A Veteran Of Funk And Soul Turns To Klezmer

Source: www.thestar.com - Ashante Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic

(August 28, 2008) Fred Wesley has had a varied career.

The 65-year-old Alabama native played piano and trumpet before making his professional debut on trombone with a local big band at age 12. He cut his teeth with Ike and Tina Turner, Hank Ballard and U.S. army bands before launching his own R&B/ hard bop band, the Mastersound, in 1967.

Then he got the name-making gig with James Brown and for nearly a decade was an integral part of his backing band, the J.B.'s, playing alongside Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker and contributing to seminal tunes, such as "The Payback" and "Papa Don't Take No Mess" as the legendary bandleader transitioned from soul to funk.

After leaving the group permanently in 1975, Wesley played in George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic and the Count Basie Orchestra, and with the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire and Curtis Mayfield, all the while releasing solo albums that fused funk and jazz. In 1998, Wesley, who usually tours with his septet The Fred Wesley Group, released Full Circle: From Bebop to Hip Hop.

But the respected performer, arranger and producer finds himself in new territory with the ensemble that performs at Harbourfront Centre tonight; Abraham Inc. is a 10-piece group, led by Wesley, American clarinettist David Krakauer and Canadian rapper/accordionist SoCalled, which fuses klezmer with hardcore funk.

"I didn't know what it was," said Wesley of the initial entreaty from Krakauer and Socalled to participate in the Yiddish music-based project. He spoke to the Star by phone recently on the way from Philadelphia to New York for a James Brown tribute.

"But once I heard (klezmer), I realized that I'd heard it before – maybe at a wedding – but I didn't know what it was called. I agreed to do it. I'll try anything.

"They sent me a CD and I listened to it and I said `Whoa! What can we do with this?'

"SoCalled and David explained to me how to make it work. I had trouble finding the one," he said, referring to that signature emphasis on the first measure of music initiated by James Brown. "But after I found it and put some funk with it, it worked out. It's hard to explain, you have to really hear it to understand it."

With a debut album in the works, Abraham Inc. makes its Canadian debut at the Ashkenaz Festival.

"We do some klezmer and some funk, and some klezmer and funk together.

"For instance, we do `Moskowitz and Loops of It'; that's the signature song and it was a klezmer song that I put funk horn parts to. It came out real good. We do one called `Push': it's my tune, but it has a klezmer influence to it. Also `Tweet Tweet'; it's familiar klezmer rhythms with funk overtones. And we do my tune `House Party' pretty much as is, but with a clarinet solo in it that makes it real interesting."

Wesley has noted a good response from audiences, including a concert last spring at New York's historic Apollo Theatre.

"The marriage of the two musics together is just a natural thing," he said. "You put the two together you get some crazy dancing."

Just the facts
WHO: Abraham Inc.

WHEN: Tonight, 8 p.m.

WHERE: Sirius Stage, Harbourfront Centre

TICKETS: $18 in advance, $25 at door