Has anyone ever noticed?

**QUINNY** · June 28th, 2003, 06:48 PM

Tell me if I'm being stupid, but I could almost swear that Fred Wesley plays virtually the same trombone solo (where he has one) on every Maceo, JBs and James Brown tracks that I have in my collection. My collection is limited when taking into account the output of these guys (even I can have too much James Brown), but includes many of their classics tracks.
Think of the solo in Doin' It To Death and he mimics this on so many occasions. Could it be that
(a) His improvisational skills are not what they should be, or
(b) So many tracks have the same chord structure therefore limiting the possibilities (although a good jazz player wouldn't have any trouble coming up with different t'ings), or
(c) my ears are playing tricks on me.

**Forrrce** · June 28th, 2003, 08:23 PM

This post is very amusing - 'my partner in funk' and I used to have this conversation years ago! Fred's skills were, let's say, linear for the most part - although one of our joint favourite JBs tunes, 'All Aboard The Soul Funky Train', shows a side to Fred that he kept well hidden for his entire James Brown days!