Will Bernard - Freelance Subversives

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:10
Size: 150,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:56)  1. Pusher Danish
(5:22)  2. Back Channel
(5:07)  3. Raffle
(5:10)  4. Blue Chenille
(5:01)  5. Grunk
(4:43)  6. Clafunj
(6:20)  7. Freelance Subversive
(7:13)  8. Lifer
(7:23)  9. Garage A
(6:08) 10. Skill Set
(6:41) 11. We The People

A long time San Francisco Bay Area musician, guitarist/composer Will Bernard first began playing and recording on an international level as a member of Peter Apfelbaum's Hieroglyphics Ensemble, whose first recording was on Don Cherry's “MultiKulti” (A&M 1989). Since then he has been involved with a host of boundary stretching groups, ranging from jazz, hip hop and world music to experimental music, with many stops in between. He has performed and recorded with Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra, Peter Apfelbaum's various band incarnations, Beth Custer, The Coup, and Midnight Voices to name a few. The most successful of these projects was the group T.J. Kirk (with Charlie Hunter) whose 2nd record for Warner Bros. “If Four Was One” was nominated for a Grammy in 1997. Will released his debut CD as a leader, “Medicine Hat;” in 1998. Since then Will has self produced two albums “Will Bernard and Motherbug” 2001 and Will Bernard Trio “Directions to my House” 2005 both on his own label Dreck to Disk Records.The Will Bernard band has performed at The Monterey, North Sea, SF Jazz, Bumbershoot, Be-Bop and Brew, Montreal, Vancouver and The High Sierra festivals, as well as clubs across the country and through Canada. They have opened for Herbie Hancock and the Head Hunters, Jimmy McGriff, The Funky Meters, John Scofield, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Ziggy Modeliste and the Charlie Hunter Quartet. More recently Will has been developing his musical associations and has been working with a range of musicians that include Robert Walter, Stanton Moore, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Idris Muhammad, Adam Deitch, Zigaboo Modeliste, and John Medeski. Between 2002 and 2005 he toured extensively in the US with Robert Walter's 20th congress.

As MG5 (formerly Frequinox) bandmate Stanton Moore said of Will (in the San Francisco Chronicle): “He's one of the greatest musicians I've come into contact with.” And Robert Walter says: “He's probably the most versatile guitar player I've ever worked with. Anywhere we try to go, he can cover that area better than anyone.” In the last few years Will Bernard's visibility on the “jam” scene has been increasing dramatically. Aside from continuously traversing the U.S. with his band Motherbug or as a member of Robert Walter's 20th Congress, he has been seen frequently on stage as a guest in all kinds of situations. Along with his appearance with the Trey Anastasio Band at Mountain Air in California for which he was awarded a spot on the annual “Jambase Sit-in Top Ten”, he has been seen with Karl Denson, Garage a Trois, Galactic, Charlie Hunter band, Garaj Mahal, Mike Clark's Prescription Renewal, Living Daylights, Jacob Fred, Sex Mob, and Papa Grows Funk. Will has also appeared with the allstar band “ Frequinox”, along with Robert Walter, Stanton Moore, Donald Harrison and Robert Mercurio. Ever hungry for contrast, Will performed in the Bay Area with the popular French acoustic band, “The Baguette Quartette” and the reggae phenomenom Groundation. In 2004, Will was again nominated for best guitarist in the California Music Awards, and his debut recording for Palmetto Records, PARTY HATS, was made available in stores on February 20, 2007. Matt Balitsaris, President of Palmetto Records, welcomes Will: “We're psyched to have Will Bernard in the Palmetto family. 

