Thursday, September 29, 2011

Love and funk in New Orleans

The wedding of Greg and Weize Aiello was a magical evening and a funky good time sparkling with musical luminaries. It happened Saturday, Sept. 24, at the lovely Pavilion of the Two Sisters in New Orleans' City Park, and Fred was blessed to be part of a beautiful reunion with musicians including Kirk Joseph, Skerik, Lettuce, and Steve Bernstein, and musical supporters including photographer  Dino Perrucci. Dino caught these two awesome shots.

Kirk and Skerik walk Weize down the aisle to the strains of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme."
Fred and Joya
And we caught these, including the first one with Dino and partner-photographer Allison Murphy on the other side of the camera. Fred's funky friends in these shots also include guitarist Eric Krasno, Kirk Joseph and his better half, Venessa, trombonist Craig Klein of Bonerama, and Hanna Naji.




Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Fred past, present and future ...

From the past, click here for 2010 video from Scotland.

Right now, Fred is in Minneapolis, where he's playing as part of a Lionel Hampton Tribute concert at the Dakota Club. The tribute features legendary singer Dianne Schurr, and Fred considers the chance to play with her a personal musical milestone.

Most importantly, click here to buy your tickets now for the history-making New York City concert featuring Fred with Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker at the historic Town Hall. Check out the poster below, created by master funk support designer Heinrich Buttler.

Thanks, Europe, for another great little tour!

The trip that began Sept. 6, 2011, when Fred flew to Paris for the awesome  Jazz a La Villette workshop,  ended Sept. 19, on the birthday of New JBs drummer Bruce Cox. In between the band made stops -- and met friends and fans -- in Freiburg, Germany, and the cities of Baden, Thun and Biel in Switzerland. Special thanks to our European booking agent, Gert Pfankuch of Musikbuero, and to our friends Daniel, Hans-Ruedi, Sam and Marisa at Groovesound for making the tour such a funky good time. Extra-special thanks to our friends at the Etage Club in Biel for adding a special birthday party for Bruce.

 Stay tuned for more shots from the post-Paris part of the tour, but here's one of trumpeter Gary Winters, who was inspired to use a wine glass as a mute in Freiburg when Fred added his bluesy tune "Slide Man" to the set list.


Revisiting the awesome experience at La Villette once more, many thanks to Guillaume Besato, a clarinet player and workshop participant who sent along the following shots, along with his whole gallery, which you can access by clicking here.

Workshop participant Fannie, who Fred describes as "an excellent trombone player."

Thanks, finally, to longtime friend Mohamed "Ben" Bengriba, who sent along the following shots.


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Propagating the funk in Paris!

This year's Jazz A La Villette Festival in Paris featured a workshop for 100 horn players led by Fred and the New JBs with longtime co-hort Pee Wee Ellis, organized by French funk workshop maven Djamila Alioua of K'Dense. Photographer/designer/Fred- and funk-supporter extraordinaire Heinrich Buttler was on the scene and took some excellent photos, including these.


Maceo Parker, whose band also played the festival on the sold-out evening of Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011, took the stage briefly with Fred, Pee Wee and the New JBs.



Click here for more of Heinrich's photos, available online through Oct. 31, 2011.