Hit Me, Fred

Recollections of a Sideman
by Fred Wesley Jr.

Reviews

With Hit Me, Fred, sensational side man 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 leader of Brown's band, Fred Wesley and the J.B.'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 life working for the Godfather of Soul, revealing the effort and sometimes frustrating discipline behind Brown's tight, raucous tunes. 

After leaving Brown and the J.B.'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 helped make 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 mileau, Wesley describes the knowledge picked up playing trombone with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, Hank Ballard, and Count Basie's band. He also recounts learning about the music business, particularly through his work in Los Angeles recording sessions.

Wesley is a virtuoso storyteller, whether 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.
—Duke University Press, Publisher

Before hip-hop, there was soul and funk, which gave rise to such highly influential bands and popular stars as Ike and Tina Turner, George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelic, and, of course, James Brown. Trombonist Wesley has been associated with all of these and more, serving as Brown's bandleader for many years and through his personal sound, compositions, and arrangements contributing immeasurably to the fabric of American popular music. 

Wesley has written a thoroughly engaging memoir of his life in music, using frank, opinionated, sometimes colorful language that reads as if he were sitting across the room reminiscing. Readers will be fascinated by his insider descriptions of working with the volatile Brown and by his vivid descriptions of the vicissitudes of life as a professional musician; musicians at all levels will find his comments on life on the road particularly compelling. 

Chapters on his tenure with the Count Basie Orchestra, his struggles with the L.A. music scene, and playing jazz in Denver after brother Ron helped him overcome a cocaine habit round out the picture of Wesley's musicianship and humanity without lapsing into "behind the music" cliche. Recommended for all collections, a real gem for music collections. 

—Library Journal

This book is straight up! Fred Wesley, he'll tell you like it is, even if your feelings get hurt, but coming from Fred, for some reason it makes you wanna do better. The book is the bomb!!! Stories are stories but this is real life. Write on, Fred.

—Bootsy Collins

Very informative reading! I'm glad and lucky to be part of this legacy. We took it to the bridge. Fred, thanks for the memories.

—Maceo Parker, saxophonist

A MUST read for musicians and people who want to know the truth about being on the road. Fred Wesley is hands down one of the greatest.

—Christian McBride, jazz bassist

"Hit Me, Fred is very enjoyable and funny. I thoroughly enjoyed it."

—Freddy Cole, pianist and singer

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.

—Allan Leeds, tour manager for James Brown and the J.B.'s, 1969-74

In his autobiography, Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman, Fred Wesley Jr., trombonist extraordinaire, architect of the infectious grooves that defined the James Brown sound and self-confessed jazz snob (specifically, "bebop snob"), relates his lifelong struggle with this dilemma. In telling his story, however, he does much more.

Narrated in a thoroughly entertaining, conversational tone, Hit Me, Fred is first an insightful examination of the vibrant jazz/blues culture of his hometown, Mobile, Ala., in the 1950s. Son of a revered high school choral director and jazz bandleader, young Fred was immersed in the music early on. 

His experience is not unlike that of musicians who came of age in the rich jazz culture of New Orleans of yesterday. Playing in at least four different kinds of jazz bands simultaneously, he was nurtured by musical mentors who, for the most part, "kept their day jobs," but were dedicated jazzmen by night. . . .

Despite a few minor annoyances such as a rather frustrating hit-and-miss index, occasional lapses in memory (the Hi-Five Band, for example, referred to as the Hi-Fi's), a tendency toward exaggeration (the overly generous use of "great" to describe almost every musician with whom Wesley worked), this book is a highly significant addition to the literature on the jazz/blues continuum.
—Henry C. Lacey is the Presidential Professor of English at Dillard University.

*   *   *   *   *

Hit Me, Fred

Recollections of a Sideman
by Fred Wesley Jr.

Contents

About the Author
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"; "Super Bad"; and "Say It Loud: I'm Black & 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.