VULFPECK FUNK MAESTRO Cory Wong was first exposed to music by his “music freak, music head” father, who’d constantly play records around the house. As a result, Wong’s formative years were played out against a soundtrack provided by Jimi Hendrix, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny and Ralph Towner.
Cory Wong in action during a recent U.K. visit: "I’m a cheap date. All I need is a $400 Strat"
OLLY CURTIS/FUTURE
“My dad had all this ECM catalog, the CTI jazz catalog and the Blue Note catalog — and then he had all this classic rock catalog,” he tells us on a rain-soaked day in the U.K. A great deal of the music he heard courtesy of his dad was guitar-driven, and the young Wong was “interested in the sound, interested in what it did to me emotionally, how the music made me feel.” He became curious about rhythm playing and, through intense metronome-based practice, he gained the ability to lock in with a rhythm section with scary precision.