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"Whether you're listening to Wilco or Dr. Dre, you're listening to Bernie Worrell." Just one of the passionate endorsements made by a legion of celebrity fans - including David Byrne, George Clinton, Mos Def, Bill Laswell, Prince Paul and Doug Wimbish - in this long overdue appreciation of the life and work of a keyboard pioneer. Bernie Worrell's distortion-laden grooves and wavering funk lines pushed the sonic horizon of rock and R&B further and further. Where Worrell led, many others followed. Now, approaching 60, he languishes in poverty and obscurity.
"Since writing a concerto at age eight, Bernie Worrell has been acknowledged as a musical genius. He joined Parliament Funkadelic, where his innovation with keyboards and synthesizers changed music forever. Through his work with P-Funk, Talking Heads, Keith Richards and Mos Def, Worrell almost single-handedly shaped the electronic sound of the last four decades. [Stranger] beautifully captures the life and sounds of this overlooked mastermind who has been compared to Beethoven, Charlie Parker and Hendrix." - Nashville Film Festival
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D Philip Di Fiore P Philip Di Fiore, Steve Kalfar, Seth Lind WS Philip Di Fiore TD video/col, B&W/2004/40mins
Philip Di Fiore was born Somerville, USA, in 1974. [Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth] (MIFF 05) is his first feature documentary.
