Fred Wesley
From Columbus
Popularity
Fred Wesley has 2 upcoming shows in the Netherlands. The next one is on November 15, 2026 at Patronaat, Haarlem. All 2 tour dates
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About
Also known as: F Wesley, F. Wesley, Fred Neslay, Fred Weasley, Fred Westy
Fred Wesley is the trombone player who gave James Brown's funk its backbone. Through the 1960s and 1970s he was deep in Brown's camp, playing on classics like "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" and co writing "Hot Pants", and his gold disc for "Doing It to Death" with the J.B.'s proved he could carry a record on his own terms. When he left Brown in 1975 he slotted straight into Parliament Funkadelic, then pivoted again to join the Count Basie Orchestra in 1978. Since then Wesley has kept restlessly busy. He recorded with the Greyboy Allstars, toured as part of the JB Horns alongside Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker, and leads his own group the New JBs. His collaborative project Abraham Inc., pairing him with klezmer and hip hop artists David Krakauer and Socalled, shows just how far his musical curiosity stretches. A long list of artists from Ray Charles to De La Soul have worked with him or sampled his playing.
