About
One of the music world's most-sampled artists thanks to his work with the Godfather of Soul James Brown, Fred Wesley is one of the key architects of funk music. Born in Mobile, Ala., he began his professional career as a teenage trombonist with Ike and Tina Turner. He was music director, arranger, trombonist and a primary composer for James Brown from 1968-1975, then arranged and played for Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy’s Rubber Band. He has played with and arranged for a wide variety of other artists including Ray Charles, Pancho Sanchez, New York Voices, Slide Hampton, Van Morrison, the SOS Band and Cameo, to name a few. Scores of other artists including Janet Jackson ("That's the Way Love Goes") and Nas ("Nastradamus") have sampled his work. After a stint with the Count Basie Orchestra, he's nurtured a devotion to jazz – playing, recording, writing and promoting it. His solo jazz recordings include “To Someone,” “Amalgamation,” “Comme Ci Comme Ca,” “Full Circle” and “Wuda Cuda Shuda.”