He's a soulful player who writes groovy tunes with a distinctive point of view. PARTY HATS wants to live in your car.” Will comments: “I like being on a small label that cares about music for its aesthetic value and I think it's a perfect fit for me in this stage of the game.” Funky from start to finish and recorded over three years, PARTY HATS features more or less two rhythm sections including: Will Bernard, guitar; Will Blades, organ; Ryan Newman, bass; Keith McArthur, bass; Jan Jackson, drums; Paul Spina, drums; Josh Jones, percussion; Michael Bluestein, organ and electric piano; and a number of horn players including: Cochemea Gastelum, alto sax; Joe Cohen, sax; Peter Apfelbaum, tenor sax, qarcabas, melodica; Dave Ellis, sax; Mike Olmos, trumpet; and Adam Theis, trombone. PARTY HATS was nominated for a Grammy Award for best contemporary jazz album. Will's next recording for Palmetto, due for release in the summer of 2008, will include performances by Stanton Moore and John Medeski. Will is also featured on Stanton Moore's last Telarc recording and on his forthcoming release and has toured extensively in Stanton's trio. https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/willbernard

 “Will Bernard's Directions to My House comes as nothing less than a revelation”~  Eric Snyder, Tampa Weekly Planet

…a player who clearly deserves a wider audience for his imaginative genre-busting aesthetic”.~  John Kelman, All about Jazz

“…one of the most potent, if underrecognized, guitarists on the post-Frisell/post-Scofield scene.”~  Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times

“Will Bernard is one of the best-kept jazz-guitar secrets on the planet.”~ Dan Ouellette, Billboard

“Hanging out with some of Bernard's [songs] is like stepping into a Coen Brothers movie, an Elmore Leonard novel, or any other alternate reality peopled by unforgettable freaks.”~  Joe Gore, Guitar Player

Freelance Subversives

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Will Bernard - Just Like Downtown

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:48
Size: 102.6 MB
Styles: Guitar jazz
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[4:48] 1. Dime Store Thriller
[5:33] 2. Go West
[5:14] 3. Sweet Spot
[4:41] 4. Dancing Days
[5:18] 5. Little Hand
[5:19] 6. Safety In Numbers
[6:18] 7. Bali Hai
[5:11] 8. Route 46
[2:22] 9. P.M. Gone

Will Bernard: guitar; John Ellis: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Brian Charette: organ; Rudy Royston: drums.

Guitarist Will Bernard has been connected to a number of singular groups and individuals, from the Monk-to-funk outfit known as T.J. Kirk to New Orleans drumming giant Stanton Moore to multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum's boundary-pushing Hieroglyphics Ensemble, but a common denominator exists in his strongest work with each one: Bernard's best is always rooted in the groove. He has a no-fuss way of establishing and/or inhabiting the rhythmic currents of a song and he puts that skill to good use, once again, on Just Like Downtown.

This quartet date finds Bernard fronting a highly capable—and flexible—foursome. Together, they tackle original soul jazz ("Dime Store Thriller"), Led Zeppelin ("Dancing Days") and Richard Rodgers ("Bali Hai"). Some pieces are brisk and driving ("Sweet Spot") and others like to linger for a while ("Little Hand"), as Bernard and company simply let the music float on by. Most of these musical offerings get to the point right away, but a sense of mystery is occasionally in the air as things coalesce ("Bali Hai") or blow slowly in the Frisell-ian breeze ("P.M. Gone").

Bernard's buddies deserve a good deal of credit for bringing his music to life. They sound good when working from the same playbook as the leader ("Dime Store Thriller"), but they sound great when one person's contributions are thrown into sharp relief; John Ellis' swaggering bass clarinet riff, for example, enlivens the jaunty "Go West," and drummer Rudy Royston delivers a tornado of a performance on the choppy "Safety In Numbers," which also features a beast-of-a-solo from Bernard. Organist Brian Charette—the fourth piece of the puzzle—is the one most responsible for adding color to the project. He brings all manner of sound—both earthy and alien—into the picture. Just Like Downtown possesses an immediately likeable, unforced quality. The music simply flows when Will Bernard and company get going. ~Dan Bilawsky

Just Like Downtown mc
Just Like Downtown zippy

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Will Bernard 4-Tet - Medicine Hat

