| Few can truthfully lay claim to the term legend. Master keyboardist Bernie
Worrell can. From the tender age of three when Worrell began tickling the ivories…to his
first concert performance at four…to his Concerto composition at age eight,
Worrell was duly certified a prodigy. His studies at the New England
Conservatory of Music and Julliard School of Music endowed Worrell with an
undeniably strong classical foundation, the substructure for the supernatural
experimentation that was to come… Early in his professional life, Worrell was one of the founding members of
the supergroup, Parliament-Funkadelic. He co-wrote, co-produced, recorded and
performed most of the groups compositions - classics like "Flashlight,"
"Atomic Dog," "Knee Deep," "Cosmic Slop" and "Red Hot Mama" (to name a few)
on its 50-plus albums and globe-spanning tours. These songs - and many more
with Worrell's consummate musical licks - continue to remain popular. And Worrell clearly doesn't mind because he told Metro Connection with some
satisfaction in a 1998 interview, "These days hiphoppers are mixing
turntables with our old music." And if you listen to the music of Dr. Dre,
Ice Cube, Salt 'n' Pepa, Snoop Doggy Dog, En Vogue, Digital Underground, De
La Soul and many others, you will recognize that they had built hit songs
around Worrell's one-of-a-kind riffs. This has made Worrell one of the most
"sampled" musicians, period! But Worrell is not preoccupied with the past and he is not content to rest on
the laurels of his incredible body of work. He has struck out in a new
direction with his own supergroup project, Bernie Worrell and the Woo
Warriors. "We're about spreading the WOO-universal message," Worrell said of
his band. "I hope that what we do is another earful, not the same thing that
you hear everyday." The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee & his Woo Warriors perform April 6 at
9 p.m. at the 8x10 Club in Baltimore. |
