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Bernie Worrell

Bernie Worrell first came to prominence as a founding member and Musical Director of Parliament/Funkadelic. While this massively influential super-group was radically altering the course of music, Bernie was radically charting the course of emerging keyboard technology during the golden age of analog synthesis. Among the key ingredients in his sonic stew were perfect pitch and a well-honed facility with the classical canon.

A child prodigy who began studying piano at the tender age of three and gave his first public performance just a year later, Worrell wrote his first concerto at age eight and performed with the Washington Symphony Orchestra at ten. His classical studies would continue throughout his adolescence, including private lessons at the Julliard School of Music, before he entered the New England Conservatory of Music.

Upon leaving the Conservatory, Worrell served for several years as Musical Director for Maxine Brown before joining Parliament/Funkadelic crew. Worrell then proceeded to provide this freewheeling collective with a structural foundation which, while occasionally implied, was ever present. At the same time, he explored and expanded his own musical ideas in every conceivable direction with a brazenness which was both revolutionary and evolutionary. From fanciful forays on clavinet which leaped without warning from guttural gulps to squiggly squeals to liquid Minimoog bass lines which herded listeners to the dance floor, it all represented new musical language. All the while, his rapid advancements of the synthesizer’s potential were actually traceable to his classical foundation.

“When the synthesizers came about, my having been brought up classically and knowing a full range of orchestra, tympanis and everything, I knew how it sounded and what it felt like. So, if I’m playing a horn arrangement on keyboard, or strings, it sounds like strings or horns, ’cause I know how to phrase it, how a string phrases, different attacks from the aperture for horns, trumpets, sax or trombones.” – Bernie Worrell The hits were many: “Flashlight,” “Atomic Dog,” “Aqua Boogie,” “Cosmic Slop” and “Red Hot Mama” are only a few of the Parliament/Funkadelic classics which Worrell co-wrote, played and co-produced on literally dozens of albums — not to mention his years of wild P-Funk performances, which quickly became the stuff of lore.

After departing Parliament/Funkadelic, Worrell resurfaced with the revamped Talking Heads lineup for several albums, including The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, Speaking In Tongues and Jonathan Demme’s dazzling concert film, Stop Making Sense. Worrell’s ominous colorings, this time delivered via new digital keyboards such as the Prophet 5, were central to the recasting of group leader David Byrne’s musical ideas through African rhythms.

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Radio & Podcasts

Bernie Worrell, Kris Davis, Idris Ackamoor, Helen Svoboda & More

Read "Bernie Worrell, Kris Davis, Idris Ackamoor, Helen Svoboda & More" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Travel the spaceways with Sun Ra, Bernie Worrell, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Joe Zawinul, then experience the Afro Futuristic dreams of Idris Ackamoor, the grooves of the Adam Deitch Quartet featuring John Scofield and the river streams that have inspired Helen Svoboda and Slowly Rolling Camera. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison Mondo Jazz Theme 0:00 Adam Dietch Quartet feat. John Scofield “Mushroom Gravy" Roll the Tape (Golden Wolf) 0:16 Host talks 5:28 David Helbock “Money in ...

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Album Review

Jonas Hellborg: The Concert of Europe

Read "The Concert of Europe" reviewed by John Eyles


Swedish bass guitarist Jonas Hellborg has the knack of being in the right place at the right time when it comes to meeting reputed musicians; in 1981, after he played solo bass at the Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland, he was introduced to guitarist John McLaughlin and other fusion stars. He was soon asked to join a reformed Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1983. He stayed with McLaughlin until 1988, touring and recording with Mahavishnu Orchestra, and playing several duet tours with ...

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Album Review

Bernie Worrell: The Upper Air

Read "The Upper Air" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


I musicofili più esperti sanno bene che il jazz riserva sempre delle sorprese. Ricordate il romanzo di Tabucchi in cui si parla di una confederazione di anime diverse e contrarie, pronte ad aver la meglio nella psykè del protagonista? È anche il caso del pianista Bernie Worrell, co-fondatore del celebre gruppo funk Parliament-Funkadelic, nume tutelare dei Talking Heads, e ora convertitosi alla causa di un jazz introspettivo. Altra sorpresa nella sorpresa, questo CD è prodotto da Bill Laswell, uno dei ...

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Album Review

Bernie Worrell: Elevation: The Upper Air

Read "Elevation: The Upper Air" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Alert Manfred Eicher, somebody has stolen one of his pianists! Certainly in a blindfold test, most listeners would mistake Elevation: The Upper Air for a release by ECM Records, probably identifying the pianist as Marcin Wasilewski or Tord Gustavsen before ever guessing it was by one of the founders of Parliament/Funkadelic, Bernie Worrell. But there it is. Gasp. A solo acoustic piano outing by the keyboardist that fueled the music of George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Rolling Stones, Talking ...

