https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzuBC-Cz3YT2KayMYo1bKwUfvlAft-b8V

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Spotify

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A few of Fred Wesley’s career highlights:

Multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer, bandleader, and longtime musical director for James Brown's renowned backing unit the J.B.'s. Fred Wesley is  known for R&B, Funk, Soul, and Jazz-Funk. Wesley's contributions to classic funk include Black Caesar, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off, and The Payback. Alongside bandmates including Maceo Parker and Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley spearheaded James Brown's groundbreaking transformation from soul to funk, establishing the template for the R&B of a new decade. Wesley even wrote a handful of Brown hits including "Doin' It to Death" and "Papa Don't Take No Mess," and headlined several Brown’s records including the classic Damn Right I Am Somebody and Breakin' Bread.

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Wesley signed on with George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic in time for their seminal Mothership Connection LP. Clinton encouraged his collaborators to pursue their own projects, even co-writing most of the songs featured on the trombonist's 1977 official solo debut, A Blow for Me, a Toot for You, credited to Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns. After a second solo disc, 1979's Say Blow by Blow Backwards, Wesley joined the Count Basie Orchestra. After settling in Hollywood in 1981, Wesley assumed the role of hired gun, playing on studio sessions headlined by Earth, Wind & Fire, Barry White, and the Gap Band, and also arranged records by Curtis Mayfield and Terry Callier. He re-ignited his solo career with 1990's jazz date New Friends and continued recording straight-ahead jazz LPs throughout the decade to follow. As his unmistakable syncopated style became a crucial component of hip-hop via endless sampling of his vintage James Brown sides, Wesley also toured with fellow Brown alums Maceo Parker and Pee Wee Ellis as the JB Horns before forming his own Fred Wesley Group in 1996. In 2002 he published his memoirs, Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman. Wesley followed it with a new album, With a Little Help from My Friends, in 2010 from BHM Records. Other releases include James Brown featuring Fred Wesley & The JB’s, There It Is (Live) B/W Pass The Peas (Live) 2012,  Blow Your Head, Get On Down, 2014, Fred Wesley’s body of work is extensive. Discography

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Management 

Contact

Wanna reach out and touch Fred? You can send an email to fred@funkyfredwesley.com  Management - Joya Wesley

Music Promotion - Inquires about Radio Play - Carol Marble - deltablues@bellsouth.net