The foundations of funk were laid down in the mid-1960s, when James Brown began to emphasize the first beat of each measure in his stage-tested and frenzy-inducing R&B songs. Before the decade’s end, ...

Larry Humphrey’s biggest fans often seek him out after gigs and tell him with the urgency of a mother trying to get her adolescent kids to pick up their rooms that he should “get out of Springfield.” ...