Dayton has given the world the cash register, the automobile self-starter, powered flight, and the pop-top can, among other innovations. It also is the birthplace of funk music, fueling the 1970s funk music boom with nearly a dozen Dayton bands on major record labels during the latter half of that decade, including the Ohio Players, Zapp, Lakeside and Heatwave.
In 2018, the University of Dayton launched the Dayton Funk Symposium and Dance Party, bringing together scholars, teachers, students, and performing artists to explore the rhythmic groove-based genre that put Dayton on the musical map.
Browse the video presentations, transcripts, and printed materials from the symposia.
| 2018 | ||
| Wednesday, September 12th | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2:30 PM |
Elizabeth Weiler, University of Dayton Dayton, OH 2:30 PM Conference program Designer: Elizabeth Weiler Faculty advisor: Misty Thomas-Trout |
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| 2:30 PM |
Sharon Davis Gratto, University of Dayton Dayton, OH 2:30 PM Words of welcome from Sharon Davis Gratto, professor of music and Graul Chair in Arts and Humanities. |
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| 2:30 PM |
Introductory Roundtable: Looking Back at Funk History in Dayton Todd Uhlman, University of Dayton Dayton, OH 2:30 PM Moderator: Dr. Todd Uhlman; panelists: Ericka Blount, Keith Harrison, Clarence Willis |
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| 3:30 PM |
Scotland Connects with American Funk and Dayton, Ohio Jesse Rae Dayton, OH 3:30 PM |
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| 4:15 PM |
The Sounds of Black America: Funk and Dayton, Ohio Matthew Valnes, Duke University Dayton, OH 4:15 PM This essay proposes a framework called the “sounds of black America” to argue that the social and cultural interactions unique to a specific locality results in a particular approach to funk as sound organization. Drawing on George Lipsitz’s concept of the “Black Spatial Imaginary” and using the music of the Ohio Players as a case study, I demonstrate how the music programs in Dayton-area schools can help us understand the particular approach to funk that came out of Dayton in the late 1960s through the 1970s. |
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| 4:40 PM |
Matthew Valnes, Duke University 4:40 PM Q&A session with presenter |
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| 7:00 PM |
Keynote Address: Dayton, Ohio; Toward a Funk Paradigm of Knowledge Production Scot Brown, University of California, Los Angeles Dayton, OH 7:00 PM |
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| Thursday, September 13th | ||
| 9:00 AM |
Dayton Funk Music: Visually Speaking Willis Bing Davis, Shango: Center for the Study of African American Art and Culture Dayton, OH 9:00 AM |
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| 9:45 AM |
The Land of Funk: Dayton’s Stone Street Mural Morris Howard Dayton, OH 9:45 AM Presentation is based on the completion of “The Land of Funk” mural on Stone Street in downtown Dayton. The mural honors bands of the funk era that are from Dayton, e.g., the Ohio Players, Heatwave, Lakeside, Slave, Fazeo, Sun, and Zapp featuring Roger Troutman. |
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| 10:10 AM |
"Ride On" to "Tree of Life": The History, Music and Influence of Skip “Little Axe” McDonald Matthew Donahue, Bowling Green State University Dayton, OH 10:10 AM |
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| 10:50 AM |
Funky Comedy: “That Funky Tramp in a Nite Club” (1967) and Funk’s Origins and Investments David McCarthy, Central Michigan University Dayton, OH 10:50 AM |
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| 11:20 AM |
Detroit’s Lost Soul: Erasing the African American Voice in the Aftermath of Motown Christian Matijas-Mecca, University of Michigan Dayton, OH 11:20 AM |
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| 11:50 AM |
How C.C. Got Down: The Case for Go-Go and How Funk Thrived Past the 1970s in Washington, D.C. Melissa Weber, Tulane University Dayton, OH 11:50 AM |
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| 12:20 PM |
University of Dayton Dayton, OH 12:20 PM Music by Funk DJ Stan “The Man” Brooks |
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| 1:20 PM |
James Brown’s “Say It Loud” at 50! Frederick “Rickey” Vincent, California College of the Arts Dayton, OH 1:20 PM |
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| 2:00 PM |
Free Your Mind: Funk Transfigured as Black Cultural Aesthetics Tony Bolden, The University of Kansas Dayton, OH 2:00 PM |
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| 2:30 PM |
Black Music Matters: Jazz, Funk and the Academy Ed Sarath, University of Michigan Dayton, OH 2:30 PM This talk situates funk and its close relationship with jazz within the overarching context of black music in higher education. |
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| 7:00 PM |
University of Dayton Dayton, OH 7:00 PM Featuring the male vocal quartet Motown Sounds of Touch; the Dayton Funk All-Stars and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company; admission is free, but tickets are required. |
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| Friday, September 14th | ||
| 8:30 AM |
Closing Roundtable: Reflections on the Symposium John McCombe, University of Dayton Dayton, OH 8:30 AM Moderator: Dr. John McCombe, professor of English, University of Dayton; panelists: Stan "The Man" Brooks, Dr. Scot Brown, Jesse Rae, Dr. Frederick "Rickey" Vincent, David Webb, and Joseph Wooten |
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