[
Bernie Worrell died at his home in ]Everson, Washington
Everson is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,481 at the time of the 2010 census.
Everson and the nearby city of Nooksack lie near the foothills of the Cascade mountains in Northwest Washington. Located o ...
, on June 24, 2016, at the age of 72. His wife issued a statement that "Bernie transitioned Home to The Great Spirit. Rest in peace, my love—you definitely made the world a better place. Till we meet again, vaya con Dios."
Following his death, guitarist Buckethead
Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative electric guitar playing. His music spans severa ...
created a 21.5 minute long tribute song: 'Space Viking'. Buckethead published it on his 'Pike' series, as part of Pike 245. The song was captioned: "To Bernie Worrell, The Greatest Music Maker Of All".
Documentary
''Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth'' is a documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
about Worrell's life, music and impact. At AllMovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was founded by popular-cul ...
, critic Mark Deming wrote that the film "profiles his life and career while also examining how even a genius has to find a way to make a living".
Discography
Solo albums
*1978: '' All the Woo in the World''
*1990: '' Funk of Ages''
*1993: '' Blacktronic Science''
*1993: '' Pieces of Woo: The Other Side''
*1997: '' Free Agent: A Spaced Odyssey''
*2007: ''Improvisczario''
*2009: ''Christmas Woo''
*2010: '' I Don't Even Know''
*2011: ''Standards Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object t ...
''
*2013: ''BWO Is Landing'' (credited as "The Bernie Worrell Orchestra")
*2014: ''Elevation: The Upper Air''
*2016: ''Retrospectives''
Funkadelic
*1970: ''Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...
''
*1970: '' Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow''
*1971: ''Maggot Brain
''Maggot Brain'' is the third studio album by the American funk rock band Funkadelic, released by Westbound Records in July 1971. It was produced by band leader George Clinton and recorded at United Sound Systems in Detroit during late 1970 ...
''
*1972: ''America Eats Its Young
''America Eats Its Young'' is the fourth album (a double album) by Funkadelic, released in May 1972. This was the first album to include the whole of the House Guests, including Bootsy Collins, Catfish Collins, Chicken Gunnels, Rob McCollough and ...
''
*1973: '' Cosmic Slop''
*1974: ''Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
''Standing on the Verge of Getting It On'' is the sixth studio album by Funkadelic, released on Westbound Records, released in July 1974. It is notable for featuring the return of guitarist Eddie Hazel.
On this album, the lyrics generally take a ...
''
*1975: ''Let's Take It to the Stage
''Let's Take It to the Stage'' is the seventh album by American funk rock band Funkadelic. It was released in April 1975 on Westbound Records. The album charted at number 102 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 14 on the R&B Albums.
Music and ...
''
*1976: ''Tales of Kidd Funkadelic
''Tales of Kidd Funkadelic'' is the eighth studio album by the band Funkadelic, released in September 1976. It was their final album on the Westbound record label. The tracks were recorded during the same sessions as their first release for War ...
''
*1976: ''Hardcore Jollies
''Hardcore Jollies'' is the ninth studio album by the funk rock band Funkadelic, released on October 29, 1976 by Warner Bros. Records, their first album to be issued on a major label. It is dedicated to "the guitar players of the world." Origi ...
''
*1978: '' One Nation Under a Groove''
*1979: ''Uncle Jam Wants You
''Uncle Jam Wants You'' is the eleventh studio album by American funk rock band Funkadelic. It was originally released by Warner Bros. Records on September 21, 1979, and was later reissued on CD by Charly Groove Records and Priority Records. It ...
''
*1996: '' Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan – 12th September 1971''
*2008: '' Toys'' (recorded 1970–74)
*2014: ''First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate
''First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate'' is the fourteenth studio album by American funk rock band Funkadelic. The album was released by The C Kunspyruhzy in 2014 and consists of newly recorded material.
The album consists of 3 discs comprising 33 tr ...
''
Parliament
*1970: ''Osmium
Osmium (from Greek grc, ὀσμή, osme, smell, label=none) is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. It is a hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal in the platinum group that is found as a trace element in alloys, ...
''
*1974: '' Up for the Down Stroke''
*1975: '' Chocolate City''
*1975: '' Mothership Connection''
*1976: ''The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
''The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein'' is the fifth album by funk band Parliament, released in September 1976. The album is notable for featuring horn arrangements by ex-James Brown band member, Fred Wesley. The album charted at #3 on the Billboard R&B ...
''
*1977: '' Live: P-Funk Earth Tour''
*1977: '' Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome''
*1978: ''Motor Booty Affair
''Motor Booty Affair'' is the seventh album by funk band Parliament. Released on November 20, 1978. It contains two of the group's most popular tracks, "Rumpofsteelskin" and " Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)" which went to numbe ...
''
*1979: '' Gloryhallastoopid''
*1980: '' Trombipulation''
Selected contributions to other albums
*1981: Jerry Harrison, ''The Red and the Black
''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (; meaning ''The Red and the Black'') is a historical psychological novel in two volumes by Stendhal, published in 1830. It chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing ...
''
*1982: George Clinton, ''Computer Games
A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-dete ...
''
*1982: Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talki ...](_blank)
, ''The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
''The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads'' is a double live album by the American new wave band Talking Heads, released in 1982 by Sire Records. The first LP features the original quartet in recordings from 1977 and 1979, and the second LP fea ...