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Bailey's Bundles

Three Views of Jazz Piano: Bernie Worrell, Christian Jacob, Andrew Litton

Read "Three Views of Jazz Piano: Bernie Worrell, Christian Jacob, Andrew Litton" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Here are three well-recorded solo piano recitals by three very different pianists playing three equally different jazz repertoires. In spite of these apparent differences, the three artists approach their material in a similarly spacious way. The results are encouraging. Bernie Worrell Elevation: The Upper Air M.O.D. Technologies 2014 There are a couple of things going on in this release. First, this is the first solo piano recording by ...

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Recording

Bernie Worrell's First Ever Solo Piano CD Released On M.O.D. Technologies - Elevation, The Upper Air

Bernie Worrell's First Ever Solo Piano CD Released On M.O.D. Technologies - Elevation, The Upper Air

Source: hubtone PR

Bernie Worrell, keyboard legend, founding member and essential collaborator / composer / arranger in George Clintonʼs Parliament/Funkadelic, has worked with an extremely diverse array of artists - Talking Heads, Bootsy Collins, The Rolling Stones, Lee ”Scratch” Perry, Black Uhuru, Fela Kuti, Burning Spear, Pharoah Sanders, Buddy Guy, Sly & The Family Stone, Mos Def, Albert King, Sly & Robbie, etc. He is among the most influential and emulated electronic keyboardists in modern music. His synthesizer work defined 80ʼs and 90ʼs ...

Recording

Bernie Worrell Releases Two Digital Singles

Bernie Worrell Releases Two Digital Singles

Source: Powderfinger Promotions

Rock and Funk legend Bernie Worrell recently digitally released two songs, “BWO is Landing” and “Get Your Hands Off.” Combing elements of everything from jazz to salsa to funk and soul, these two tracks have something to offer every music lover. Both tracks are beautifully arranged and very danceable, full of energy and are true works of musical genius from a master of many styles. How many artists can say they were in on the ground floor of an honest-to-Rock ...

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Recording

Bernie Worrell: Jazz Standards Album out Now

Bernie Worrell: Jazz Standards Album out Now

Source: JamBase

WOO PUTS UNIQUE FUNKED-UP SPIN ON NEW ALBUM RELEASED TODAY JUNE 7 Legendary keyboardist and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Bernie Worrell will release a remarkable new album of jazz standards on June 7, 2011 on Scufflin' Records. The album, titled Bernie Worrell: Standards, features Worrell alongside an all star line up of renowned musicians including Smokey Hormel on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass, JT Lewis on drums and Darryl Dixon on saxophone in addition to others. This is ...

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Recording

Legendary Keyboardist Bernie Worrell to Release New Collection of Jazz Standards

Legendary Keyboardist Bernie Worrell to Release New Collection of Jazz Standards

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Legendary keyboardist and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Bernie Worrell will release a remarkable new album of jazz standards on March 15, 2011 on Scufflin' Records. The album, titled Bernie Worrell: Standards, features Worrell alongside an all star line up of renowned musicians including Smokey Hormel on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass, JT Lewis on drums and Darryl Dixon on saxophone in addition to others.

This is the eighth solo album for Worrell, who was a founding member and ...

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Performance / Tour

Live in Brooklyn! Bernie Worrell, Blackbyrd McKnight, Melvin Gibbs and JT Lewis are SOCIALYBRIUM July 29-30

Live in Brooklyn! Bernie Worrell, Blackbyrd McKnight, Melvin Gibbs and JT Lewis are SOCIALYBRIUM July 29-30

Source: All About Jazz

Bernie Worrell, Blackbyrd McKnight, Melvin Gibbs and JT Lewis are SOCIALYBRIUM Making their Brooklyn debut TWO NIGHTS ONLY at Littlefield 622 Degraw St., b/w 3rd and 4th Avenues Wednesday July 29 and Thursday July 30 Doors 8PM, $10 New album coming in October on LiveWired Music! How often does a bona fide member of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame and the co-founder of one of the most influential groups of ...

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Recording

Bill Laswell's 'Version 2 Version - A Dub Transmission' with Jah Wobble, Bernie Worrell, Karsh Kale & Abdou Mboup

Bill Laswell's 'Version 2 Version - A Dub Transmission' with Jah Wobble, Bernie Worrell, Karsh Kale & Abdou Mboup

Source: All About Jazz

Street Date September 21st, 2004

Version 2 Version - A Dub Transmission, Laswell's fifth release for ROIR, brings us back to the elemental power that made Laswell's earlier releases so compelling: thick earthy basslines, a bedrock of drums, fiery percussion, blustery guitar and atmospherics-all played by a world-class group of musicians who know how to breath life into a musical whole greater than the sum of its parts. On Version 2 Version the listener is drawn into a ...

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