Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) – Damn Right I Am Somebody (1974)

The great trombonist, arranger and songwriter co-wrote this epic funky jam with James Brown, the title track to Wesley's debut LP as J.B.'s bandleader.

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Fred Wesley Jr. is a multi-talented trombonist, singer/songwriter, arranger, bandleader, and producer who led James Brown’s backing band the J.B.’s in the early 1970s and worked with Parliament-Funkadelic later that decade. He continues to tour to this day.

Born in Columbus, Georgia and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Wesley started off playing the piano and trumpet as a child. His father brought a trombone home when he was 12 years old, and he switched instruments.

He joined James Brown’s backing band in the sixties and played on classics like “Say it Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud” (1968), and co-wrote songs including “Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants)” (1971), both of which went to #1 R&B. In the 70s, he became bandleader and musical director for the J.B.’s, Brown’s new backing band lineup, and the group’s primary arranger.

See our post from May on Brown for more on their collaborations.

For his debut LP as J.B.’s bandleader, Damn Right I Am Somebody (1974), Wesley and Brown co-wrote the epic title track, which Brown introduced by letting us know “happiness is Fred Wesley playing his horn.”

The album was recorded during the same session as Brown’s all time best-selling studio album The Payback (1973). Besides Wesley on trombone, the J.B.’s lineup was St. Clair Pinckney on tenor sax and flute; Maceo Parker on alto sax and flute; Darryl “Hasaan” Jamison and Jerone “Jasaan” Sanford on trumpet; Hearlon “Cheese” Martin and Jimmy Nolen on guitar; Fred Thomas on bass; John Morgan on percussion; and John “Jabo” Starks on drums.

Brown himself contributed vocals and played electric piano on the album, most notably heard laying down nasty synthesizer riffs on the super funky, futuristic jam “Blow Your Head.” It was co-written by Wesley and Brown and became a b-boy classic as hip hop evolved in New York City during the 70s.

After leaving the J.B.’s in 1975, Wesley began working with George Clinton and directing the horn sections on various P-Funk projects. He released two albums as leader of the P-Funk spin-off group Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns: A Blow for Me, A Toot for You (1977) and Say Blow By Blow Backwards (1979). In 1980, he signed to RSO Records and released the solo LP House Party.

Its funky title track anthem became his signature song and a favorite of DJ David Mancuso who played it often at the Loft. It was later featured as the opening cut on the compilation CD David Mancuso presents The Loft - Volume Two, released in 2000. Mancuso himself was throwing the longest-running house party in New York City’s history, which helped give birth to the entire disco movement and modern electronic dance music as we know it today.

Wesley is still going strong, having played Vienna just last week where he reportedly delivered a “stunning good” set.

Happy 80th Birthday to the great Fred Wesley.

Further info:

“Interview with Fred Wesley,’ WGBH, September, 1995.

“Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman,” by Fred Wesley Jr., Duke University Press, 2002.

Fred Wesley interview by Jeff “Chairman” Mao, Red Bull Music Academy Daily, March 4, 2013.

#funk #JamesBrown #FredWesley