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The funky, out-of-this-world music of George Clinton is headed to the Detroit Opera House.
The concert, titled “Symphonic PFunk: Celebrating The Music of Parliament Funkadelic,” will feature Clinton’s music performed for the first time by a full orchestra. Arranger Ray Chew will lead the Detroit Opera Orchestra featuring special guests Nona Hendryx, Vernon Reid, and Rahsaan Patterson.
Set for 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31, the concert is a bit of a homecoming for Clinton as he’s always considered Detroit his second home. Clinton, 84, was originally born in Kannapolis, North Carolina and moved to Detroit to pursue his music dreams.
“Back in the ’60s, we were trying to get on Motown [Records],” he says via phone interview from a much warmer Florida. “We were working for Golden Wold Records, performing during the psychedelic era at Grande Ballroom, Olympia, 20 Grand, playing all those places where the group grew.”
Clinton’s time in Detroit was groundbreaking. With his groups Funkadelic and Parliament, he reimagined funk music sonically and aesthetically, mixing jazz, gospel, and pop into what he called P-Funk. Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop (1973) and Parliament’s Mothership Connection (1975) and The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976) are just a few of the albums that were recorded at Detroit’s United Sound Systems studio.
Chew, an orchestral arranger who has been the music director of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars since 2014, was tasked with orchestrating the selected songs from Clinton’s massive catalog for the concert.
“When we sit and work on these orchestrations, it’s going to be very consistent with what you know,” says Chew. “I’m going back to the original recording and interacting with George and his bandmates. So we’re going to make sure we’ve having the best of what’s been done and what’s being done now.”
In the ’70s, Clinton was ahead of his time as he transposed loud rock guitars, heavy amps, synths, and a very early version of the drum machine technique dubbed the “man in the box” into his own brand of funk. Clinton was chasing a sound that required unorthodox methods and ingenuity to create.
“The stuff we did was very unreal when we did it — the technologies, the feedback, and all of that was coming from some other place,” Clinton says. “So interpreting that with notes, writing it down, and orchestrating it has to be a challenge to get those sounds. Ray did a great job on that.”
There is also a timeless factor that has allowed Clinton’s music to stay relevant for five decades. While Baby Boomers have grown up with him, Gen X through Gen Z have embraced his music through hip-hop, making Clinton one of the most sampled artists to date, appearing on tracks by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy, Tupac, De La Soul, and N.W.A., among others.
“You got kids and adults who are willing to listen to the music on their own terms,” Clinton says. “It’s like going to the circus — it’s the only place that the grandparents, the parents, and the kids can go together and nobody feels like the other one is corny and they don’t want to be there with you.”
On May 16, the city of Detroit honored the late Amp Fiddler, one of Clinton’s most popular bandmates, with a secondary street sign named after him in his Conant Gardens neighborhood. Fiddler had gone on to become a phenomenal artist in his own right before he died in 2023 at 65. Upon hearing of his passing Clinton left a heartfelt social media post and has fond memories of Fiddler.
“He was my boy,” Clinton says. “Right when Lollapalooza came out, he joined the band. He brought a fresh style to us […] he had his own jazz and classical styles that worked so well with us. He was just a big part of the band all the way through like that he played with us. I was so proud to have worked with him over the years.”
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the landing of the Mothership, a spaceship prop that appeared on stage for the first time during Parliament’s show at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans in 1976. While there is an anniversary tour in the works, Clinton and Chew’s current focus is making sure the Jan. 31 concert is a memorable night of music for Detroiters.
“We want them to come away knowing that the music that they are hearing is a worldwide relevant experience,” Chew says, adding, “They’re going to have an experience. George is going to take them on an interplanetary trip and free their minds so their butts will follow.”
Clinton adds, “To be able to do this show in Detroit, I feel really proud. To do it like that in Detroit from where we started and 50 years later and still be reaching up heading off to a planet and still funking, that feels real good.”
Starts at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31; Detroit Opera, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit; detroitopera.org. Tickets start at $63.
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Kahn Santori Davison
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