Los Angeles, CA— July 2026
Every week, The Groove Gallery pulls five tracks worth turning up — a mix of deep cuts, classics, and songs that deserve a second look. This week, we’re starting where a lot of great music starts: the 1970s, when soul, funk, and disco were all fighting for the same dance floor and somehow making room for each other. Hit play, keep scrolling, and let the decade do the talking.
1) Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s (feat. James Brown) — "Doing It to Death (Gonna Have a Funky Good Time)" (1973)
James Brown wrote it, sang lead on it, and produced it — but the single credit famously went to Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s, Brown’s own backing band, who by 1973 had become one of the tightest funk units on the planet. The full ten-minute album version is a masterclass in the JB’s signature “on the one” groove: horns stabbing, bass locked in, and Brown testifying over the top like a preacher who found the beat. It hit #1 on the R&B charts and has been sampled by more hip-hop producers than almost any other funk record in history — proof that a “funky good time” never really goes out of style.
2) Donna Summer — "I Feel Love" (1977)
Technically disco, and worth the detour. Produced by Giorgio Moroder, “I Feel Love” ditched live instrumentation almost entirely in favor of a pulsing synthesizer line — a decision that sounded like science fiction in 1977 and quietly rewired the future of dance music. Brian Eno famously told David Bowie the track would “change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.” He wasn’t wrong. Summer’s voice floats over the top of it like she already knew she was standing at the edge of something new.
3) WAR — "Don't Let Nobody Get You Down" (1975)
Slowing it down a bit, with lowriders and chilling, WAR built their sound on the idea that funk, Latin rhythm, soul, and rock didn’t need separate lanes — they could all live in the same song. This one’s got a message wrapped in a groove: a reminder to keep your head up, delivered with the loose, warm musicianship the band was known for. It’s the kind of track that sounds like it was recorded by a group of friends who genuinely liked playing together, which — by most accounts — they were.
4) Average White Band — "School Boy Crush" (1975)
A Scottish band that could out-funk half the acts on American radio — Average White Band earned respect from soul purists who couldn’t quite believe where the sound was coming from. “School Boy Crush” leans into a smoother, more laid-back pocket than their bigger hits, built on a bassline that just sits in the groove and lets it breathe. It’s the deep-cut choice for anyone who already knows “Pick Up the Pieces” and wants to dig one layer further.
5) El Chicano — "Sabor a Mí" (1971)
Closing us out back in East LA: a band built on Latin rock and soul, El Chicano took a Mexican bolero — originally written in 1959 by Álvaro Carrillo — and reimagined it with warm Hammond organ and a slow, soulful groove. The voice behind it is Ersi Arvizu, who’d already made history as part of The Sisters, one of the first Chicana girl groups, before stepping in to sing lead on this track for El Chicano’s Revolución album. It sold a million copies and became her signature song — though she’d later step away from music entirely for years before Ry Cooder rediscovered her and helped bring her back with a solo career. The result feels both familiar and completely their own: a song about tenderness and memory, translated into a sound that could only have come out of early-70s Southern California. It’s a quieter close to this lineup, but it’s the kind of quiet that stays with you.
