Artists like Dorothy Ashby

Mulatu Astatke is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered the father of "Ethio-jazz".

Idris Muhammad was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He had an extensive career performing jazz, funk, R&B, and soul music and recorded with musicians such as Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, Pharoah Sanders, Bob James, and Tete Montoliu.

Menahan Street Band is an American, 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.

David Axelrod was an American composer, arranger, and producer. After starting out as a staff producer for record companies specializing in jazz, Axelrod became known by the mid-1960s in soul and jazz circles for his recording skills. In 1968, Axelrod embarked on a solo career and released several albums during the 1970s that showcased his characteristic sound, which combined heavily microphoned drums and baroque orchestration, and avant garde themes ranging from the environment to heightened mental awareness.

Roy Edward Ayers Jr. was an American vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped to pioneer jazz-funk. He was a key figure in the acid jazz movement, and has been described as "The Godfather of Neo Soul". He was best known for his compositions "Everybody Loves the Sunshine", "Running Away", and "Freaky Deaky" and others that charted in the 1970s. At one time, Ayers was listed among the performers whose music was most often sampled by rappers.

Cortex is a jazz funk band formed by band leader Alain Mion in 1974. Cortex is known for polyrhythmic instrumentals and funk, bossa nova, samba-jazz, and psychedelic rock grooves, mixed with atmospheric vocals, inspired by 1970s American funk and jazz. Cortex broke up in 1981, but reformed in 2009 with a rotating group of members. Hip hop samples of Cortex songs in tracks from artists including MF Doom, Madlib, Tyler, the Creator, Kanye West, Flying Lotus, Lupe Fiasco, and Suicideboys have brought newfound interest to the band starting in the early 2000s.

Asha Puthli is an Indian-born American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress. She moved to New York from Mumbai with a dance scholarship, and in 1970, she was signed to CBS Records and subsequently released several solo albums. Her recordings cover blues, pop, rock, soul, funk, disco, and techno music. She also starred in films by Merchant Ivory and Bruno Corbucci. In 2025, Puthli was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.