Bernie Worrell Brings Funk Stylings To Town This Saturday

Woo Warriors and Seneca to touch down at Red Fox

Humboldt Sentinel
11/13/08
By Sentinel Staff

P-Funk founder and former Talking Head member Bernie Worrell is bringing his Woo Warriors to the Red Fox Tavern this Saturday along with Seneca.

To the musically literate, Bernie Worrell needs no introduction, with his work as Musical Director of Parliament Funkadelic and his contributions to Talking heads almost legendary. Twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, songs he’s contributed to such as “Burning Down The House” and “Flashlight” are anthems for a generation. As one of the most sampled musicians in history, Worrell’s funky licks have graced hit songs by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, En Vogue and many more.

"When you talk about putting Bernie in a genre, he's really one of the few musicians that transcend language,” Philip Di Fiore stated in the release. “You really can't put him in a genre or classify his playing with words. He'll sabotage that and purposely make you sit there and really think about what he's doing, instead of trying to talk about it. It is very difficult."

Worrell's early years were spent studying at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Julliard School of Music, giving him a structural foundation on which to base his stratospheric playing. He cites his classical training as a big reason why Parliament-Funkadelic sounded so different from other funk bands of the day. When asked about influences, Worrell lists musical giants such as Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Smith, Oscar Peterson, and Thelonious Monk as making a strong impression on him as a budding performer. Now it is Worrell who is cited as an influence by many of today's generation of players.

Worrell is in high demand as a performer with acts such as Bootsy's New Rubber Band, Jack Bruce & The Cuicoland Express (featuring Vernon Reid) and rapper Mos Def's rock band Black Jack Johnson. He's collaborated in the past with seminal artists such as The Rolling Stones, Bill Laswell, The Pretenders, Soul Asylum, and Jody Watley, and has also been involved in scoring a few movies, most notably Ice Cube's "Friday."

Currently, Worrell is on the road with Eric McFadden Trio as a reoccurring special guest, Global Noize, Method of Defiance and soon reigniting his own supergroup Bernie Worrell and The Woo Warriors. He's also been working with Les Claypool of Primus as part of Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, featuring Claypool, Buckethead, Brain... a strange match up of unique talents if ever there was one.

This Passion Presents show starts at 10:30 p.m. at Red Fox Tavern, located at 415 Fifth Street in Eureka. Tickets are $18 for this 21-and-over show. For samples of Worrell’s tunes with the Woo Warriors, check out www.bernieworrellandthewoowarriors.com.