SCHOOL OF FUNK
Trombonist Fred Wesley co-wrote two critical chapters in funk history. He was music director, arranger and a primary composer for James Brown from 1968 to 1975, then spent several years with George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic projects.
The legend's latest collaborators? Groovesect, a New Orleans instrumental funk band composed mostly of recent graduates from the Tulane and UNO jazz programs.Wesley guests on three songs from Groovesect's 2007 debut, "On the Brim," and subsequently toured with the band. Tonight he joins Groovesect onstage at the House of Blues, part of the first-ever Cutting Edge Music Business Conference showcase at the venue.
"I like to think if Fred thought we were bad musicians, he wouldn't do it," said Groovesect bassist Eric Vogel. "The fact that Fred wants to hang out and play gigs, that means the most to us. It's an honor. He could take a gig with anybody. He's Fred Wesley, one of the fathers of funk."
Wesley returns the compliment.
"They're a young band, but a good band," the trombonist said this week from his home in South Carolina. "They work hard. They rehearse like maniacs. They're very dedicated to the music. They want to learn funky music, and I'm here to help them."
Vogel and future Groovesect guitarist Danny Abel and keyboardist Nick Krawitz first crossed paths as members of Tulane's jazz band in the early 2000s. Abel eventually transferred to UNO and met drummer Colin Davis. The foursome worked the frat party circuit as a funk band called Soda Popinski.
In 2006, they rechristened themselves Groovesect. In 2007, they added saxophonist Tim "Sully" Sullivan, an alumnus of Aretha Franklin's band who moved to New Orleans to enroll in UNO's jazz graduate program. They also recruited acclaimed New Orleans percussionist Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, whose epic résumé includes Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, 101 Runners, Deacon John and Willie Tee & the Gaturs.
The alliance with Wesley instantly elevated Groovesect's national profile. The seeds of the collaboration were sown on Feb. 2, 2007. That night, Groovesect's manager, Justin Aliperti, promoted a sold-out James Brown tribute concert at Tipitina's featuring Wesley backed by local drummer Johnny Vidacovich and bassist George Porter Jr. The members of Groovesect opened the show, and asked Wesley to sit in for one song.
"He comes out for the one song, and ends up staying for three," Vogel said. "That began the relationship. And it's been fantastic ever since."
Wesley agreed to play on those same three songs on "On the Brim." And because his own Fred Wesley Group works mostly overseas, he was keen to tour with Groovesect. Billed either as "Groovesect featuring Fred Wesley" or "Fred Wesley featuring Groovesect," they jam on Groovesect originals and James Brown classics -- a particularly mind-blowing circumstance for the young musicians.
"In middle and high school, before I was even playing music, I listened to James Brown," Vogel said. "Then when you start to play your instrument, you learn those songs. All the horn lines that you hum in your head -- never in a million years did I think I'd be playing them with the man himself.
"Fred was the bandleader. To be taking cues from the leader . . . we play what Fred wants us to play. We take Fred's cues, just as he would take them from James. It's surreal."
Wesley runs a tight ship. "He shows us no mercy," Vogel said. "You hit a wrong note, you better believe Fred hears it. He's going to turn around, take a look at you for a second and set you straight."
He also encouraged his young charges to expand their repertoire into blues.
"We'd just been focused on the grooves, intense jams, funk and jazz," Vogel said. "All of his suggestions are crucial lessons. Everything he says is golden."
And not just on the bandstand.
"Going on the road with him, learning life lessons . . . I can't even explain everything he's done for us, as far as being a role model," Vogel said. "We want to be as good as we can and have as much fun as we can. There's nobody better to take those lessons from than Fred."
Wesley's history with New Orleans predates Groovesect by five decades. Growing up in Mobile, Ala., he often made the 150-mile commute to New Orleans to jam with the likes of drummer Smokey Johnson and saxophonists Red Tyler and Nat Perrilliat.
More recently, he appeared on the 2007 compilation "Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino" alongside his former JB Horns bandmates Maceo Parker and Pee Wee Ellis, Lenny Kravitz, the Rebirth Brass Band and Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews on "Whole Lotta Loving."
Post-Parliament, Wesley joined the Count Basie Orchestra and released jazz albums as a solo artist and with his Fred Wesley Group. He essentially retired from funk until, around 1990, former James Brown Band vocalist Bobby Byrd suggested he was missing out on the music's renewed popularity.
"I had no idea it would last this long and be this popular," Wesley said.
In the coming weeks, he'll tour as part of an African music tribute to Brown, followed by a long fall tour with bassist Bootsy Collins' Brown tribute. (That show comes to the House of Blues on Oct. 25.)
But in Groovesect, he's found a mutually satisfying partnership with young players who learn from him, even as they provide a fresh perspective on his own legacy.
"I'll find time for Groovesect," Wesley said, "and I'll find time to do my own thing."
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GROOVESECT Featuring Fred Wesley
With: Opening acts Elliot Cohn and Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor.
When: Tonight at 9.
Where: House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 504.529.2624.
Tickets: $8.50-$18.50, plus service charges.
To hear music from Groovesect's "On the Brim" CD, go to www.nola.com/music.
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