Too Much FUNK

March 14th, 2026

Kohaku Jazz Bar, Shibuya

Mac Fukuda Mac福田 - guitar

MAKO-T - keyboards

Kensuke Yamamoto山本賢介 - bass

Loui Kazui数井塁 - drums

Too Much Funk is a band that comes out swinging hard from the first note. They don’t need to take time to warm up or get in sync. In mid-March, they laid down tight grooves, soaring solos, and sweat-inducing rhythms throughout their sets and on into the encore.

Conversant and accomplished in the rhythms of the Meters, the Allman Brothers, jam bands, and everything in between, they are a band whose name fits. Funk, well-played as it is here, is always “too much.” It’s heavy, full music, thick as gumbo, slow as honey, and ready as a dance floor. And it’s very rare in Japan. Maybe less so now. Too Much Funk is the funkiest band I’ve heard in thirty years of listening.

They play covers, but they make them their own. The melodies, bass lines, and lead guitar are recognizable, but what makes the band special is the way they upend rhythms, lay down grooves, and solo relentlessly—all in their own style. Having a distinctive sound in funk is harder than just playing it.

But it’s not all “too much.” On a tune like Jeff Beck’s “Because We Ended as Lovers,” they played steadily, lyrically, and dreamily, just as the song deserves. Fukuda’s guitar really soared on this number, and Mako-T delivered snug, dynamic harmonies to keep him soloing. Playing steadily while keeping the funkiness was pleasing and impressive.

On numbers like Jimmy Smith’s “Root Down,” the band leaned toward hard bop. The song’s dropping chord changes and build-ups kept the tension right where it should be—high. Mako-T’s outward calm belied a roiling cauldron of funky organ licks exploding one after the next. His keyboards added layers of sound and feeling to every song.

What’s pleasingly jazz-like about the quartet is how much they really support each other during their solos. Fukuda took off on the first solos always, and set the tone for everyone to rise to. Which they did. Fukuda is a monster on guitar, having played with the Neville Brothers while living in New Orleans. But the band is right there with him. Kazui drove the group with his rhythmic subtlety and power, locking in with Yamamoto’s bass for a kinetic, driving sound.

In the second set, the Meters’ “Fire on the Bayou,” with its deceptively simple bass line, opened up room for Fukuda to really fire away. He can shred when he feels like it, but never overdoes it. He lets his solos flow naturally, the sign of tastefulness. A guitar string broke, and he played on without missing a note. And when a second string broke, he just laughed and said, “I’ll play Keith Richards style.”

Towards the end of the second set, they played the funkiest version of Bob Dylan’s “Watching the River Flow” that I’ve ever heard. It was fun, ironic, danceable, and artistically arranged, suggesting that all music is funk if you dig deep enough. They definitely dug deep. They’re as close to New Orleans as you can get and still be in Tokyo. Too much funk? Never enough.