and uninspired. It is so much so, that I could not finish listening to it. There is no smooth flow, just a bunch of unmemorable sound with a funk edge to it that would not have even been hits during the funk era of the '70s. Brian really butchered Kool and the Gang's song, "Hollywood Swinging," and made a great song terrible. Thank goodness Kool did not use Brian's arrangements when he initially made that song. With all this said, the smooth jazz genre seems to be lacking at present. And, I can tell that I won't be writing too many future reviews as this format seems to be in a permanent lull.