"Funk For Your Ass" - Fred Wesley

“Funk For Your Ass” (PDF) from the Fred Wesley & The New JBs album, Let It Flow: Fred Wesley’s Tribute To James Brown.

Special thanks to reader Pat for commissioning this transcription.

I had agreed to transcribe this tune based on my initial listening, hearing Fred Wesley’s signature sound, phrasing, and riffs and thinking that it would be a simple job.  Except, about halfway into the process I realized how much work it actually required; it’s pretty much five straight minutes of Fred blowing. He doesn’t quit. And yet he makes it sound so simple and easy.

Be like Fred.  Try simplicity.  And don’t ever quit.

Here’s a YouTube video of Fred Wesley playing this tune:

Recommended Reading: Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman by Fred Wesley Jr.  Published by Duke University Press.