Bernie Worrell – Wave from the WOOniverse (RSD24)

Whether a chart topper or the gatekeeper to a deep cut, Bernie Worrell has infiltrated your ears, your eyes (most recently in Stop Making Sense’s 40 year anniversary!) and your heart. For those aware of Bernie’s journey, it hasn’t always been a linear path, but the music has landed at the forefront of the rich, global culture, and continues to evolve, whether analyzed by a musicologist or a teenager in a garage band. Bernie Worrell, a prolific writer and visionary, left this world with an abundance of unfinished work. These compositions remained untouched for a period of decades, collecting dust on reels of two-inch analog tape. In years following Bernie’s passing, the tapes were re-examined to analyze Bernie’s nuanced and creative method. After a period of deep reflection, the Bernie Worrell estate decided it was time to complete his vision. With a series of Bernie’s collaborators, contemporaries, and friends including Bootsy Collins, Sean Lennon, Leo Nocentelli, Fred Schneider, Miho Hatori, Steve Scales, Marc Ribot, Fred Wesley, Marco Benevento, Stanton Moore, Steven Bernstein, Daru Jones, Will Calhoun, Mike Watt, Norwood Fisher and many more innovators his initiative was completed with dedication to preserving the integrity of the magic which makes Bernie a beloved extraordinary soul. Also included on the album is a previously unreleased Funkadelic track, Contusion, which showcases Bernie’s masterful work with the group.
Bernie Worrell: Wave From The WOOniverse, a double album, was concocted in fourteen cities, with a bound-to-be viral video of the title track directed by Los Angeles-based dancer, Madeline Riley. The album was produced by former Bernie Worrell Orchestra bandleader Evan Taylor, and is slated for release a day after Bernie’s birthday, (April 19) on Record Store Day 2024.

Tracklist
Intro (Reflection on a Bird) – Feat. Nick Montoya
Distant Star – Feat. Jerry Harrison with Paul Dooley and Alecia Chakour
What Have they Done to My Funk – Feat. Bootsy Collins, Michael Moon Reubens, Ouiwey Collins, and Buckethead
Heapin’ Bowl of Gumbo – Feat. Leo Nocentelli, Fred Wesley, Stanton Moore with Lonnie Marshall
Re-Enter Black Light (Phase II) – Feat. Sean Ono Lennon
The Big WOO – Feat. Fred Schneider with Binky Griptight, Marco Benevento, and Steve Scales
Greenpoint – Feat. Steven Bernstein with Smokey Hormel, Mauro Refosco, Scott Hogan, and Michael Jerome
Soldiers of the Stars Feat. Daru Jones and Eric McFadden
When The Rain Subsides – Feat. Will Calhoun
Pedro WOO – Feat. Mike Watt
Contusion (Funkadelic)
Transcendence – Feat. Marc Ribot and Norwood Fisher
Wave From the WOOniverse – feat. Miho Hatori with Sarah La Puerta and Steve Scales