For awhile now, iLL-Literacy’s mission has been to create a spoken word show that people can dance to.  Does that seem like an obscure concept?  Why has it been such a challenge to create music that revolves around spoken word (or spoken word that revolves around music)?  What happens when the poet wants to break out of the neo-soul-jazz image and would rather skydive naked in a bucket of paint? Okay, we’re at least two years away from doing that shit!

In the beginning people began talking, and rhythm was formed, which induced the need to tap and dance to the rhythm, which summoned additional noise to soundtrack the movement.  Somewhere along the way we forgot how to dance to the word, but if we look not too far away, the tradition was strong just a generation ago.  The Jimmy Castor Bunch is a funk band that, much in the tradition of George Clinton, used spoken word and storytelling to accompany the instruments.  Rather than playing a heavy-handed voice that consumed the track, it was simply another layer, like a trumpet or oboe. (heehee…oboe sounds funnnnnny…)

Jimmy Castor is incredibly versatile, ranging from gritty funk to bubblegum disco…but the groove is always strong.  Can you digit?

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[Jimmy Castor Bunch “Troglodyte (Cave Man)”

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[Jimmy Castor Bunch “Space Age”