Damn. Bernie Worrell just died.

[kwassa]

Mr. PFunk and Talking Heads.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/25/arts/music/bernie-worrell-whose-keyboards-left-an-imprint-on-funk-and-hip-hop-dies-at-72.html?_r=0

Bernie Worrell, the keyboardist whose anarchic solos and Moog synthesizer bass lines with Parliament-Funkadelic indelibly changed the sound of funk and hip-hop, died on Friday at his home in Everson, Wash. He was 72.

His wife, Judie Worrell, confirmed his death. He was told in January that he had late-stage lung cancer.

Mr. Worrell was the kind of sideman who is as influential as some bandleaders. A broadly grounded musician, he grew up playing classical piano and was adept at jazz, rock and R&B.

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His stint in the 1970s as keyboardist and music director in groups led by George Clinton — Parliament, Funkadelic and their eventual merged identity of Parliament-Funkadelic, or P-Funk — taught generations of musicians and listeners that synthetic sounds could be earthy and untamed.

Mr. Worrell reached a new audience in the early 1980s as a member of the expanded Talking Heads, whose 1983 tour was documented in Jonathan Demme’s film “Stop Making Sense.” In the 1990s, Mr. Worrell’s synthesizer lines for P-Funk songs were widely recycled as hip-hop tracks, becoming the foundation for the West Coast rap — sometimes called G-Funk — of Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre.

Mr. Worrell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Parliament-Funkadelic in 1997.

One of his most famous bass lines in songs, and probably my favorite funk tune:

Edit to add: A relatively recent performance

Edit to add:

Listen to the synth lines in this Talking Heads performance. Bernie.