Wesley's prolific career began at the tender age of three when his grandmother, a piano teacher, got him on the keys. "It was not too long after that I decided I wanted to be a professional musician," says Wesley. He did not start playing trombone until his high school band teacher, and leader of a local big band, told Fred that if he became reasonably proficient on the trombone over the summer that there was a spot waiting for him in the group. Wesley studied trombone music furiously and the following fall was a featured band member.

His career as a musician started to take off when he was 17 and Ike Turner came knocking on the door looking for a replacement for a band member that had quit. Wesley played with Ike and Tina Turner for a spell and then decided to move on. It turned out to be a bad decision. While playing in Washington D.C. with Hank Ballard he caught pneumonia and had to return home to recover.

Shortly after recuperating from illness Wesley was drafted by the Army and began playing for the Army band. He was in the Army for three years and when discharged he had a family and a baby daughter. It appeared to be time to quit the music business and take responsibility as the head of the household by finding a good paying day job. Little did he know his musical career was about to take off. "I had the chance to become the first black milk delivery man in Mobile," says Fred, "and I was about to take the job when I got a call from Waymon Reed. Waymon Reed was now playing for James Brown and he told me that the band needed a trombone player..."

The rest is funk history and if you want to know more about it you will have to wait for his autobiography which will be out "when it's done," according to Wesley. He is currently working on his fifth album "Full Circle: From Bebop to Hip Hop" for Minor Music and acting as an artist in residence for a brief stint in Denmark. He took a few minutes before jumping on an overseas flight to discuss funk, his family, and how to age gracefully in a business that is notorious for its one-hit-wonders and average career life of two years.

LIFT Magazine Online: Your new album is titled "Full Circle: From Bebop to Hip Hop," can you tell us a little about that?

Fred Wesley: Well, I will be working with the Fred Wesley Band and new artists. World class artists. My son is going to do some Hip Hop tracks with me. We have some singers working with us and my band is also going to do some straight-ahead Jazz. It is going to be a chancy album. I am going to be taking a chance and I am going to be incorporating a lot of different styles of music into one album.

LIFT: Have you listened to Guru's "Jazzmatazz" or the Brand New Heavys at all? Do you think that their attempts at putting musical styles together have been successful?

Fred Wesley: Yes, I have and yes, I do. I think that because of what my music will be and what that music is has a lot to do with my music being classified as acid jazz.

LIFT: Your music has been classified as many things from funk to bebop. How would you classify yourself if you had to?

Fred Wesley: That has been my problem, especially with regards to recording and narrowing it down to a specific market. Well, we entitled the next album "Full Circle: From Bebop to Hip Hop" and I really wouldn't know what category to put it in myself, but according to people whom I have spoken to in the music industry, it's acid jazz. Now, I'm not really sure what that is, but let's just say that this time my style fits that particular genre of music.

LIFT: How do you go about putting a band together? How do you hear about the other players?

Fred Wesley: Some of it is word of mouth, some of it is by accident, really. Hugh Ragin (trumpet) was a close friend, we had played together in Denver. I had known Karl Denson (saxes and vocals) from L.A., we had done some gigs together. Bruce Cox (drums) came to me because I couldn't get Bill Stewart. Dwayme Dolphin (bass) came to me recommended by Anthony Cox and Peter Madsen (piano) came as a replacement after the second album. It was sort of by accident, but for some strange reason the band coagulated and gelled together very well. We play very well together and I am very happy with them.

All of the guys do other things too. Bruce Cox right now is also playing with J.J. Johnson. Karl Denson has his own band. All of the guys are doing something different, but they are all committed to the Fred Wesley Band.

LIFT: When you get together with such a talented group of musicians, how do you go about writing the music?

Fred Wesley: Some of it is composition and with a band like this of it comes from live performances. Some of the tunes start out as jams, but of course we have to organize it before the recording. Mostly we play my music. I am the focal point of the band. Although they have their own things going on, the Fred Wesley Band is about Fred Wesley. They all adapt to my music and enjoy my music and they all do it well.

LIFT: How do you feel about being sampled by people like Shock G of Digital Underground, Redman, Biz Markie and other hip hop artists?

Fred Wesley: Well, I couldn't do it. I couldn't take someone else's music and make it mine and feel like I was being creative. But, I do recognize the fact that it has become an art form. And, I have made a lot of money from it, so I can't be too angry. What I create has to be from strictly unexplained sources, it has to come to me. I couldn't take someone else's idea and make it mine. But, I do recognize that it has become a way of making music these days.

 LIFT: When you say that it comes from "unexplained sources" what do you mean?

