Fred Wesley

From July 2013

Jazz: I fear jazz.

In its purest form jazz can be as dangerous as Class A drugs. One minute you're quietly listening to Thelonius Monk in the privacy of your living room, next you're spending every Sunday afternoon in a hotel's function room watching a band of hopeless jazzers murder When The Saints Come Marching In as you sip a half pint of 60 shilling and stroke your beard murmuring "I'm solid gone, man". In contrast, even with its considerable downsides, heroin addiction looks very attractive.

So it was with some trepidation that I ventured to the Queen's Hall last night to see Fred Wesley & the New JBs. Wesley, a trombonist, was for many year's James Brown's band leader and later collaborated with George Clinton. The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival programme describes him as the Godfather of Funk & Soul and for once such an outrageous claim is spot on. Knocking on a bit he is reduced to sitting down throughout most of the gig but he and the other six members of his band exude a rare kind of musical joy. Song titles include Funk for Your Ass, Gonna Have a Funky Good Time and House Party, so you get the general idea. With a storming version of James Brown's Get on The Good Foot and a mental drum solo from Bruce Cox this is about as far removed from thick knit jerseys and roll-ups as you can imagine.

As Fred says, "100% funky stuff for party people". Apart that it is from the self-obsessed arsehole in front of me who spent the entire evening taking photos on his iPhone.