{"id":9084,"date":"2024-07-09T21:13:07","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T02:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=9084"},"modified":"2024-07-11T20:55:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T01:55:50","slug":"at-heart-fred-wesley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/at-heart-fred-wesley\/","title":{"rendered":"At Heart: A Conversation with Fred Wesley on his Incredible Career and a Preview of his 2024 Newport Jazz Festival Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are few people funkier than Fred Wesley. As James Brown increasingly turned from Soul Brother Number One into the Godfather of Funk, Fred was there. Heck, he was even Brown’s bandleader, not once but twice, each with very different bands. The earlier incarnation grooved hard and released powerful songs like \u201cSay It Loud (I\u2019m Black and I\u2019m Proud).\u201d But It was still smooth and polished; the musicians even wore suits. The second version – featuring the brothers Collins – sounded grittier, often more frenetic, and heavier, as seen on albums like Sex Machine<\/em> (King, 1970). From there, Wesley traveled even further by connecting with the Mothership of P-Funk. While Brown\u2019s second group kicked funk out of the ballroom, Parliament-Funkadelic shot it outside the earth\u2019s orbit. While traveling the cosmos, the trombonist also stretched out on some of Bootsy\u2019s seminal recordings. And then there are the fantastic recordings under Wesley\u2019s own name – including the tight in-the-pocketness of groups like the Horny Horns. Suffice it to say, the trombonist is funk royalty. But there is more than meets the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you come right down to it, Wesley is a jazzman at heart. Where his longtime colleague Maceo Parker has described his own music as  \u201c2% jazz, 98% funky stuff\u201d, Wesley\u2019s jazz quotient is at least somewhere in the mid to high double digits. The intricate arrangements he wrote for James Brown, George Clinton, and himself built upon both his improvisational ingenuity and the artful compositions of big bands. His love of jazz was forged as a child, listening to jazz records at home and, ultimately, playing with his father’s big band. He sought a career making jazz music, but fate seems to have intervened. Even so, his jazz bona fides are solid. Few others can say they have worked with Count Basie, George Benson, Ron Carter, and Geri Allen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, August 4, 2024, Wesley will give Newport Jazz audienc0es a unique opportunity to hear all of these sides of his craft. He will appear as part of Christian McBride\u2019s annual Jam Jawn. The group – an ad hoc collective formed by the Festival\u2019s Artistic Director – is practically designed to reveal the many sides of Wesley by combining with the groove of Steve Jordan and the elegance of Dianne Reeves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an honor to sit down with Funky Fred and address both his forthcoming Newport performance and some lesser-discussed aspects of his illustrious career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PostGenre: Do you remember your first time at Newport? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fred Wesley: At Newport, wow. I can’t remember exactly, but it must have been with James Brown. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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