Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman - Softcover

Wesley, Fred

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822335484 ISBN 13: 9780822335481

Verlag: Duke University Press, 2005

Inhaltsangabe

With Hit Me, Fred, sensational sideman Fred Wesley Jr. moves front and center to tell his life story. A legendary funk, soul, and jazz musician, Wesley is best known for his work in the late sixties and early seventies with James Brown and as the leader of Brown's band, Fred Wesley and the JB's. Having been the band's music director, arranger, trombone player, and frequent composer, Wesley is one of the original architects of funk music. He describes what it was like working for the Godfather of Soul, revealing the struggle and sometimes stringent discipline behind Brown's tight, raucous tunes. After leaving Brown and the JB's, Wesley arranged the horn sections for Parliament, Funkadelic, and Bootsy's Rubber Band, and led Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns. Adding his signature horn arrangements to the P-Funk mix, Wesley made funk music even funkier.
Wesley's distinctive sound reverberates through rap and hip-hop music today. In Hit Me, Fred, he recalls the many musicians whose influence he absorbed, beginning with his grandmother and father--both music teachers--and including mentors in his southern Alabama hometown and members of the Army band. In addition to the skills he developed working with James Brown, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, and the many talented musicians in their milieu, Wesley describes the evolution of his trombone playing through stints with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, Hank Ballard, and Count Basie's band. He also recounts his education in the music business, particularly through his work in Los Angeles recording sessions.
Wesley is a virtuoso storyteller, whether he's describing the electric rush of performances when the whole band is in the groove, the difficulties of trying to make a living as a rhythm and blues musician, or the frustrations often felt by sidemen. Hit Me, Fred is Wesley's story of music-making in all its grit and glory.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Fred Wesley Jr. is an accomplished trombonist renowned for his contributions to funk and jazz music over the past several decades. Working for James Brown from 1968-75, he was instrumental in the production of such milestone recordings as The Payback; Doing It to Death; Get on the Good Foot; and Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud, as well as the scoring of the soundtracks to Black Caesar and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. In the 1990s Wesley toured extensively with Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker, before forming his own band. Wesley continues to tour and play music. He also writes, lectures, and conducts workshops on jazz and funk music. Wesley lives in South Carolina.

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"A soulful memoir abundant with all the warm humor, joyous passion, and insightful irony that flavors his music. Fred Wesley is funk's first-string quarterback and an American treasure."--Alan Leeds, talent manager and Grammy-winning music historian

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Hit Me, FRED

Recollections of a SidemanBy FRED WESLEY Jr.

Duke University Press

Copyright © 2002 Duke University Press
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8223-3548-1

Contents

List of Illustrations.................................................ixForeword..............................................................xi1. A Musical Upbringing...............................................12. Higher Education...................................................313. Uncle Sam's Army...................................................554. James Brown........................................................845. California.........................................................1156. James Brown Again..................................................1327. Bootsy's Rubber Band and Parliament/Funkadelic.....................1908. Count Basie........................................................2119. Hollywood, Hollywood...............................................22810. Mile High in Denver...............................................26311. JB Horns..........................................................28512. Star Time.........................................................301Selected Discography..................................................313Index.................................................................317

Chapter One

A Musical Upbringing

* * *

I was born into a musical family. My father was director of music at Mobile County Training School. Later, when Central High School was formed, he was part of the contingency selected to seed the new faculty. This was in 1948, so both schools were black.

As music director at Central, my father developed the most dynamic high school choirs in the state of Alabama. Now that I have traveled and had the opportunity to hear many good choirs, I'm convinced that the Central High School Concert Choir was probably the best high-school choir in the world. It performed everything from the "Hallelujah Chorus" to Charles Wesley's "I've Been 'Buked and I've been Scorned." The choir took on his personality, which has been described as swaggering, intense, cool, sporty, and sensual. You would have to have actually been in his presence to understand the kind of overwhelming and devastating person he was. I've seen Bernstein, Mehta, Mitch Miller, and many other great conductors, and not one of them was as dynamic, inspiring, and entertaining as Fred Wesley Sr. To this day, I encounter his former students around the world who attest to the positive effect he had on their lives.

