Bernie Worrell
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The Blog of Woo | Bernie Worrell: Bernie Worrell Orchestra - Kickstarter!

Posted on February 14, 2013 at 4:00pm 0 Comments

BERNIE WORRELL ORCHESTRA - KICKSTARTER FOR TOURING VAN

Check out my Kickstarter Video!

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About Me:
Bernie Worrell first came to prominence as a founding member and Musical Director of Parliament/Funkadelic. While this massively influential supergroup 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 George Clinton's 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.

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.

In the years since he left Talking Heads, Worrell has been a phenomenally prolific studio musician, serving as a primary change-agent in the many experimental works of producer Bill Laswell while contributing his singular flair to projects by the likes of Keith Richards, the Pretenders, Jack Bruce, Deee-Lite and Bootsy's New Rubber Band. At the same time, he has been among the most sampled musicians ever, with Digital Underground, De La Soul, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, DMX and countless others having acknowledged his timeless grooves by building their tunes around his signature riffs.
Gender
male
Location
Hampton, NJ
Website
http://www.BernieWorrell.com
What aspect of the festival are you interested in: Music, Food or the Arts?
music
How did you find out about Uptown Jazz Dallas IJF?
Keith Hill

Latest Activity

Bernie Worrell's 2 photos were featured
Feb 14
Bernie Worrell's video was featured

Bernie Worrell Orchestra with Bootsy Collins Funk Medly

Classic funk with classic woo and boo
Feb 14
Bernie Worrell posted videos
Feb 14
Bernie Worrell posted photos
Feb 14
Bernie Worrell was featured
Feb 14
Bernie Worrell posted a blog post

The Blog of Woo | Bernie Worrell: Bernie Worrell Orchestra - Kickstarter!

BERNIE WORRELL ORCHESTRA - KICKSTARTER FOR TOURING VANCheck out my Kickstarter Video!We know you want the Bernie Worrell Orchestra to come to your town, so help us make it a reality! Contribute to Bernie's Kickstarter campaign […See More
Feb 14
Bernie Worrell is now friends with Tony Minvielle and Will Trotter
Feb 14
Tomi Jenkins and Bernie Worrell are now friends
Jan 24
Bernie Worrell's photo was featured
May 31, 2012
Bernie Worrell is now friends with Flash Mart and Catie Waters
Dec 24, 2011
Bernie Worrell's photo was featured
Oct 23, 2011
Bernie Worrell's 2 photos were featured
Jul 27, 2011
Bernie Worrell posted a photo

Bernie Worrell's Social Lybrium

Thanks to Uptown Jazz Dallas Live for the add of our "He-Then Holiday" to the Set-List'. Let funkin up jazz like.
Jul 27, 2011
Bernie Worrell updated their profile
Jul 27, 2011
Bernie Worrell posted a song

 play 03 He-Then Holiday

04:31
Jul 27, 2011
Bernie Worrell's photo was featured

On the Road with Bootsy Collins

A funky time is going on in Vienne
Jul 9, 2011

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Bernie Worrell | The Wizard of Woo!

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Comment Wall (6 comments)

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At 7:34pm on September 28, 2011, VP said…
Bernie, Keep it Moving, because it wants to and can!.  Awesome, love the feeling the music emits!
At 7:52am on July 28, 2011, Lola Batiste said…
Thanx a lot for the connection and wow, there is some smoking funk on your page!
At 9:31pm on July 2, 2011, Joyce Spencer said…

Wow Bernie,just listened to your tracks from straight head to funk. You haven't lost a beat....still awesome!!!

 

At 9:11pm on July 2, 2011, Joyce Spencer said…

Hello Bernie, thanks for the friend connection here!!

 

At 8:38pm on July 2, 2011, Jett Ray said…

Excited about the connection with you - an entertainment legend and extraordinary artist.  Looking forward to hearing and reading more about all you do and witnessing the works in person. 

 

Peace and Love,

Jett Ray

At 7:54pm on June 18, 2011, Berardi Jazz Connection said…
Benvenuto....
 
 
 

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