''
*1983: Talking Heads, ''Speaking in Tongues
Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...
''
*1984: Talking Heads, '' Stop Making Sense''
*1984: Fred Schneider
Frederick William Schneider III (born July 1, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, and musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band The B-52's, of which he is a founding member.
Schneider is well known for his ''sprechge ...
, ''Fred Schneider and the Shake Society
''Fred Schneider and the Shake Society'' is the debut solo studio album by American new wave musician Fred Schneider, released in 1984 by Warner Bros. Records. It was re-released in 1991 as ''Fred Schneider''.
Musicians and backing vocalists var ...
''
*1985: Fela Kuti
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the pi ...
, '' Army Arrangement''
*1985: The Golden Palominos, '' Visions of Excess''
*1986: Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pi ...
, '' Horses & Trees''
*1987: Jerry Harrison, " Casual Gods"
*1987: Jesse Rae
Jesse Rae (born 1951) is a Scottish singer and composer from St Boswells in Scotland.
Career
In the 1970s Rae moved to the US securing work as a runner in the New York Stock Exchange to fund his stay. Through work in Cleveland and Los Angele ...
, ''The Thistle''
*1992: Praxis
Praxis may refer to:
Philosophy and religion
* Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised
* Praxis model, a way of doing theology
* Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fai ...
, ''Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)
''Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)'' is the first album by Bill Laswell's ever-changing "supergroup" Praxis. The album was released in 1992 and features Buckethead on guitar, Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals, Brain on drums, Bernie Worrell on ke ...
''
*1995: Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and bassist of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...
, '' Monkjack''
*1995: Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...
, '' Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud''
*1995: Third Rail (James Blood Ulmer
James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "ragg ...
& Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, ...
), '' South Delta Space Age''
*1996: Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of " sheets of sound", ...
, '' Message from Home''
*1998: Robben Ford
Robben Lee Ford (born December 16, 1951) is an American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Sprin ...
, Tiger Walk
*1998: Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends ov’t Mule*1998: Pharoah Sanders, ''Save Our Children
Save Our Children, Inc. was an American political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida, to overturn a recently legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexua ...
''
*2001: Shin Terai
Shin Terai is a Japanese musician and producer most known for his work with Bill Laswell and Buckethead. On his albums he combines ambient and electronic music with dub and avant-garde jazz.
Biography
Shin Terai gained some first publicity as ...
, ''Unison
In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm.
Definition
Unison or per ...
''
*2004: Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, ''The Big Eyeball in the Sky
''The Big Eyeball in the Sky'' is the 2004 album by Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, known by fans as "C2B3," released on Les Claypool's own Prawn Song label.
Reception
AllMusic gave the album an above average review, writing:
...
''
*2004: Mos Def
Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...
, ''The New Danger
''The New Danger'' is the second studio album by American rapper Mos Def, released on October 12, 2004, by Rawkus and Geffen Records. It is the follow-up to his breakthrough solo effort ''Black on Both Sides'' (1999), after which he devoted more ti ...
''
*2005: Munkeez Strikin' Matchiz, ''Wreck It'' (with Bo Diddley
Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...
and Chuck D.
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped cre ...
)
*2006: Gigi, ''Gold & Wax''
*2006: Baby Elephant, ''Turn My Teeth Up''
*2007: Shin Terai, ''Lightyears''
*2007: Praxis, '' Tennessee 2004''
*2008: Praxis, ''Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness)
''Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness)'' is the last album by Praxis, released in Japan on January 1, 2008. The album features guest appearances by Iggy Pop, Mike Patton, Serj Tankian and Killah Priest among others; notably it feature ...
''
*2008: Science Faxtion, ''Living on Another Frequency
''Living on Another Frequency'' is the debut album by American experimental metal band Science Faxtion, released on November 11, 2008 in the United States and January 26, 2009 in Europe.
Background
The news on the album was given by bassist an ...
''
*2009: Eric McFadden Trio, ''Delicate Thing''
*2016: Joe Marcinek Band, ''Slink''
*2017: Jesse Rae
Jesse Rae (born 1951) is a Scottish singer and composer from St Boswells in Scotland.
Career
In the 1970s Rae moved to the US securing work as a runner in the New York Stock Exchange to fund his stay. Through work in Cleveland and Los Angele ...
, ''Worae''
Awards
*Independent Music Awards 2013: "Get Your Hands Off" - Best Funk/Fusion/Jam Song
References
External links
Official website of Bernie Worrell
''Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth''
Interview
at Artist Connection Podcast, October 2011
Interview
NAMM Oral History Library, January 2012
*
*
; Live Music Archive
Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell and the Woo Warriors
Bernie Worrell Orchestra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worrell, Bernie
1944 births
2016 deaths
African-American rock musicians
American funk keyboardists
American session musicians
Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band members
Juilliard School alumni
Musicians from Washington (state)
New England Conservatory alumni
P-Funk members
People from Bellingham, Washington
People from Hampton, New Jersey
People from Long Branch, New Jersey
Musicians from Plainfield, New Jersey
Talking Heads
The Golden Palominos members
The Pretenders members
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains members
Praxis (band) members
21st-century American keyboardists
Deadline (band) members
20th-century American keyboardists
Gramavision Records artists