His mother, Mrs. Janie Panting, is a little easier to describe. She was a no-nonsense piano teacher. Her method was simple. First, learn the basics. Then, the classics. Hymns and gospel. She never mentioned blues and jazz. I don't know if she disapproved or approved. She had to know about it. My father had a big band that rehearsed in her living room at least once a week. By age three even I knew who Duke Ellington and Count Basie were. I think my grandmother felt that by not pointing it out she could delay students from jumping headlong into what was then the popular music, giving them more time to develop basic skills. I know now that once you get bitten by the jazz or blues or any popular music bug, you tend to stop practicing scales and such.

I never knew where my grandmother got her training, but she was an accomplished pianist and organist. She was organist and director of the Metropolitan AME Church Choir. She was also on call for weddings, parties, and other social functions around town. I remember hearing her say, "Saturday evening I'm playing for a tea" or "I'm playing for Mrs. So-and-so's daughter's wedding." She took great pride in doing these events. It made her a part of an affluent society that she was not financially privy to.

Her forte, however, was teaching. She was a very efficient person, and her day was arranged around her teaching schedule. She would do her cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other chores in the mornings and afternoons. An excellent seamstress, she made most of her own clothes, since fitting herself off the rack was almost an impossibility-she was not much over four feet tall, and she was very narrow up top with a very, very wide bottom.

She was also a great cook. I especially remember her gumbo, pecan pies, and fruitcakes. Her ancestors were from New Orleans, so all her food had sort of a Creole flavor with some straight-up Alabama country thrown in.

She was very particular about everything she did and was therefore very particular about what you did for her. To say that she was hard to please would be understating how hard it was to live with her. And we did live with her for a couple of years when my father first brought us from Georgia. He had met and married my mother while stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia.

When we moved to Mobile, the piano lessons for my sister and me started immediately. As far back as I can remember, I was hearing such commands as "practice your lesson," "mop the hall," "go to the store." It seemed as if I couldn't do any of these things right. I was always mopping the hall again or taking something back to the store or spending hours at the piano trying to get something that seemed impossible right. It was real miserable for a little kid. I guess it made me appreciate the value of doing things right. My kids say it made me mean. I know it made me hate the piano.

My sister, Janice, my brother, Ronald, and I spent a lot of time with my grandmother because my mother and father worked two jobs apiece during the early years in order for us to get our own house. The good thing was that by about age five, I had a very good understanding of the basics of music. And, although she was a severe taskmaster, I'm still approached regularly by her former students who remember her not only for cracking their knuckles when they played a wrong key but also for instilling in them a sense that hard work leads to excellence.

My father, between teaching school, working at Brookley Air Force Base, and playing for his church choir, still found time to have a big band. The highlight of my week was-I think it was Wednesday night-when the big band rehearsed. Right after my grandmother's last student, I would start moving furniture, setting up music stands, and putting out ashtrays, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the cats.

Charles Lott was usually the first to show up. He was a small man, dressed very well but relaxed. He was always business-like but still hip and regular. He worked full time at the Air Force base and was married to a schoolteacher. He also booked bands and shows on the side. I guess you could consider him upper middle class in Mobile black society. Drove a Cadillac. Lived in a nice house. Playing saxophone was mainly a hobby, although he loved it very much. Mr. Lott, as I still refer to him, has been a lifelong friend.

Eugene Fortune was the alto soloist. He had a raspy voice and a cheerful way of talking. He could be jovial, as was the case most of the time, but when explaining something he could suddenly speak very tutorially. He was a great soloist, unlike anyone I've ever heard before or since. Being mainly self-taught, he was not bound by any musical or technical rules. Thus, his style was very original. It seemed like he squeezed and twisted notes out of the horn. Fast or slow. He was funky and bluesy but could fly at you with a flurry like any good be-bopper. He often brought tears to my and everybody else's eyes with...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Duke University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2005
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0822335484
• ISBN 13: 9780822335481
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 342
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande