Aja collaborates with veteran producer for single

Bernie Worrell created a sound for Aja Rock.

In the corner of the cafe sits a pretty blonde and a dark-skinned man dressed in layers of bright clothing. They're an unlikely pair as they chat away.

She is 24-year-old model and singer Aja Rock, and he is 61-year-old Bernie Worrell, keyboard player extraordinaire, producer, and member of pioneering P-Funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic.

When George Clinton - the founder of Parliament and Funkadelic - played Auckland on April 2, he and Worrell stayed in town to record with Rock. The result of those recording sessions was her debut single, Boogie Baby, a cover of KC and the Sunshine Band's 1976 hit Boogie Man.

This week, Worrell and his band the P Funk Allstars returned to do more recording with Rock and play the Joker's Circus gig on Sunday night at the Studio on K Road.

"When we first came over here, she came to the show, she came up on stage with P Funk, and rocked the house," says Worrell. "Then we went to the studio and the rest is history - and there's more history ready to be made."

Rock is the most recent of Worrell's many collaborators in a career spanning more than 40 years. He's worked with Talking Heads, Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones, hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, obscure producer Bill Laswell ...

"I don't look at it as [who is] the best. Although I might have more fun doing a project, God is the best. But I had fun with Keith, Talking Heads, Chrissie Hynde, fun with P Funk, fun with Bootsy [Collins, Parliament's bass player], fun with Aja ... "

Probably some of Worrell's lesser known work is with Laswell, and for good reason. Some of it, like the art rock of Praxis or the world music of Bahia Black, is downright obscure, although it still retains Worrell's trademark funk sound.

"Bill [Laswell] is like George Clinton, he's a conceptualisation type person," he laughs. "He conceptualises, and he's into different types of music ... he knows how to bring different musicians together."

And so does Worrell, according to Rock, who is the daughter of record producer Bob Rock of Motley Crue and Metallica fame.

"Bernie can make anything work," she says.

"It's how you hear the music, or conceive it," continues Worrell, "because all types of music are related. I can do a thing with Aja, with Indian tabla, she might be chanting, and with a sitar and an accordion ...

"I gotta be free, you can't box me in. That was the thing about joining P Funk, it was chaos, but it was free. Like she says, you can make anything work, it's how you hear it and how you perceive it. That's what Laswell, and Clinton and myself are able to do."

Worrell first met Clinton in the 1950s when he used to sneak out of his bedroom window and go to the barber shop where Clinton's doo-wop group, the Parliaments, performed.

"I was brought up kinda strict, but I wanted to play the other music," he says.

But it wasn't until 1970, with the release of Funkadelic's second album, Free Your Mind ... And Your Ass Will Follow that Worrell became an official member of Parliament/Funkadelic.

Worrell's innovative keyboard sounds influenced the early development of P-Funk and he was responsible for much of the musical arrangement and production on future albums.

As well as Parliament and Funkadelic, and his many collaborations, he has released seven solo albums (most notably 1991's Funk of Ages).

More recently he has just finished the O. A. R. album with producer Jerry Harrison from Talking Heads, and in August he starts work with producer Prince Paul, who recorded De La Soul's 1989 debut album 3 Feet And Rising.

A new documentary, Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth, by director Philip Di Fiore, tracks Worrell's life and career and includes interviews with David Byrne (Talking Heads), Laswell, Prince Paul, and Clinton.

You have to wonder if he wishes he'd done more for himself in his career, but he insists he doesn't like the spotlight.

"I like team work. I don't like to be up front. I like to lay back, and I train the youngsters."

Similar to Clinton, Worrell comes and goes on stage during the three-hour Parliament/Funkadelic shows.

"It's time for the kids to work," he laughs. "And, of course, Aja," he says, beaming.

His attraction to producing Boogie Baby was that someone wanted to "funkify" the song.

"Her idea to pick that song and use P Funk and myself to get her point across and her concept across, it was very, very interesting. I never would've expected that.

"It was different, so it was kind of a challenge too. How am I going to do Boogie Man?

"I like doing something different and I had to see if I could come up with it. But I have to hope I interpret her right because I might be way off track. But it's a great marriage," he smiles.

When is the single out?

"That's a secret," says Rock.

"It will be forthcoming when he directs it to me," says Worrell, gesturing to the sky. "It's in his hands," he smiles.

It seems Aja Rock's music career is in the hands of the Creator, not the P Funk master.

Performance

*What: The Joker's Circus.
*Who: Bernie Worrell and the P-Funk Allstars, with Ms Belita Woods, Isaiah Martin, Aja Rock and Mikey Havoc
*Where and when: Studio on K Rd, Sunday, June 5