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:37
Size: 122.8 MB
Styles: Jazz/Funk
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[5:35] 1. Close Shave (Part 1)
[4:08] 2. Boomtown
[5:24] 3. Medicine Hat
[5:47] 4. Prankster
[4:49] 5. 3-Ply
[3:42] 6. Koko A Poko
[4:08] 7. Trap Door Spider
[4:13] 8. Nobody's Looking
[6:08] 9. Tank Top
[5:56] 10. Pollyanna
[3:42] 11. Do Not Bend

On Medicine Hat, their first release, the Will Bernard 4-tet came to groove. The disc kicks off with "Close Shave (Pt. 1)," a James Brown inspired romp that introduces these fine San Francisco-based players. Will Bernard is a hot guitarist who was heard with T. J. Kirk, which included the now well-known Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola, also heard here laying down his rock solid rhythms with typical finesse. The 4-tet is rounded out with newcomers Rob Burger on Hammond B-3 organ and John Shifflett on bass.

The second track, "Boomtown", sounds like a spicy recipe for chasing away the mid-winter blues. The guitar / organ-fueled jams are inspired and fun. But this isn’t just about partying. The compositions, all by Bernard, are interesting as well as danceable. The twisted tango groove of "Trap Door Spider" is enticing and the 4-tet ventures into Bill Frisell-ish territory on "Nobody’s Looking". Bernard and Burger switch to acoustic guitar and accordion for this beautifully moody track. "Tank Top" turns the tables again with a funky New Orleans groove, one of Scott Amendola’s specialties. Bernard lays down some smokin’ slide guitar on this cooker. "Pollyanna" features some wonderfully slippery guitar improvisations and they take us home with "Do Not Bend", a final funk excursion. Recommended to fans of guitar, organ, and fat, funky grooves. ~Rick Bruner

Medicine Hat mc
Medicine Hat zippy

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Stanton Moore - Groove Alchemy

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:13
Size: 124,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:32)  1. Squash Blossom
(4:48)  2. Pie-Eyed Manc
(4:35)  3. Pot Licker
(4:46)  4. Root Cellar
(5:22)  5. Keep on Gwine
(6:17)  6. Neeps and Tatties
(3:57)  7. Up To Here
(5:09)  8. Knocker
(5:11)  9. Shiftless
(4:12) 10. Cleanse This House
(2:09) 11. Aletta
(3:09) 12. He Stopped Loving Her Today

Those expecting anything revolutionary or particularly new from Stanton Moore's trio with guitarist Will Bernard and Robert Walter on B-3 on Groove Alchemy will either be wonderfully relieved or woefully disappointed -- there isn’t. The CD is aural evidence of the trio doing what it does best: being funky and playing in a relaxed, open style that keeps the grooves tight and the musicianship at a maximum. And it's enough.Check out the guitar and organ solos in “Squash Bottom,” the first of these dozen tracks. The popping vamps create the vibe and give way naturally thanks to Moore’s deadly breaks to Bernard’s multi-string chord solo and the percussive organ flow Walter is so famous for. Things get downright Meters-esque on “Pie-Eyed Manic,” with stuttering breaks and two sets of riffs answering one another after four bars apiece. And on it goes, though “Pot Licker” is the funkiest Walter has ever sounded on the B-3. Bernard pushes his chords and leads right through the melody to let the left-hand organ bassline stick out front. Moore just rolls through and develops his grooves as he plays. There is a cover of James Booker's “Keep on Gwine” on which Walter plays piano. 

Though he does so beautifully, it’s more about Moore’s ability to let his Crescent City, second-line swing develop and carry the tune. There’s a longish cover of “Neeps and Tatties” that becomes an outright rhythm brawl between Walter and Moore, as Bernard just eases into the flow and lets the knottier side of his guitar style get into the fray all without letting the groove lilt. The real curve ball on this set is in its final track, a cover of the George Jones’ country vehicle “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Bernard leads the way with his guitar on the melody, and Moore plays doubles on the front side rather than the backbeat. It’s still a ballad, but one that carries a distinctly New Orleans feel as it swells toward the end. Groove Alchemy is simply a good-time funky record, full of great beats, killer guitar, and nasty organ by a trio that knows how not to mess up a good thing. ~ Thom Jurek http://www.allmusic.com/album/groove-alchemy-mw0001969510

Personnel: Stanton Moore (drums); Will Bernard (guitar); Robert Walter (piano, Hammond b-3 organ)

Groove Alchemy

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Stanton Moore - Emphasis on parenthesis

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:53
Size: 108,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:27)  1. (Late night at the) Maple Leaf
(2:56)  2. (Proper) Gander
(3:22)  3. Wissions (Of vu)
(5:10)  4. (Sifting through the) African Diaspora
(4:37)  5. Over (Compensatin)
(5:39)  6. (Smell my) Special Ingredients
(3:48)  7. (I have) Super Strength
(4:28)  8. (Who ate the) Layer Cake
(2:57)  9. Thanks! (Again)
(4:07) 10. (Put on your) Big People Shoes
(3:19) 11. (Here come) The Brown Police

When New Orleans native son Stanton Moore settles down behind his drum kit, what's sure to follow is enough electrifying energy and raw power to rebuild The Crescent City all by its own bad self.  Moore's rocking and rolling drums are pushed upfront in the mix, but they don't drown out Will Bernard's guitar and Robert Walter's keyboards. This trio is very much a democracy and there's plenty of room for each musician to go off on his own, while still staying within the framework of the band. Nothing here is meant to be taken too seriously, as Emphasis! (On Parenthesis) is all about the grooving and jamming. The real difference between "(Put On Your) Big People Shoes" and "Proper (Gander)" may be nothing more than how much longer or shorter one song is, compared to the other. Walter's deliciously bent toy piano on the loopy "Wissions (of Vu)" and Moore's funky timekeeping sound as thought they were written for an over-the-top Quentin Tarantino flick. "(Sifting Through the) African Diaspora" features a reverberating bass line that will have you searching the liner notes for the musician, but it's only Walter working the bass pedals on the Hammond B3 to perfection. "(Who Ate the) Layer Cake?" is straight-up, Jeff Beck-ish dirty rock n' roll complete with guitar riffs and thundering drum rolls. "Proper (Gander)" allows Bernard to go off on some high-flying solos as Moore anchors it all, bashing the hell out of his drums. All that's missing is a shaggy, long-haired blond lead singer (which isn't all bad). Moore can change up from funk to rock and back to jazz seamlessly, and seems equally at home with any genre he chooses. The problem for any critic with an album like Emphasis! (On Parenthesis) is they risk exposing the reader to paralysis by analysis. This isn't the kind of album you have to think about too much. Moore, Bernard and Walter are clearly having a good time and they want you to as well. This lean, mean and sassy album is meant to be played and enjoyed, not pondered. There's not a wasted moment or a bad song on this album. It's a solid contender to be on many end of the year "Best of" lists. ~ Jeff Winbush https://www.allaboutjazz.com/emphasis-on-parenthesis-stanton-moore-telarc-records-review-by-jeff-winbush.php

Personnel: Stanton Moore: drums; Will Bernard: guitar; Robert Walter: Hammond B3, piano, toy piano and clavinet; Michael Skinkus: shakere (6); Robert Wilmott Walter: vocals (7).

