Conventional wisdom says funk is dead: Parliament represented the height of the genre and purist funk has little relevance in modern music.

Entropy, an Atlanta band returning heavy funk to its soul, R&B, and jazz roots, disagrees – and so far, audiences like their experiment in funkology.

The band recently returned from a successful tour of the West Coast.

“Out West, they don’t get to see a lot of acts like us,” guitarist Bryan Goodman said. “They see a lot more reggae and bluegrass and electronica-type stuff, but as far as more pure funk . I don’t think they get it as much.”

Saturday night will be a funky night indeed as Entropy performs with JazzChronic, a band that fuses funk with jazz and rock and whose members’ ages range from 22 to 57.

“[Keyboardist] Howard [Stroud] has been in bands since he was in college at UGA in ’81 [or] ’82, and he’s played more gigs than I could ever think of,” Willis said.

JazzChronic is working on a new album, which introduces a wider variety of musical influences than its rock-oriented debut.

“The newer stuff has been a lot more organ-based – almost soul-jazz, like the early Wes Montgomery and Grant Green,” Willis said.

Entropy is likewise working on a new record, with singles expected by the end of the year and the full release by spring 2010. With female and male lead vocals, Goodman expects the new album to have a more rounded sound than Entropy’s first two albums.

“Recording, in and of itself, is pretty much the polar opposite of playing live,” Goodman said. “Live is sort of a continuous stream of moments that you try to blend together into this overall experience, whereas recording is like you’re freezing a particular moment in time.”

Athens’ music scene is better known for rock and pop bands, but Goodman said funk still has its place.

“Music fans, in general, are music fans,” Goodman said. “I haven’t really found anyone who’s just a reggae fan or just an electronica fan or just a funk fan.”