The Poets of Rhythm

You wouldn’t think a band from Munich, Germany would be a major player in a worldwide funk and soul revival, but The Poets of Rhythm have always had a sly way of being ahead of the curve and blowing people’s perceptions out of the water in the process. The band was started by childhood schoolmates Jan Weissenfeldt (aka J.J. Whitefield) and Boris Geiger (aka Bo Baral), who bonded over their shared appreciation of George Clinton, James Brown and The Meters. As Weissenfeldt revealed to Impose Magazine, Bootsy Collins was the connection between the founding funk of James Brown and the progressive psych-funk hybrid of Parliament and Funkadelic, which enamored Weissenfeldt. The Poets of Rhythm set out to emulate all those musical connection points in creating this old school music with a new school perspective.

Practice What You Preach was The Poets of Rhythm’s singular debut and it was one of the earliest and most influential albums of the Funk-Soul Revival. Released on Soulciety in 1993 and with liner notes penned by Bobby Byrd, it was a perfect amalgamation of the hard and fast funk of James Brown, the soulful dexterity of The Meters and the hearty groove of a deep-fried Booker T.