Emphasis on parenthesis

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Will Bernard - Out & About

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:31
Size: 111,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:36)  1. Happy Belated
(1:48)  2. Not Too Fancy
(4:18)  3. Next Guest
(6:44)  4. Habenera
(4:17)  5. Redwood (Business Casual)
(5:37)  6. Homeward Bound
(3:12)  7. Homebody
(5:13)  8. Suggested Reading
(4:26)  9. Full Sweep
(3:16) 10. Pan Seared
(3:59) 11. Out & About

Will Bernard has received his due for sideman work in a variety of settings, but you rarely hear anybody talk about stylistic range when it comes to his own leader dates. This is the album that could and should change that. Over the course of eleven originals, Bernard continually frames himself in different ways, constantly redefining his outlook and mining fresh musical veins with some help from four A-list musicians organist Brian Charette, saxophonist John Ellis, bassist Ben Allison, and drummer Allison Miller. It's a winning formula, making Out & About an out-and-out success. The album opens with "Happy Belated," a funky number with a twist or two that falls right into Bernard's comfort zone. Allison's fulsome bass and Miller's solid drumming lock everything in place, Bernard and Ellis sync up when an angular interlude appears, and metric adjustments are made without altering the natural feel of the piece. It's a number that could've set Bernard up perfectly for a funk-themed record, but he doesn't oblige. Instead, he turns sharply at every opportunity. "Not Too Fancy" a brief and intimate guitar-and-bass duo that's quaint, serene, and comforting follows, completely changing the direction implied with "Happy Belated." 

Then there's "Next Guest," a piece that flies and gives Ellis, Bernard, Allison, and Miller a chance to really dialogue with one another; "Habenera," a shape-shifting avant-tango that benefits from Charette's out-of-the-box organ work; "Redwood (Business Casual)," a number energized by Miller's propulsive ride cymbal and powerful soloing; and "Homeward Bound," a straight-eighth selection that plays up the partnership between rhythmic recurrence and mood evolution. With each of the five numbers that remain, Bernard and his buddies continue to defy expectations. "Homebody" carries some heartland inflections and gives Ellis and Bernard a chance to continually cross paths and dance, "Suggested Reading" sets Bernard's slinky guitar against Allison's stout yet slippery bass lines and Miller's happening grooves, and "Full Sweep" delivers wonderfully off-balanced hits and harmonic shifts. Then things wind down with a gravity-reduced exploration called "Pan Seared" and the swaying title track. After all of that it's tempting to see this as an identity crisis record. The truth, however, is something much simpler: This is Will Bernard, in all of his multifaceted glory. ~ Dan Bilaswsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/out-and-about-will-bernard-posi-tone-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Will Bernard: guitar; John Ellis: saxophone; Brian Charette: organ; Ben Allison: bass; Allison Miller: drums.

Out & About

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Brian Charette, Rudy Royston, Will Bernard - Alphabet City

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:27
Size: 119,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:27)  1. East Village
(3:14)  2. They Left Fred Out
(4:41)  3. West Village
(4:43)  4. Not a Purist
(3:06)  5. Sharpie Moustache
(3:56)  6. Disco Nap
(4:38)  7. Hungarian Major
(3:45)  8. Avenue A
(5:25)  9. Detours
(5:12) 10. Split Black
(4:42) 11. White Lies
(4:33) 12. The Vague Reply

Organist Brian Charette brings his A-game to Alphabet City. But who would expect anything else from this consummate artist? After delivering a covers-heavy program with two different trio lineups on Good Tipper (Posi-Tone, 2014), Charette returns here with an all-originals outing that finds him in the company of guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Rudy Royston.

Alphabet City, in some respects, is an ode to Charette's New York city home, haunts and habits. But that minimizes the scope and influences connected to this project. In truth, this album, like nearly everything else in Charette's discography, is about Charette's entire world, not a single section of a city. His early musical passions, vast experience(s), and general love of music be it bop-based, bright, burbling, bizarre, or built with Eastern European influences are all wrapped together in his work.

While these three musicians work well as a single unit, each has his own respective gifts to share. Charette's diversified approach to music-making manages to keep things fresh; Royston plays with a marriage of technique and taste, alternately delivering direct blows, worming his way into the heart of a groove, and playing around the edges of a piece; and Bernard straddles musical worlds, simultaneously pulling from jazz, soul, and funk bags. It's an odd combination in some respects, but it works.

