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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.
* * *
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Hit
Me, Fred
Recollections
of a Sideman
by Fred Wesley Jr.
Contents
|
List of Illustrations |
ix |
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Foreword |
xi |
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| 1. |
A Musical Upbringing |
1 |
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| 2. |
Higher Education |
31 |
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| 3. |
Uncle Sam's Army |
55 |
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| 4. |
James Brown |
84 |
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| 5. |
California |
115 |
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| 6. |
James Brown Again |
132 |
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| 7. |
Bootsy's Rubber Band and Parliament/Funadelic |
190 |
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| 8. |
Count Basie |
211 |
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| 9. |
Hollywood, Hollywood |
228 |
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| 10. |
Mile High in Denver |
263 |
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| 11. |
JB Horns |
285 |
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| 12 |
Star Time |
301 |
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Selected Discography |
313 |
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Index |
317 |
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.* * *
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* * *
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The Price of Civilization
Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity
By Jeffrey D. Sachs
The Price of Civilization is a book that is essential reading for every American. In a forceful, impassioned, and personal voice, he offers not only a searing and incisive diagnosis of our country’s economic ills but also an urgent call for Americans to restore the virtues of fairness, honesty, and foresight as the foundations of national prosperity. Sachs finds that both political parties—and many leading economists—have missed the big picture, offering shortsighted solutions such as stimulus spending or tax cuts to address complex economic problems that require deeper solutions. Sachs argues that we have profoundly underestimated globalization’s long-term effects on our country, which create deep and largely unmet challenges with regard to jobs, incomes, poverty, and the environment. America’s single biggest economic failure, Sachs argues, is its inability to come to grips with the new global economic realities. Sachs describes a political system that has lost its ethical moorings, in which ever-rising campaign contributions and lobbying outlays overpower the voice of the citizenry. . . . Sachs offers a plan to turn the crisis around. He argues persuasively that the problem is not America’s abiding values, which remain generous and pragmatic, but the ease with which political spin and consumerism run circles around those values. He bids the reader to reclaim the virtues of good citizenship and mindfulness toward the economy and one another. |
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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update 28 November 2010
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