Binky Griptite

Last updated
Binky Griptite
Sharon Jones + The Dap Kings @ Tavastia Klubi (cropped).jpg
Griptite with the Dap-Kings in 2012.
Background information
Birth nameFranklin Stribling
Born Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Origin New York City
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • producer
  • DJ
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1996–present
Labels Daptone Records
Presenting career
ShowThe Boogie Down
Station WFUV
Time slotSaturday, 8-11 pm
Website wfuv.org/content/boogie-down

Franklin Stribling, [1] professionally known as Binky Griptite, is an American guitarist, record producer, and radio DJ. He is best known as a founding member and guitarist of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Soul Providers, and Antibalas, among other Daptone Records-related projects. From 2017 to 2021, he hosted the weekly radio program The Boogie Down on WFUV.

Contents

Childhood

Griptite was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He lived in Minneapolis before moving to New York City in 1996. [2]

Career

Following a break in his music career he connected with musician Gabe Roth, who would co-found Daptone Records, and was recruited to play in Roth's Desco Records house band, Soul Providers. Some of the first records he played on were those of Lee Fields. [3] He adopted the stage name Binky Griptite in 1999. [4]

In late 1998, he joined the first incarnation of the Brooklyn afrobeat ensemble Antibalas with then-roommate Martín Perna as a bassist, touring and recording with them in their early years. [5] Following the dissolution of Desco and the Soul Providers in 1999–2000, he formed The Dap-Kings with other former members as a band for Sharon Jones. They recorded their debut album Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings in 2001. In total, the group released eight studio albums, concluding with 2017's Soul of a Woman . Their 2014 album Give the People What They Want was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. [6] Following a twenty-year tenure, Griptite departed from The Dap-Kings in September 2018. [7]

In addition to playing with the Dap-Kings, Binky has played on records for artists such as Janet Jackson and Amy Winehouse, with whom he toured extensively in 2007. As a producer, he has worked with artists such as The Impressions. [3] He also leads the R&B band The Mellomatics [4] and The Binky Griptite Orchestra. [2]

In July 2017, Griptite began hosting The Boogie Down on WFUV. The all-vinyl radio show airs weekly on Saturday nights and highlights vintage soul and R&B tracks. [8]

In July 2021, WFUV announced that Griptite and the station have amicably agreed to end the program, saying that Griptite hopes to revive the program at some future point, on a station or stations to be determined. [9]

Discography

Selected album discography. Adapted from Discogs. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daptone Records</span> Record label

Daptone Records is a funk and soul independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. Best known as the home of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley, the label boasts a roster which includes Menahan Street Band, The Budos Band, The Sugarman 3, and Antibalas, and runs the recording studio Daptone's House of Soul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings</span> American funk/soul band

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album Dap Dippin' in 2002, the first of seven studio albums. Their 2014 album Give the People What They Want was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. Following Sharon Jones' death in 2016, the band released the posthumous album Soul of a Woman in 2017 and a compilation of cover songs in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Jones</span> American soul and funk singer (1956–2016)

Sharon Lafaye Jones was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough success relatively late in life, releasing her first record when she was 40 years old. In 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want.

<i>Naturally</i> (Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings album) 2005 studio album by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

Naturally is the second album by American funk band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, released on January 25, 2005 on Daptone Records.

<i>Dap Dippin with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings</i> 2002 studio album by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings is the debut album by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, released in 2002. It is also the first full-length release from Daptone Records.

Martin Perna is an educator and multidisciplinary artist living in Berkeley, California.

Nicholas Anthony Movshon is a bass guitarist, drummer and songwriter best known for his considerable contributions to the New York funk and soul revival. A frequent contributor to the recorded output of Brooklyn-based labels Daptone Records and Truth & Soul, he has spent the past two decades playing with Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and as a member of groups including Antibalas, Menahan Street Band, and El Michels Affair. He is also a founding member of The Arcs and has toured with The Black Keys.

<i>100 Days, 100 Nights</i> 2007 studio album by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

100 Days, 100 Nights is the third studio album by American funk band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Recorded in 2006, it was released on Daptone Records October 2, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menahan Street Band</span> American instrumental band

Menahan Street Band is a Brooklyn, New York–based instrumental band formed in 2007, that plays funk and soul music. The band features musicians from Antibalas, El Michels Affair, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and the Budos Band. The group was founded by Thomas Brenneck while living in an apartment on Menahan Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Their debut album, Make the Road by Walking, was released in 2008 on Dunham, a sublabel of Daptone Records and was followed by The Crossing in 2012.

