Greg Boyer performs with Maceo Parker at Jazz Alley in Seattle, Washington on August 8, 2015.
Greg Boyer (born September 25, 1958) is an American trombonist known for performing with many successful R&B and funk bands.[citation needed]
Born in Washington, DC, Boyer grew up in Bryans Road, Maryland.[citation needed] An avid music lover at an early age, his first steps into the world of playing music were on alto saxophone at the age of 10. By the time he graduated from Lackey High School, he could play any and every instrument in the band. Although his primary focus was classical tuba, he was already playing gigs on tenor saxophone with local R&B and funk bands.
Switching to trombone in his freshman year at St. Mary's College (Maryland) for his off-campus engagements, he left school after his third semester and joined Parliament/Funkadelic in 1978.[citation needed] He played with them until his retirement from the group in 1996, along the way also playing with Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers between tours.[citation needed]
Greg Boyer has 3 children in the DC metropolitan area.[citation needed] Adrian Boyer-Frostburg University alum, Amanda Boyer -University of Maryland alum, and Aja Boyer, currently attending University of Maryland. He lives in Columbia, Maryland with his wife Dana Addison, married September 20, 2003.[citation needed]
Funk is a music genre that originated in Black American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.
Parliament-Funkadelic is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive funk style drew on psychedelic culture, outlandish fashion, science-fiction, and surreal humor; it would have an influential effect on subsequent funk, post-punk, hip-hop, and techno artists of the 1980s and 1990s, while their collective mythology would help pioneer Afrofuturism. The groups released albums such as Maggot Brain (1971), Mothership Connection (1975), and One Nation Under a Groove (1978) to critical praise, and scored charting hits with singles such as "Give Up the Funk" (1975) and "Flash Light" (1978). Overall, the collective achieved thirteen top ten hits in the American R&B music charts between 1967 and 1983, including six number one hits.
Maceo Parker is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of Brown's hit recordings, and a key part of his band, playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. Since the early 1990s, he has toured under his own name.
Graham Central Station was an American funk band named after founder Larry Graham. The name is a pun on New York City's Grand Central Terminal, often colloquially called Grand Central Station.
Fred Wesley is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s.
The J.B.'s was the name of James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., Fred Wesley and the New JBs, The First Family, and The Last Word. In addition to backing Brown, the J.B.'s played behind Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, and other singers associated with the James Brown Revue, and performed and recorded as a self-contained group. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but failed to be inducted and can be considered for Musical Excellence in the future. They have been eligible since 1995.
Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas is a 2003 direct to video film of Prince in concert at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts. The concert was recorded December 15, 2002, and features several notable cover versions, an unreleased song and touches on some of his rarely performed back catalog of material. Special guests included former band associates, Eric Leeds and Sheila E., funk legends Maceo Parker and Greg Boyer, as well as Nikka Costa. The soundcheck contains an excerpt of "The Rainbow Children" from the album of the same name and "Nagoya" from C-Note. The audio was recorded directly from the mix console of Prince's long time sound engineer, Scottie Baldwin.
"Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a funk song performed by James Brown, and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis in 1968. It was released as a two-part single which held the number-one spot on the R&B singles chart for six weeks, and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Both parts of the single were later included on James Brown's 1968 album A Soulful Christmas and on his 1969 album sharing the title of the song. The song became an unofficial anthem of the Black Power movement.
Alfred James Ellis, known as Pee Wee Ellis due to his diminutive stature, was an American saxophonist, composer, and arranger. With a background in jazz, he was a member of James Brown's band in the 1960s, appearing on many of Brown's recordings and co-writing hits like "Cold Sweat" and "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". He also worked with Van Morrison.
Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer stating that their music "spark[ed] the musical transition from fifties rock and roll to sixties funk."
Cynthia Johnson is an American singer, songwriter and television personality. She is best known as the lead singer of the band Lipps Inc. with the worldwide smash hit "Funkytown".
Root Boy Slim was the stage name assumed by American musician Foster MacKenzie III. He was born in Asheville, North Carolina but raised in Washington, D.C.'s Maryland suburbs. He was an exceptionally bright child with parents who were able to afford a series of costly prep schools, and he attended Yale University. He returned to Maryland upon receiving his bachelor's degree and was diagnosed with schizophrenia following an LSD-induced psychotic episode. In the 1970s, he formed his own alternative rock band and an ensemble titled Crying Out Loud. Mackenzie's group was ultimately billed as Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band and The Rootettes. The band cultivated a dedicated fan base, largely confined to the Washington metropolitan area.
Ronald Edward Holloway is an American tenor saxophonist. He is listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz where veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler described Holloway as a "Hard bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow authentic R&B and croon a ballad with warm, blue feeling."
Jimmy Nolen was an American guitarist, known for his distinctive "chicken scratch" lead guitar playing in James Brown's bands. In its survey of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time," the English magazine Mojo ranks Nolen number twelve.
C-Note is a live album by Prince and The New Power Generation released in 2004. Its genre is jazz, with five tracks taken from soundchecks during the One Nite Alone... Tour.
Live at the Beverly Theater is a live album by the P-Funk All-Stars. It was recorded at the Beverly Theatre in California on April 23 and 24 of 1983 and was originally broadcast by the Westwood One radio network.
Blacktronic Science is the third solo album by the former Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell. The album was released by Gramavision Records in 1993.
Funk of Ages is a solo album by former Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell. The album was released in 1990 by Gramavision Records. It includes contributions by numerous guest musicians, including Sly and Robbie, David Byrne, Herbie Hancock, Keith Richards, Vernon Reid, and Phoebe Snow. P-Funk bandmates Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Gary Cooper, Doug Duffey, and Michael Hampton also contributed.
Dial: M-A-C-E-O is an album by saxophonist Maceo Parker, released in 2000. Many guest musicians appear on the album, including Prince, Paul McCartney, and Ani DiFranco.
The Hornheads are a collective of brass and woodwind session musicians based in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. They have played on albums and tours for a wide variety of musical artists, most notably Prince, who originally hired the musicians and led to the group's founding.
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