Happy birthday, Fred Wesley.

I’m jumping the gun with this. But tomorrow, on July 4th, trombonist extraordinaire Fred Wesley turns 66.

There are three phases to Mr. Wesley’s wonderful career in music. In the early ’70s, he was James Brown’s bandleader and arranger. Mid to late ’70s, he led the horn section for Parliament and Bootsy’s Rubber Band.

For the past 20 years or so, he has been a prolific solo artist, coming mainly out of a jazz bag.

Naturally, I got plenty of Fred streaming on my Vox blog. Click here to hear “Breakin’ Bread,” off the 1974 J.B.’s album of the same name.

Click here for Parliament’s “Getten’ to Know You” (1976). Wesley provided the explosive horn charts.

And click here to hear a Latinized version of the jazz standard “On Green Dolphin Street,” from Fred’s 1991 CD “Comme Ci Comme Ça.”

Below is a recent 10-minute interview with Fred Wesley. This is a promotional clip for the upcoming music documentary “Soul Power.” (I'll have more to say about that later.)