Jazz-Funk Powerhouse Redtenbacher’s Funkestra Marks 30 Years with New Milestone Album Funkopia
- Dave Bedford
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Redtenbacher’s Funkestra, the long-running, genre-defying collective led by London-based Austrian bassist, composer, and arranger Stefan Redtenbacher, celebrates a rare milestone with the 10-track album Funkopia, a project marking thirty years of independent, unwavering commitment to groove. Released via RSB Records, the album reflects the band’s three-decade journey with the precision, craft, and collaborative spirit that have defined Redtenbacher’s work since the beginning.
Led by “Code 12”, a smoky, slick funk groove recorded live for Masterlink Sessions and featuring two of the UK’s most distinctive guitar voices, Tony Rémy and Mike Outram. Rather than relying on bombast, the track moves through interlocking guitar lines, conversational solo trading, and the kind of musical trust that comes from players who know how to listen to one another. The recording has resonated strongly with their listeners. The vinyl cut has surpassed 116,000 streams, while the full version has exceeded 235,000, with the track earning placement on Spotify’s editorial playlists such as Instrumental Funk.
Across Funkopia, Redtenbacher brings together a circle of long-standing collaborators from the UK, Austria, and the US, many of whom are part of the Masterlink Sessions Collective. The album’s horn writing is shaped by Horn House, the elite London-based section whose members have recorded or performed with artists including Level 42, Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, The Eagles, and Chaka Khan, bringing a distinct personality to the ensemble’s sound and grounding the record in relationships built over years of shared work.
Rather than relying on familiar jazz-funk templates, Funkopia sits firmly within the world Redtenbacher has built over the decades. It’s a space defined by deep arranging, ensemble interplay, and the kind of musical continuity that only comes from a band that has kept going against the odds. Recorded at Masterlink Productions in Surrey, the album reflects hundreds of sessions, twenty albums on RSB Records, and the wider Masterlink Sessions ecosystem, all contributing to a catalogue that has now reached over 17 million Spotify streams, with Funkopia itself now passing 400,000.
For Stefan, the project marks a milestone as it represents 30 years of the band. That perspective is central to the album, a body of work created and shaped through long-term collaboration, driven by a desire to offer listeners something uplifting. It stands as a testament to decades of commitment and the belief that groove, craft, and community are worth dedicating a life to.
