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[Jamie]

The Funkmasters feat. Fred Wesley, Bernie Worrell, Clyde Stubblefield & John 'Jabo' Starks

All hail the interstellar jazz-funk powerhouse that’s The Funkmasters!

Fred Wesley’s sweltering trombone has inherently buttressed the jazz and funk canons since the 1960s, thanks to his seminal work as bandleader and musical director with James Brown; his jazz magnitude with The Count Basie Orchestra; his early-80s solo hit ‘House Party’; and his pivotal stints with Ray Charles, George Clinton, De La Soul.

New Jersey’s Bernie Worrell, meanwhile, is a Herculean composer and keyboard player whose critical alliances include Parliament, Funkadelic, Bill Laswell and – not least – Talking Heads: he’s widely cited as the driving force behind their global, polyrhythmic, clipped-funk aesthetic. He recently teamed up with Mos’ Def; his impact on pop, rap, soul and R&B is massive.

The crowning two-pronged assault in this blustering outfit comes courtesy of rhythm grandmasters Clyde Stubblefield andJohn ‘Jabo’ Starks: indisputably the definitive funk drummers.

Stubblefield’s much-sampled and exhaustive work with James Brown includes rhythmic blueprints on all-time classics like ‘Funky Drummer’, ‘I Got The Feelin’’, ‘Cold Sweat’ and ‘Sex Machine’.

Starks, meanwhile, unleashed his copious jazz sensibilities and rabid grooves on more James Brown hits than any other drummer: he was Brown’s most enduring sticksman, before departing to play with BB King.

The ultimate jazz-funk supergroup make their Scottish debut at Triptych: do not miss!

http://www.triptychfestival.com