Fred Wesley

What does this man have to do with Tin Pan? So glad you asked. Here’s the extended version…

Theme #1: Cassidy is a great soloist on the bass. He has great tone, good attack, good projection, excellent intensity and good intonation. All very important. Best of all, what he teaches me, is his ability to carve a compelling solo out of one or two ideas. He will take a simple riff or an idea and play it and slowly reveal different permutations in a way that is creative and cogent. Often he will add a second theme and its permutations and developments. Then he will often have a dialogue between these two musical morsels. The whole package is engaging, rather easy to follow, fun to listen to: the clear and open working of a musical mind creating. When I play with him I am reminded of this and try to form my solos in a similar manner. It is a fun and challenging way to play.

Theme #2: They say that for master drummers there is really only one rhythm that they know. They know it so thoroughly and inside and out that the entirety of all possible music is contained in the permutations of their own personal beat. I suppose you can see this in the old time Blues cats. John Lee Hooker comes to mind. His guitar playing can express just about every emotion in those three (often just two) chords. Taken even further, Muddy Waters would play almost the same guitar solo – almost note for note – on every song! It was something he found that worked so well he found that he was able to express everything he needed through that series of pitches.

#1 meets #2: Then there’s Fred Wesley. Fred was the great trombonist and arranger for James Brown’s band the JB’s. Fred got it boiled down to a nine note phrase! Tuba Joe, Clifton, Stefan and I were listening to a JB’s compilation on the way down to Phili to record “Alice McNulty” . Phrase after phrase, chorus after chorus, TRACK after TRACK, DISC AFTER DISC!!!! Fred kept playing the same lick OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. Were astounded by the simple truth of this. Laughter, amazement, bafflement, respect, derision, joy followed. In sum, we were very affected by Fred’s powerful playing almost more than anything else on those discs.

#2 meets #1: When I think what moved me the most about today’s hit in the park, the thing that came to mind is that the Fred Wesley lick is getting snuck into our solo’s. We’ve almost gotten past building entire solo’s from the “Lick of Fred Wesley” The game is to fit it in to the improvisation in a clever, amusing inside joke kind of way. Stefan’s trick today was to sneak it into another idea as a parenthetical statement. This got us all laughing. Chapeau, young man. My trick today was to have my improvisation phrasing and harmony resolve into the “Lick of Fred Wesley.” I did it on the tune Belleville by Django. The response I got from Clifton and Stefan was more of an “Aha – well done.” Later, it was Cassidy’s turn to solo and he built one of his on the “LFW.” Yes, it was enjoyable to listen too. Had we gone too far? Had we corrupted and polluted the solos of a fine bass player? Was the LFW stronger than us all? I don’t know. It was more amusing than anything else dramatic.

All this to explain an inside joke. If you see us laughing in the middle of a solo for no apparent reason, maybe the LFW is responsible. Maybe we are just developing a language to make each other laugh. See you soon.