A Blow For Me, A Toot To You

Description

A Blow For Me, A Toot To You Fred Wesley (tb, voc); Maceo Parker (ts); Michael Brecker (sax); Randy Brecker (tp, flh); Bootsy Collins (g,b, dr); Garry Shider (g); Rick Gardner (tp); Bernie Worrell (keyb); Frank Kash Waddy, Jerome Brailey (dr); a.o.

Thanks to their first-class training in funk and soul while playing in James Browns Band, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker were the obvious choice when it came to participating in George Clintons P-Funk empire the Godfather of Soul had had an enormous influence on Clinton anyway.

In 1977, Clinton and Bootsy Collins produced A Blow For Me, A Toot For You, the début album by Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns an ensemble with Wesley on the trombone, Parker on the tenor and alto saxophone, as well as Rick Gardner and Richard Kush Griffith on the trumpet. The majority of the numbers are by Clinton and Collins, so it is not really surprising that much of the LP is pure P-Funk.

The album begins rather gloomily with a remake of Parliaments Up For The Down Stroke, and the influence of Parliament is also unmistakable in the other numbers. With regard to the instrumental numbers, Four Play fuses funk and jazz, while Wesleys atmospheric Peace Fugue reflects the CTI sound of the 1970s. Actually Peace Fugue is the work which least sounds like Clinton on this LP. A Blow For Me, A Toot For You scarcely ranks behind Parliaments Mothership Connection or Funkadelics One Nation Under A Groove and is certainly more than just a recommendable LP, which every funk lover should get to know.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. More information under

All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: 1977 at United Sound Systems, Detroit, by Jim Vitti and Hollywood Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, by Jim Callon

Production: George Clinton and Bootsy Collins