Funk U.....

This clip is from David Sanborns late 80's music program, Night Music. It was a great program that featured a mix of rock, jazz and relatively unknown artists and then let them play together. Sanborn is a friend of the Drummer Manu Katche who appeared on his program and played with him often. Now Manu Katche is carrying on the tradition with his program, OneShotNot, on the French/German network ARTE in Europe.

I saw this episode when it aired and, if you follow this blog, you know that the artist known as Bootsy Collins is the guy I want to be when I grow up. Bootsy raps with Sanborn about his early career and experience playing with James Brown that started when he was teen. A very interesting insight into daily life in the late 60's. ahem....

The musical interlude is even more interesting for me because it features Carla Bley, who I adore! Passionately. She plays her composition, Healing Power with a searing guitar solo by Robert Cray. Bootsy raps....

This is a Bootsy extravaganza post because, in addition, Professor Bootzilla Collins

(best known for performing with James Brown in the '60s, and Parliament/Funkadelic in the '70s), has announced that he will soon open "the world's first Funk University for bass players of planet Earth." Classes start on July 1, 2010, and will be geared towards intermediate to advanced level bass guitar players.

Because a groove is a terrible thing to waste, this sonic learning institution will be unlike anything before, as Professor Collins and the finest bassists in music will unleash an intense curriculum, on the web, for intermediate to advanced funk disciples within the program.

Here's a cut ,What So Never The Dance, from his Cincinatti based band in the late 60's after he left James Brown and before he started playing with Funkadelic...After 30 years, I finally nailed this bass line down...