The Sugarman 3, sometimes titled The Sugarman Three, is a retro-funk band from New York City formed in 1996 by saxophonist Neal Sugarman, Hammond organ player Adam Scone, and drummer Rudy Albin. The band has released four studio albums—Sugar's Boogaloo (1999), Soul Donkey (2000), Pure Cane Sugar (2002) and What the World Needs Now (2012)—and one compilation album, Sweet Spot (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Axelrod</span> Musical artist

Victor Axelrod is an American musician, producer, and audio engineer from Brooklyn, New York. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked primarily in the genres of reggae, Afrobeat and soul, recording and producing under his own name and using the alias Ticklah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosco Mann</span> American songwriter

Gabriel Roth, also known as Bosco Mann among other aliases, is an American record producer, musician, and co-founder of Daptone Records. He is best known as the bandleader, bass player, primary songwriter, and producer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. A prolific recording engineer, he runs Daptone Studios in Brooklyn and Penrose Studios in Riverside, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Fields</span> American singer-songwriter

Elmer Lee Fields is an American soul singer, sometimes nicknamed "Little JB" for his physical and vocal resemblance with James Brown. He has worked with Kool and the Gang, Hip Huggers, O.V. Wright, Darrell Banks, and Little Royal. Fields has also worked with musicians such as B.B. King, Clarence Carter, Dr. John, Tyrone Davis, Johnny Taylor, Denise LaSalle, Bobby Blue Bland, Betty Wright, The Manhattans, Little Milton and Bobby Womack. He recorded his first single in 1969 and is still active. His recent work is with The Expressions, including the albums Faithful Man (2012), Special Night (2017), and It Rains Love (2019).

<i>Give the People What They Want</i> (Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings album) 2014 studio album by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

Give the People What They Want is the fifth studio album by American soul and funk band Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, released January 14, 2014 on Daptone Records. The album was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan McLean (musician)</span> American musical artist (born 1974)

Jordan McLean is a New York City-based composer, arranger, bandleader, trumpeter, producer and educator. McLean has been active in the professional music world since 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Brenneck</span> American guitarist and producer

Thomas "Tommy" Brenneck is an American guitarist, record producer, and engineer, best known as the leader of the Menahan Street Band and member of The Budos Band, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and El Michels Affair. He is the founder of Dunham Records, a subsidiary of seminal retro-soul label Daptone Records, and was the producer of soul singer Charles Bradley. As a producer session musician, he frequently works with Daptone and Big Crown Records artists.

Homer Steinweiss is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Hardly Knew Ya, El Michels Affair, and Dan Auerbach's The Arcs, among many others. He leads the Brooklyn folk soul band Holy Hive with Paul Spring. A popular session musician as part of The Dap-Kings and in his own right, he is perhaps best known for his work with Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse, with whom he recorded the 2006 album Back to Black.

Leon Marcus Michels is an American music producer, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records. He is a founding member of soul and funk bands Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band, and Lee Fields & The Expressions, and has played with Charles Bradley as well as Wu-Tang Clan. A frequent collaborator of Dan Auerbach, Michels was a touring member of The Black Keys and co-founded The Arcs. As a producer, Michels has produced records for artists such as Lee Fields, Norah Jones, Chicano Batman, Nicole Wray, and Hanni El Khatib.

Retro soul, sometimes written as retro-soul, is a post-modern and contemporary popular music genre that emerged years after the golden era of soul music. In style of singing, arrangement and recording techniques, this music attempts to offer new music in the tradition of soul music from the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s. This differs from soul music, Contemporary R&B and neo soul as it is intentionally produced in a vintage recording sound and style years after the original era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings discography</span>

The discography of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings consists of seven studio albums, three compilation albums, and the soundtrack album of Miss Sharon Jones!, in addition to more than thirty album and non-album singles. Not included in these numbers are the singles released by the band in the late 1990s as the Soul Providers.

References

  1. "Franklin Stribling a/k/a Binky Griptite – Defend Music" . Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  2. 1 2 Lipsky, Jessica (15 March 2018). "Binky Griptite". Dust and Grooves. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Binky Griptite". The Dap-Kings. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  4. 1 2 "Speaker of the House: Binky Griptite Interview". 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  5. "Bio". Antibalas. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  6. "Binky Griptite". GRAMMY.com. 2020-11-23. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  7. "Guitarist Binky Griptite Announces Departure From The Dap-Kings After 20 Years". L4LM. 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  8. BWW News Desk. "WFuV Introduces THE BOOGIE DOWN with Binky Griptite". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  9. WFUV Staff. "THE BOOGIE DOWN 2017-2021" . Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  10. "Binky Griptite". Discogs. Retrieved 2021-03-23.