There's modal music in odd time signatures ("Split Black"), ambling and carefree performances ("West Village"), and mysterious, Hungarian-influenced music to be heard here ("Hungarian Major"). Charette and company might be knee deep in bebop on one track ("East Village"), but the next number might go someplace completely different, as the trio explores some serious funk that questions the absence of a Fred Wesley figure in a James Brown biopic ("They Left Fred Out"). There are also intentionally edgy, alien, and fusion-based pursuits ("Not A Purist"), energetically swinging blues excursions ("The Vague Reply"), and gospel-tinged peace offerings to admire ("White Lies"). Given Charette's track record and the skills of the players involved, it should come as no surprise that Alphabet City is as good as it is. ~ Dan Bilaswsky  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/alphabet-city-brian-charette-posi-tone-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Brian Charette: organ; Will Bernard: guitar; Rudy Royston: drums.

Alphabet City

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Will Bernard Trio - Outdoor Living

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 50:05
Size: 114.6 MB
Styles: Cool jazz, Funk-jazz
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[5:36] 1. Nature Walk
[5:00] 2. Morgan Deux
[5:45] 3. Nooksack
[4:55] 4. 6b
[7:03] 5. Roaming Charges
[3:39] 6. Point Blank
[7:05] 7. Squeaky Chug Chug
[7:25] 8. Katskan
[3:33] 9. Implitude

As if capturing the Will Bernard Trio caught up in a rush of inspiration, both the initial and concluding pairs of tracks on Outdoor Living are sequenced together without breaks between. It's an appropriate production touch for an album on which the participants are clearly feeding on each others' ideas and building on the individual and collective talent on hand. The initial segue to "Morgan Deux" from "Nature Walk" is a springboard for the musicians and listeners alike to become caught up in the spirit of the moment, while "Implitude" completes the album with a flourish as it follows "Katskan."

The Bernard Trio functions in an altogether remarkable way: any of the three, at any given time, can assume prominence in such an authoritative way that he seems like the leader of the group. Take drummer Simon Lott, for instance. The New Orleans-based drummer has played with Charlie Hunter among others, and his ability to play around the basic rhythm of a tune like "6B" (suggesting all manner of polyrhythms intrinsic to that beat) makes his kit a natural to take over as the lead instrument. He never overshadows his comrades, though. In this instance, guitarist Bernard creates a variety of syncopations, while keyboardist Blades weaves in and out of the sounds of the other two.

Akin to the ability to fluently speak many languages, Bernard has the uncanny ability to siphon selected characteristics from a given style to suit his purposes. The use of a slide, for instance, allows him to impart the visceral grind of blues guitar to "Nooksack," his confidence and natural affection for the music allowing Bernard to avoid superficiality. The twists he injects into "Roaming Charges" with his creative fretwork are a natural extension of his skill as a composer; he builds the momentum of the performance so that the drama is palpable.

As evidenced by Blades' quietly insistent role on "Point Blank," the keyboardist glues this group together with the grand flow of his Hammond B3. The instrument could fill the crevices in the trio's sound by its very nature, but Bernard's longtime collaborator assertively takes charge, navigating through the arrangements in such a way as to make the trio sound larger than the sum of its three parts. His staccato attack on "Squeaky Chug Chug," gentle as it is, only adds to the assortment of colors and textures on Outdoor Living and, by extension, to the trio as a whole. Blades' playing mirrors the sonic diversity Bernard supplies, and the ingenious relish with which Lott explores his whole kit.

Blessed with consummate finesse and sounding skilled beyond their years, the Will Bernard Trio retains the traditional virtues of this classic instrumental lineup on Outdoor Living through a collective attitude that is wholly contemporary. ~Doug Collette

Will Bernard: guitar; Wil Blades: Hammond B3; Simon Lott: drums.

Outdoor Living

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