Original Article: Hunterdon County Democrat
by: Rick Epstein
A lot of musicians around Hunterdon County learn a lot from Rock great Bernie Worrell of Lebanon Township, but they do not expect instructions.
He is not instructive, even when he speaks at schools and universities. Bernie insists on a Q&A format. Wife and manager Judie, summoning a deep voice, quotes him: "I don't tell anybody what to do." She explains in her own voice, "Bernie perceives lecturing as telling people what to do. If somebody asks him a question, that's his opinion. He can give that — under duress."
Karl Dietel of Union Township is 41 and has been rocking for many years, variously with Joe Stuby and Rocking Horse, The Samples, and a disco band called Sweet and Meaty.
One night, still wearing his red velvet pants from a Sweet and Meaty gig, Dietel stopped by a Hunterdon pub for a drink and saw Bernie. "I had just played five of his (Parliament/Funkadelic) songs the night before and there he is just sitting there."
He introduced himself, little suspecting they would eventually be collaborators.
"Bernie is sometimes challenging me and sometimes waiting to see what I bring. But rest assured, he knows when to steer it. He likes spontaneity and the creative moment. (His guidance is) "more than getting us to a specific place; he'll prevent us from getting into a more ordinary or less-interesting musical world."
He said that once about 10 years ago, while sitting in on a Rocking Horse gig at Planet High Bridge, Bernie told the band, "I'm like the general and you guys are my soldiers. I want to send you guys where there's music to be found."
But it's an imperfect analogy; Bernie does not give orders.
Dietel recalls one time he devised four phrases of a musical bridge for a song, and Bernie observed, "I would've played the first two the same and alternated the last two."
"You want me to change it?" Dietel asked.
"No," said Bernie, "That's how Bernie would've played it. You play it the way Karl plays it."
"It was the pleasure of a lifetime for me to sit down to talk to Bernie Worrell the innovative quintessential funk music pioneer & master musical genius. Bernie struck me as a very kind warm spirited person. He was down to earth & wonderful to share a conversation with. The setting for this was a casual and spirited outdoor pre-party (before Rock The Boat 2 - Aug. 14th, 2009) along the flowing river upon a spectacularly beautiful evening." - Timmy the Freak