Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
and
funkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
trombonist, best known for his work with
James BrownJames Joseph Brown , originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as "The Godfather of Soul", was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing...
in the 1960s and 1970s.
Wesley was born in
Columbus, GeorgiaColumbus is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia. The city is the county seat of Muscogee County. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2008, had an estimated population of 287,653...
, the son of a high school teacher and
big bandA big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big bands evolved with the times and continue to today. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and...
leader. As a child he took piano and later trumpet lessons, and at around the age of 12 his father brought a trombone home, whereupon he switched to trombone.
http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/an/25744/
During the 1960s and 1970s he was a pivotal member of
James BrownJames Joseph Brown , originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as "The Godfather of Soul", was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing...
's bands, playing on many hit recordings including "
Say it Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud"Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a funk song written and recorded by James Brown in 1968. It is notable both as one of Brown's signature songs and as one of the most popular "black power" anthems of the 1960s. The song was released as a two-part single which held the number-one spot on...
", "
Mother Popcorn"Mother Popcorn ", commonly referred to as "Mother Popcorn", is a song recorded by James Brown and released as a two-part single in 1969. A #1 R&B and #11 Pop hit, .it was the highest-charting of a series of recordings inspired by the popular dance The Popcorn which Brown made that year...
" and co-writing tunes such as "
Hot Pants"Hot Pants " is a song by James Brown. Brown recorded the song in 1971 and released it that year as a three-part single on his People Records label, which was then distributed by his primary label King. It was a number-one R&B hit and reached number fifteen on the pop chart in the U.S...
".
Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
and
funkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
trombonist, best known for his work with
James BrownJames Joseph Brown , originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as "The Godfather of Soul", was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing...
in the 1960s and 1970s.
Wesley was born in
Columbus, GeorgiaColumbus is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia. The city is the county seat of Muscogee County. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2008, had an estimated population of 287,653...
, the son of a high school teacher and
big bandA big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big bands evolved with the times and continue to today. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and...
leader. As a child he took piano and later trumpet lessons, and at around the age of 12 his father brought a trombone home, whereupon he switched to trombone.
http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/an/25744/
During the 1960s and 1970s he was a pivotal member of
James BrownJames Joseph Brown , originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as "The Godfather of Soul", was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing...
's bands, playing on many hit recordings including "
Say it Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud"Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a funk song written and recorded by James Brown in 1968. It is notable both as one of Brown's signature songs and as one of the most popular "black power" anthems of the 1960s. The song was released as a two-part single which held the number-one spot on...
", "
Mother Popcorn"Mother Popcorn ", commonly referred to as "Mother Popcorn", is a song recorded by James Brown and released as a two-part single in 1969. A #1 R&B and #11 Pop hit, .it was the highest-charting of a series of recordings inspired by the popular dance The Popcorn which Brown made that year...
" and co-writing tunes such as "
Hot Pants"Hot Pants " is a song by James Brown. Brown recorded the song in 1971 and released it that year as a three-part single on his People Records label, which was then distributed by his primary label King. It was a number-one R&B hit and reached number fifteen on the pop chart in the U.S...
". His slippery riffs and pungent, precise solos, complementing those of saxophonist
Maceo ParkerMaceo Parker is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, as well as Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of Brown's hit recordings, and a key part of his band, playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones...
, gave Brown's R&B,
soulSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and
funkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
tunes their instrumental punch. In the 1970s he also served as band leader and musical director of Brown's band
the J.B.'sThe J.B.'s were James Brown's band during the first half of the 1970s. On record the J.B.'s were sometimes billed under various alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, The First Family and The Last Word...
and did much of the
composingA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
and
arrangingIn music, an arrangement is either a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet...
for the group. He left Brown's band in 1975 and spent several years playing with
George ClintonGeorge Clinton is an American singer, songwriter and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and began his work as a solo artist in 1981. He has been called one of the most prominent...
's various
Parliament-FunkadelicParliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. They are the main performers of the soul and funk subgenre known as P-Funk and performed under the names Parliament and Funkadelic , and also in a score of offshoot groups and solo ventures...
projects, even recording a couple of albums as the leader of a spin-off group,
The Horny HornsThe Horny Horns were a horn section associated with Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band led by trombonist Fred Wesley. The group also featured saxophonist Maceo Parker and Rick Gardner and Richard 'Kush" Griffith on trumpets.While they are best-known for their contributions to other...
.
Wesley became a force in jazz in 1978 when he joined the
Count BasieWilliam "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years...
Orchestra. He released his first jazz
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
as a leader,
To Someone in 1988. It was followed by
New Friends in 1990,
Comme Ci Comme Ca in 1991, the
live albumA live album – commonly contrasted with a studio album – is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances. Live albums may be recorded at a single concert, or combine recordings made at multiple concerts...
Swing and Be Funky, and
Amalgamation in 1994.
In the early nineties Wesley toured with his colleagues from the James Brown band,
Pee Wee EllisAlfred "Pee Wee" Ellis is an American saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was an important member of James Brown's band in the 1960s and appeared on many of Brown's most notable recordings...
and Maceo Parker, as the JB Horns. With the departure of Ellis the band became The Maceo Parker Band. Wesley was featured trombonist with Parker until 1996 when he formed his own band, The Fred Wesley Group.
Wesley's 35-year career includes playing with and arranging for a wide variety of other artist such as
Ray CharlesRay Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of...
,
Lionel HamptonLionel Leo Hampton , was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
,
Randy CrawfordRandy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has surprisingly proved more successful in Europe than her homeland, where she has yet to crack the Billboard Hot 100.-Career:...
,
Vanessa WilliamsVanessa Lynn Williams is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Williams made history on September 17, 1983 when she became the first woman of African American descent to be crowned Miss America. Williams' reign as Miss America came to an abrupt end when scandal led to her subsequent...
,
The SOS BandThe SOS Band is an American musical ensemble, founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. Originally known as Santa Monica, the 'SOS' initialism in the band's name stands for Sounds of Success.-History:...
,
CameoCameo is a funk-influenced R&B group that was formed in the early 1970s. Cameo was initially a 13-member group known as the New York City Players; this name was later changed to Cameo to avoid a lawsuit from The Ohio Players, a more successful group of that era. Since then, Cameo has recorded...
,
Van MorrisonVan Morrison is a critically acclaimed singer and songwriter with a reputation for being at once stubborn, idiosyncratic, and sublime...
,
SocalledJosh Dolgin, aka Socalled, is a Canadian rapper and producer, known for his eclectic mix of hip hop, klezmer and other styles, for example drum & bass and other types of folk music. A pianist and accordion player, he has taught the latter at Klezfest London, where he has also run workshops in...
and rappers
De La SoulDe La Soul is an American hip hop group formed in 1987 in Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
, to name a few. Many other artists have
sampledIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware or a computer program on a digital computer. Sampling is also...
his work.
In
2002The year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
Wesley wrote
Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman (ISBN 0-8223-2909-3), an
autobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
about his life as a
sidemanA sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he is not a regular member. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit smoothly into the group in which they are currently playing. Many sidemen are...
. Also in 2002 he recorded an album entitled
Cuda Wuda Shuda with a group of jazz musicians calling themselves the Fred Wesley Band.
Wesley served as an adjunct professor in the Jazz Studies department of the School of Music at the
University of North Carolina at GreensboroThe University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a public university in Greensboro, North Carolina and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. Also known as UNCG, the university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 59 master's and 22 doctoral programs...
from 2004 to 2006.
External links