San Francisco Chronicle
FUNK, NEW ORLEANS STYLE
May, 2005
Taking pleasure to an extreme is something of a tradition in New Orleans, but even by the Big Easy's intemperate standards Will Bernard has been doing more funking than is wise for any mortal man.
By the time the guitarist returns from the Jazz and Heritage Festival to his quiet pad in Albany this week, he'll have played at least 10 gigs in nine nights, and that's not counting informal after-hours jams. His liaisons include sessions with Hammond B-3 great Dr. Lonnie Smith and New Orleans trap master Johnny Vidacovich and a series of hookups with a revolving cast of neo- groove stalwarts such as Critters Buggin saxophonist Skerik; Stanton Moore, drummer for the propulsive New Orleans funk combo Galactic; and Robert Walter, the organist who left the Greyboy Allstars to found his popular soul jazz band 20th Congress.
"The more I learn about New Orleans music, the more I like it, and the more earthy and natural it feels," Bernard says while noshing on blueberry muffin at an Albany cafe last month. "There are so many little-known artists there, a whole history of music that's not as mined as some other areas of funk and soul."
Bernard brings a hefty dose of New Orleans funk back to the Bay Area this weekend with Frequinox, which rolls into town Friday for a two-night stand at the Independent (and plays May 11 at Santa Cruz's Kuumbwa Jazz Center). Featuring Galactic's Moore and bassist Robert Mercurio, Walter on Hammond B-3, and former Jazz Messenger Donald Harrison on alto sax, the band is dedicated to the boogaloo grooves and second-line shuffles that made late-1960s R&B so jaunty.
Now in the process of evolving from a side project into a bona-fide band, Frequinox came together at Jazzfest 2003 as part of Alex Andreas' Boom Boom Room New Orleans showcase.
Initially, the quintet relied upon Walter's vast knowledge of 1960s soul jazz, focusing on obscure tunes by B-3 heroes like Big John Patton, Brother Jack McDuff and Don Patterson. But lately the musicians have been bringing in original material and getting together to generate their own tunes, blending their various musical passions into an irresistibly syncopated gumbo.
"Robert is more coming from the jazz organ funk thing," Bernard says. "Stanton and Robert Mercurio, being from New Orleans, have a little bit different approach. They've been super-influenced by the Meters, and they have a great feeling for that. And I come from a million different places."
It was Bernard's knack for blending into any musical context and elevating it with his deft rhythm work and stinging single-note lines that impressed Moore when they first played together at Jazzfest.
"When he sat in, he was one of the few guitar players who didn't showboat, " Moore says. "He wasn't trying to make his personal mark as much as making the music better. He's one of the greatest musicians I've come into contact with. He's got a great ear and a tremendous knowledge of different styles."
"He's probably the most versatile guitar player I've ever worked with," Walter adds. "Anywhere we try to go, he can cover that area better than anyone. Will plays the funk s -- , he plays the jazz s -- , and he's just killing."
Bernard's promiscuous talent should come as no surprise to anyone who pays attention to the local scene. The mild-mannered guitarist has been a Bay Area mainstay for two decades, since the days when Peter Apfelbaum's stylistically sprawling Hieroglyphic Ensemble presented its cornucopian musical feast at clubs and jazz festivals around the region. Bernard gained national attention with the guitar triumvirate T.J. Kirk at the same time his band Medicine Hat was signed to a major label.
More recently, Bernard has been tearing it up as part of a cooperative groove trio with organist Wil Blades and drummer Scott Amendola, and with his quintet Motherbug, invigorated lately by the addition of saxophonist Joe Cohen. But he can also be found supplying a rock edge to percussionist Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra's Gershwin project "American Rhapsodies" and playing French cafe music with Odile Lavault's whimsical Baguette Quartette.
"I'm a little bit of a Francophile," Bernard says.
On May 10, the guitarist celebrates the release of the Will Bernard Trio's first album, "Directions to My House," at Yoshi's, offering a decidedly different view of his music. Working with the highly interactive rhythm section team of bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Ches Smith (who often perform together in the remarkable duo Good for Cows), Bernard has developed a body of limber, often sneaky tunes that showcase the ensemble's mercurial interplay.
"Devin and Ches have such a great way of interpreting my music," Bernard says. "They take so many liberties with it. They're always going to add something different that I didn't write, and I pretty much understand where they're coming from most of the time."
Born and raised in Berkeley, Bernard was part of the generation that thrived under the jazz education program started by Herb Wong, a mid-'70s flowering that included Apfelbaum, Steve Bernstein, Peck Almond, Rodney Franklin, Tony Jones, Jessica Fuchs (now Jones), Paul Hanson and Josh Jones. While Bernard was soaking up funk from the neighborhood, he was studying the music in grade school.
"I wasn't in the jazz band until later, but we had music appreciation with Dick Whittington," Bernard says. "He'd play us James Brown, and we'd have to count the bars until the bridge came in."
By: Andrew Gilbert
