Funk Pump
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Album Summary
Funk Pump arrived in 1974 on the Aware label, a release that captured The Counts — Leroy Emmanuel, Byron Miller, Mose Davis, Demo Cates, and Andrew Gibson — at a moment when Detroit's funk underground was cooking something serious. Aware was a small but committed imprint that gave regional funk acts room to stretch out, and The Counts used every inch of that space across ten tracks spanning both sides of the record. The album moves from the jazz-inflected opener 'Jazzman' through the title cut and on into the deeper, more exploratory territory of the B-side, painting a picture of a band that had been woodshedding hard and was ready to let the world hear it.
Reception
- Funk Pump did not chart nationally upon its 1974 release, circulating primarily through regional markets and the network of funk and soul enthusiasts who kept small-label releases alive through word of mouth.
- The album has gained a strong retrospective reputation among funk collectors and crate-diggers, who regard it as a hidden gem of the mid-1970s regional funk scene.
Significance
- Funk Pump stands as a document of the rich, self-sufficient funk ecosystem that thrived outside the major label spotlight in the early-to-mid 1970s, proving that Detroit's groove tradition ran far deeper than any single famous name.
- The album's tracklist reveals a band with genuine range — from the jazz sensibility of 'Jazzman' and the cool exotica of 'Tecalli' to the raw dance-floor heat of the title track — marking The Counts as more than a one-dimensional funk outfit.
- Byron Miller, who appears here as a core band member, would go on to become a highly regarded session bassist, and Funk Pump offers an early glimpse of the musical firepower he and his bandmates were bringing to the table long before wider recognition came.
Tracklist
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A1 Jazzman 115
3:47
-
A2 Magic Ride 87
3:58
-
A3 Short Cut 86
3:16
-
A4 Since We Said Goodbye 144
3:25
-
A5 Funk Pump 151
3:17
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B1 I'm The Music 126
3:44
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B2 Dedicated Man 107
3:18
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B3 At The Fair 139
3:01
-
B4 Flies Over Watermelon 139
3:00
-
B5 Tecalli 117
5:10
Artist Details
The Counts were a Detroit-based funk and soul outfit who came up out of the Motor City in the late 1960s, bringing that gritty, raw Detroit sound to dancefloors everywhere with their tight grooves and hard-hitting rhythms. They cut some serious wax on Don Davis's Aware Records label, laying down tracks that sat right at the crossroads of funk, soul, and that classic Motown-influenced sound that Detroit was breathing out like oxygen during that era. As part of the rich tapestry of Black musical talent pouring out of Detroit, The Counts stand as a testament to a city that never stopped producing the kind of music that makes your soul stand up and take notice.