 Fred Wesley: Well, I write music two different ways, I call myself a "song craftsman." Sometimes somebody will tell me to write a song about such and such and I would create something. I did that a lot with James Brown. However, the are some things that I call "gifts from God." This is when I am just sitting at a piano or just riding along and then words or music come to me. Some unexplained sources just come and flow together and become a great song. My song, "The Elders," happened like that. A lot of my songs come like that.

 I could craft a song, which is about writing a song for a specific purpose or there are these things which are truly creations that I call "gifts from God."

 LIFT: You spend a lot of time on the road. Do you ever get tired of it?

Fred Wesley: I am tired of it. But, it is a way to reach people and I will always enjoy being somewhere after I get there. Gettin' there is the problem. This travel is getting to be a lot for a man of my age.

LIFT: What were some of the toughest times on the road for you? I read that in your days playing with Hank Ballard you would be so broke that you were late on your $15 a week rent. Were those the toughest times for you?

Fred Wesley: You know, I was so young that I loved all of it. I used to insist, "Let me drive!" It was fun. My body could take it and I didn't really get tired, I didn't get stiff. During those times it was just fun. But now, I insist on the most comfortable ride and the shortest ride.

LIFT: What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you on the road?

Fred Wesley: There was the time that I spun out the car because there was a bear in the middle of the road, but you'll have to get the rest in my book.

LIFT: When is your book coming out?

Fred Wesley: As soon as I finish it. As soon as I stop traveling around and sit down and finish it.

LIFT: Are you writing the whole thing by yourself?

Fred Wesley: I am doing it myself, but I am getting some help from my daughter, but it's all me. It is my style of writing and my words.

LIFT: How is writing your book different from writing music?

Fred Wesley: Spelling is difficult for me. I found that I couldn't spell very well. But, it is much like writing music, there is a rhythm to it. I try to write like I talk. It is a different type of creation.

LIFT: You just mentioned your daughter. How has road life and tour so much been with your family?

Fred Wesley: Very challenging. I find that I have to fight sometimes to keep my children's attention. It has been a struggle, but I have managed to keep their love. It is hard to have a family and to travel all over the world. You realize that even though you make a lot of people happy, your true loved ones suffer. But, I try to compensate for that as best I can, as much as I can.

LIFT: Speaking of struggle, how was the transition from James Brown to George Clinton?

Fred Wesley: It was like two different worlds. James Brown was like the Army and George Clinton was like the circus. But, we had fun both ways. With James there was such pride in doing things exactly right. It was gratifying and satisfying. Then, with George Clinton it again was fun being able to do the craziest things that came into your mind and to bring that to the audience and to put it on record.

LIFT: Which would you say pushed you farther? Or did both experiences simply push you in different ways.

Fred Wesley: Definitely they pushed me in different ways. With James Brown I was just learning. I had just come from the Army and he taught me a lot about creating music. He would come up with the craziest ideas and for a long time I would fight against it. But in the end, we would come up with some great music. I learned how to record and how to excite people with music. It was a learning experience. With George Clinton it was like taking the learning experience to the Nth degree. George would say, "I don't know what I want. I just want something good." He is a great producer and organizer. He would take ideas from people like Bernie Worell and myself and put them together to make great musical creations.

 So, one was like school and the other was taking what you learned in school and doing the most with it.

 LIFT: Were you trained classically when you were growing up?

 Fred Wesley: No. I was trained jazzically. My first experiences were with my father and big bands. I did have a significant jazz training and when I got to play with Count Basie's big band it was like a dream come true.

 LIFT: Was there ever a time that you were so discouraged that you thought about giving up music?

 Fred Wesley: I have never had any doubt that I would make my living making music. But, I remember doing the "House Party" album and it was totally unaccepted by the music community. I was mortified. It was demoralizing because I thought that the album was the greatest thing EVER! I really did, and then the record industry totally rejected it. That kind of took the wind out of my sails but, it didn't turn me off completely.

 LIFT: On the flip side of that, was there ever a time that you knew that you were breaking new ground?

 Fred Wesley: Of course when I was with George Clinton I knew that we were breaking new ground. But, I was so into it that I didn't really notice it going on.

 LIFT: Do you have ant advice for the young aspiring musicians that are going to read this?

 Fred Wesley: Learn, learn, learn. Knowledge is power. Learn as much as possible about what you are doing so that you don't have to take people's word for it. This will cause you to have a long career, what ever you do. I see a lot of people in the business that may or may not know what they are doing and sometime people don't have their best interests in mind.

If anyone knows about a long career in a tough business it is Fred Wesley. He has lived through every aspect of it. So, next time you listen to a Too $hort, James Brown, or Parliament album and want to live that life think about what Fred Wesley said. Without knowledge you are a pawn, with it you are a queen.